Students confused amid a power outage in the Cathedral of Learning

At around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Cathedral of Learning faced electrical power issues, resulting in flickering classroom and hallway lights and an inability to connect to electric outlets. Later that evening at around 7:50 p.m., the power in the building went out completely. Emergency lights activated in some areas, leaving classrooms and the main first floor in the dark.

With both power outages, some classes were disrupted. Catalina Rodriguez, a sophomore on the pre-physical therapy track, was in class on the fourth floor and noticed electric issues on her way to class.

“There was a ticking outside in the hall, but my professor made it seem like it was [just a class] issue,” Rodriguez said. “The lights were flickering and he was having problems with the TV screen.”

Rodriguez said her evening class let out early, but she was confused.

“What happened?” Rodriguez asked. “I want to know if it’s only in Cathy, or elsewhere. It’s so weird.” 

Pitt Information Technology attributed the power outage to a bad transformer, which can happen from overloading, cooling issues or electrical failure, amongst other reasons. A Pitt Information Technology representative was unable to provide a timeline for when the power will be fixed. 

“There’s no timeline, really. There was a bad transformer and the electrician had to cut the power line,” the representative said. 

Sierra Wentz, a senior psychology major, was in the Cathedral for Therapy Dog Tuesday when the power went out. 

“You could just hear [everyone] go, ‘Oh?’ Like, what happened?’” Wentz said. “It was a surprise, and then complete just like, ‘Okay, that happened.’ We’re all just going back to what we were doing.”

In her time at Pitt, Wentz has never seen a power outage like the one in the Cathedral, saying “I feel like I would remember that.” While it didn’t put her life in immediate danger, Wentz left the Cathedral with unanswered questions on Tuesday night. 

“I just was confused,” Wentz said. “Like, what is happening? Did they just go out? I don’t know what happened.”