Students share troubles with campus elevators

Across campus, students frequently use elevators to get from floor to floor and from class to class — except when they break.

Some students have expressed dissatisfaction with campus elevators, recounting experiences with faulty elevators. Students said certain elevators break down frequently, costing them time and forcing them to take the stairs.

Emily Holliday, a sophomore neuroscience major, summed up her experience with on-campus elevators this semester as “a mess.”

“The elevator in University Hall has been shutting down so much this whole semester,” Holliday said. “I’m also disabled, and they haven’t done anything to actually fix the issue until maybe this week, and we don’t actually know if it’s fixed … They would claim ‘We fixed it,’ and then it would break the next day.”

Holliday also described an incident from the previous year in which she was stuck for “a couple seconds” in an elevator in the Cathedral of Learning trying to get to the bathroom on the ground floor.

“The door did not open at all,” Holliday said. “It opened only about an inch. I thought it was fully stuck, but the elevator went back up to the first floor and luckily opened. I still didn’t get to go to the bathroom in Cathy, which was just really disappointing.”

Max Wauhop, a sophomore neuroscience major, said he has experienced recent problems with the elevators in the William Pitt Union. There is “currently an elevator down” in the WPU, according to Wauhop. 

“[It] was an issue because I had to take five flights of stairs if the other two elevators did not work,” Wauhop said.

Sophia Kasner, a sophomore chemistry major, said most of the elevators on campus work, though the ones in University Hall are broken “most of the time.” 

“When the elevator is not working, you can’t get into the building unless someone on the inside [of the University Club] lets you in,” Kasner said. “There are no stairs in University Hall, only [in the] University Club, which is often locked at night, so you’re locked out of the whole building.”

Dan Fisher, assistant vice chancellor for operations and maintenance for the Office of Facilities Management, reaffirmed Pitt’s commitment to ensuring campus elevators are properly maintained.

“Facilities Management is committed to the safe, smooth operation of all campus elevators,” Fisher said. “Pennsylvania Labor and Industries provides an operating permit for each elevator, and a Pennsylvania state inspector routinely completes inspections. Facilities Management partners with Otis Elevator Company for elevator services, with a team of six technicians leading preventative maintenance and repairs on campus Mon.- Fri., 6 a.m.-6 p.m.”

Fisher said elevator services adhere to maintenance and safety protocols required by the manufacturer and state of Pennsylvania. He also said facilities management meets weekly with Otis to review elevator maintenance plans and service reports. 

“The University has invested $22 million in elevator modernization projects over the past five years and continues to assess preventative maintenance facility needs to support the Pitt community,” Fisher said.