The University of Mississippi is known for many great features. The athletic departments, the great academics, the faculty that goes above and beyond what is necessary and, of course, the legendary Grove, but one thing we can’t seem to get a handle on is our elevators.
It’s no secret that living in a residence hall won’t be as plush as the presidential suite at the Peabody Hotel, but some features should be expected in any living arrangement. Working elevators are one of those.
As a freshman on move-in day, with no prior experience living in a dorm and plenty of dorm horror stories in mind, it was unnerving for me to discover that one of the elevators in my building was already not functioning. You can imagine the chaos on move-in day was only multiplied by the lack of proper transportation for the new students and basically all of their belongings.
The elevator in question did not even start working until well into the semester. Soon after, the other two stopped working temporarily and only one was functioning for a time, causing a long wait time for students with no other way to get upstairs.
“It’s inconvenient and once they do work, it’s scary to ride in because you are constantly worried they are going to break down,” said Hailey Thompson, Martin Hall resident. “It’s a hassle and makes getting to my dorm very difficult.”
Not only is it difficult for the residents on the upper floors who would rather not take 11 flights of stairs, but in some residence halls the stairs become locked at a certain time and there is no other way to access the rooms.
Broken-down elevators are only half the struggle. I’d rather not be allowed on an elevator than get on one that is unsafe. Some of the elevators around campus should be down for repair, but instead students are getting on them and getting trapped or being dropped like the Tower of Terror.
In the Kincannon residence hall, the elevator doors have to be pulled shut by the occupants.
“They’re pretty terrible,” said Ned Kemble, Kincannon Hall resident. “We have to manually close them to shut every time. Sometimes they open early, too.”
So why are these metal death traps still running, and how can we get them to feel safe again?
-Priscilla Flowers
mpflower@go.olemiss.edu
