Student Union closure | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University’s (WSU) Student Union closure continues into the second week of class as cleaning and maintenance crews work to clean and repair the building and electrical equipment.
The outage
The outage, originally occurring in the late hours of Aug. 23, continuing into Tuesday morning was caused by an electrical fire in the main breaker room in the Student Union. Buildings originally affected by the outage included Hamilton Hall, most on-campus buildings, the Student Union and CaTs help desk.
Power for Joshi Research center, Hamilton Hall and the Student Success was restored Tuesday afternoon. However, the buildings remained closed for the rest of the week due to the fire’s effect on cooling systems. According to a later campus-wide communication, all systems in the mentioned buildings are restored, including power and air conditioning.
All classes and activities in these locations are set to resume on Aug. 27.
Student Union
According to a campus-wide communication, the Student Union remains closed for the second week of classes as maintenance and cleaning crews work to restore the building and its power systems.
Campus recreation services, classes and events are included in this closure.
Student organizations looking to temporarily relocate may contact WSU event services. Student services have also been temporarily relocated, a directory of where the new services relocate may be found on WSU’s website.
Employees needing to retrieve personal items from the building must contact Eric Corbitt, Director of the Student Union, to arrange a safe entrance into the Student Union according to the communication.
Remote operations were not affected during this time.
Electrical Fire
These outages and closures were caused by an electrical fire in the main electrical room located in the Student Union.
“We had some sort of short or fire—we are trying to figure it out—that caused smoke in that [main electrical room] and that smoke triggered the water sprinklers and when that happened it messed with the equipment. There was a cascading effect out to the power substation on campus,” Seth Bauguess, WSU director of communications, said.
In addition to smoke damage, the Student Union sustained water damage due to the sprinkler system staying on until the issue was recognized. The water damage only occurred in the main electrical room.
Maintenance crews are working to resolve the issue; there is no timeframe to reopen the Student Union due to the extent of the damage.
“No, there is no timeline. I don’t think [maintenance crews] know enough to speculate,” Bauguess said.
It is unknown the total cost of damages or resources lost inside the building.
