The fact that the Ewha campus is built on a rather lofty hill makes sloping pathways inevitable. Yet, it is crucial that adjustments be made on such roads as they can be dangerously slippery on rainy or snowy days. Despite years of requests for safer sidewalks, the particularly steep road in front of the Law Building leading to Hanwoori Hall continues to have safety issues for various reasons.
Currently, several chained cones are the only indicators that distinguish the sidewalk from the road in front of the Law Building. Although the university installed an anti-sliding concrete pavement along the steep uphill pathway leading to Hanwoori Hall in August of 2014, accidents have continued to occur among dormitory residents and law students who walk these areas most frequently.
“Every year, we hear of students who slip and fall on the road along the Law Building and the dormitory,” said a security guard of Hanwoori Hall. “The unlucky injured students usually get scraped knees or a sprained ankle. The dangerous roads will become a bigger issue once the construction of the new dormitory is complete and more than 2,000 students are admitted as residents of Hanwoori Hall.”
The threat of the pathway of the Law Building has long concerned not only the students, but also the school faculties. This issue was addressed by Ewha Voice two years ago. However, the promise to build a stairway that connects the Law Building and the dormitory has been postponed to this day. There are several reasons for the delay besides the obvious ones: time and expense. For one, it has been difficult to schedule a construction date that would not interfere with the studies of law students.
“We had to postpone the construction plan indefinitely because the timing unexpectedly overlapped with the law students’ bar examination period,” said Lee Jong-won, Deputy General Manager in the Facilities Maintenance Department. “The school didn’t want to risk disturbing the students’ exam with the inevitable noise and dust caused by the construction.”
Another reason for the delay is that the school is planning to gradually adjust various roads on campus. For example, the roads near the Pharmaceutical Science Building were rectified last year. As for this year, the school has recently built a new sidewalk that connects the Main Hall, Ewha Centennial Library, and Helen Hall.
“The road near the Law Building will be the next project, and planning will begin during the summer vacation,” Lee said. “Although details of the plan haven’t been outlined yet, the sidewalk will connect the Law Building, the wooden stairs leading to the dormitory, and the intersection at Hanwoori Hall. Repairing roads damaged by heavy construction vehicles is another step we will take as soon as the construction for the new dormitory has finished.”
Since the sidewalk alone may not be sufficient enough to protect dormitory residents during rainy or snowy days when the roads are especially slippery, further measures will take place.
“If handrails seem necessary for students’ safety, they will be added as well since the safety of students is our top priority,” Lee said.
Many years of students’ demands for a safer sidewalk along the Law Building and Hanwoori Hall have finally led the school to come up with a real specific plan.