As the fall semester begins, students moving in have found problems already arising.

Sacramento State hosted an early move-in day on Aug. 24, where new students noticed one of the two elevators in Mt. Whitney Hall was out of service. Mt. Whitney is the newest residence hall at Sac State, towering up at five stories tall.

This brand new hall cost Sac State around $69 million to build. The construction started on Aug. 25, 2025, and was finished before the start of the 2026 fall semester. 

“The elevator in Mt. Whitney, on the left side, doesn’t work,” said Tatyana Martinez, a freshman resident at Mt. Whitney Hall.

The broken elevator left students on higher floors to choose either to wait in long lines for the one working elevator or walk up flights of stairs while trying to move in, adding to the chaos of move-in day.
“It was a little frustrating because you don’t want to go up the stairs if you’re not on the first floor,” said Finn Anderson, a freshman chemistry major and resident at Mt. Whitney Hall.
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To help students move in, Sac State provided ‘Herky Carts’. However, since these carts are on wheels, it became difficult for students to carry those bins up multiple flights of stairs, further contributing to long waits for the elevator.

Hadean Steck, a freshman undeclared major and resident on the fifth floor, moved in on Aug. 26 with the elevator still broken. Steck said he had gone up and down the stairs around 10 times while moving in, and no information was sent out about the broken elevator. 

According to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, “Temporary access interruptions for maintenance, repair, or operational activities are permitted, but must be remedied as soon as possible and may not extend beyond a reasonable period of time. Staff must be prepared to assist individuals with disabilities during these interruptions.”

This left many new students feeling unprepared and added extra time to moving in, making an already stressful day even more difficult. As of Aug. 28, the same elevator is still out of service, and no response has been given to students as to how long the closure will continue.

The State Hornet reached out to University Housing Services about the situation, but they were unable to provide a statement.