As Hurricane Isabel moved north, AU's main campus remained relatively untouched, but just down Nebraska Avenue, AU's Tenley campus suffered from the storms wrath as power has been knocked out and has yet to fully return.
As of press time, the Tenley campus was without main power in Congressional and Capital halls and had basic electricity supplied by a generator, according to Bob Nardo, a Resident Assistant at Tenley. Student Confederation President Nick Terzulli said the generators were brought in from North Carolina this past weekend to accommodate the students.
"I live in Capital and we lost all power," junior Sarah Snow said. "They shut down the cafeteria and they didn't give us any food. We were having problems with the water and they put up signs that said 'Go to the main campus for showers or bathrooms.'"
The administration released an update on Monday to inform students of the storm's damage. The statement noted that facilities on main campus were available for use.
"We've done a variety of things," Nardo said. "We've held a couple events. On Saturday night, we were making flashlights available. We offered temporary housing on main campus in Anderson Hall. There were some Public Safety officers checking ID's to preserve security through the power outage."
Further problems occurred Tuesday night when problems at the Fort Reno pumping station in Tenleytown caused water pressure to drop.
"PEPCO, in its efforts to restore power to residents in that area, impacted our power supply," said Libby Lawson, spokesperson for the D.C. Water and Sewage Authority. "It did impact the water pressure being delivered to homes and businesses. It probably took about 30 minutes to an hour for the pressure to get back to normal."
The water pressure failure had few effects on main campus, according to Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs.
The mix of problems has been enhanced by a lack of communication, according to Terzulli.
"There was nothing that could be done to stop the [hurricane], but communication have been poor," Terzulli said. "I have talked to people and asked them if they had been informed ... and they said 'No.'" Snow said the R.A.'s were "making the situation worse."
The R.A. issue caused students to respond with a letter they plan to send to Weber.
"I signed a letter of dissatisfaction. It's about R.A.'s," Snow said. "We weren't given any warning. We were only given a letter under the door a day before the hurricane. I was around number 142 to sign the letter and I know by the end of Sunday they had at least 200."
Other students agreed with Snow.
"The students here were really unhappy about the way it was handled because it wasn't really handled here," junior Emily Zimbrick said. "The petition was about how the R.A.'s were completely out to lunch."
"My concern was mainly with security and safety," junior Beesyna Majid said. "They quarantined us in the residence halls to keep everyone from going outside."
Although there have been problems, according to Nardo, the residents are expressing a full range of reactions.
"I think there is a sort of a diversity of responses," Nardo said. "The worst responses came from people who believed they had a particular need that wasn't met."
The University's statement said that, although they were uncertain when power would return, an update will be provided with information later on. "Hopefully in a day or so, we should be switching over to the PEPCO lines," Nardo said. "Power will be out for a bit while we make the switch."
Tenley campus is home to the Washington Semester program, which allows students from all across the country to attend AU and take part in different programs in the D.C. area. The students live in the three residence halls on the campus, Capital, Federal and Congressional.
Eagle Staff Writer April Astor contributed to this report.
