An additional elevator in the Holmes Student Center might be considered to make the lower level of the center accessible to the handicapped.

The Student Services and Activities Space Study Committee will meet Friday at 3 p.m. in Room 506 of the student center to discuss the idea.

The proposal arose after SA President Paula Radtke, who is also committee co-chairman, presented a recommendation to install a stairlift.

Radtke said installing a stairlift would cost between $50,000 and $80,000.

The key-operated stairlift would allow students in wheelchairs to travel along the stairs without having to get out of their wheelchair, Radtke said. The lift also would have a seat to accommodate the visually impaired, she said.

Keys would be distributed to all handicapped students interested in using the stairlift, Radtke said.

oland Schreiber, committee member and NIU Physical Plant assistant director, said the cost of installing an elevator to service handicapped students would cost about the same as installing a stairlift. Schreiber said he would provide Radtke with elevator installation cost estimates to present to the committee.

Radtke said the committee might continue discussion on the plan Friday, but she might not receive the elevator information from Schreiber until the next meeting, scheduled for March 10.

The stairlift could be installed at the entrance of the Sandburg Auditorium, located on the first floor of the student center, Radtke said.

The auditorium is not the best place to install a stairlift, but it “may be what we have to work with” because of space problems that already exist in the student center, she said.

If a stairlift is built near the auditorium entrance, handicapped students travelling to the Student Activities Center—which contains the Students’ Legal Assistance and Campus Activities Board offices—would have to wheel through the Huskies’ Den and a locker room on the lower level in order to reach the offices, she said.

Installing the stairlift at the auditorium entrance “would be an improvement, but obviously not the best situation” because the auditorium is a high student traffic area, Radtke said.

At the Friday meeting, the committee also will continue discussion about a student-developed space allocation proposal that is more than one year old. The proposal recommends reallocating student center office space so similar offices are on the same floor.