Students from two of Murray State University’s residential halls were evacuated earlier this week after what campus officials called an “unprecedented” weather event left those dormitories without utility services.
However, the university’s response to the power outage has sparked calls for accountability from some students and parents who say MSU officials should have done more to communicate and respond to students’ needs in a timely fashion.
Over the weekend, a combination of heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and snow swept across the commonwealth, resulting in the deaths of at least 14 people and leaving thousands without power following the severe weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved a disaster declaration for all 120 counties on Sunday.
Murray State University’s main campus was not free from the effects of last weekend’s severe weather. University officials said a lightning strike knocked out power to the entire campus early Saturday morning in what they call an “unprecedented weather event.”
“Full electrical power was restored to the campus on Sunday afternoon, with the exception of the CFSB Center, Wellness Center, RH White and Regents Halls,” a university spokesperson told WKMS. “We have outside electrical crews, contractors and University personnel on campus who have been addressing the power outage to the four impacted buildings, and work will continue throughout the week.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, power had not yet been restored to those four buildings, including the two residence halls that house more than 600 Racer students.
Sophomore Jessie Leal is a resident of RH White. Leal recalled the confusion he felt Saturday morning when lights and outlets were not working properly as early as 7 a.m.
“I had woken up to do laundry, and all of the lights were off in my dorm and there was no power,” the music major said. “I could just tell because…there's usually a little buzzing in the dorm rooms, but I didn't hear anything.”
Leal checked his email later that morning and found the only notification about the power outage had come from one of his professors around 11:30 a.m. and not from MSU’s notification system, Racer Alert. Thirty minutes later, a university email handle that communicates administrative news with students, faculty and staff gave Leal his first official notification from Murray State that his dorm, and others, were without electricity.
“I was under the impression that this wouldn't be something that would affect me for a long period of time, because … usually when we have power outages, it comes back in maybe a day and a half at the most,” Leal said. “Not only has the power been gone, but the water was also not working and the ventilation was not working either.”
Leal said he and many other students attempted to stick it out Saturday. However, his feelings about staying in the dorms changed when Leal recognized Saturday night that his room was no longer receiving heat from the HVAC system. He also noticed that the water in his faucet was not flowing as easily as it once did. With all those factors combined, and after spending one night in his room without power, Leal decided to stay in a friend’s dorm room in a different residential hall Sunday night instead of his own.
“It was very cold, and I do not fare well in the cold as somebody with asthma,” he said. “I decided to contact somebody — my friend – for making some living arrangements for the time being.”
By Sunday afternoon, Leal and other residents of RH White and RH Regents received further communication from university officials informing them that they would have to leave RH White and Regents to find alternate accommodations until utility services could be restored. Residents of RH White and Regents were told to leave their dorms by 8 p.m. Sunday, before some students had even been given alternate housing assignments.
In the email to RH White and Regents residents, officials said the university lifted a rule in dormitory housing that usually limits how long a visitor can stay overnight in a student dormitory to help house displaced students. The moratorium has given some students a place to stay on campus, but Leal said he knew moving into his friend’s dorm would not be a viable long term solution. Instead, Leal found refuge at the home of his local pastor who lives in Murray.
On Monday, Leal said he was told that students living in White and Regents should retrieve any items from their dorms that they might need for the week. When he arrived, Leal said a residential advisor informed him of another potential issue that could affect his dorm room.
“An RA of White had talked to me about the probability of the pipes bursting ... she had told me that there was a probability, a very real probability, that the pipes could burst and that we needed to retrieve our valuables.”
Cold weather has affected utilities and led to damaged student property on Murray’s campus before. Over the past few years, pipes have burst across campus in multiple buildings, including in some of the older structures like RH White.
Leal said the combined factors about potential damage to items in his room and the relocation to his pastor’s house have been a source of unexpected stress during an already busy week, as he struggles to juggle classes and rehearsals for his lead role in an upcoming musical on Murray State’s campus.
Other students and parents have shared similar stories about experiences and frustrations over the last few days.
An online petition started over the weekend is calling for accountability from Murray State leaders for what it calls “long standing negligence” of campus infrastructure. The petition, titled “Demand Accountability for Murray State University’s Negligent Infrastructure” has over 1,500 e-signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
Signees also left comments on the Change.Org petition. Some commenters say they are parents worried for their children and feeling unable to help due to being far away from campus. Other comments are from people saying they are relocated students who said they have been kept in the dark throughout the entire process.
Leal said the response from the university has left him dissatisfied.
“I'm not happy with the fact that White and Regents specifically are always out of commission for longer than the other dorms. I don't like that Murray State made an effort to [first] get power to the girls basketball game in relation to the dorms. I feel like it was a priority of theirs for the basketball game to have power, as opposed to the students who are living on campus,” Leal said. “This has all just been really frustrating.”
When asked about the petition, a university spokesperson said the broad focus and first responsibility over the past few days has been the health and safety of its campus community. They apologized for any inconvenience to the students in RH White and Regents Halls, along with any others who may have been impacted.
Crews are continuing work to restore power, but officials have yet to provide a timeframe for when students can potentially return to their dormitories. In an email to students, faculty and staff Wednesday, the university said it anticipates “a more certain timeframe for residents returning to both halls to be communicated with advance notice by email” later in the week.
