Difficult to move

Sam Monroe
Special to the Critic

Mobility on campus is a problem for some. And the elevators are out of date.

Do you think getting up and down the hills on campus is difficult? Try doing it on crutches or in a wheelchair.

After a hockey game a few weeks ago I found myself on crutches. What is it like living on campus while on crutches? Well, it is not fun. None of the Stonehenge residence halls have elevators and therefore, it makes it difficult to get up and down inside the dorms. Luckily I live on the first floor, however not all students are that lucky.

Going across campus now takes longer than it did before and getting up and down some of the hills takes a good amount of upper body strength. However, it could be much worse at a larger school.

There are elevators in both VAIL and LAC, making it easier to get from floor to floor and class to class. However, the elevator in VAIL and the elevator going from the theatre lobby to the classrooms upstairs both have one thing in common. The expiration dates on the certificates in both of them are April 28, 2008. That was nearly seven months ago. The elevator in LAC isn’t set to expire until early in 2009.

There are also ramps and handicap entrances attached to every building on campus. This makes it easy for students who have been injured to get around and get to classes and other events.

Professor Alison Lathrop was recently in a wheel chair on campus, because of tendinitis in her heels. However, she was able to get up for short periods of time and walk short distances. She attempted to keep her wheelchair just in her lab so it would make it easier to move around.

“I was always able to get where I needed to go,” she said, making sure to mention that some times she needed to get up and walk. She also mentioned that the front doors in the theater lobby are very heavy and the doors in the hallway leading to the science wing are also heavy and difficult to open and would be harder for someone permanently handicapped. She said she wouldn’t be surprised to see doors that open with the push of a button on the LSC campus in the distant future.

Lathrop said she had to make sure that she thought ahead each morning and make sure she got all her Xerox copying done in one trip to VAIL. She also said the hardest spot to move around was the outdoor hallway connecting VAIL to the science wing.

When asked if she was concerned about the expired certificates in some of the elevators she responded with “I didn’t notice,” however, she did add, “that would be concerning.”

“I was delighted with how helpful everyone was, and that I was given a temporary handicap sticker. A little concerned about getting in to some doors,” Lathrop said of her overall experience.