W&L Community Endures Summer Power Outage
W&L Community Endures Summer Power Outage
Staff, faculty and students faced the construction mishap in the middle of a heat wave.
(The headquarters of Washington and Lee Public Safety and its environs during summer construction. | SOURCE: Author)
Foragers for air conditioning and outlets, refugees from the Village to the ARC House, and those who just “enjoyed” the moment by playing some pong against the backdrop of a pitch-dark Village: June’s campus-wide power outage had it all. While the blackout represented half a day’s discomfort for many, no power during an extreme heat wave was a more serious matter for others.
On June 23, Washington and Lee University experienced an unplanned power outage, occurring on a day with a high temperature of over 95 degrees. The outage originated from a construction worker accidentally jackhammering through a power conduit near the headquarters of W&L’s Public Safety and the adjacent Heating and Cooling Plant shortly before noon. As first reported by the Lexington News-Gazette, the university-employed contractor received significant injuries after striking a 13,000-volt electrical line, later receiving medical care at the scene of the incident.
Additionally, the accident started a small fire in the area, which was seemingly put out with no lasting damage.
Lexington Fire Chief Ty Dickerson confirmed to The Spectator that “one patient was transported to the local hospital here in Lexington.” Regarding the identity and condition of the patient, however, Dickerson said he is “not permitted to release any patient information” and that they have “no way to obtain current patient status after transferring care to the hospital.”
Additionally, The Spectator reached out to W&L’s university architect and W&L Public Safety for comment on the outage, but has not received a response from either.
At 12:41, the university, through its General Alerts system, sent a message to community members notifying them of the outage.
(Email message sent out to the community through General Alerts. | SOURCE: Author)
When asked about her experiences in the wake of the outage, Esther Mukunzi, ‘28, a summer community assistant, said she was “still a little in shock” and she just “took the rest of the day off.” Following the outage, many professors and students stopped on-campus work for the day, either moving virtually or being forced to deal with the issues resulting from the outage.
In Mukunzi’s view, “most people were worried about the heat, about their food, and most importantly, the darkness in their apartment.” She found it curious how there was no backup electricity in the Village Apartments — where most summer scholars live — plunging the whole area into darkness.
Card swipes, typically used to access apartments and buildings on campus, were rendered useless by the power outage. Mukunzi emphasized the assistance of the W&L Office of Housing and Residence Life (commonly referred to as ResLife) in getting summer residents the keys to their apartments.
Even if they were able to gain access to their apartments, many chose to remain elsewhere, as most on-campus housing was left without air conditioning. However, she added that “some of the people chose to remain in their apartments since they were still cool,” especially compared to the blistering heat outside.
Many quickly realized that, beyond lacking air conditioning, the outage also made charging smartphones and other devices impossible. This led students to take refuge in buildings unaffected by the outage, including Mattingly House, the ARC House, 218 E. Nelson St., and the Liberty Hall Farmhouse.
The outage naturally impacted the experience of students in the Advanced Immersion and Mentoring (AIM) Program, designed for incoming freshmen, as well. However, Cayla Nelson ‘28, who served as a Peer Advisor for the AIM Program, emphasized their resilience, saying that “while it was definitely an unexpected occurrence, the AIM students were very adaptable and patient with the alternative housing plan.” She complimented the university staff as well, finding that W&L Student Affairs and Public Safety were “very helpful during the entire ordeal, assisting the cohort with the move to 4 and 5 Henry St for the night.”
Another office ResLife, provided temporary housing in the ARC House and 218 E Nelson St, doing so “on a first-come first-serve basis.”
“We reached out to University Facilities to assess the impact of the outage, prioritizing summer residents' access to their apartments (due to card reader failure) and air conditioning. As the outage extended and we became aware of the potential duration, we secured alternative, unaffected, air-conditioned campus housing for students who wanted or needed it,” wrote Hannah Phillips, associate director of Residence Life.
“An unplanned outage is never ideal for anyone, but we acted quickly and according to normal procedure. I’d also like to shout out our summer Community Assistants (CAs) who did a wonderful job supporting our office and summer residents,” she added. When asked about what ResLife learned from this event, if anything, Dr. Phillips confidently responded with “N/A” on behalf of the office.
For possible future unplanned outages, she recommends students to “obtain essential personal safety items like a flashlight and an external power bank.” Other tips include using “a UL-approved surge protector for electronics” as well as getting a “renter’s insurance for all students occupying campus housing at any point of the year to potentially help with any issues that may arise from an unexpected event such as a power outage.”