By Brianna Wallen
News Editor
A brief power outage at the Adanti Student Center in the early morning on Feb. 9 left students and staff without electricity for approximately 30 minutes.
“Very quickly, they found out it was a defective transformer down the street,” Robert DeMezzo, senior director of Conferences, Events and Student Affairs Auxiliaries, said.
The outage, which occurred during normal operating hours, paused food service operations and temporarily darkened meeting rooms and common areas.
This prompted building officials to follow safety protocols while they waited for service to be restored.
“In the event of a power failure, what we actually try to do is ensure that all of our students are downstairs,” DeMezzo said. “One of the reasons is just to make sure there’s lighting. The meeting rooms, if the doors are closed, you can’t see anything in front of you.”
Staff members carried out a sweep of the building’s common areas and meeting rooms to guide people toward the food court, where there is more natural light and space for students to gather during an outage.
While students did not have to stay in the building, operations were paused until power returned.
“We can’t operate any function of the building,” DeMezzo said. “Food service can’t function, and even something like the coffee at Dunkin’ will get cold. The primary goal is just to make sure the students are okay.”
As part of protocol, staff also checked elevators to ensure no one was trapped. Although the building is equipped with emergency lighting, a generator system and battery backups, DeMezzo said procedures still call for grouping students together in the case of equipment failure.
“There are emergency lights in the building and such, as well as actually a generator system that will light up everything. But we still move the students together because what if there’s a failure,” DeMezzo said. “We just don’t leave anything to rest.”
University officials initially waited for information from facilities management rather than immediately placing calls.
DeMezzo said this route helps to avoid overwhelming the department with calls.
“Facilities is probably getting a ton of phone calls,” DeMezzo said. “So, we wait a second because we usually hear from them with the cause and the anticipated length.”
Since the interruption was brief and the building’s safety systems remained operational, the university did not cancel classes or close the facility.
“The building is safe,” DeMezzo said. “The sprinklers and fire alarms all work. There were no issues there.”
The incident affected only part of campus due to the university’s electrical grid structure. DeMezzo explained that different areas, including some residence halls, operate on separate grids.
This explained why other buildings retained power during the outage.
The minor disruption highlighted that the university prioritizes student safety and visibility.
If the outage lasted longer, the university could have considered canceling classes or sending students back to residence halls, depending on repair timelines and larger impacts such as traffic signals in surrounding areas.
For DeMezzo, the response reflects years of experience in student services and residence life.
“I’ve done this a long time,” DeMezzo said. “There’s much more protocol in residence halls, but in this building, our role is to sweep the spaces, bring people together and make sure everyone is safe.”
Power was restored within the estimated timeframe, and the building returned to normal operations.
