By Hannah Webb | News Editor
A squirrel that climbed into power lines near Seventh Street and Speight Avenue caused a power outage across multiple Baylor buildings Tuesday, leaving some students in the dark during class and disrupting campus dining during peak lunch hours.
The outage began around 11:30 a.m. and power was fully restored by approximately 12:40 p.m., according to Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman. The squirrel tripped multiple downstream interrupters, cutting power to buildings across campus.
According to Baylor University Police Department, four people needed assistance exiting four elevators that stopped following the blackout.
Baylor’s Department of Public Safety and Facilities teams responded to the outage to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff, particularly those stranded in elevators, Fogleman said.
“We have not heard about any residual effects of the outage, although Facilities and Baylor ITS continue to monitor and respond to any facilities- or technology-related issues,” she said.
For some students, the lack of power interrupted class in unexpected ways.
Waco sophomore Sam Conway was in a musicianship class in the basement of Waco Hall taking a dictation test when the lights went out about five minutes before the exam was scheduled to end.
The test required students to listen to melodies and rhythms played by their instructor and write them down. With the room nearly pitch black, students turned to their phones to finish.
“We had to finish the exam by getting our phone flashlights out and all turning them on so we could see what was on our paper,” Conway said.
Conway said the class initially waited to see whether the lights would return, but students ultimately finished the exam using their phone flashlights.
He described the experience as “strange” but said he was glad the weather was clear outside, which made it easier to navigate campus after he left the basement classroom.
Waxahachie senior Will Davidson said the blackout initially startled him. He hoped the power loss would cancel classes for the day, and the class he was attending was ultimately canceled.
The situation also affected campus dining. Shortly after noon, Baylor Eats announced that most dining locations would remain closed temporarily because of the campus-wide outage. The account later announced that dining operations had returned to normal.
Some locations, including Chick-fil-A and Panda Express in the Bill Daniel Student Center, gave away food for free during the disruption, as students arrived for lunch.
Although the outage affected multiple buildings, power remained on in locations including the Hankamer School of Business, Moody Memorial Library and the Baylor Sciences Building, though the science building lost air conditioning.
Tuesday’s outage marks the third time in 12 years that a squirrel has disrupted Baylor’s power, with similar incidents occurring in April 2014 and October 2020. In 2014, a squirrel chewed through transformer wires, cutting power to 18 campus buildings and causing other electrical malfunctions, according to Lariat reporting. Six years later, another squirrel caused an outage affecting 22 buildings after it ran onto power lines and was electrocuted.
Baylor thanked the campus community for its patience during the power loss and said Facilities and Baylor ITS would continue monitoring campus for lingering issues.
