The sole elevator in Peters Hall has been out of service since November. The elevator experienced an unexpected malfunction, according to Dawn Maple, manager of Facilities Operations. This has created accessibility issues for those requiring access to the upper floors of Peters. Facilities Operations explained that their department has had to wait for assistance from the company that services the elevator. 

“The exact timeline for repairs is uncertain,” Maple wrote in an email to the Review. “Schindler, the elevator service company, is working to identify the issue, but the process involves examining each component and potentially ordering parts, which can take time.”

The broken elevator has been an issue for the Astronomy department in particular, which hosts nighttime observation sessions and planetarium sessions on the roof of Peters. Students who are unable to travel up the four flights of stairs have been unable to attend the sessions. These sessions include required meetings for the introductory astronomy course at Oberlin as well as observing sessions open to the general public.

When the elevator in Peters first broke, Observatory and Planetarium Coordinator Dave Lengyel reported the issue for maintenance.

“I didn’t think much of it back in November when it was down, but it just never got fixed,” Lengyel said. “The folks at Oberlin are, from what I can see, doing everything they can.”

According to Lengyel, the age of the elevator is a possible reason for these parts being unavailable.

“It’s just a matter of the fact that the elevator is old and the parts aren’t available,” Lengyel said. “As I understand it, the elevator was probably put in in the 1990s, because that’s when they redid Peters.”

College third-year Naomi Saito, who works as an observatory assistant for the Astronomy department, recalled complaints about the elevator being broken.

“I’ve … heard complaints from students’ parents, because sometimes they’ll come when they’re visiting their kids,” Saito said. “Their kids want to show them the Observatory, because it’s a cool place to take your parents to, and it’s 100-plus stairs up to the deck, and so it’s just a lot of climbing. And so I’ve heard parents complaining about it.”

The broken elevator has also been an issue for students who have other classes in Peters.

“I have a class that is on the third floor, and the entire semester the elevator has been broken,” College third-year Lauren Moore said. “I like getting my steps in, but at the end of the day, going up all three flights of stairs, especially when they’re that steep, is very difficult.”

Moore also said that issues with the same elevator in the year prior prevented a student who was experiencing a mobility issue from attending their class. 

“That’s probably just one story of a great many people who have been unable to get to class to do the things that they need to do because that elevator is so consistently broken and it’s such an accessibility issue,” Moore said. “Peters is a large building with steep stairs and a lot of classrooms. Anyone who has a class in that building who for some reason can’t walk or has a lot of stuff can’t get up and down the building. I feel bad for the custodial staff who have to navigate trash bins and stuff like that.”

Maple acknowledged that “accessibility for students and faculty has been a concern.” She wrote in an email to the Review that Facilities Operations has directed students experiencing accessibility issues to the Office for Disability and Access.