Concerns discussed

By Penny Rynberk

The status of the elevator repairs occuring in the Stevenson and Grant Towers residence halls was one of the issues sparking student concern at a panel discussion last night.

Student Association President Preston Came, Student Regent James Mertes and six university officials answered questions of a small group of students in Douglas Hall. The group addressed several current issues of student concern.

One student mentioned her concern with the lack of consistency in elevator service throughout Stevenson and Grant Towers.

Director of the Physical Plant John Gardner said all of the tower elevators will receive new fire safety controls. He added the Physical Plant already replaced the generators of two elevators.

Gardner said the fire safety controls should arrive around the end of February. However, he is not sure how long it will take for the plant to install them. “It shouldn’t take too terribly long (to install the controls),” he said.

The total cost of the fire safety controls is $185,000 and the generators cost between $3,000 and $4,000, Gardner said.

Associate Vice President of Business and Operations Pat Hewitt said the cost is covered by the residence hall repair reserve, totaling at least $3 million .

Another issue involved the clarification of the King Memorial Commons statue price. Mertes said the total cost for the statue, including artist fees, is around $120,000.