Residents of Kostka, Claver, and the senior apartments at Fairfield University were left without electricity from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. due to the construction of the school’s new senior dorms on Friday, April 16.

Construction sight in the Village. (Peter Caty/The Mirror)

Bursts of cheering students rang through the Kostka halls as the electricity flickered on and off at approximately 4:25 p.m., thirty minutes before the power outage was scheduled to end.

Luckily, the power outage did not last for the entire six hours. It shut off just a few minutes after 10 a.m. and turned back on at approximately 4:40 p.m. Residents were still discouraged, however.

“The entire campus is served by a high voltage 13.8 electrical loop,” said David W. Frassinelli, assistant vice president and director of facilities management, as he explained why this power outage was necessary. “New vaults and conduit for the new location for the power have been installed over the past few weeks.”

“The shut-down was required to disconnect the old cabling and reconnect to the new cabling in [this] new location,” said Frassinelli.

Students may wonder why the power outage needed to occur during the school year with only about three weeks left in school. “Waiting until after May 23rd would have delayed the project that amount of time,” said Frassinelli. “ We have a tight deadline for the new dorm as it needs to be on line in August 2011 for the following academic year.”
Keenya M. Horton, area coordinator of the village complex, sent out an email to all village residents on Wednesday, April 14th warning them to plan accordingly for the scheduled power outage.

This is not the first time a planned power outage has occurred. Residents faced their first blackout on April 9th, just seven days before.

“Unfortunately the power outages are a necessary inconvenience in order to improve the quality of life for [future] Fairfield University students,” Jodyann Wynter, resident assistant of first floor Kostka hall, said.

Wynter has experienced the two power outages, along with the rest of the village. “It was mildly frustrating because it interrupted the flow of my daily activities,” she said. However, since the power outage was on a Friday and she did not have classes the next day, it did not affect her day as much. She did not have as many endeavors as she typically would on a weekday.

Students complained to Wynter mostly about the perishable food items in their rooms. She advised them to keep their refrigerator doors closed so that items would not defrost.

The office of residence life attempted to appease student discomfort by providing pizza, salad, sandwiches and drinks for village residents in the apartment lounge. They also had complimentary bags of ice for residents to keep their food cold. In addition, they offered grocery food storage in the cafeteria.

Food was not the only issue during the blackout. Lucia Gesualdo, class of 2012, is a Kostka resident who had to go to Jogues Hall, another resident hall on the quad, to take a hot shower. “I felt ridiculous running across campus in the rain just to shower,” said Gesualdo, who had class earlier in the morning and needed to catch her train at noon.
Aside from no hot water, there was no way for students to charge their laptops, access the Internet, or charge their cell phones.

“I usually can charge my phone and computer everyday with little effort,” said Chas Boggini, resident of Claver hall. “But when in a rush to catch a flight, a dead battery truly made me step back and appreciate electricity.”

A follow up email was sent to village residents addressing the frustrations they have had to deal with in addition to the power outage: construction noise and lack of parking. “All we can do is ask for your patience,” the email read.

“Noise is one thing we may not be able to control,” said John Ritchie, assistant director of public safety. “[In] everything we do we always try to consider the students first – but like any other business: please excuse our appearance while we strive to make our facility a better place for the future,” Ritchie states. “No matter how hard we try there will be some inconveniences.”

According to an earlier article in The Mirror by Alexandra Foreman, Bill Auer, energy services manager for Fairfield, states that there will be new sources of energy for the new additions to campus. Three new boilers to central utility facilities (CUF) were added.

The department of public safety states that Gilbane Building Co., located in New Haven, is in charge of working on the electricity and construction of the new residence halls in front of Kostka, Claver and the Apartments. They are also working on the new dormitory in the Quad and the old St. Ignatius.

Over the years, they have worked on several buildings, including the Barone Campus Center, Ritchie said.
The department of public safety works closely with Gilbane Building Co. according to Ritchie. “We have always maintained an excellent relationship with them,” said Ritchie.

Students are not the only ones that are required to cooperate with the inconveniences of construction.

“We do have to set parking restrictions for the contractors working on campus,” said Ritchie. “Contractors are expected to park in the Quick Center parking lot during the day and walk to the appropriate site on campus.”

Horton said that she knows how annoying these conditions are for residents and that she and the rest of residence life hope this will be the last power outage of the semester. However her hopeful thinking may not be enough to ensure uninterrupted power for the village complex. “The village will experience at least one more shut down in about 2-3 months,” said John Tedesco, head electrician and supervisor. “Piping, wire pulling, and wire terminations are needed while the power is off.”

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