Brandeis University boasts a beautiful campus, littered with edifices old and new, featuring their own contemporary technologies. As the snowy season commences and the days get colder, the university must make sure that all of the technology works properly as part of its obligation to community safety. However, there are examples all around campus that show the university’s lack of attention to its maintenance obligations.

The Village, home to the midyears and some sophomores, juniors and seniors features an elevator with an inspection certificate expiring in August 2015. One semester later, that certificate is still there. I had serious doubts about the status of the unit, as it has a tendency to just not move on certain floors and it consistently groans when it reaches the fourth floor. However, I have recently learned that the elevator is in fact up to date on its inspection, and is just awaiting the arrival of the certificate.

The main problem in the Village elevator’s case is not that there’s anything significantly wrong with the unit (besides its continued groaning and stalling), but rather that the university waited so long to get it inspected. Other units that had expiring certificates, like in Ziv, Mandel and the Shapiro Campus Center (SCC), received replacements in short order. For nearly half a year now, though, Village residents have been utilizing an elevator with an invalid inspection, and that is just unacceptable.

The university needs to make sure that this kind of uncertainty is not present on campus. To have invalid inspection certificates displayed, even if the buildings are properly inspected, only causes fear. If something does go wrong, people will be even more afraid.

Take the Golding building in the Mandel Quad for example. It sports an inspection certificate that expired in the early 2000s. Last year’s severe winter took its toll on the quad, damaging the water pipelines in the building. As recently as last semester, the water fountain in that building that broke in part due to cold conditions still was out of commission. Do faculty want to teach in a building with plumbing problems and an invalid inspection certificate? Do students want to learn in such an environment?

A specific word comes to mind when thinking of the Golding example: negligence. It is negligent for the university to leave invalid inspection certificates mounted on building walls. It is negligent for it to leave amenities out of service, especially in buildings with invalid certificates. It fails to give reassurance to the community that their environment is safe.

This winter is not predicted to be as bad as it was last year, but we can still expect bitter cold temperatures that threaten older water pipelines. It would be reassuring to not see inspection certificates that went invalid upwards of 30 years ago, like in Shiffman.

Despite negligence to structures around campus, the snow and ice removal crews did an amazing job keeping the grounds clear and safe for the community to use last winter, putting salt down to keep the school’s doors open. They allow us to feel safe when we venture out into what some of us would deem a frozen wasteland. The feeling of safety can mean the difference between calm and panic, even if it is derived from a valid inspection certificate in a stalled elevator or in a flooding building.

What I ask of the university is not outlandish and should not require additional expenditures. Building and technology maintenance must be conducted on a regular basis, and it cannot be proper unless there is basic reassuring paperwork saying that it is done. If the Village’s elevator really is inspected, where is the certificate? What is the point of keeping aging inspection certificates displayed?

In the wake of this newfound winter, Brandeis’ internal maintenance crews need to make sure that all inspections are up-to-date and that it is properly displayed for the well-being of us all. It won’t break the bank, it’ll only make us feel more confident in the university. Then as a community we can be sure that the university goes the extra mile to keep us safe from negligence.