Not in recent memory had Bucks closed its doors for an entire week mid-semester, yet college officials were at the mercy of Hurricane Sandy after the storm slammed the East Coast early last week.
Classes for the near 10,000 students at the three campuses were cancelled until Nov. 5 due to the widespread power outages in the area, according to security officials. With downed trees and power lines making it difficult to traverse area roads, officials decided it was best to keep all campuses closed throughout the week.
“With road conditions and individuals circumstances it was best they (students) didn’t have to worry about attending classes,” said Mark Moore, assistant director of security at Bucks. In his nine years at the school this was the longest break from classes he has witnessed since a main power transformer caused a three-day layoff roughly two years ago.
As the new president of Bucks, Stephanie Shanblatt decided it was not feasible to hold classes due to the mass power outages that rocked the area. The unprecedented decision came as a “real challenge” to Shanblatt who took office less than a month ago.
Journalism professor Tony Rogers said he’d been teaching at Bucks for 15 years and added, “I don’t ever recall it being closed for an entire week.”
The college itself was without power for an extended period of time, with estimates of the Newtown campus losing electricity sometime around late Monday or early Tuesday, according to security officials. Power wasn’t restored by PECO until sometime Thursday leaving Shanblatt no choice but to keep school gates closed.
“The school had no power which made the decision an easy one,” she said.
After initially cancelling classes for Monday and Tuesday due to the storm, Shanblatt came to the conclusion that holding classes was not going to be a reality. Opening the campus became secondary with a growing concern over food and gas shortages for many in the area.
“Friday we felt with so many faculty and students without power we would really then be better by allowing them to recover,” she said.
Students certainly needed time to rebound after the storm wrecked chaos throughout the county.  Bristol Township enforced an 8 p.m. curfew for its residents, which was especially hit hard by the storm.
“I saw the National Guard in Bristol arresting suspects. While the power was out I noticed what looked like Army vehicles driving down the street,” said Alex Blaise, 24, journalism major from Bristol Township.
Blaise, who was without power until late Saturday, speculated that looters from Trenton came to Bristol to take advantage of the outage.
With much of the region still without power late last week, Shanblatt decided to open Bucks’ doors on Friday and Saturday to students, faculty and their families seeking refuge. Around 36 guests took advantage of the showers in the gym locker rooms as well as the wifi, outlets and computers inside the Gateway Center.
Moore pointed the success of Bucks’ text messaging alert system,
“It’s the easiest way to get information, especially if you lost power. (Bucks) also posted it on their website as well as notifications through radio and TV,” he said.
College officials also found challenges communicating and were forced to use text messaging to confer over decisions.
Shanblatt assured students that there would be no major scheduling changes for the rest of the semester, but faculty members would offer additional office hours to help students make up for lost time.
“Everyone is going to have to work a little harder to get things done,” she said.