UAF relocating Wickersham Hall residents due to heat outage
March 27, 2013
907-460-4750
3/27/13
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is relocating about 90 residents of Wickersham Hall due to a heat outage in the building.
The outage happened after two gaskets in the building’s steam heat exchange system burst Wednesday afternoon. The heating system failure was the result of a power outage on campus. Crews are working to make repairs, but until they are complete, the building has no central heating system. While a backup heater will keep the building from freezing, relocating students for the night was the best option both for student comfort and safety.
In order to ensure students all have a place to stay tonight, the UAF Office of Residence Life will have staff members at a coordination desk at Wickersham Hall all night to help students gather their belongings and get transportation to their alternate accommodations. The university has enough beds on campus to house all of the displaced students, though some may choose to stay with friends or family members off campus. UAF is also providing meal options to those students who need it, as many Wickersham Hall residents cook their own food and do not have university meal plans. In addition, because Wickersham Hall is home to a large number of international students, staff members from the International Programs office are assisting.
The university will evaluate the condition of the building on Thursday and determine whether students can return or need to remain in their alternate accommodations.
Updates, when available, will be shared on uafalert.alaska.edu and via the UAF Twitter and Facebook feeds.
MG/3-27-13/241-13