MUB on backup power as classes resume

September 21, 2016February 25, 2020 The Guardsman

On September 6, 2016, PG&E informed City College of San Francisco of a power outage in Ocean Campus and the surrounding areas. The power outage cased an electrical failure in the MUB facility, which caused classes to be cancelled and relocated through out the week. San Francisco, California, September 16, 2016. (Photo by: Izar Decleto/The Guardsman)

Above photo: The Multi-Use Building at Ocean Campus. (Photo by Izar Decleto/The Guardsman)

By Cassie Ordonio and Kyle Honea

Classes resumed at the Ocean Campus Multi-Use Building (MUB) on Sept. 12 following a six day power outage caused by PG&E that affected both the facility and its surrounding areas.

The outage was caused by an electrical failure, Marketing Director Jeff Hamilton said. While most buildings fully recovered, MUB remained powerless.

“I’m somewhat surprised that the newest building on campus was challenged,” Police Chief Andre Barnes said.

The MUB is relying on a temporary backup generator until the main electrical failure problem is fixed.

“The outage is what caused the main electrical panel going out,” Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Ron Gerhard said. “Our only immediate response was to relocate the classes until a full assessment of the damages could be obtained. Once this was done, we immediately took steps to bring the building back up online and reoccupy.”

Approximately 100 classes were relocated to other classrooms, but three were unable to do so and cancelled temporarily instead.

“It was unfortunate that it happened; however, I understand that sometimes things like this happen,” child development and family studies instructor Catherine Richardson said.“Everything resumed normally after that.”

The Chasing Lions staff adapted to keep their business fully functional by pitching tents and continuing to sell food to students and faculty while the MUB was powerless.

The repair status of the generator is still unknown.

“We need to be more vigilant about testing the generators to make sure they’re more workable and in this case, there was obviously a problem,” Hamilton said. “So we have to figure out how to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”