Fallon Deatherage
News Editor
Three students had some tense moments inside Turner Hall’s west elevator when it failed on Feb. 11, sending the students into an unwanted descent.
Vivienne Westra, one of the students in the elevator, was riding the elevator from the fifth floor to the sixth with two of her friends. When the elevator signaled that they had arrived, instead of the doors opening as they normally should, the elevator began to descend.
“It was only a little bit faster than normal,” Westra said, “except that there was a loud bang when we got to the bottom.”
At the ground floor where the elevator stopped, the doors did not open, and Westra’s friends called for help.
Within minutes, Public Safety arrived, and the students were freed. ISU officials encouraged the students to seek medical attention at the hospital or the health center.
“Our number one priority is that our students are safe,” said Craig Thompson, Director of Housing. “If those students need anything, we are here to provide that.”
Two of the students received medical attention, but Westra did not.
“I was completely fine,” she said. “One of my friends got a sprained knee and the other had a pulled neck. It was a tense situation for a while, but I wasn’t hurt at all.”
After the incident, Westra called her parents to inform them but did not tell anyone else. The flood of phone messages from family and friends after news reports about the event came as a surprise to her.
Some early reports described the elevator failure as a free-fall. According to Thompson, this description was not accurate.
He said there are mechanisms in place that prevent a fall in the event of a failure and it appears that they worked during the incident.
“The hyperbolic is certainly a more interesting story,” Thompson said. “But it isn’t entirely accurate.”
The cause of the elevator failure is under investigation, after which the elevator will be repaired, but it’s unclear how long that will take. If the failure is computer-based, it could take only a few days to repair, but if mechanical repairs are required, the elevator may be closed for much longer.
Previously, the east elevator in Turner Hall had been closed for several weeks and had only recently reopened before the failure of the west elevator. Although it’s unclear how long it will be before the reopening of the west elevator, it will only happen after thorough safety inspections.
“We will not reopen the elevator until we are absolutely sure that it is safe,” Thompson said. “We want to try to do that in a timely manner because it is an inconvenience for students.”
While some students may be apprehensive to use campus elevators after such an incident, Westra is not. Even after the incident, she has been using the working elevator in Turner Hall simply because it’s easier, faster and more convenient.
“I’ll keep using the elevators,” she said. “I’m not worried about another failure. The way I see it, I survived last time, and it wasn’t too bad.”
