New safety features that Vice President for Campus Operations Mark Collins said would be in place on East Quad Hill by the start of this semester have not yet been added.Collins and Student Union officials say a railing will be put in place within the next few weeks. Collins said in December that Facilities would add a new coat of asphalt to the hill and build a third railing along the middle of the path, as many students, including members of the Campus Operations Working Group, complain the hill is slippery and unsafe.

COWG is a group of undergraduates that brings student concerns about campus infrastructure to Collins. Senator at Large Andrew Brooks '09, a COWG member and East Quad resident, said he brought the issue to Collins' attention.

East Quad Senator Jessica Blumberg '09 said in December she was aware of several injuries due to the hill.

Collins said the improvements haven't been made yet because Facilities Services was busy over winter break with higher priority projects, such as moving the pipelines by the hill closer to Kutz Hall.

"Fortunately, the hill has been kept well-salted and I have not heard of anyone getting hurt since returning to school," Blumberg said.

"[Until] the construction is done, we will continue to treat the hill as necessary to prevent ice buildup," Collins said. "And I would encourage students to also consider using the stairs on either side of the path."

The middle railing would only be a temporary solution to the hazard of the steep hill.

Collins said last December that completely fixing the hill by building a staircase or platforms would require lengthy planning and careful budgeting, but did not rule out that possibility in the future.