the Informer

Approximately 1,200 students were evacuated to the Gengras Student Union on Saturday when a snowstorm blew through campus, knocking out power. 66 students remained in GSU by Monday morning. By Wednesday afternoon there were less than 40. These are their stories.

“It sucks,” is the common phrase many students and RAs used when asked about their experience from Saturday to Wednesday.

“I hate living here,” sophomore Andrea Pierre shouted as she rushed out of GSU to go to work. Pierre and her roommates found themselves occupying a conference room on the third floor for the week. Sleeping bags, pillows, clothes and snacks scattered the room in what looked like a slumber party that went on too long.

One might expect that in a “crisis” situation paying for food and water in a shelter setting might be out of the question, but that was one of the worries on students’ minds. “With as much money as we put into the school I’m surprised this is all they can provide for us in our time of need,” said Pierre, pointing out that from Saturday to Tuesday aside from a roof, heat and an outlet they were given nothing.

No food, no water, no beds. Commons was open for students, faculty and staff, but it was a far cry from the norm as those with the Flex meal plan found themselves running out of meals fast.

A few conference rooms over from Andrea Pierre resided Keiron Marte, a junior and transfer student who didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in a room full of friends. Alone with his laptop, a blanket, his backpack and an array of junkfood, Marte worried that his new makeshift dorm was taking a toll.

“My body is hurting a lot,” said Marte as he talked about sleeping on the floor every night, “on Saturday there was a lot of people here and I couldn’t find a spot, so I had to sleep in the basement on the floor.” He moved to the third floor of the Student Union on Sunday where he messed around on his computer, and slept for a few hours at a time.

“Other people make noise,” said Marte, who found it difficult to get a good night’s rest, “I’m worried about my mind.”

Just outside Keiron Marte’s replacement for the Village 2s was Peter Silverman, a sophomore displaced from Regents Park. Seemingly grumpy and perturbed by being forced out of his living space, he didn’t appear to want conversation. Silverman was slumped between two lobby chairs with blankets, a pillow and his laptop.

“It’s not comfortable and the lights are always on,” Silverman said.
“Horribly,” he said when asked about how the University was handling the blackout. “Horribly,” “unorganized,” “poorly,” a sarcastic “great” were all used to describe how the situation was being handled by officials.

Caught between the roles of students and staff are Resident Assistants. Often the go-to people when residents have questions, the RAs suddenly found themselves without answers even for themselves.

Unlike many of the upperclassmen that were able to escape Hartford for home, RAs were stuck in the last place they wanted to be.

“It sucks that I can’t go,” said Wizza Miller, a junior RA of Regents Park and Park River, “I would have been home already.”

Late night shifts in GSU, the expectation that they’d be on duty 24/7 and multiple evacuation rounds in affected residences were what awaited the Residential Life staff when the storm hit on Saturday.

“It’s fun when you find four or five people hiding in their closet in the Village,” sarcastically remarked Miller who was also displaced from the outage. Every afternoon, RAs swept through the Village, Regents and Park River to evacuate students. Strict fire codes required no one to be in the powerless apartments because of dysfunctional fire alarms.

Finally some relief came on Wednesday afternoon when the University announced that classes would be canceled for the remainder of the week.

At the same time, the University provided cots for stranded students and the Campus Activities Team gave away free blankets and snacks. Member of CAT Jabaree Dunham-Carson said, “We do what we can with what we have,” encouraging words for many in a frustrating time of need.