In a campus wide email sent at 7:48 p.m., the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety said they have identified the cause of the power outage and are actively working to restore power. 

The university does not yet have an estimated time and anticipates it may still be hours before power is fully restored. 

Residence and dining halls are being powered by generators; in order to conserve resources, the MSU Union will close at 8 p.m. Light towers are also being placed at campus intersections.

MSU is working with Verizon Wireless to alleviate cellular service disruptions by bringing mobile units to campus, the email read. Cellular service should improve as students move off campus.  

DPPS said students should be aware Green Light phones may not be working and, in the event of an emergency, should call or text 911. For non-emergencies, students are advised to call or text 517-355-2221.

Resident Assistants across campus were notified that students will begin losing access to enter and leave the building. RAs will be stationed at main residence hall entry points to let residents in and out using rosters. 

Communications senior Lauren Lee, who was in a group of students gathered outside Owen Hall, said her whole hallway went dark shortly after the lights began flickering. Lee went downstairs to talk with the front desk, only to find they weren’t aware of what was going on either. 

“They can’t get calls through, then come to find out it's all of campus,” Lee said. “I think there is an ambulance here in the East wing. The elevator got stuck and there was people on it.”

MSU DPPS spokesperson Nadia Vizueta was unavailable for comment at the time of publication. It is unclear how many students were stuck in elevators as a result of the power outage.

Dietetics sophomore Lucy Weiss, who was also outside Owen Hall, overheard someone talking with the paramedics about what to do with the insulin in their fridge. 

“That’s just scary to think about, and frustrating,” Weiss said. “I personally can’t contact anyone, so if I was by myself, I would have no idea what was going on or anything like that.”

MSU University Health and Wellbeing advises students storing medication in their refrigerators to keep the doors closed unless absolutely necessary. Most refrigerated medications are unaffected by being in the fridge without power for up to 24 hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but UHW recommends checking medication websites for specific information. 

Weiss wasn’t alone in her frustrations. Finance freshman Aidan Iftoni, who was turned away from Akers dining hall directly after the power outage, said he was walking to Chipotle because Uber Eats wouldn’t work without WiFi.

Business management freshman Diya Harsha went to Kimchi Box, another restaurant on Grand River Ave, with her friends for dinner because they were also turned away from the dining halls.  

“We were trying to go to Akers because we live in Hubbard, and they said, ‘Nope, obviously we’re closed, the power's gone,’ so I asked them about the Spartys and they laughed in my face,” Harsha said. 

Brody, Akers, Case, Snyder-Phillips and Landon dining halls served prepared foods from 5-7 p.m., according to an Eat At State Instagram post.

Corey Bennett, the sous chef at Snyder-Phillip Hall's The Gallery, said they are going to "get rid of cooked food that's hot and safe and that’d be it."

“Once the food's out, it’s out, we can’t cook anymore," Bennett said. 

Biomedical laboratory science senior Yesenia Gujardo, who was outside Mason Hall, said she doesn't know how she will get ready for work while it is pitch-black. 

Her roommate, kinesiology junior Abby Rychlick, said the same for studying in the dark, especially with the lack of WiFi, prohibiting her from using her iPad. 

“It’s the weekend and I wanted to get ready and I don’t have anything to do,” Rychlick said. “I was studying, that stopped. I was doing my laundry, that stopped. But hopefully it comes back on soon and everyone's doing their part to work on it.”

Many students also expressed frustration that their weekend plans to have fun were interrupted by the power outage. Physiology and international relations sophomore Zachary McNelley said he and his friends were still going to find a way to watch the Michigan State football game against Notre Dame. 

“I was gonna go home tomorrow morning, but I want to stay on campus to watch the game so I think we’re gonna go to our friend's apartment,” McNelley said.