SMU Back Up & Running After Power Outage
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Southern Methodist University in Dallas is back open on Wednesday after a power outage on Tuesday night forced thousands of students to be evacuated. Many of those students returned to class on Wednesday morning carrying books and overnight bags.
"I was in the Cox library studying, and the power went off," recalled student Alex Porter.
After the power outage, students were told that they had 40 minutes to gather up their belongings and vacate. Some students stayed with friends while others checked into hotels after the campus went dark. "They offered some alternative housing, but luckily I had some friends in the area who were willing to take me in," said freshman Will Clark.
Several hours later, power was restored and students were allowed to return to campus.
"I didn't have any tests scheduled for today, so I didn't have anything I was trying to cram for," added Clark on Wednesday.
But not everybody was that lucky. "I was just frustrated, because I had an important quiz and test," explained student Chelsea Dobbin. Thankfully, she will have a little bit more time to prepare. The university provost asked professors to reschedule any exams and assignments.
"That lifted the stress a lot," Dobbin said.
"I had a couple labs that were canceled, which was nice," said Clark.
This was SMU's second power outage in the past two months. Oncor supplies power to a university substation, but explained that the problem was something on the college's end. Officials with SMU have not stated what may have caused the Tuesday night outage.