An elevator in Lafayette College’s newest residence hall has become stuck twice this month while in motion, trapping a total of five students inside.
The most recent incident in McCartney II, which took place on Sept. 12, occurred just before 8 p.m. and trapped three students in “elevator two” for 30 minutes, according to Jeff Troxell, the director of public safety. No one was injured.
In the first 10 minutes of the emergency, Lafayette Public Safety officers and Easton Fire Department representatives attempted to open the door, the finding that the elevator car was stuck between the first and second floors.
“They had to go up to the third floor and open that door,” Troxell said of the officers during the event. “Then they put a ladder in there and got down to the top of the elevator, opened the hatch, dropped another ladder down inside and got the students out.”
Otis Elevator Company, the elevator company that manufactured the McCartney II elevator, was called to the scene shortly after the students were rescued. The elevator re-opened at approximately 10:15 p.m. that night.
Otis employees on the scene pointed to specific sensors in the elevator as a potential cause of the incident. Troxell said that should these sensors “get disturbed” or “moved around,” the elevator will shut down.
Troxell added that the Office of Residence Life and McCartney II residents were notified of the incident that night. A Residence Life email to McCartney II residents on Sept. 12 told them to refrain from using the elevator for the rest of the night.
A representative from Residence Life declined to comment.
A representative from Otis’ Lehigh Valley branch declined to comment, deferring comment to the national branch — the branch did not respond for comment in time for publication.
In 2023, an elevator manufactured by Otis in an Easton high-rise was out of service for four months, according to Lehigh Valley Live.
Chris Brosnan ‘25, a resident of McCartney II, found out about the incident from fire truck sirens outside the dorm.
“I think some people were annoyed or slightly inconvenienced, but I don’t think it was a huge deal,” Brosnan said of the incident.
Five McCartney II residents spoken to by The Lafayette have avoided the elevator since the incident, as of Wednesday.
Last week’s incident came 10 days after another incident with elevator two. On Sept. 2, two students were stuck between the second and third floor, also resulting in an emergency call to Public Safety. The students were stuck in the elevator for around 30 minutes.
An elevator had not been stuck in a college residence hall since April 2023 in Fisher West, according to Troxell.
“There’s an emergency phone in there,” Troxell said of what to do if an elevator gets stuck. “Hit that red button that comes to us — we’ll be able to identify exactly where the person is in the elevator and then we go from there. We’ll send an officer, call the fire department.”
