By Dayzsha Lino, Staff Writer
There are way too many problems with the elevator on the north side of the library. It takes too long to start and when it does start, it moves in a jerking motion. It shakes and wobbles and there’s almost no space for people to fit comfortably. While we all love a good ride on Disney’s Hollywood Tower of Terror, students and faculty probably prefer not to cross over into the third dimension on the way to their offices.
The elevator has moved with all the alacrity of a snail for some time now, but it’s approaching waiting-in-a-DMV office status this semester. Once home to books that no one cared about, the third and fourth floors are now filled with a slew of organizations and offices, ranging from EOP and the Dymally Institute to the Bulletin’s awesome new newsroom.
Compounding that, this elevator feels smaller than other ones in the library. They are able to accommodate a small crowd,but this one makes a party of five seem like 100.
Every day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., crowds of people wait tediously in front of the elevator door on the second floor. Once they finally cram themselves into the moving box of slow-motion terror, it seems like a lifetime before anybody can reach their destination.
Just imagine being squished inside a tiny, condensed elevator with seven people in it – some of them carrying roller-bags and binders – and waiting for them to get off or having to weave your way through once you’ve reached your destination.
If that isn’t bad enough, students are often victims to the slew of electrical problems this tired conveyance is saddled with. Shawn Tessema, a molecular biology major, said while he was on it, the lights went out and the car began wobbling and shaking.
But poor lighting and shaking was a picnic compared to the ordeal on Oct. 9 when the elevator shut down completely while a student was on it.
The unidentified student was headed upstairs when the elevator suddenly stopped moving.
Firefighters, paramedics, University Police, and CSUDH maintenance staff arrived on the scene shortly after she called 911. After almost two hours, the doors were finally pried open and she got out safely.
The elevator remained closed overnight, but despite this major incident happening it re-opened the next day.
As of now, there have been no signs of maintenance or renovations. Calls to facility services were either unreturned or people directed me to someone who was out for the week.
Nonetheless, the current conditions of the elevator are unacceptable, and CSUDH maintenance and administration owe it to students and faculty to make some changes.
Until then, students, please don’t take the elevator one floor downstairs just to get something out of the vending machine. Take the stairs and burn off some calories instead.
