“It was raining that day, and I was
running late for class. The steps are just so far apart and weirdly spaced and
it was slippery and my rain boots were too big on me and they were heavy,”
freshman Chelsey Mims has to take a breath before she can continue. We are
sitting in the Starbucks in Hodges as Chelsey recounts to me the horrible
experience that led her to forever fear the steps by Alumni Memorial Building.
“I fell over onto my side, and my
backpack was heavy and fell to the side with me. My arm broke my fall, and it
didn’t break or anything but it still hurt for like a week afterwards. People
just kept walking, no one stopped to help me, and no one even looked at me. I
pushed myself back up and went to class, but my umbrella was broken and my entire
left side was soaking wet. It was so terrible. I couldn’t look anyone else in
the eye for the rest of the day.”
Chelsey is
one of many victims of the steps at AMB. With their uneven spacing and strange
height, they pose a threat to every student on UT’s campus. But the victims now
refuse to suffer in silence. Chelsey refuses to walk up those steps anymore,
and instead skips any classes she has on the Hill. Although her GPA may be
suffering, she says that it will never equal the suffering she experienced on
that fateful rainy day.
Chelsey hopes to inspire other students to come forward
and share their stories, regardless of what their peers might think. She will
also be starting a support group on campus for those who regularly fall over on
their way to class. Members include that girl who tripped trying to get on the
bus and got stuck under the wheel and anyone who slipped on ice on the way to
class last month.
Clumsiness
is a serious epidemic on campus, and although some of it can be blamed on the
uneven and barely navigable terrain of Knoxville, the Tangerine encourages
students to seek help if they find themselves tripping on nothing or running
into doors.
By: Anita Knapp
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