Chris FrazierCierra Lundy’s schedule on the sloping hills and verdant green shouldn’t have been demanding.
With a routine that started in the Annie Day Residence Hall, Lundy would ready herself for the day.
While she attended “The Black Experience to 1865” in the Edmonds Classroom Building, most of Lundy’s week was spent in the Farrison-Newton Communications Building.
“Most of my classes are on the upper levels,” the mass communications junior said. “[I would] go in there, get on the elevator and go to wherever my class was.”
But when the building’s only elevator went out of order on Sept. 18, education was out of reach for the wheelchair-bound Eagle. The elevator wouldn’t be fixed until Oct. 18.
“To not be able to go to my class,” Lundy said. “I was really upset about it.”
For a month, an elevator-less building, which holds many GED courses, created a lot of stress for Lundy, other students and faculty.
“It’s wearing on everybody’s knees…”
Before the elevator got repaired, Farrison-Newton hallways were dominated by disgruntled and out-of-breath Eagles. The four staircases weren’t an option for Lundy, but they were the only one for others.
“I’m up and down the stairs every day,” said Stephanie Frigo, an associate professor in language and linguistics, adding that all her classes are on the building’s third floor.
Frigo also said that the elevator issue increased her students’ tardiness. But she was more concerned about the well-being of older faculty.
“It’s wearing on everybody’s knees,” she said. “It’s difficult, in terms of mobility, for some of my older colleagues to be up and down.”
According to Lundy, Frigo and other faculty members at Farrison-Newton, this is not their first battle with the stairs. This elevator has been out of order on numerous occasions.
Once, according to Frigo, in a scene straight out of a horror movie, an individual got stuck in the elevator, prompting an evacuation of the entire building and the assistance of emergency services.
And for the past month, it has been acting up again. Only this time, it has demoralized one of the largest student bodies in NCCU history.
Farrison-Newton is home to most of the general education courses required to graduate.
These requirements include Foreign Language, English Composition I and II, Arts & Humanities I and II, and Elements of Speech. According to NCCU’s Fall 2024 Census, there are 5,283 undergraduates requiring in-person GED classes.
This means that approximately 62% of all NCCU students will sit at a Farrison-Newton desk before the end of the academic year.
Unforeseen Circumstances
While Lundy and Frigo were adapting to the elevator, NCCU’s Facilities Department was at work.
Facilities are responsible for maintenance throughout campus. According to its “Summary of Services,” it maintains an “environment conducive to the educational mission of the University” through ground services, repairs, housekeeping and other duties.
An official from Facilities said a work order was placed for the Farrison-Newton Elevator on Sept. 18, the same day it went out of order. The elevator needed a new control board, motor and door operator.
An elevator’s control board or controller manages all the machine’s functions, including where the elevator goes, when the doors open and any cancellations. Essentially, it’s the elevator’s brain. When Eagles enter and press a button, they hit a nerve that sends a signal to the controller.
The motor converts the electric energy from the control board to mechanical power, which is used to lift or lower the elevator. The door operator is the electronic system that controls when the elevator doors open or close.
Facilities contacted their vendor and were informed that these repairs would cost $20,389.16. They also said the parts would take two to three weeks to arrive.
The Facilities official stated that they too were unhappy with the delay time.
“We touched base with the vendor every day,” he said. “There were a couple of days where it was put off until a later date.”
The official credited the national supply-chain issues to the long wait Eagles experienced at Farrison-Newton.
According to a White House brief, the country continues to recover from the supply shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, recent weather patterns in the U.S. have reopened some healed wounds, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
Facilities wouldn’t receive the necessary parts until Thursday, Oct. 17. The elevator was fixed around noon the next day.
“There may be more…”
The news was bittersweet for Lundy. After the elevator went out of order, her classes in Farrison-Newton were relocated to the C.T. Willis Commerce Building, which had been the equivalent of a ghost town since the opening of the New School of Business.
Even though one class, “Foundations to Investigative Journalism,” had a virtual component, they too, moved to C.T. Willis.
“I’ve been through this before when the elevator broke down and I couldn’t go,” said Lundy. “So I’m in-between on if we should go back because it may be possible that it breaks again.”
Prior to this situation, Lundy had yet to go to C.T. Willis. After entering, she initially struggled to find the right classroom. She recalled an earlier moment when, after class, she wasn’t sure where the exit was.
This confusion lasted for the remainder of September, but she’s grown comfortable. As a return to Farrison-Newton’s classrooms hit the horizon, she said she hopes NCCU monitors other elevators and does preventative maintenance.
“I may not be your only wheelchair-accessible student,” Lundy said. “There may be more to come after me.”
