Throughout most of Aug. and Sept., Integrity Hall elevators were “Out of Order” and inaccessible to its able-body residents, as well as its handicap residents.

Aside from being a dangerous environment for students with
handicap issues, the once broken elevator affected able-body students as well.

“I live in Integrity on the fourth floor. Walking up four flights of stairs every day is exhausting and excruciating since I had knee surgery in high school. The stairs really affect my legs,” Integrity resident, Kayla Laseter, said.

Students with pre-existing injuries were forced to travel up four flights of stairs in order to get back to their dorm room during their day-to-day activities. Because of the time it took for the integrity elevator to be fixed, many students had no choice but to drag heavy bags of groceries up the seemingly endless amounts of stairs. Due to this increased traffic, there was a potential for increased transmission throughout in Integrity.

“Living on the fourth floor is a blessing to have no one above me, but when the elevator was broken for weeks on end the trips up the stairs carrying bags of groceries was exhausting and sometimes I even had to make three separate trips at a time” Integrity resident, Alexis Frye, said.

Not only did the “Out of Order” elevator serve as an inconvenient transportation mechanism, but it also diminishes the label of “Handicap Accessible” that Tarleton advertises to new students.

These issues not only directly effected students, but also their families, as the evaluator was still out of service during the first two family weekends. Although the amount of visiting families has diminished greatly, due to COVID-19, the issues caused by the long amount of time it took to repair the elevator remained.

Handicap parking spots occupy at least one out of every eight accessible spaces, but no less than one, must be made van-accessible. Despite this fact, this incident and the time it took to fix it, seems to send a clear message on how Tarleton feels about maintaining its accommodations to these students. Despite having ramps, buttons on main doors that help them stay open and even handicap accessible rooms with showers altered to fit students with disabilities, the amount of time the elevator was out of service makes all other efforts seem meaningless, if said students are unable to reach their rooms.

“To say I am disappointed in maintenance is an understatement and things need to change,” Frye said.

Advertising a “Handicap Accessible” housing facility while making no immediate efforts to fix one thing in the building that makes it handicap accessible is a massive housing issue. It took almost a month to address and eliminate the problem.

Hopefully, in the future, any issues that caused this delay will be fixed, so that all students have the ability to enjoy their campus life as Tarleton intended.

When The JTAC reached out for initial comments housing responded by saying the elevator was being fixed. When asked for additional comments they were unable to respond prior to print.