On September 3 of this year, the elevator in the BS building on the West Windsor campus broke down…again. The elevator has been out of service multiple times over the past year which has caused difficulty for students and staff who rely on it.
One student, Alexander Gonzalez, who uses crutches that attach to his arms to walk, took the problem to the Board of Trustees at a meeting on July 18 which was before the latest breakdown. He went seeking assistance, he said, because he cannot climb the stairs by himself so his mother came to the college last semester and “had to carry [him]” up the stairs multiple times per week so he could attend a class on the third floor of the BS building.
Gonzalez, a third-year student at Mercer, told the Board that he has been encountering broken elevators “multiple times” and that breakdowns occur “maybe three to four” times a semester.
When asked in a recent interview Gonzalez said he felt that the board members “did try to listen” but that there has been “no change whatsoever.”
In an interview with Rosa Gonzalez, Alexander’s mother, who speaks Spanish so he translated for her, she said that when she had to carry him up the stairs she “felt pain in the knees.” This pain occurs every time Rosa has to do any kind of lifting which she has had to do many times because of the BS elevator breakdowns.
Bryon Marshall, the Director of Facilities and College Safety for 12 years at Mercer, said that the elevators are subjected to routine inspections, based on the code requirements. He also said that for the broken BS elevator, it is being completely renovated.
Dylan Wolfe, who is an Associate Professor and the Chair of Fine Arts and Communication, attended the same board meeting where Gonzalez spoke. He says that the BS elevator breaks down routinely and that in the event an elevator does need repairs, and a student cannot get to a classroom without it, the school is supposed to move the classroom to a place where the student can attend.
This is correct according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, which requires that some sort of reasonable accommodation be made for handicapped individuals. For example, a class can be moved to the ground floor, if it cannot be accessed without the use of an elevator.
Marshall said that if a student gets stuck inside an elevator, the campus has “stair chairs, a chair for removing people who are disabled.” He did not address the question of what accommodations have been made during the current repairs.
Marshall did say that the elevators have an emergency number that people who get stuck inside can call. In fact, Professor Betty Peterson, who is currently in her sixteenth year teaching math at Mercer, got stuck in the LA elevator this past summer. Peterson said that it dropped two and a half feet. During the five minute ordeal, Peterson said that she was “claustrophobic” and had to think calming thoughts.
Dr. Jianping Wang, the President of the college, says that the BS elevator renovation will start “over winter break.” She also says that the elevators are around the same age as the college, which is 50 years old.
According to the minutes from the Board of Trustees meeting on July 18, when Gonzalez raised his concerns about the chronic elevator problems, the Chair of the board, Mark Matzen said “The college will make sure procedures are in place to make accommodations for students when this happens.”
