EMMA PIRHALA / ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Frequently out-of-order elevators plague students’ journeys while trekking to and from Bosley Gym, Valley A and B, Mata’yuum Crossroads, San Antonio de Padua (SAPS) and San Buenaventura. Without reliably functioning elevators, students must walk up five flights of stairs at the Main Parking Structure to access the rest of campus. The broken elevators delay students’ commutes, causing irritation and reducing accessibility. 

USD first-year and SAPS resident Annie Hsu described her experiences with the Valley Elevators. 

“It sucks when the elevators are down, and I have to lug [mail] back to my room. And on a more general basis, the Valley trams get packed in the mornings and a lot of people end up walking. We want to take the elevators, but sometimes they don’t work. [The broken elevators] just makes the morning really crappy,” Hsu said.

USD first-year and Valley A resident Julie Ibrahim revealed her feelings about Valley elevator outages. 

“Honestly it just ticks me off. I remember one time I was holding like 10 things in my hand, and my class started in about 10 minutes. The elevator was out of service and it was so frustrating, because my class  was at 8 a.m., so already waking up that early and having that happen as a minor inconvenience really seemed major at the time.  I was literally so annoyed.”

USD first-year and Valley B Senator Alejandro Murillo detailed his interactions with the elevators. 

“I have definitely been affected by the elevator outages. When they occur, it can be very  inconvenient – especially when the trams aren’t working. This inconvenience to me cannot even be compared   to the inconvenience that students who are disabled face with these outages. When the trams aren’t being run, students who lack the ability to make it up the stairs face a great challenge, feeling stuck in the Valley.  I  have  heard  countless complaints  from my constituents and am currently working to get something  done about the issue,”  Senator Murillo described. 

One elevator in the Main Parking Structure displays a permit that expired on June 14, 2023. Bosley Gym’s displayed elevator permit is even more outdated; it appears to have expired Aug. 15, 2020. The Knauss Center for Business Education, Copley Library, the Learning Commons, Maher Hall and Camino Hall all have at least one elevator with an expired permit on display.

Instead,  all    elevators on USD’s campus post signs that state, “This University of San Diego elevator  is    inspected and serviced monthly by an independent elevator contractor in compliance with  State of California Division of  Occupational Safety and Health Elevator Safety Orders. The San Diego Elevator District may be delayed  in issuing annual elevator  permits.  Regardless, USD elevators are maintained in safe operating condition at all times.”

The California Department of Industrial Relations, which is in charge of providing elevator inspections   and permits regulates, that “no elevator shall be operated without a valid, current permit issued by the  Division. The permit, or a copy thereof, to operate a passenger elevator, freight  elevator    or  incline elevator shall be posted conspicuously and securely  in the elevator car.” 

Despite this law regarding elevators, many on-campus elevators only show expired permits, or neglect to display one at all. 

Assistant Director of Media Relations Steven Covella commented   via   email   on    behalf of Facilities  Management, regarding the status of the expired permits.

“Every elevator on USD’s campus is inspected monthly by an independent, third-party maintenance contractor. These inspections are conducted with much greater frequency (monthly) than is required by the State of California (annually), and any maintenance   issues are addressed promptly, often the same day. All of USD’s elevator permits are up-to-date, but due to a backlog in the state office issuing these permits, some of the corresponding signage may not reflect that.” 

Regarding the current elevator outages, Covella added, “Facilities  Management does not currently have any open work order requests for inoperable elevators in the Valley Residence Halls or anywhere on campus. Sometimes an elevator may go down temporarily as an automated safety precaution due to improper use (i.e. overloading, propping doors open, etc.) — but Facilities Management has not received any such reports.”

The lack of updated permits paired    with     frequent    breakdowns has students questioning their safety in campus elevators.

USD sophomore and San Buenaventura resident Elena Williams described her concerns. 

“Although I haven’t gotten trapped in a Valley   elevator, there have been a couple of times I got close. Sometimes the elevators will take an abnormal amount of time to open on the designated floor which can be a bit nerve-wracking,” Williams said. “Because they have broken down before at   basically any  time of the day, it means that I have less trust in the elevators working, if there is an  emergency  that arises.”

The Valley elevators remain to have consistent issues — preventing  students from getting to    their  classes on time and limiting accessibility for all Toreros. 

When a student comes across an inoperable elevator, Covella recommends submitting a work order request via the Facilities Management website or by calling their   phone number at (619) 270-4516. In   the event of an emergency, contact the Department of Public  Safety  at (619) 260-2222. 

Many students who live in the Valley residential area are frustrated with the inconsistent elevators.  Emma Pirhala / The USD Vista