AU enacted its emergency action plan to maintain vital operations over the weekend as Hurricane Isabel caused campus-wide power outages Thursday night, according to Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs, students destroyed sections of the Quad.
About 100 students damaged a large section of the Quad on Thursday night, resulting in a large mud pit, said Gail Hanson, vice president of Campus Life.
The cost of repairing the Quad is estimated to be between six and eight thousand dollars, said Hanson, and will be taken from the grounds budget, she said. The damage is especially severe because the entire section will need to be re-sod, not just the damaged section, Terzulli said.
"The brunt of the damage was done on the Quad by students playing football and mud wrestling," he said. "The Quad was torn up and the grass needs to be replaced before Family Weekend and Homecoming."
The University has identified some students who created the mud pit, and the Office of Campus Life will discuss today to determine if "it is reasonable to pursue [possible judicial action] given the circumstance," Hanson said.
"We're all pretty disturbed by it," said Weber. "We didn't really understand the severity of the damage until the next day."
Weber said there was no structural damage to any of the residence halls.
The SC sponsored a karaoke night in the Tavern Friday night and movies in the residence halls to keep students occupied in an attempt to deter a mud pit repeat, Terzulli said.
Hanson believes there was no repeat of Thursday's destruction on Friday.
While the main campus did not experience significant power outages, Park Bethesda lost power early Friday morning and its Resident Manager Kecia Baker said power was restored late Sunday night.
Baker origially expected the poer to be out for four of five days.
"I think PEPCO was giving us a worst case scenario," Baker said.
Park Bethesda administrators have been distributing TDR meal tickets, free movie tickets and providing other food and shelter options for their residents since they learned the power outage would be for an extended period.
Bon Appetit, the campus food service, was well prepared, Weber said. They stockpiled paper products, water and non-perishable food items in case of a significant power outage, she said.
TDR ran on a weekend (brunch and dinner only) schedule on Thursday and Friday, the days when the University was closed.
Weber said the administrators of Bon Appetit were "great partners" in ensuring that the campus community had food available.
"It's a shame power went out at Park Bethesda and Tenley Campus but we're lucky we didn't lose power," Terzulli added. "I want to say a big thank you to the TDR workers and Aramark workers who came in and kept us fed and cleaned up the dorms."
Many offices and organizations worked together to keep essential services open and running during the storm, Hanson said.
"We owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude for keeping [the] campus going ... I hope the community is appreciative," Hanson said.
The shuttle service was also affected by the storm. When determining whether or not to operate the shuttle service, Weber said they consulted the manufacturers of the buses as to the effects of high-speed winds on the buses.
Based on this information, shuttle service was cancelled Thursday and began running again Friday afternoon on a weekend schedule, Weber said.
Hanson said she was aware of heavy drinking by residence hall students on Thursday night.
"I was disappointed with some of the behavior [by students] on the night of the storm," she said.
The University devised a lengthy emergency response plan after Sept. 11, 2001, which acts as a guide during disasters, Weber said.
The Emergency Response Team, a mixture of managers from a wide range of services, are called upon to implement the plan. The plan has specific instructions for different emergencies, including hurricanes, Weber said.
Hurricane Isabel was the first time AU has enacted the hurricane chaper of the emergency response plan, Hanson said.
Housing and Dining distributed letters to residents Wednesday and utilized the phone network and the University Web site in an effort to keep students updated on precautions to take and whether the University would be closed on a certain day, according to Todd Sedmak, Director of AU Media Relations.
Terzulli said the AU administration was well prepared and engaged a well-thought out agenda to ensure student safety.
"I thought they did a fine job. I talked to [Dean of Students] Faith Leonard Monday about this. It was on the agenda for the President's cabinet on Tuesday. It was definitely on their minds," he said.
Eagle Staff Writer Keith F. Shovlin contributed to this report.
