What first started as a slight power outage turned into a campus wide outage resulting in canceled classes and events on Friday, October 11.
It started after students received an email early Friday morning letting them know that a power outage affecting a small part of campus would result in classes being adapted to the compressed class schedule. University Police, dining halls, and Health Services were still planned to operate normally.
Roughly two hours later, another email was sent letting students know that all classes would be held online, and the power outage had spread to cover every building in the newer part of campus, while the old part of campus was left unscathed and considered a place of refuge for those who needed internet access for their online classes.
Because Boozel Dining Hall and the Smith Student Center were affected in the outage, students were only able to eat at Weisenfluh Dining Hall until two food trucks came in to accommodate students with meal plans. Morrow Field House and Patterson Hall would remain open until 11.p.m. to act as a Wi-Fi refuge as most resident halls had no access to power.
Campus was without power until around 3 p.m. when students received an email letting them know that most of campus was back up and running as normal, but classes would continue to remain virtual. Fortunately, the power outage did not affect any of the homecoming festivities that students were getting prepared for.
The power outage was caused by a short in a manhole cover near the lower campus electrical feeding route’s cable, according to a statement from Slippery Rock University’s Senior Director of University Marketing and Communication Ken Bach at this week’s Borough Council meeting. He also said power was restored everywhere but Critchfield Stadium, where repairs are expected to be made in the next few weeks.
SRU gave The Rocket an official statement of the situation upon request for comment:
“The problem occurred when a medium voltage connection failed in the underground distribution system between Bailey Library and the Eisenberg Classroom Building. The University will have a planned power outage in the next few weeks to allow for repairs and maintenance resulting from the failure. All students and employees will be notified in advance of the planned outage, which will occur at a day and time that will have minimal impact to campus operations.”
