Staircase lights were reported fixed

The broken lights along University Drive that have not worked for more than a month were… The broken lights along University Drive that have not worked for more than a month were signed off as repaired by a University Facilities Management electrician, according to an anonymous source within the University.

The lights are located near a staircase in proximity to the Learning Research and Development Center overpass, which leads up toward the fraternity houses where two female students were sexually assaulted at gunpoint last week.

The source informed The Pitt News that on Aug. 14, a Pitt engineer called Facilities Management to alert them that construction work, which was done in conjunction with the destruction of the Mineral Industries Building, prevented the bulbs from lighting, and the call was entered into the system.

The source said that on Aug. 24, a Facilities Management electrician signed off on a service request form known as a “chit slip,” indicating that the job had been completed.

According to the source, Facilities Management investigated the broken lights immediately after the sexual assaults. The investigation determined the electrical foreman never actually repaired the lights but logged work hours and signed it off as completed, said the source.

Ana Guzman, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Management at Pitt, declined to comment, referring reporters to spokesman Robert Hill.

Hill, the vice chancellor of public affairs, said that as far as he is aware, the lights were on the Friday before the assault. Hill was unable to provide any more information on Wednesday or yesterday, but said his office would continue looking into the matter.