Carson Bonner, Campus Carrier news editor
Jean Vincent, Campus Carrier staff writer
Over the past few weeks, academic and residential buildings have been experiencing power outages and broken air conditioning units, including a campus wide outage last Saturday. Cook, the third floor of West Dana, and several other buildings experienced air conditioning (AC) outages for several hours until the AC was able to be restored.
With record breaking temperatures, non-functioning AC has left students uncomfortable and lethargic. According to freshman Cai DeFelice, the heat in the Moon building makes it difficult for her to focus and study in class.
“It’s just really hot,” DeFelice said, “It makes me want to go to bed because it’s warm. It’s a little bit [hard to focus].”
Junior Myles Wilson works in Cook in the administration office and said that when he went to his job on Aug. 21 , the building was extremely hot due to the AC being broken. According to Wilson, coming from outside and being warm and then having to work in the hot building was uncomfortable.
“It was really muggy in there,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t imagine going to class or feeling anxious and being [in the heat]. It definitely wouldn’t have helped.”
Students are not the only ones voicing complaints. Assistant Professor of Teacher Education Robert Bice, who teaches in Cook, said that normally having an office with several windows is beneficial, but with non-functioning AC and high temperatures, it heats up like a greenhouse.
“It was doable, slightly cooler than outside, but still really hot,” Bice said. “I’d say it was a little bit more trying [in a classroom setting], especially on the first day of classes, people were struggling to stay awake a little bit. So it definitely affected it, but it wasn’t so hot that we couldn’t have class.”
The short, single building outages, grew to be campus-wide Aug. 26, when power surged at 5:52 p.m., completely shutting down until 7:42 p.m, when most buildings had restored power. Power was not restored in Centennial until around 9:15 p.m., almost an hour after Berry sent out a message that power had been fully restored on campus.
“When the power went out, I was just in [the dining hall] getting some french fries,” freshman Katie Scaramuzzo said. “The power turned off once and came back on. Then it went off again and came back on. Then it went off the last time, and it was really so menacing hearing all the machines just turn off and go quiet. Just hearing them all slowly power down and hearing everyone go ‘what’s going on’ was just a crazy experience.”
Berry College facilities declined to comment on Berry’s own preparations for events like power outages and storms.
“We confirmed a minor outage occurred on campus last week and apologize for the inconvenience,” Georgia Power Spokesperson Kelly Richardson said in a statement to the Campus Carrier. “We understand how challenging an outage can be –– especially in the summer heat, which is why our crews work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power. In the future, and especially when inclement weather is expected, be sure to have phone banks charged, batteries with flashlights and non-perishable food on hand.”
Other college campuses nearby have been working to prepare their students for power outages due to the heat, as well as preventing AC outages that would not be caused by the power company. Oglethorpe University has specialized communication used in case of power outages, as well as in the event that cell communication would in some way be prevented. Using color coded paper, Resident Life and Campus Safety, would leave forms and information on student dorm doors. In the event of long-term outages, especially in cases of extreme temperature – either heat or cold – they provide accommodations in the student center including meals, running water and shelter if dorms become less ideal for those conditions.
“We just want students to be prepared and safe,” Oglethorpe Facilities Coordinator Luetrell Langston said. “Those policies have been in place for a while and they work. If we saw they didn’t, we’d change them.”
Emory University in Atlanta was the first college in Georgia to be designated as “storm ready.” They have always had underground power lines, as do most colleges, which prevents outages in case of a falling tree, but they have additional resources and prevention as well. They have a 24-hour warning and operations center for extreme weather to keep students updated on projected outages or unsafe conditions. They also advise students to have kits prepped just in case.
“We suggest students have battery powered lights, fans, chargers, really anything they usually use that they’d need in an outage,” David Forbes, Emory facilities manager, said. “We want to make sure that if the power goes out, we aren’t all stuck in the dark with no air and no light.”
Emory also has almost constant maintenance of AC units to ensure 24/7 functionality, cleanliness and filtering.
“We’re always working on maintenance of our AC units to make sure that if the power is working, they keep the air flowing and cold,” Forbes said. “It’s hot outside. We’d like it to stay cold inside. And vice versa. If it’s freezing outside, we want everyone to be warm in their dorms and buildings.”