After experiencing increasing frustrations with the elevator service in Harrison College House, residents did what Penn students do best — organize and start a petition to see the problem fixed.
We’re always happy to see Penn students taking proactive steps and effecting changes in their environment, and applaud the efforts of Harrison graduate assistants and resident advisors in organizing residents around this cause.
But we also believe that the University has a responsibility to plan renovations better and respond more quickly to elevators breaking down, so that the situation doesn’t get to this extreme point.
A huge portion of students living on campus resides in one of the three high-rise buildings, and complaints about elevator promptness and efficiency have been chronic over at least the last few years. The problems that prompted the petition are not new ones and they should have been addressed earlier.
While we fully support the University renovating the elevators and continuing year-round to update campus facilities, functionality — including calculation of repair work — must also be taken into serious consideration.
We realize that some inconveniences have to happen in order for repairs to eventually occur, but the problems that residents of Harrison have confronted over the last semester have reached the tipping point of ridiculousness. We hope the students’ efforts are successful and lead to substantive changes in the elevator-repair schedule.
