Several colleges and universities in Northern California were forced to shut down this week due to an ongoing power outage affecting millions of local citizens.
According to a report by the New York Times, approximately 600,000 electricity customers lost power this week. As a result, many colleges in the region were forced to shut down for extended periods of time.
UC Berkeley was forced to shut down the entire campus on Thursday evening. Students were advised to stay away from campus. The university claims that it is still unclear how much longer the outage will last.
“Please note that this is predicated upon PG&E restoring power from three disparate substation locations (different from the city of Berkeley) and the campus completing the lengthy process of reconnecting to PG&E power,” a notice published by UC Berkeley reads. “This process involves multiple steps and many buildings, and it is critical that it be done carefully so that the cogeneration plant continues to operate effectively throughout the transition process.”
Evergreen Valley College, Merritt College, and Mills College all canceled class for one or more days this week as a result of the outages. Although UC Berkeley has just shut down its campus, many Northern California colleges will resume classes on Friday.
St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, has not shut down as a result of the outage. However, some classes have been canceled. “The College will remain open for classes and services with appropriate modifications,” the college wrote on its website. “There will be some exceptions so students should attend to communications from their instructors.”
On Thursday, St. Mary’s College announced that they will install a power generator this weekend if the blackouts continue so that residents can take hot showers.
“If power outage extends thru the weekend, a generator will be set up for the Joseph Alioto Recreation Center (JARC) to provide hot showers for the residential population,” the college wrote on Twitter. “Additionally, the Recreation Center will be able to provide charging stations.”
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