Get this: you wake up, and there is no open dining hall until 9:30 a.m. You have an 8 a.m. class but no options for food, so what do you do? You try to get on the elevator, but yikes, it’s broken! So you go down four flights of steps to catch the shuttle, which has no working air conditioning. What is going on at South Campus? 

Let me set the scene: it’s Monday, Sept. 4, and the temperature has skyrocketed to 93+  degrees. While waiting for the shuttle for twenty minutes, I started to feel a little hot but nothing too overwhelming. 

However, by the time the shuttle fully boarded, we noticed the extreme heat. The driver informed us that the A/C had just broken, and he was very sorry for the heat, but he had opened the tiny windows, and there was nothing else he could do. We could wait for the next shuttle, but many people had prior obligations they were already running late to, so we obliged. 

With almost no airflow, the temperature was inhumane. I was dripping in sweat within minutes of boarding, and this is not an exaggeration at all. Everyone around me was dropping curses about how hot it was and how we all could not wait to get off the steaming bus. While sitting motionless at multiple traffic stops, it felt like I was about to be sick on the worst roller coaster ride of my life, and just wanted to get off. 

When I got off the shuttle, my face was bright red, and yeah, I have other health issues, but I honestly felt sick. This doesn’t even account for the poor shuttle driver, who had to bear this heat for possibly HOURS. I know that the university is not paying him enough for these tortuous conditions. 

Anyway, once I unboarded the shuttle, I arrived at the HILL’s main elevator, which was, guess what: broken. Again. If you happened to read my article last semester, this is not the first time the elevator has been broken for an extended period of time. Last year, the elevator was not functional for months, an essential feature for a six-floor building. 

There is another elevator in the HILL that is smaller and needs tap access to be utilized. However, with an entirely full shuttle, about half of the people ended up just taking the stairs to avoid an even longer wait. This elevator is also partially broken and is always malfunctioning, bringing people down from the laundry floor to the lobby floor when they were supposed to be going up, not down. 

Something about the other functioning elevator is wrong. It takes forever to work, makes odd noises, and often, I find myself just opting for the stairs. One of the elevators was also broken on move-in day, something that I’m sure was an extreme hindrance. This entire day felt like a nightmare for anyone with disabilities and doesn’t look like a promising start to the beginning of the school year. 

Editors Note: The elevator was fixed around Tuesday, Sept. 5, so I’m very appreciative to the workers who made sure it was repaired much more timely fashion than previous elevator malfunctions. 

I will note that Clewall is not open in the mornings for breakfast anymore, a new and very frustrating factor for South campus residents.

I’m disappointed and concerned about the state of the South campus. Whenever something goes wrong, it takes forever to receive a fix or solution, something that I know is not an issue on North campus. If I pay an additional $800 a semester for this dorm that is allegedly supposed to be nicer, I expect a working elevator, but I guess that’s asking too much nowadays.