Frequent elevator issues cause frustration amongst students
2 min read
Stairs into academic and residential buildings across campus can be difficult for students with mobility aids who may rely on elevators to get to class and dorm buildings. | Abbey Magnet, The Weekly Ringer
by BLAKE MCBRIDE, ABIGAIL FULLER & SOPHIA LAGRAIZE
Contributing Writers
According to maintenance reports from the past three years, the elevators on UMW’s campus repeatedly break, and though maintenance is typically accomplished quickly, the fixes are not often long-lasting. These ongoing elevator problems have become an impediment for students and staff with mobility issues.
At the beginning of the fall 2023 semester, the Simpson Library’s public elevator broke down, was fixed, then broke down again routinely until May 2024. It took multiple breaks for the maintenance team to realize that a certain part of the elevator that had to be re-manufactured was broken. The elevator was built in 1989, so many of its parts have to be specially made when they break down.
“When something goes wrong they fix the problem but they do not bring out the big guns to fix the problem,” said Amy Filiatreau, the library director.
At Simpson Library, students and staff with mobility issues have had to take a private staff elevator to get to the other floors for classes, meetings or research.
Nearby, the single elevator in Pollard Hall broke down in January and remains unfixed.
Because Pollard Hall has one elevator, the only other way to access the classrooms on the third floor is via the stairwell. For those who are unable to use the stairs, accessing this floor is virtually impossible and students and staff have had to relocate their classes to more accessible floors.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, the elevator in the Hurley Convergence Center broke down multiple times. Although it rarely took more than two days to fix, the problems have been recurring.
Despite being one of the newest buildings on UMW’s campus, the HCC elevator is known to stall once reaching its destination, according to students who frequently use it. On at least one occasion, a family touring UMW was stuck in the HCC’s elevator.
Members of the UMW community with mobility issues found themselves unable to reach the upper and lower floors of the HCC during times when the elevator had been broken. Although studying and working on the first floor of the HCC has remained an accessible option, students and staff who needed to access classrooms on upper floors or attend meetings at the Speaking and Writing or Digital Knowledge Centers—which are located on the fourth floor of the HCC—found themselves stranded.
