Residents at Harnwell College House expressed frustration with frequent elevator-related issues amid the building\u2019s ongoing two-year modernization project.<\/p>\n
The project<\/a> \u2014 managed by Facilities and Real Estate Services as part of a capital renewal program \u2014 involves taking one elevator at Harnwell and Harrison College House out of service each semester between September 2025 and July 2027. While three elevators are expected to be operational at any given time, residents told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the remaining elevators commonly experience complications.<\/p>\n In a statement to the DP, a FRES spokesperson attributed the disruptions to increased demand placed on elevators that have not been upgraded.<\/p>\n \u201cElevators that have not yet been upgraded can experience periodic interruptions, particularly because three elevators are temporarily doing the work of four,\u201d the spokesperson wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project is intended<\/a> to \u201cimprove reliability, reduce wait times, and create a smoother ride experience overall,\u201d and that \u201cminimal noisy work is expected, and will occur 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n The FRES spokesperson clarified that differences between upgraded and non-upgraded elevators may affect how calls are handled, but said that a licensed technician is available continuously to respond to issues.<\/p>\n Despite these assurances, residents described ongoing disruptions. In an April 12 email to Harnwell residents, Residential and Hospitality Services notified students that Elevator #201 \u2014 one of the elevators not under renovation \u2014 was out of service, leaving only two functioning elevators.<\/p>\n The email added that \u201cthe elevator repair company has been contacted to assess the broken elevator, and we will share more information after they arrive on site,\u201d and encouraged residents to “leave additional time to get to appointments or consider using the stairs if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n In conversations with the DP, several Harnwell residents expressed frustration about the current elevators.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wharton and College sophomore Darius Anta said that while they expected some inconvenience during renovations, the system has not improved over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like even when we do get the actual improvement, it doesn\u2019t make it better,\u201d Anta said.<\/p>\n They added that the newly repaired elevator is only programmed to go up, meaning that “functionally” only two of the four elevators are working.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt leads me to wonder, \u2018What is the point and what are we using all of these funds to do?\u2019\u201d Anta said. \u201cOne thing that would be helpful is just greater clarity as to what is happening and why.\u201d<\/p>\n Wharton sophomore Iian Chen described the elevator system as a \u201cgame\u201d explaining that he \u201ctypically leaves 15 minutes early\u201d so he does not \u201chave to fight for space in the elevator.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor some reason, this is the slowest elevator I\u2019ve ever been on,\u201d Chen said. He added that the \u201ctwo slow elevators and one half-working elevator \u2026 takes away from the convenience of living so close to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Wharton sophomore Ethan Hunt had a similar sentiment, describing the elevators as \u201cpretty awful,\u201d especially around 10 a.m. when students are often heading to class.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an email from RHS sent on April 9, Harnwell residents were made aware that \u201call elevators are currently down and not functioning\u201d and that \u201cthe elevator repair company is on their way to assess the broken elevators.\u201d<\/p>\n After April 9, Hunt said that there were several times when he had to \u201cwalk up 23 flights of stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n College sophomore Sofia Galperin \u2014 who was formerly a DP staffer \u2014 explained that Harnwell elevators typically travel directly to higher floors before \u201cpicking people up on the way down.\u201d She said that because she lives on the 14th floor, the elevators are normally full by the time they reach her.<\/p>\n Galperin explained that she was \u201cconfused as to why they didn\u2019t start fixing the elevator over the summer.\u201d She added that she felt as though the renovations \u201cshould not be happening during the middle of the year entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Galperin, Engineering sophomore Jessie Chen told the DP that she hopes repairs can be finished over the summer.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my consensus is that it\u2019s just a very confusing situation,\u201d Chen said. \u201cEvery morning, every afternoon is like a completely different Harnwell elevator experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not putting people on the moon \u2014 it\u2019s not hard to get three functioning elevators while one is getting repaired,\u201d Anta concluded. \u201cI think the consensus is we just like to see some more mitigation of those smaller issues that really impact someone living here.\u201d<\/p>\n Senior reporter Amy Liao covers clubs and societies and can be reached at liao@thedp.com<\/a>. At Penn, she studies philosophy, politics, and economics. Follow her on X @amyliiao<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents at Harnwell College House expressed frustration with frequent elevator-related issues amid the building\u2019s ongoing two-year modernization project.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-174628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-philadelphia","9":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","10":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}