Power Failure Leaves Rice in the Dark for Four Hours Outage Reveals Inadequacies of Campus Emergency Lighting Systems

SINCE 1916 VOLUME 76, NO WE NEVER GUARANTEED A SWIMSUIT ISSUE FEBRUARY 10, 1989 Power failure leaves Rice in the dark for four hours Outage reveals inadequacies of campus emergency lighting systems when it did go out this time, they by Anu Bajaj were too busy taking aire of other stuff, so it was just,better to let us sit A power outage Monday, Febru- it out," she said. ary 6, left the entire campus dark for Director of the Physical Plant Ed four hours and raised questions Samfield said they have the capacity about the preparedness of the uni- to use the cogenerator to power part versity for emergency situations. of the university. However, the co- Although power has been restored generator also lost power. to the entire campus, the cause of the "The cogenerator has the capac- outage is still unknown. ity to generate its own electricity, but No injuries occurred during the it went out, too. It's not meant to blackout, but several buildings on replace Houston Lighting and Power campus were left without emer- but to supplement it If we had been % gency lighting and the Rice Univer- unable to restore HL&P power, we sity Police Department had no emer- could have turned on power to a gency power. limited area of the university," he Rice University Police Depart- said. ment without generator Fondren Library—insufficient Chief of RUPD Mary Voswinkel emergency lighting said RUPD had no problems doing Because of the power outage its job despite being left without Fondren Library closed early. Assis- power for nearly four hours. tant University Librarian Kay Flow- "The phones don't ring when you ers and Library Assistant Alexis don't have power so you have to Lattner made the decision to evacu- continually push the buttons to see if ate the building about 10:30 p.m. anyone is on the line, which can be a Although Flowers and Littner problem. We assigned one person to were able to evacuate the building each of the consoles, and manned without any mishaps, the installation calls that way," Voswinkel said. of emergency lights in Fondren i> Jn addition to manning the not complete, so in some areas the phones, RUPD had to go through all lighting is poor. of the buildings and confirm that no "The emergency lighting system one was trapped in elevators or other has been gradually installed over a areas where it is difficult to get out. period of several years. Since they RUPD then closed off these areas. have had to spread it out, only the Voswinkel said although there most important places have emer- were no property losses or injuries gency lighting like by the fire exits, during the outages, an emergency by elevators that are close to stairs, Otis, My Man! generator would have made RUPD's and in long halls. job easier. "Of course we would like "The building is still being re- Otis Day and the Nights warm up the crowd at the 'Worlds Largest Shout-Out' Saturday. Sub freezing temperatures on to have one. It would make our job the island failed to dampen the crowd's enthusiasm at last weekend's Mardi Gras Galveston Celebration. Revelers modeled. There is a lot more work easier, but it is a large expenditure gathered for the final weekend of the annual event to hear the band of Animal House fame. As night fell and the mercury tied to the safety codes, and they are dropped even further, crowds lined the parade route to be entertained by Rice's own MOB and other marching bands. for the university...they connected adding more emergency lighting. 1 Floats bearing costumed volunteers pelted the fluid-fortified, frozen crowd with traditional beads and dubloons. us to a generator before when there think four months ago, we had a was a planned power outage. But short outage and the architect was in the building so he went around and noted the areas that needed emer- Business as usual at Rice; surrounding schools close gency lighting," Flowers said. Lovett, SRC—insufficient by Sue-Sun Yom university, like University of Hous- schedules and found substitutes for Gratke said, "I think the administra- emergency lighting ton, also has many students living at those who couldn't make it. One did tion handled this poorly. To have Sid Richardson and I.ovett Col- greater distances. not make it here," Flowers said. classes was stupid since no one leges also had problems with their In record-degree weather this "This is the same policy used for Poor communication between could study after the power went out. emergency lighting. week, Rice students trudged to class all natural events, such as the threat the administration and students It was pretty ridiculous that there Lovett College Co-Master Gerry through sleet and frost, despite class posed by Hurricance Gilbert this confused the situation. was nothing on television and the Jump said, "I don't even know if there cancellations by many other sur- fall," MacDowell said. An announcement was made at 4 radio. I had to make eight or nine is any [emergency lighting]." rounding Houston-area universities Vice President of Academic Af- p.m. Monday, from the President's telephone calls to find out whether Without emergency lighting in and school districts Tuesday. fairs at University of St Thomas R.J. Office, encouraging "non-essential" there were classes." SEE POWER . PAGE 8 Assistant to the President Carl Schiesen said about 80 percent of the personnel to go home. Some stu- MacDowell said, "The use of MacDowell defended standard uni- students commute to school. St. dents, assuming non-essential per- radio and television stations that are versity policy in holding classes, al- Thomas cancelled classes from 3 sonnel included faculty, said they preoccupied with announcing can- BACKPAGE though he admitted the administra- p.m. Monday afternoon until Wed- believed classes had been cancelled cellations would have caused more tion was concerned with establish- nesday morning. for the afternoon. confusion by grouping Rice indis- ing better student communication. At the University of Houston, MacDowell said, "The informa- criminately with those schools." Our first week of The university's physical plant Assistant to the President Kent tion to cancel all evening classes MacDowell said the administra- Valentine's Day never completely closed, although Kessingcr said, "This cold weather became available late Monday after- tion would review its actions. confusion resulted from a power instance was so unusual, and people noon. Late in the day, it's difficult to "Each and every time one of these % personals outage late Monday (see related in Texas aren't equipped to drive. put this kind of information out be- events happens, the administration story, this page). Many of our students are commut- cause it's hard to reach people." does review what happened and how Non-essential personnel were ers, and that was a factor." KTRU announced the cancella- it responded. This event will be part Could sent home and all classes were UH also closed at 3 p.m. Monday tions, but MacDowell said-the ad- of that proccss. it be your cancelled Monday evening. Sewall and reopened Wednesday morning. ministration had avoided commer- "We are concerned about better and Rayzor Halls were not scheduled Both schools decidcd to canccl cial stations. KTRU lost power with communications. Certainly the luckv day? to hold classes Tuesday because the Tuesday classes Monday night, and the rest of the campus at 9 p.m. power outage complicated the han- buildings had no heat. neither experienced any power fail- Monday. dling of the situation," MacDowell Assistant University Librarian ures. Many students said notification said. Kay Flowers said Fondrcn Library Hie President's Office received by the administration had been poor. The cold snap caught many off- was open until power failure late calls Monday and Tuesday from Hanszen College junior Dominic guard, particularly students expect- Monday night staff, faculty, and students con- Digesualdo said, "A lot of people ing a temperate Houston. MacDowell said, "Rice is basi- cealed about coming to campus. were running around confused. The Wiess College senior Steve Rader cally a residential university. Most "We told them to use their own university needs to come up with a said, "I hated it. I like Houston be- students are living on or close to good judgement. We told them we better way of letting students know cause it's warm. Our heat went out. campus. It is a long-standing policy didn't want anyone to put themselves what'sgoing on. My friends called up We froze. We bitched. A day later, it that, if at all possible, Rice holds in jeopardy," MacDowell said. Tuesday morning, and they had the got fixed. It was damn cold." classes. Contrary to a secondary or Even the library did not experi- same recorded announcement from Jones College sophomore Liz SO WHAT DO elementary school, we do not have to ence a serious staff shortage Mon- Monday. They were supposed to Vazquez said, "I expected warm consider students traveling long dis- day night make the decision about classes at weather in Houston, so I was a little WE DO NOW? tances to school or small children "Staff members had to be acco- 5:30 a.m. Tuesday." disappointed. I feel sorry for the See page 9 being transported. A large urban modated. We double-checked their I>ovett College senior Christina SEE COLD, PAGE: 8 2 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1989 THE RICE THRESHER Opinion University unprepared DO ft# KNOW ME?... THPW5 TO W LEADERSHIP for emergency situations MY BUDDIES AND I BUM This week's cold snap and Monday's power outage have raised questions about the administration's ability to communicate to stu- A CHANCE R)R BIG BUCKS!! dents, faculty, and staff during an emergency.

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