The weekend before school started, medical student Thurston Drake got stuck in an elevator in the new Health Sciences Education Building.
“I said to myself, ‘The last thing I’m going to let happen is that I’m going to be on the front page of The Chronicle on the first day of school with a fireman rescuing me from the elevator,'” Drake said.
Tricky elevators are just one of the kinks still to be worked out in the soon-to-be-opened building.
Many students, staff and faculty had problems with the new elevators the first week of school. After hours, a UCard with a new proximity chip is required to use the elevators.
Wayne Peay, director of the Health Sciences Library, said the new cards connect students into a database that gives them access through certain doors and the elevators.
“The elevators are designed to let you out of the building, but not in,” Peay said. “That’s a security issue for the building because we want it to be a safe environment.”
Hang Wong, the system administrator for the building, said the chips are the first of their kind on campus and are less likely to be copied and duplicated.
If students do get trapped in the elevator, Peay said, pushing the “P” button allows patrons to exit through the parking garage.
Wong said there are currently signs being posted in and out of the elevators explaining how to work them and how to get out if they get stuck.
Another problem that arose in the building’s first week is the lack of trashcans. Peay said the trashcans did not arrive on time and hopes they arrive soon because there are trashcans in the building, but definitely not enough.
Peay also said there was a problem during construction with adding an examination area into a building that was basically almost done.
“We’re still in the process of bringing up that system,” Peay said. “It’s going to be really a state-of-the-art education system.”
Peay said the examination area will be like a real doctor’s office with 18 examination rooms.
The students will use this area to learn how to interact with patients. The area is estimated to be complete by the end of September or October, he said.
Although there are still problems, the building made its deadline of opening this fall.
The grand opening is Thursday, Sept. 1 at 4:30 p.m.
