Facilities Installs Several Signs, Discourages Elevator Use
In recent weeks, Facilities Management has installed permanent signs beside school elevators explicitly stating “Reserved for Individuals with Limited Mobility.”
According to Director of Facilities Management Mark Leighton, the signs are “to emphasize that the elevators should be used by individuals with limited mobility” because “it’s healthier to use the stairs and … the less the elevator is used, the longer it will last.”
In the past, Facilities Management noticed that excessive elevator use by students and faculty caused the elevators to break down about once a month. “Some of our elevators are older and in need of constant repair due to overuse, putting them out of service for those who really need them,” Director of Campus Safety Services Paul Gravel said. He hopes that Exonians will leave elevators for individuals who most need them.
Leighton emphasized, however, that the signs are “only intended as a recommendation.” As they already show the school’s effort to reduce the stress on elevators, Leighton believes there is no need for more proactive steps like assembly announcements.
Amen resident and lower Sarah Kang felt that the signs next to the Amen elevator will highlight awareness about individuals with limited mobility. “Amen has bathrooms for handicapped so I do believe they were trying to get us to be more aware in that aspect,” she said. Still, Kang expressed that both faculty and students have disregarded the elevator rule and are likely to continue to do so.
Upper Janalie Cobb, meanwhile, brought up how the signs could worsen the situation for students with less visible disabilities. “Numerous people—teachers and students alike––have approached and reprimanded me for taking the elevator, especially after the signs went up,” she said. “I’ve been told that … I’m faking a disability in order to use the elevator when, in reality, I’ve had asthma attacks after walking up two flights of stairs and experience frequent bouts of dizziness that have made walking up and down stairs dangerous.”
Lower Nick Pham feels that the new signs will not cause much change. “People on a moral level should follow the rules, but there is no way to enforce that with just signs unless you hire someone to watch over the elevator,” he said. Pham noted that some of his peers did not even know that there are such signs and many continue to ride elevators.
Lower Noah Lee believes that students should be more responsible and hopes that the signs will remind Exonians to be more considerate of their surroundings. “Using elevators less conserves more energy, and the signs remind us that people without mobility limitations should just take the stairs,” he said.
Upper Keaghan Tierney expressed similar sentiments and admitted to using the elevators when she was not physically limited. “Wherever there are stairs, people are going to want elevators. We are lazy, and stairs suck, especially after a long day,” she said.
However, after a traumatic experience on the Phillips Hall elevator, Tierney’s viewpoint on the elevators changed. “A couple of girls in my class … got in the elevator with me. … [T]he button didn’t make the ding noise … and then the doors didn’t open,” Tierney recounted. “We sat there and yelled and thankfully … [a classmate] called campus safety, but campus safety said they couldn’t do anything without the fire department there for insurance reasons. We waited basically the whole period in a hot cramped space for the fire department.” When the fire department finally arrived, the four students were lifted out of the elevator from about four feet below the elevator platform stop.
Since then, Tierney has avoided elevators, despite receiving a leg injury from athletics afterward the incident. “I’m not going to lie, I’m a little nervous around them. When I broke my leg in the winter I was very reluctant to climb back in one of them, but because the school is just not handicap accessible I had no option. I was contemplating crutching up the stairs so I didn’t have to take the elevator,” Tierney said. To this day, Tierney never takes the elevator alone in any campus building.