Only a couple of days after students returned to campus for the spring 2025 semester, Quinnipiac University faced several technological issues as the term kicked off.

Students began their semester on Tuesday Jan. 21. However, the day was cut short in response to a campus-wide power outage on the Mount Carmel Campus.

Around 9:15 a.m. the entire main campus lost power. At this time many students were in or on their way to class and still continued as usual. The exact cause of the outage, however, remains unknown.

“What is known is two pieces of the electrical components that bring electricity to the campus failed,” said Keith Woodward, associate vice president for facilities operations and co-chair of the Emergency Management Team.

Students and staff received an official notice at 9:27 a.m. about the outage and awaited further instruction. Classrooms have emergency lights, however, in several cases they still left the majority of the room in the dark.

Outside the classroom, aspects of campus dining were also affected. Starbucks immediately lost all power and had to close with many students actively awaiting their orders. Similarly, Breakfast and Co. was already experiencing an equipment malfunction. This resulted in it already being closed prior to the outage and remained closed even after power was restored.

Even when power was restored, Breakfast and Co. remained closed that day due to its ongoing technical difficulties. The favored breakfast station was back up and running soon after.

As a result of the outage, all internet connectivity was lost. Consequently, many professors had minimal material to share with their new classes as many relied heavily on technology or had technology-specific items on their agenda for that day.

About an hour after the outage, at 10:29 a.m. students and staff were notified that classes would be canceled until 2:00 p.m., as the outage was still ongoing and was actively being fixed. With many classes in session when this notice was received students were dismissed.

Later, at 1:23 p.m. the university declared that all classes that day would be canceled. As many students returned to their dorms, they still had electricity powered by generators.

“The university owned portable generators were brought from York Hill to Mount Carmel exactly for outages like this,” Woodward said. “Some residence halls have generators installed on campus.”

However, The Grove did not receive a generator immediately, as the other residence halls did.

That night students and staff were notified to continue awaiting further instruction, as facility workers were still restoring power.

By 6:30 a.m. Wednesday all power on campus was restored and the university would operate as usual.

Not only did the semester begin with the outage, but The Grove faced additional heating issues. Even with the return of power, the building had no heating. Students were instructed to keep their windows and doors shut in an effort to preserve warmth.

“As best we can determine the issue with the heat at The Grove had nothing to do with the electrical situation earlier in the week,” Woodward said.