By Eric Stock
NORMAL – Utility crews have been working since early Friday morning to restore power to much of the Illinois State University campus.
The university sent out an alert at 5:35 a.m. that Watterson North Tower and Hewett and Manchester residence halls and the Center for Visual Arts had lost power.
ISU Director of Media Relations Eric Jome explained an equipment failure at the CVA prompted the outage.
“Our electricians here, working with the Ameren crews, were finally able to determine where the cause of the outage was – it was some high voltage electrical equipment in the Center for Visual Arts,” said Jome. “It’s a little bit more than replacing a couple of fuses.”
Jome said due to the nature of the fix, no timeline is set for when power will return to the CVA.
ISU said there is emergency lighting and heat in each of the buildings. The dorms have since had their power restored, according to a message that was issued at 7:43 a.m.
The university said the Center for Visual Arts, the CVA rotunda and Visor Center will be closed on Friday.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
