Imagine a dystopia where every day you arrive on campus not knowing whether the elevators are working, and where it is not uncommon to hear reports of people being stuck in broken elevators.
Welcome to Queensborough Community College.
According to research conducted by the PSC chapter at QCC, elevators have broken down on several occasions, causing massive disruptions for faculty, staff and students alike, especially for people with disabilities. “QCC offers amusement-park-like rides that are no laughing matter,” Phil Pecorino, the PSC chapter chair at QCC, said in an email.
CONSTANT PROBLEMS
Pete Mauro, a professor of art history, has never been stuck in an elevator at QCC, but says the problems are lowering morale at the campus
(Credit: Erik McGregor)
One campus activist notified the PSC on several occasions this past school year when elevators have not been working, and thus obstructing education for students with disabilities, as well as incidents where both workers and students have been trapped in elevators. Noelia Diaz, an assistant professor of English, is one of many PSC members at QCC who have lived the elevator nightmare.
“I was stuck on the new elevator for the humanities building the first week it became operational in November 2022, along with another faculty member and a custodian. It took about 20 minutes to be released,” she said.
But that wasn’t the only incident that she recalled.
“More recently, this past semester, I was teaching a class adjacent to the old elevator in the humanities building and a faculty member was stuck in it, pulling the emergency button and screaming,” Diaz said. “I had to interrupt my class and notify my department to get some help. The faculty member was very upset, so some students took it upon themselves to try to calm the professor down by reassuring her help was on the way. I had to end my class early since I couldn’t continue teaching while the emergency button was pulled repeatedly, and the clearly distressed professor continued to yell to please be let out.”
The chapter has put forward several demands to the QCC administration that include installing mechanical chairs that can lift people up the stairs when elevators aren’t working, and bringing in outside contractors to explore elevator maintenance and upgrades.
LOWERING MORALE
Pete Mauro, a professor of art history at QCC, said that while he has never been stuck in an elevator, the consistent problems are lowering morale among students as well as among the faculty and staff. “Queensboro traditionally has a ‘culture of caring.’ It’s a buzz phrase for the administration,” he said. “But the facilities display the opposite.”
He said the elevator issues compound other structural problems, like constant leaks in the building where he works. Decay in these buildings, Mauro said, hurts education. “It doesn’t send the right message to our students.”
LARGER PROBLEM
For the PSC, the elevator issues at QCC are part of a larger problem. The union has fought safety and health crises at Bronx Community College, City Tech, Baruch College and York College. The union is fighting to strengthen worker protections in current contract negotiations with CUNY. The union’s campaigns at the state and city level to win more funding for CUNY aim to earmark public funds to upgrade conditions at campuses throughout the University.
“It’s going to take a massive investment in capital” to fix buildings at schools like QCC, Mauro said.
In the meantime, the QCC chapter is struggling to fix the issues close to home.
“It is hoped that both the college and CUNY will effectively acknowledge the need for immediate actions to be taken to safeguard the members of our community and provide access to the classrooms, labs and offices needed for our students and faculty to fulfill our primary mission safely,” Pecorino said.
Published: August 5, 2024
