Lawler-Harkins, one of Delta State’s oldest residence dorms on campus, is a three-story building with no elevator.

Lawler-Harkins’ stairs are steep and narrow with low railings which have raised questions for Delta State.

Shania Mugford, a resident in Lawler-Harkins for two years, states, “I don’t feel comfortable enough to carry heavy objects up the stairs without any correct support like railings or even an elevator. It can be very dangerous to go down the stairs even if you don’t carry anything. One slip and you are scared for your life.”

Without any elevators, many students on the third and second floors struggle to move in or out on the last or first day of school. 

The landings are also very narrow. Residents state that only one person can go up or down the stairs at a time, which can be odd at times if there is a group of girls going up the stairs and there isn’t room to stand and wait. 

Mugford also states, “Being one of the people who have to live on the second floor because of the sororities, some days we don’t want to deal with the stairs if we are tired or don’t want to deal the sororities’ decoration that hangs from the ceilings or anything else. We simply want our space and safe stairs to use.”

There have been rumors about a new dorm that is being built for sororities, or possibly for the residents who do not want to live in an elevator-less Lawler-Harkins.