A broken lift on Campus West has exposed inadequate internal communications within the University.
Nouse can reveal that the approval of lift maintenance in Derwent Block L took place as early as January 2024, despite both York SU and Disability Services first claiming to have heard about the now out-of-order lift through students in December 2024.
The Norman Rea Gallery and the Department of Education has been inaccessible to students with mobility concerns from January 2025 to March 2025, but the parties involved should have been aware of this for more than 11 months.
The lift located outside Courtyard Bar in Derwent College, is undergoing repairs until March 6. Until then, Derwent Block L's upper floors are inaccessible for students who require wheelchair access whilst the repairs are completed.
The Department of Education, the Norman Rea Gallery and several common rooms and seminar rooms in the English Department are just some of the groups affected by the “essential work”.
Co-Directors of the Norman Rea Gallery, Evie Brett and Iris Beck raised their concerns with Nouse as the gallery space was inaccessible for their recent exhibition, ‘Adrenaline Junkie’.
They said, “such works were only brought to our attention first via a poster we came across in the lift on the first day of the Christmas holidays on Monday 16th December.”
They criticised the University for “only notifying the student body of the repairs over the course of the winter break, a time when many students would be absent and unaware of such maintenance."
“We still believe that the lack of alternative access routes in Derwent Block L is a considerable concern for the University. If any other buildings only have one accessible route and this route suddenly becomes out of action for maintenance and repair, this removes the entire function of that building for those who require mobility assistance, which is not acceptable.”
Nouse spoke to Alfie Yates, a student directly impacted by the accessibility issue. He said: “The short notice provided on the Derwent lift closure did not allow enough time for the current exhibition, ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ to be moved for disabled visitors unable to use the stairs, such as myself.
“Not being able to see one of the 4 main exhibitions of an academic year has been really disappointing for me,” he added.
Both Co-Directors raised their concerns in December with University Estates, the Student Union and Disability Services.
In an email provided to Nouse by the Norman Rea Gallery, Claire Wilkinson, Disability Administrator at the University's Disability Services said, “I'm afraid we are not often informed in advance of such works, so often we find out when students tell us there is an issue.”
Nouse also spoke to the Co-Heads of Education Kathryn Asbury and Vanita Sundaram about their department being inaccessible.
”We have not received any complaints about the non-working lift from students or from staff so far.” “However, we are monitoring this closely and if any concerns are raised we will be bringing them up with Estates immediately.”
The responses from both the Education Department to Nouse and Disability Services to the Norman Rea Gallery suggests, concerns need to be voiced directly by students to the University in order for them to be addressed.
When Nouse asked the Co-directors what they thought of Disability Services’ current method of finding out about maintenance works, they said, “this has made us severely question the role that the Disability Services Team plays at the University in how they are able to adequately inform students of such consequential changes to accessibility across campus.”
Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb and Freddy Russell - Activities Officer and Community & Wellbeing Officer at York SU said, “We remain particularly outraged that the University was so poor at communication on this front - given that the first York SU heard of such maintenance was from your concerns.”
The Gallery found it “particularly alarming” that York SU first learned of the matter through voicing their concerns about the “University’s oversight”.
However, communications between University Head of Estates, Andy Durrant and the Norman Rea Gallery suggest both York SU and Disability Services were represented at meetings discussing the lift repairs, and should have been aware of the issue as early as September 2024.
Durrant told the Gallery: “These works were first identified and highlighted at the September 24 Accessibility Working Group meeting. This group has a range of members from across the University including representation from the University Disability Services and York Student Union. Admittedly, at this stage there was not a full programme of the works.”
In response to these findings, the Co-Directors of the Norman Rea Gallery said, “this has also made us severely question the performance of those at York SU whose job description specifically details a responsibility for the University’s accessibility.”
When questioned about York SU’s presence at the Accessibility Working group meetings, Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb said, “Regarding the timeline of communication, we have determined that York SU does typically have membership on the Accessibility Working Group in the form of the Equality & Inclusion Officer. However, at the time of this meeting this Officer role was vacant, and no York SU representative was consulted.”
Although the Student Union was not present at this meeting, these issues should still have been communicated with them or preventative measures should have been put in place to notify the York SU of any ongoing works affecting students.
Whilst it has been said that York SU were not represented at the meeting in September 2024 due to the Equality & Inclusion Officer role being vacant, Nouse was given exclusive access to the Accessibility Working Group meetings Item-Decision-Action Log (IDA) which showed that approval was given to upgrade the lift as early as January 2024.
There is no evidence to suggest the York SU was not represented in the meeting discussing the lift at these times.
The quote from the log on 11 January 2024 said, “Approval was given yesterday to upgrade the lifts: Alcuin K, Derwent L, and JB Morrell Library bridge”.
In another meeting on 27 August 2024, the log showed that the Derwent L lift replacement had been ordered, “Derwent L lift replacement is on order”.
The findings show that the Derwent lift maintenance was discussed over a much longer period of time than initially stated and acknowledged by the parties involved.
The role of Equality & Inclusion Officer was not vacant for the entirety of this 11 month period. Therefore, York SU should have been present or at the very least aware of the approval of lift maintenance taking place in Derwent College.
Further to this, it is recorded on the York SU website that Ezrael Xie stepped down on Sunday 3 October although the meeting took place in September 2024.
Nouse also found the lift approval and order took place prior to the Equality & Inclusion Officer position’s vacancy in January and August 2024.
Co-Directors, Evie and Iris discussed with Nouse what policy changes they would like to see happen in wake of this issue.
“We would like to see that policy changes do indeed come into effect as a result of these frankly disgusting failures in accessibility, wherein communication becomes a considered priority (rather than a mere afterthought) for everyone affected by such maintenance works are notified during term time and with more than three weeks notice.”
Activities Officer, Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb commented on the accessibility issues:
“We are incredibly glad that the Estates Team are working collaboratively with us now to review access routes on campus, and ensure the University adopts stronger structures for maintenance and accessibility.
“Accessibility is absolutely vital to ensuring all students can participate in our vibrant campus activities.
“Our Equality and Inclusion Officer has now received an invitation to future meetings, and will prioritise attendance on behalf of all students,” she added.
A University spokesperson also said, “We are very sorry for the disruption that has been caused to members of our community with reduced mobility while we carry out essential safety repairs to the lift.
“We have taken steps to reduce disruption wherever possible.”
The University specified steps to mitigate the impact on the university community, “We engaged with the University’s Accessibility Working Group, which includes representatives from across the University, such as the University Disability Services and York Student Union.”
Disability Administrator Claire Wilkinson declined to comment. Nouse was provided evidence from an email sent by her to another party.
