Although it was April Fool's Day, the blackout on Sunday evening from 8:45 to 10 p.m. was hardly a practical joke. All of Tufts' dorms and academic buildings went black, while many of the houses on the perimeter of campus, as well as Health Services and several fraternities, experienced no disruption in service.
The blackout was a result of a cable failure "on Mass. Electric side," according to a Residential Facilities spokesman. The Massachusetts Electric Company is Tufts' supplier of electricity, and also serves many homes and businesses in the area. As of yesterday, it was still unclear why only Tufts was affected by the outage.
Many students were inconvenienced and frustrated by the inescapable darkness, and camped out under generator-powered emergency lights in their dorms to continue studying. "I had little light, but I got by until the emergency lights went out as well," said freshman Marlon Thomas, a resident of Haskell Hall.
Students were forced to pull out their flashlights, as candles are not permitted in dorms. But several resident assistants (RAs) reported that students in Tufts' dorms lit candles to compensate for the power outage. The RAs urged residents to purchase a flashlight and store it in an easily accessible location.
Tisch Library was also powerless to evade the blackout, which aggravated students, especially those studying for Monday exams. Soon after the lights went out, Tisch received numerous calls asking if the library had power. Eventually, library employees altered their phone answering script: "Tisch Library circulation desk. We have no electricity. How many I help you?"
The library has a policy of evacuating everyone when the power goes out. "It was pretty busy when the lights went out," Director of Administration for Tisch Library and ITS Paul Stanton said. "This is our busy season, leading up to exams."
The problems experienced were not just academic related. While the phone service was never disrupted, many students with only portable phones found themselves without any way to communicate. "My phone did not work, but luckily I had a cell phone to be able to reach people," freshman Ben Hsu said.
Other students said they were inconvenienced by their inability to watch their favorite weekly television programs. "While I did get to watch The Simpsons, and it was awful, I missed the X-Files," said freshman Mindy Nollett. "It was an important episode."
Dewick and Carmichael were already closed for the night when the campus went black, but Hotung Caf?© and Brown and Brew were open until the power went out.
Events in the campus center were cancelled as well when the building closed. The a cappella group Essence had to relocate its practice to Wilson House, one of the few spots on campus that had electricity.
Despite the frustration, many students did not mind the hour of darkness, some taking the opportunity to play games in the dark.
"It was cool to look out my window at the Bayit and see a completely black campus," said Ari Weissman, a resident of the Jewish culture house.
