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Power now restored after afternoon power outage at Texas Wesleyan affects a large chunk of campus

Power has been restored to campus, according to an emergency alert from Texas Wesleyan sent out at 2:49 p.m.

It was 12:25 p.m. when the east side of Texas Wesleyan University plunged into darkness.

According to the Texas Wesleyan Emergency Notification system, “Students, please check your course Blackboard site for scheduling updates. Security can be contacted at 817-531-4911.”

Neph Rivera, university communications specialist said, “We’re told that it [the power outage] is affecting the area from 282 to 820, from Vickery to Barry.”

According to Director of Facilities Jimmy Gresham, the source of the power outage is unknown and that it affected the surrounding neighborhood as well.

“It [the power outage] wasn’t in the campus equipment,” Gresham said. “Oncor said there was 700 other accounts without power in the neighborhood.”

Food Pantry volunteers Sonia Diaz and her sister pass out applesauce during the power outage. They made the food pantry mobile because the location in the Polytechnic United Methodist Church was completely dark. Photo by Hannah Onder

Jacy Hubard, a junior biology major said, “It’s really just been an inconvenience at work, cause the computers don’t work and you can’t like charge anything. But other than that, I had class this morning, before this happened, so it’s not a huge deal.”

Student works in the dark during the power out on the east side of campus. Photo by Juan Rey

Cindy Flores, a sophomore exercise science major said, “I was sitting down eating lunch in the MUC, with my friend Iram and my boyfriend John, and we were just talking like nothing was going on and then the lights started flickering and we were just like, ‘oh maybe it’s just a little going out,’ when in reality it was the whole school.”

The area affected by the power outage was the east side of campus which includes high traffic areas like the Eunice and James L. West Library and the Nick and Lou Martin University Center.

“It didn’t affect West Village or any of the buildings on the west side of Wesleyan Street,” Gresham said.

Edward Cedeno, a GPNA graduate student said, “I was hoping to come to class, have lecture and maybe utilize some of the services in the library between classes. Unfortunately, my internet at home is kind of slow, so I was trying to get to campus to do some school work, and catch up on assignments and reading and stuff like that.”

Dr. Stacia Campbell, an associate professor of English, moves her face-to-face 1:30 p.m. Writing for Careers class online, due to the power outage in the Armstrong-Mabee Business Center. Screenshot by Hannah Onder

Aisha Kamran, another GPNA graduate student, who arrived on campus to discover the power out said, “The [anatomy] class has been postponed for now, and now we just study whatever we can, and we have to wait and see if the other class is going to be held. Like what would be the point of going back home and having to come back again?”

Gresham said that they’ve already contacted Oncor about fixing the issue and the IT department to give a campus-wide update.

Story by Hannah Onder and Angela Castillo.

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Power now restored after afternoon power outage at Texas Wesleyan affects a large chunk of campus