In mid-Sept. of this year, Senior Gabe Schmick was going to office hours with professor  Michael Butler in Jefferson Hall. “I forgot what I was coming for,” he said. “It was probably really stupid, like I wanted his opinions on Donald Tusk’s foreign policy or something.” Upon trying to ride up to Butler’s office, however, a dismayed Schmick pushed the elevator button to no avail: The elevator was broken and he was in a wheelchair.

“I figured this was just a quick fix,” Schmick said. A few days later, he found an “Out of Order” sign on the elevator panel. The elevator has been out of service for the past five weeks.

Thankfully, Schmick had only one class in Jefferson this semester, which switched to a different building upon his request. But that does not make up for the countless missed office hours over the five weeks. “All of my professors have their offices in Jefferson,” he stated.

“I’m not going to office hours. That’s not good. I probably should. I would go to office hours more if the elevator was fixed.”

This was not the first time this elevator had broken, either. In Schmick’s freshman year, the very same elevator in the Geography building made him miss class for a week. “In my experience, you kind of just have to wait for things to happen,” he said. “You can ask people, but a lot of the time people just don’t really know what to do.”

Throughout his college career, he has found that same elevator broken “a handful of times.” Usually, it gets fixed after a day or two, which is what he thought when going to see Professor Butler.

“I don’t really know the problem with this one is, and it seems to be pretty serious if it’s a month.”

On Mon., Oct. 27, University spokesperson Jill Friedman emailed The Scarlet stating the elevator had been fixed. After more than five weeks, Schmick and other disabled people on campus can get to classes and meetings in Jefferson Hall and the Geography Building.