Elevator repairs causing delays

Students taking classes in the Welsh Humanities Building will have trouble getting to class on time.

The elevators in the Humanities building are currently undergoing maintenance, often leaving only one elevator working at a time.

Jessica Frieson, a first-year international business student, is one of many students who have been affected by the maintenance.

"I'm very disappointed," Frieson said. "If I come to class five minutes early I think I'm five minutes ahead of schedule. I'm actually at least 20 minutes late because of the elevator."

Frieson said she has waited 10 to 15 minutes for the elevator.

Frieson said she is starting to take the stairs as an alternative, but thinks there is a simpler solution to the elevator problem.

"The way to help the situation is to work on the elevator at night when the kids are not going up and down and using the building," Frieson said.

Frieson also said she has problems with other elevators across campus being sluggish, even when they're working.

"Another elevator that is so slow is the one in the LeConte building. I'm very disappointed in the elevator situation at this school because I paid so much money to go here," Frieson said.

Don Edwards, a physics professor, said the elevator in LeConte is minimally functional.

"It's a freight elevator originally and they remade it to carry people when it's absolutely necessary," Edwards said. "It works… you have to be patient with it. It remembers only one floor at a time."

Kim Swinton, a first-year early childhood education, said her experience with slow and dysfunctional elevators has caused her to re-work her schedule to make sure she leaves enough time.

"Usually I press the elevator button and sit down for 10 or 20 minutes before it actually comes," Swinton said.

Jason Beery, a third-year computer science student, said the LeConte elevator should be updated.

"It takes forever to get to your floor," Beery said. "It looks likes it hasn't been remodeled or maintained for a very long time."

Beery also had problems with the elevators in the Humanities classroom building even before the repairs began.