Dear Spartan community,
I want to provide an update on our ongoing efforts to restore steam, hot water and temperature controls across Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus following Saturday’s power outage.
Rest assured, we have had teams working around the clock since Saturday afternoon to address these challenges. And while I am grateful this situation has not caused any unsafe situations for our community, I will say that it has proven to be an unprecedented situation with our power plant and steam controls. I continue to be grateful to all those working hard to rectify the situation.
Continued progress toward restoration
Our facilities and utility teams have made significant progress over the past 24 hours. As of late Saturday night, electricity has been fully restored to the campus. However, restoring related and affected systems across a campus of MSU’s size and complexity requires a phased approach to ensure that buildings can safely and reliably return to normal operations. In these circumstances, it is critical that everyone remains attentive to their college, faculty and supervisor communications, which will offer clarity on the specific building, college and facility circumstances directly related to your work.
Given the phased return process, some classes will continue to be delivered remotely through portions of this week. Academic units will communicate directly with students and employees regarding any changes affecting specific courses, facilities or operations.
Many administrative units have adjusted work modalities through Monday, Sept. 21, which is greatly appreciated as we worked to avoid overburdening our systems as they gradually came back online. At this stage, administrative work functions on campus can fully resume on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Unit supervisors may still exercise discretion if there are unique aspects of this work that would prevent in-person operations and will provide that information to impacted teams.
The work ahead
The ongoing phases of restoration to steam, hot water and temperature systems are driven by the underlying infrastructure. Reintroduction of these systems, which could take up to a week, requires work to be completed first from east to west across campus, then focusing from south of the river up toward north campus. As systems are restored, some buildings may need additional cleanup and maintenance, which will require more time to ensure consistent service and appropriate building conditions.
We know this ongoing disruption is challenging for students, faculty and staff, and we appreciate your flexibility and patience as we work through the recovery process. Our goal is to resume full in-person instruction and return to normal campus operations as quickly as possible.
We will continue providing updates as restoration efforts progress and additional operational decisions are made. A website has been created to host information related to this situation, and we intend to provide daily updates to the campus community about which buildings and areas have resumed normal operations, including our residence halls.
To our students living on campus, these inconveniences impact you the most. I am sorry for that. We are working on plans to provide access to hot showers, as the timelines for restoration of normal temperature and steam pressure will vary across residence halls. I also want to stress that there are no safety concerns with the water – it is safe to drink, consume, use in cooking and in other ways, even though our ability to provide hot water has been impacted by this situation. Campus dining also continues to remain open with adjusted menus.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of one another during this challenging situation and please be on the lookout for additional updates.
Sincerely,
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D.
President
Michigan State University