Due to two unrelated power outages across campus, many students spent their first day back learning in dark classrooms.
“This is the first time in my 27 years [at Ferris], that we’ve ever had two separate outages occur at the same time,” Michael Hughes, assistant vice president of the Ferris Physical Plant, said.
According to Hughes, Ferris has had minimal outages in the last 27 years. The recent failures have been due to old equipment.
Most of the equipment is 30 to 50 years old.
“We’ve been working on rebuilding and replacing [electrical equipment],” Hughes said.
An outage caused by a transformer failure occurred on the northeast side of campus on Jan. 13. The transformer was over 40 years old and has been replaced, according to Hughes.
Ferris pre-med sophomore Danielle Metts said the halls in the Alumni Building were pitch black. Metts said she was in class for 15 minutes before her professor decided to dismiss everyone.
The transformer failure affected Prakken, Alumni, West, Granger and Automotive buildings.
“I was upset because it’s the first day back and we lost power and internet,” Ferris pharmacy senior and Puterbaugh resident Megan Gallagher said.
Puterbaugh, Henderson, Bond, Cramer, Westside Café, West Campus Apartments, Creative Arts Center and Southwest Commons were among the buildings affected by a blown fuse. The fuse was replaced as of 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 13, according to Ferris’ website.
According to Hughes, in the event of an outage, a team will be dispatched in approximately 30 minutes to assess and fix the problem at Ferris during normal business hours. If the outage occurs after business hours, a team will be called in.
“After the power was restored, my fan didn’t work properly,” Ferris social studies freshman and Bond Hall resident Evan Koski said. “It’s just an inconvenience.”