Computer engineering freshmen Brandon Turner and Eric Puidokas found themselves in the dark and worried about missing early classes when Case Hall lost power early Monday morning - twice.
"We sat in the hallway with our mentor just talking about stuff until about 1:15," Turner said. "We were waiting for power to come back so we could set an alarm. I had a class at 8 a.m. that I wouldn't have woken up for."
Case lost power at 12:15 a.m. and then again at 3 a.m. for the second outage this semester. The hall experienced similar blackout problems on Aug. 25.
Staying up late the first time didn't matter, Puidokas said.
"Incidentally, the power did go off again and the alarm never did go off," he said.
But Turner made it to his 8 a.m. class, anyway.
"All luck, though, all luck," he said.
Building Services Manager Gus Gosselin said 50-year-old cables were to blame.
"The cable deteriorates over age, and sometimes it leaks and can't carry the electrical current," he said.
Four Physical Plant employees worked past 3 a.m. to restore power.
"We do not have people on call contractually," Gosselin said. "We just have dedicated Physical Plant employees who called in to respond."
After the first blackout, Gosselin said plant employees thought they had remedied the problem.
"The first time, they checked and re-energized the system and the circuit held without a problem," he said.
When the power once again failed, the employees worked to re-route the Case Hall switch with another switch at neighboring Cherry Lane Apartments.
Gosselin said plans have been made to replace the cables in the 4,160-watt-campus-wide electrical systems with a 13,200-watt system upgrade within the next five years. Wiring on campus south of the Red Cedar River should be done within the next two years, with the northern part of campus next on the list, he said.
"We know that the cable is old and a problem, but it takes millions of dollars to upgrade electrical systems," Gosselin said. "This is such a big project, and we wouldn't want to rush it."
Gosselin said it is uncertain how much longer the re-routed cables will last.
"It could last another five years, or it could go again tomorrow," he said. "The cables are just like an old car. It could be running one day, but there is no guarantee it will run the next day."
And Case Hall isn't alone in the electrical problems. Yakeley Hall also had a power outage on Aug. 29.
West Circle Manager Pam Marcis commented on the power outage shortly after it occurred.
"We had Physical Plant check into it and one of six transformers was out," Marcis said. "So power loss was sporadic in the hall by 11 p.m. and they had an emergency generator hooked up."
Gosselin said he has no reason to suspect any more power outages on campus.
Case Hall Manager Tim Knight said he will make accommodations for students if another power outage occurs.
"It would depend on the day, time and length of a power outage," he said. "We would take care of the most immediate things first, and if the power was out beyond a couple hours, we would get more people involved."
Knight said staff members would work to excuse any student who had missed an exam due to the power outage.
Although the electricity problem has been corrected, some Case Hall residents remain upset by the inconvenience the lack of power caused.
"Some people were typing papers that they didn't save and they lost like five pages," no-preference freshman Dan McLear said. "Room and board should include a flashlight here."
