During the afternoon of Monday, September 15th, an enigma occurred, sparking buzz across Ursinus as everyone asked, “Hey, who turned out the lights?”
At approximately 4:37 pm on Monday, a power surge knocked out all electricity across the entire campus for no longer than 30 seconds. Afterwards, lights flickered in Bomberger, throughout the dining hall, and generators kicked in across student housing. Renee Washart ‘26 noted, “I had to rush back to my dorm for my axolotls because my fish tank turned off.” Others dealt with WiFi issues and other electronic malfunctions.
Questions were immediately raised over the cause of the outage. Common causes of outages include excessive electrical outlet usage and adverse weather conditions, but the latter seems unlikely. Clarice Gray-Boero ‘29 observed, “I know for a fact the wind wasn’t that strong.” The weather that day was partly cloudy, with low wind speeds and a high of 85° Fahrenheit.
This is not a one-off incident. According to Kellan Archer ‘29, on Tuesday, September 16th, there was a “power outage on Monday at 5 pm in Bomberger during Jazz band.” Students recalled texting each other, asking whether they had power or not, as these strange “surges” came and went at random without so much as an email from facilities to address them.
Ursinus does have an extensive history of outages with various causes. According to a 1986 edition of The Grizzly, on Thursday, March 20th, 1986, cracks in a faulty main power line allowed water to seep in, shorting out a circuit breaker, which caused a widespread outage at 11 am that day to Corson Hall, the campus bookstore, and even The Grizzly. There was another minor outage in 2012; Campus Safety cited that the outage was caused by a tree falling on a power line. Again, on September 9th, 2022, a massive thunderstorm caused a significant power outage. Most of the Collegeville borough was affected, including Ursinus’s campus. This storm sparked discussion about safety procedures necessary for future surges, as this incident damaged sensitive audio-visual equipment in the television studio.
Recently, Ursinus College experienced an outage that affected the broader Collegeville area on Friday, June 20th, 2025. Adding insult to injury, in addition to the entire campus losing power, Ursinus’s campus remained in darkness while the outages in the surrounding area were resolved 48-72 hours prior. As a result, the class of 2029 was notified that “Bear Beginnings” had been postponed. This caused some orientations to be remote. PECO, the power company responsible for the Collegeville borough, never revealed the cause of the area-wide outage.
What is known for certain is that these surges are not uncommon. Their severity has also grown as historically destructive weather has left lasting damage not only on Ursinus’ power systems, but also on the broader Collegeville area.
If you or someone you know ever finds themselves in a power surge/outage at Ursinus, please follow our emergency procedures and notify Campus Safety. Remember to unplug equipment to protect it from damage once power is restored. Finally, activate the fire alarm and evacuate the building in case of an emergency.
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