Students stuck in elevator

Two High Rise South residents were trapped inside a dormitory elevator for nearly 40 minutes last night, raising issues of elevator safety and adequacy. University Police Officer Peggy O'Malley said the Philadelphia Fire Department was called in at about 6:50 p.m. last night. Physical Plant workers, who normally fix elevator problems, could not deal with the incident because the elevator key mechanism was stripped. The fire department had to uses axes to pry open part of the elevator. Neither student was injured in the incident. Gigi Simeone, director of Residential Living, said while she had not heard of last night's incident, her department has been barraged by complaints from students that the elevators are slow and that they occasionally get stuck. In answer to these complaints, Residential Living plans to use $2.25 million to overhaul the elevators over the next three years, Simeone said. Beginning next summer, the University will begin overhauling the elevator systems in the high rises, one tower at a time. High Rise South will be the first building to have its operating system overhauled, Simeone said. The other two high rises will be overhauled over the next two summers, she added. Each building will require $750,000 worth of repairs. Students had mixed feelings about the elevators when asked last night about the High Rise South incident. Some said they have not encountered any problems with the elevators. "I haven't had any complaints," said Susan Siegel, a College of General Studies student and full-time evening desk clerk in High Rise North. "I haven't had a single problem yet." Other students said they were annoyed by the slowness and inefficiency of the elevators. "The elevator is slow, very slow and it's always ringing," said High Rise South resident Tyson Gorri, a College senior. "I guess I'm just resigned to it because I've been here too long." Engineering sophomore Omar Desoky agreed. "The elevators are a real pain in the ass," he said. After the incident last night, two of the four elevators in High Rise South were being serviced by an outside contractor. College junior Amir Cohen offered some advice for those venturing into the elevators. "Sometimes you need to bounce around a little bit to get it started," Cohen said. Simeone said her department would look into last night's incidents.