Fears of malfunctioning elevators are spreading after an accident at an Ohio State University dorm where a student died trying to get out of an overcrowded elevator Friday.
"I'm taking the stairs from now on," said India Warner, freshman criminal justice major and a third floor resident of Richardson Towers North.
The student that died at OSU was allegedly the last student to get onto an elevator that already had 23 students on it.
The elevator started going down with the doors open and the student tried to escape. He got caught between the top of the elevator and the third floor, which asphyxiated him.
The accident allegedly stemmed from overcrowding, and The U of M frequently experiences problems with overcrowding at peak times of the semester.
"There is always a key day when they (elevators) go down," said Corky Mason, senior electrician. "Usually around move in or exams."
Mason said that as far as he knows they have never had an elevator fall due to overcrowding and The University has done what it can to warn students about it.
"We have signs up and if you can't count to 10, well then that's a whole other story," Mason said.
Richardson Towers is notorious for its regular elevator issues that make students weary of riding on them.
Hope Shields, freshman computer engineering technology major, said that the elevators in Richardson Towers do what they want to do.
"I think there are ghosts at Richardson Towers," Shields said. "The elevator will go up to the tenth floor when you're trying to go down and there won't even be anybody up there. It's so weird."
According to Ron Brooks, director of engineering and crafts, Richardson Towers' elevators are on a free weight system.
"If one of them falls somehow, it would fall up because a weight would cause it to go up instead of down," Brooks said.
Mason said that it is highly unlikely for an elevator to fall because there are too many sensors and systems to prevent that kind of accident.
"That only happens in the movies," Mason said.
Lynette Billington, freshman biology major, said she does not feel safe on U of M elevators, even after being told that physical plant officials said the elevators were recently inspected and were fine.
James Taylor, electronic shop supervisor, said the physical plant just received new permits for the elevators.
"The main problem we have is keeping them all running," Taylor said.
He said that when students hold open the elevator doors for too long, the elevators are designed to shut off.
"The elevator (door) is on a timer where, if it can't come to in a certain amount of time, it'll time out and shut down, and then we have to come out and reset it," Taylor said.
Stephen Christian, junior political science major said there should be signs up so that students will know what not to do.
"They should educate people on how the elevators are designed to work so that they will understand," Christian said.
According to Brooks, The University is currently waiting to get funding to update and modernize all of the elevators that need it.
"There are so many different kinds and different generations, and so many of them are getting old," he said.
In the meantime, Mason said the elevator inspectors are on campus every six to eight weeks checking as many elevators as they can, and so far so good.
