Nathaniel Puente 
EDINBURG – Even though there is a closed for maintenance sign hanging on the elevator, students will note that this is not the first time that this transportation device has led us down.
To get to the first floor of this problem, I spoke with UTRGV Facilities and Operations to find out why these elevators continue to falter.
“Those elevators were installed in 1978,” says Assistant Director of Facilities Operations Support Martin Ramirez. “The technology is a little bit old and in some cases is very difficult to get the parts because it’s obsolete,” he continued.
Ramirez says the elevator’s age is a contributing factor but also points out that vandalism plays a part in the elevator’s problems.
“I’m not sure you know but there is people that is misaligning the doors, throwing trash, throwing phones, keys and this is also you know a cause for the failures,” Ramirez iterated.
He was even willing to share pictures that show proof of this but the files were lost. And how does this problem affect library’s normal operations?
“You see a lot of lines waiting for the other elevator that is working,” Dean of Libraries Paul Sharpe told us. “I try to take the stairs when I can but we’re not here to enforce an exercise program we’re here to provide the necessary tools and resources for our students to learn and graduate,” Sharpe finalized.
Sharpe told us he’s tried plenty of times to get new elevators in the library, but the process has been tough.
“Most campuses on most universities suffer from what’s called ‘deferred maintenance,’” Sharpe commented. “There are a lot of costs involved in maintaining buildings and overtime those become
lower priority to other needs,” Sharpe explained.
Ramirez, however, says plans are underway for the project.
“We recently requested almost four hundred and eighty thousand dollars to do an upgrade on that particular one because this is the oldest one.”
Although this issue can be frustrating, UTRGV officials are doing everything they can to handle the issue.
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