13-Hour Power Shutdown Leaves Dunster House Students in the Dark

In 20 DeWolfe St., some undergraduates experienced an unusual kind of Friday night blackout.

During a 13-hour power outage from approximately 11 a.m. Friday to 12 a.m. Saturday, students in the overflow housing for Dunster House studied using flashlights, plugged appliances into hallway outlets, and flocked to nearby dining halls and libraries.

The outage disabled electricity in all of the building’s apartment-style suites, leaving students unable to turn on lights or use power outlets. The hot water, plumbing, elevators, ID swipe, and hallway power all remained functional.

Before the outage, Eliot House Building Manager Paul J. Hegarty sent an email to DeWolfe residents Friday morning on behalf of Harvard University Housing warning of a necessary power shutdown due to maintenance on a first floor electrical panel.

Hagerty provided updates to residents in a follow-up email sent around 3 p.m. Friday, which also advised students to keep refrigerators and freezers closed. Harvard University Housing also distributed flashlights to suites on Friday evening, which several 20 DeWolfe St. residents said they made use of.

Several students said they noticed flickering lights in the days leading up to the outage, and Hegarty’s Friday morning email mentioned that “electrical services were flickering.”

Hegarty did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the source of the prolonged Friday outage.

Residents of 20 DeWolfe St. said they quickly adapted to the power shutoff with creative solutions.

Hazel M. Genieser ’27 said she used some trial-and-error to get ready for the night without power.

“I was putting on my makeup with the flashlight in my bathroom, and I came out and my roommates shone the light on me and they were like ‘Oh, you look like a ghost,’ because I had done it so poorly,” Genieser said. “So then I fixed it in the hallway light.”

Other students also said they made use of the hallway’s working power and outlets. Cindy DeDianous ’27 said the outage didn’t stop her roommate from heating up frozen kimbap from Trader Joe’s.

“She physically moved our microwave to the hallway and microwaved in the hallway, which was quite an experience,” DeDianous said.

“It smelled great,” she added.

Cole A. Cochrane ’27 said he worked by the light of his laptop and one flashlight to complete an assignment due at midnight.

“It was funny because I was running down on the wire,” he said. “My power was out obviously, so my laptop was down to like 3 percent.” Despite the circumstances, Cochrane said he submitted his assignment on time.

Alana M. Lewis ’27 said she initially thought she was “cooked” because all the flashlights were taken by other residents. And though she later got a flashlight, she was still in the dark.

“They’re so small, they don’t even light anything up,” she said.

Lewis said the outage left her unable to charge her cell phone, which she said slightly “derailed” her day.

“I was living off the land, with just my ID and my key and a dream,” she said.

Some students said they chose to avoid the building as much as possible during the blackout.

DeDianous said she “ended up escaping to different dining halls and libraries until midnight,” while Tito Alofe ’27 said he enjoyed his night on the rooftop of The Crimson.

“There was kind of an exodus from DeWolfe. You walked past the building at night, and all the windows were black,” DeDianous said.

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.