In what is quickly becoming a trend for the facility, Richardson Towers residence hall lost electricity for several hours Monday night- and many students are becoming annoyed with being left in the dark.
Peter Groenendyk, the associate director for Residence Life and Dining Services, said the outages are not due to any problems on campus, but rather a series of unfortunate events out of The University's control.
"I think these occurrences are a fluke happening, and we're hoping after Monday night, we'll be done with it. I've got my fingers crossed, anyway," Groenendyk said.
Since the beginning of the semester, Richardson Towers has suffered four different power outages, one due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, two due to damaged transformers and Monday night's outage, caused by a fallen tree which broke a power line.
"When things like this happen, there's really not a lot The University can do," Groenendyk said. "We just have to get in touch with MLGW and get them out here to fix the problem."
Because Richardson Towers operates on a separate power source than the rest of campus, no other buildings have been impacted by the outages.
The residence also operates on an emergency generator, so all emergency equipment was still operational.
"The problems we have aren't especially foreseeable," Groenendyk said. "Fortunately, we haven't had any significant loss or permanent damage from the problems."
Many students, however, are beginning to become frustrated with the continuing problems.
"There was one day, the power would go on for 30 minutes and then go out again - it went on like that all day," said Logan Boyd, a senior computer science major. "We need to have electricity where we live, it's not something we can just get along without."
One store clerk at a Richardson Towers dining facility, who wished to not be identified, said that her store has suffered significant harm from the recent power failures.
"I lost everything in my freezer, and this last time, I had a damaged vending machine which won't accept any money now," she said. "I've got leaks from the ceiling, damaged floors which I remodeled just last year, and The University isn't going to cover any of it." The woman said it is going to take a significant investment on her part to repair the damage to her store and the loss of her goods.
"A lot of residents are sick and tired of this, and we don't see any end in sight," said Robert Willamson, a senior political science major. Willamson was working on a paper due the next day when the power went out, causing him to lose all his work. "We pay too much money to stay on campus and for this to happen."
Richardson Towers sent a memo to all its residents last night explaining the situation, and stressing they will do everything in their power to prevent another power outage from happening in the future.
