They say elephants never forget.
But, as the power outage that began late in the morning of Friday, Oct. 16 and affected most of the university proves, sometimes Jumbos remember but refuse to learn from the past.
Although the Daily commends the fast response of the Tufts administration, the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) and the Residential Assistants (RAs) to Friday's power outage, certain drastic emergency response measures should not have been necessary. If Tufts had taken preventative steps following the blackout that hit campus in October 2008, many of Friday's problems would not have been as dire.
Last year, an electrical failure that occurred at a power-transfer station near Dowling Hall left campus in the dark for 14 hours. The administration quickly realized that the power outage made Tufts more susceptible to security breaches. Non-functional fobs and inactive fire alarms in residential buildings were only some of the problems.
Flash forward 368 days. ResLife declares Tufts in a state of emergency because fobs and fire alarms are down due to power outages — again.
As was the case last year, because the power failure prohibited fobs from working, doors had to be propped open to allow students — and anyone else — access into the building, thus creating a threat to the safety of residents.
ResLife attempted to prevent non-Tufts persons from entering the building by instructing RAs to rotate shifts and patrol at the entrance of each building from sun down to sun up, ID'ing every person who entered. Although this made residents feel safer and appeared to be a practical solution, as no incidents were reported to have occurred that night, the fact is that it still would not have been particularly difficult for a non-Tufts person to force entry past a lone RA and disappear into the dorm's darkness.
The lack of functioning fire alarms and smoke detectors was a significant issue, as well. Because many students do not have flashlights, they may have attempted to light candles despite policy barring open flames, thereby increasing the risk of a fire. Last year a candle used for light indeed caused a small fire in the Hillside Apartments. With students eager to avoid venturing into the 36-degree weather and with smoke detectors out of commission, the temptation to light cigarettes indoors could also have produced open flames.
If fires erupted with the alarms and smoke detectors idle, no one would have been swiftly alerted to escape the building and sprinklers would not have responded to extinguish the flames. The night was left to chance with the faith that no students would make ill-fated decisions to light candles or cigarettes.
In no way is Tufts to blame for the power outage that stemmed from an underground cable failure in downtown Medford. However, there are certain security and safety measures that must be functional in such a crisis. Fobs and fire alarms are crucial to students' safety.
After last year's blackout, Tufts should have worked to make sure fobs and fire alarms were connected to backup generators in case of an emergency. When the school becomes aware of safety hazards that emerge during power outages, it becomes the school's obligation to find ways to plan for similar situations in the future.
This time, the Daily hopes that the Jumbos will remember and make the necessary changes to be prepared for a similar occurrence in the future.
