Many students were not surprised when they noticed that another elevator was out of service on campus. What students didn’t expect, however, was for their packages to be picked up from an entirely different building through the end of the academic year. While some students were aware of the relocation, others were confused about how sudden it was, with many stating they did not receive an email about the new relocation. With students befuddled about why the relocation was temporary until the end of the academic year, we had to get to the bottom of this. Here is what The Megaphone knows about the post office relocation and why it happened, as well as concerns it has raised for not only convenience’s sake but for accessibility as well. To get a better understanding of the timeline of the relocation, I reached out to Ed Bahr, supervisor of mail services, as well as the president (Emily Dimiceli) and co-vice president (Olivia Chambers) of the Coalition of Chronic Illness (CCI). 

The new location for the post office’s package deliveries is on the first floor of Cullen, room 121, which is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM. A sign can be found on Cullen’s door, and similar signs are on Cullen’s right side wall when walking into the building, directing students to the new location for the post office. Signs about the relocation can also be found on the third floor of the Mccombs Campus Center, where it is usually located. Only package pickup has been moved to the new location, while stamping, letters, and mailbox delivery pickups remain on the third floor of the Mccombs Campus Center. According to Stephanie Light, data entry clerk at the post office, a lot of packages come in, as many as 400 packages a day. Assuming delivery folks would be forced to carry large packages up and down the McCombs stairs, she reasoned, as well as student accessibility complications, the Cullen first-floor relocation was the best solution to the issue. 

This relocation to Cullen, however, is only a recent decision to replace the initial relocation, which was Mundy Hall. Students may recall trekking to the Mundy building to pick up packages, which was a farther distance from the McCombs Campus Center than Cullen. The relocation of delivery services for picking up packages from McCombs Campus Center to the Mundy Hall building occurred on December 9th, 2024, during the week of finals, a week before winter break. According to Ed Bahr, the relocation of Post Office package delivery and pick-up to Mundy Hall was announced in campus notices on December 7th and December 9th, 2024. Campus notices were then sent on December 12th and December 13th, 2024, to announce the new relocation to the Cullen Building on Monday, December 16th, 2024.

The relocation of Post Office services was solely due to both the McCombs main and service elevators being out of order due to a power surge that occurred on November 14th, 2024, which affected not just Southwestern University’s campus, but the City of Georgetown as well, causing widespread power outages. This surge caused significant damage to several elevators across campus, according to Bahr. However, as of February 10th, the service elevator is now in operation while the McCombs main elevator is still out of order until the end of the academic year. Students were curious why the McCombs main elevator would have to be out of commission for the rest of the academic year while elevators such as the one in Cullen were repaired sooner. Bahr answered this question with: “the McCombs Campus Center elevators are older, making it more difficult to source parts compared to newer elevators like the one in the Cullen Building.” Therefore, it can be assumed that repairs for the McCombs elevators will take much longer.  

How long can an elevator be out of service before it begins to violate ADA guidelines? While there doesn’t seem to be an exact time frame for how long an elevator can be “out of service,” ADA states that building owners are required to take immediate action, and to notify those affected as well as to provide alternate access.

I spoke with Olivia Chambers, co-vice president of CCI, as well as Emily Dimiceli, president of CCI, to see how the post office relocation and power surge affected students with disabilities and to further gather a timeline of the incident from its beginning. They shared that on November 21st, 2024, Student Life emailed students with accommodations regarding mobility concerns with an update on the elevators in McCombs campus center being out of service, stating that repairs could take up to 10 months to resolve. The email also provided contacts for specific departments as VP Brit Katz states “that all of the affected departments stand ready to help all students with accessibility needs until the elevators are restored.” 

Campus notices announced the relocation to Mundy Hall December 7th and 9th, and an SU Communications email was sent out on December 12th, informing the SU Communications mailing list of the November 14th outage, which elevators were out of service, accessibility alternatives, as well as a repair timeline. The timeline stated the McCombs freight elevator was scheduled to be back in service by the end of the week, and that timelines for the other elevator repairs were still being finalized and expected to remain out of service until the end of the academic year. With the start of spring semester, postmaster campus notices were issued on January 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, and 21st regarding updates.

However, there is just one problem: letters and other deliveries that fit in the mailbox are still being received at the McCombs campus center, and employees still have to work in the McCombs office. I had the opportunity to interview Emily Dimiceli to further discuss the post office relocation and elevator outages. Alongside the information mentioned above, Emily Dimiceli made a point that events, offices, and other services were still regularly held on the second and third floors, such as the JEDI center on the third floor of McCombs, for example. Students, staff, and faculty will still struggle with accessibility to work and activities with the McCombs elevator outages. Dimiceli also mentioned that Cullen still manages to be a significant distance away from student housing compared to the McCombs building, and that travelling (either by foot or by wheelchair) to and from Cullen, especially with heavy packages, can be encumbering. Walking such distances can put strain on disabled students on foot, and Dimiceli further mentioned that wheelchair accessibility is limited while traveling across campus, citing the very few curb ramps in parking lots around  Herman Brown and Moody Shearn, as well as Lords Center as examples. 

Members of CCI regularly update each other on when elevators are out of service as soon as possible. They rely on each other to announce when elevators are out of service, as disabled students have to anticipate accessibility for their daily routines. For instance, a newly discovered elevator out of service without prior notice would result in disabled students having to skip class as they simply could not access their classes that day in buildings with out-of-service elevators.

Because of the power surge on November 14th, elevators in the McCombs Campus Center were left significantly damaged, leading to post office package pickup services being relocated not once, but twice. The elevator outage in the McCombs Campus Center still impacts disabled students, faculty and staff’s accessibility to other campus activities.CCI and the campus community could agree that the fairly frequent elevator outages are a cause of concern, especially when lasting as long as a semester. Accessibility is crucial to maintain as disabled students are otherwise unable to thrive academically. While emails and campus notices were sent out with best regards, there is still much to be done for Southwestern University to improve its accessibility for disabled students. The students and officers of CCI work hard to spread awareness and advocate for the rights of students with chronic illnesses and disabilities, as well as ways to improve Southwestern University’s accessibility.