On Feb. 7 at approximately 1:00 p.m., residents of Turrell Manor lost power.
It is not the first time a Seton Hall University residence hall has had a power outage. In this case, the cause was most likely the “high winds experienced that day,” John Signorello, Associate vice president of Facilities and Operations, said.
Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) did not identify the exact cause of the power outage. Signorello said of the power outage, “the exact cause was not given by PSE&G. Weather-related outages do occur.”
Turrell Manor is an off-campus residence hall located “just outside of our [Seton Hall’s] gates. It is an apartment type of hall,” Timothy Moran, Director of Housing and Residence Life, said.
Power outages have occurred at buildings on and off campus. “Outages have occurred in the past,” Signorello said. These outages have not been restricted to buildings owned by Seton Hall.
“Power outages have happened before and campus, along with other residence halls, have been affected,” Moran said.
“I am not sure as to why [the power outage at Turrell] happened … I do know that the majority of South Orange Village was affected,” Moran said about the Feb. 7 outage.
Students living at Turrell were impacted by the outage for a good part of the day. “Power was reported out at approximately 1:00 pm and was restored in phases until about 9:30 pm that evening,” said Signorello.
This was not a planned outage, so Moran is “unsure” of whether or not it will happen again.
What should students do in the case of a power outage at their residence hall?
Moran said, “I would say stay calm and keep an eye on your email, as that is the way the we communicate with [the students].” While the internet may be down in a student’s residence hall, there is always the option of going to campus to wait out the power outage.
Going to campus or another location with internet access is Moran’s recommendation. “[S]tudents manage [during the outage] by doing work without power or going to another spot on campus with power,” Moran said.
Marie Louise Leone can be reached at marie.leone@student.shu.edu.
