The west side of the Ferris State campus remained dark and quiet over the weekend as power outage struggles continued.
On April 3, approximately 500 students living in Cramer and Bond Hall were informed that they needed to evacuate by 10 p.m. following a day-long outage.
Students were offered temporary housing or a $100 credit to their student account from the university.
Following this announcement, on Friday, April 4, residents of West Campus were offered temporary housing options or the same $100 credit to their student account.
The university released an updated statement on April 4 stating that the Facilities Department was working with Muskegon-based Newkirk Electric to repair and replace damaged power lines caused by severe weather.
The statement also said that scheduled online and in-person classes to operate on Monday, April 7. Students with questions were encouraged to reach out to professors directly.
The next day, on April 5 at 1:30 p.m., Ferris posted on their social media that power would be out in Puterbaugh and Henderson Hall for six to eight hours for crews to repair damaged lines affecting other parts of campus.
Power was restored to these buildings a few hours later with an update that power would be off in these residence halls again at 7 a.m. on April 6 to continue repairs.
Despite the outreach efforts made by the university, social work senior Kenith Irvin stated that the lack of communication and transparency was frustrating.
“I think that what really needs to change, and what’s really gross to me is the lack of transparency for college students and adults at this point,” Irvin said. “I want this to change for future people who want to go to school here because I wouldn’t recommend it to my younger siblings to come to school here.”
Irvin also stated it was not communicated clearly that the David L. Eisler Center was extending hours for students and that many individuals missed out on the opportunity to charge their devices and stay warm because of this lack of communication.
The university’s statement on Friday stated that power could be restored to the west side of campus by Monday afternoon.
Automotive engineering technology sophomore Luke Wilda stated that despite the inconvenience of the evacuation, the university was not at fault for the situation.
“I think I’m pretty optimistic, it’s kind of like an adventure,” Wilda said. “It’s kind of annoying, but it’s not really their fault, they didn’t cause the storm that caused the damage.”
As a part of the outreach efforts, the university opened the Rock Cafe and the Quad Cafe to students without a meal plan and impacted by the power outage, allowing them to eat for free.
A shuttle bus was also scheduled to run between campus and various hotels in the area, stopping at the Rock Cafe, David Eisler Center, the Student Recreation Center and FLITE.
Welding engineering technology freshman Ayden Summers stated that the evacuation out of Cramer Hall was stressful and unfair to students.
“It’s pretty annoying that they couldn’t have either waited until the next day or told us earlier this morning to be out by 10 p.m.,” Summers said. “Like, you shouldn’t really have to think about doing something like that up at college. A lot of people don’t have somebody that say they can just, you know, show up and stay a night there for a couple days.”
On April 6, the university issued a press release stating that power had been restored to all campus living spaces.
Students were welcomed back to their dorms and apartments at 4 p.m. that afternoon. The total extent of the damage that had to be repaired remains unknown.