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Issue: 09/15/04
Classes cancelled, buildings closed by morning power outage
Lecture centers still without electricity
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09/15/04
Sabryna Cornish
L-R: Carlos Delgado, Jamal Mohsin, Jose Bucio and Heather Hwang study in the plaza Tuesday as they wait to learn if classroom buildings will reopen.
Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
Cancelled classes in three of the six lecture centers, closed since Tuesday morning after a power outage caused by a water main break, will resume Thursday.
Lecture centers C, D and F will reopen Thursday. However, classes remain cancelled in lecture centers A, B and E.
If damage cannot be repaired in A, B and E by Monday morning, alternative locations will be found for classes held in those buildings.
The lecture centers were among 17 east campus buildings closed by the power outage.
Internet service for east campus users was also disrupted for several hours by the outage.
The problem began at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, when water flooded electrical vaults in Lecture Center A, tripping circuit breakers and cutting power to Chicago Circle Center, the lecture centers, Daley Library, Addams, Grant, Taft, Douglas, Lincoln and Burnham halls, the Science and Engineering Laboratories and Offices buildings and the Engineering Research Facility.
Equipment was brought in to pump the water out of flooded areas.
Many faculty and students made the best of Tuesday’s situation, and the nice weather, by holding class outside.
Maria Iusco, a lecturer in the department Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, took her 8 a.m. Italian class outside.
“My throat is killing me from yelling,” she said.
She did not have to alter her plans for a quiz, although the exam was shorter than usual.
“It would have been nice to have access to a blackboard and overhead projector, but this has worked OK,” she said.
David Koehler, a lecturer in managerial studies, had scheduled an exam for Tuesday morning. He gave students the option of taking it today or postponing until Thursday; about half decided to get the test over with.
The lack of Internet access made it more challenging to inform the UIC community about the power outage. Internet access was restored to the east side by about 10:30 a.m. and the UIC community was sent a mass e-mail explaining the problem.
For up-to-date information on which buildings have been reopened, call the emergency telephone hotline, 312-413-9696, or visit the UIC Web site.
Below: History professor Leon Fink teaches class on the lawn.
Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
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