 "Photo: Wesley Dean")
The quad is usually a place for Frisbee games and sealing the deal for a future spouse, but on Tuesday night, students took advantage of the power outage to climb atop buildings, light fireworks, and commit random acts of vandalism.
Safety and Security took action and brought extra staff onto campus having "as many as four Safety and Security Staff on campus during the blackout," according to Ray Parlett, Director of Safety and Security. Further action included notifying the College electrician, contacting Rochester Gas & Electric, and making sure no one was stuck inside the elevators. No students were found to be trapped.
After that, "[security] patrolled campus on foot and with the car to watch for incidents and to reassure people if they were concerned, recommending that they gather in the Campus Center, Music Building, or Wesley Chapel where there was some light," said Parlett.
There are two incidents that Safety and Security will be investigating. First, according to Parlett, "somebody drove a car across the quad sidewalk risking the lives of all who were on foot in the area." Also, "graffiti was spray painted in a few locations on campus during the blackout. Offensive and ethnic remarks were sprayed on the walls of some bathrooms and hallways as well as the outside wall of the Nielsen PEC under the cover of darkness."
Maintenance will be evaluating if there was any physical damage to the property as a result of the power being off. At the time of reporting, there was no report of any significant damage to the physical plant caused by the power failure.
Thus far, Parlett does not know the cause of the blackout.
Parlett said he believes that the blackout "extended at least from Portageville to Caneadea," and lasted just over an hour and a half.
During that time, there was a wide range of student responses. Some roamed the quad setting off fireworks and lighting sparklers and even laying out and watching the stars.
Sophomore Stewart LaPan said that he saw "really irresponsible people [who] were driving their cars through the quad at around 30 MPH" and that student reaction could be described as "mass hysteria."
Caitlin Cleland, senior, who was in a Student Government Association meeting at the time of the outage, said that she stayed in her meeting for another twenty minutes after the power went out until they recessed, then spent her time playing a few rounds of the card game Mafia with friends.
"I personally thought it was bizarre that in my four years at Houghton I have never experienced a power outage. I didn't really know what to do. I guess the other students were the same way. Some students did a worship jam session. Others got in their car and left campus. Others got in their cars and did stupid things. It must have been a full moon, or something," said Joe Covey, senior.
Safety and Security would appreciate any information that would help identify the culprits of the two incidents.
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