Article contributed by Advanced Journalism Class // Graphic by Cooper Turman
Power outages affecting White County and Harding University Tuesday, Sept. 6, caused the University to cancel chapel services.
“Once we realized that the power outage was not on campus and was more in the Searcy grid, that definitely helped give some relief because it was nothing to do with [Harding],” Logan Light, assistant dean for Campus Life and Chapel Programs, said.
Light said chapel was canceled to keep students safe.
“In the end, you know chapel is all about shared experience, and this is definitely one of those things that I think students will remember,” Light said.
Students on campus experienced power outages as early as 8:15 a.m., according to Danny DeRamus, head of Physical Resources. Harding administrators notified students about the outages via email, text and phone call at 8:44 a.m. that chapel was canceled. He said 13-14 buildings across campus experienced outages.
Matt Ramsey, communications specialist at Entergy, said in an email that the outage occurred at approximately 8:25 a.m. and was restored before 9 a.m.
“The outage was due to an equipment failure which has been addressed and is stable now,” Ramsey said.
Entergy Corp. sent an email to White County customers at 8:54 a.m. that said approximately 1,158 customers in White County were affected.
