In the last three years, Albion College has experienced several severe storms and power outages.
On March 30, Albion was hit with one of those storms, leaving much of campus without power for three days, some longer. Throughout this time, Albion College and Student Development communicated with students via email, text and Instagram stories, notifying students of dangerous debris, class cancellations and more. On April 1, the Pleiad shared a digital survey via Instagram and LinkTree asking for students’ thoughts about the storm and its aftermath.
The Immediate Aftermath: ‘Triage Mode’
In a response to the Pleiad’s survey, Marshall sophomore Makayla Bailey said they and a group of music majors were in the basement of Goodrich Chapel when “it went completely dark.”
“I did not realize there were hardly any emergency lights down there, but we were lucky enough to have our phone to be able to see,” Bailey said via survey. “There are no windows in the basement, and it’s impossible to see.”
Flushing sophomore Emily Levine said via survey that she was “taken aback by the people running around campus during and shortly after the storm.”
“Before the power lines were shut off, people were running under them,” Levine said in the survey. “It felt very unsafe and I was very worried about them.”
Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Leroy Wright said he was on campus when the storm hit, and worked with several departments, including Marketing and Communications, the President’s Cabinet, Albion Public Safety, Campus Safety, Dining Services and Facilities in the aftermath.
“All of the sudden we went into triage mode to figure out what was happening as a result of 80-90 (mph) winds that took power out,” Wright said.
Wright said his first priorities were Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, including “food, shelter and safety.”
“I’ll give it to students at Albion, people are pretty much resilient,” Wright said.
Communication: ‘Better’ Than Before, or ‘Terrible’?
For Lincoln Park junior Susanna Doss, who stayed on campus during the outage and responded to the Pleiad’s survey, “communication has been better” since her last on-campus outage experience in 2022.
“I like that they haven’t been waiting until 11 p.m. or midnight to call off classes like they did in the past,” Doss said via survey.
Albion first-year Alex Kotas said via survey that the college handled the situation “fine,” adding that they “took it step by step with the information they got.”
Other students thought communication could be improved, including Montrose junior Trinity Castle-Pollard who wrote in the survey that they thought communication was “terrible.”
“As someone who does not have a car, I was stuck on campus for the vast majority of the outage,” Castle-Pollard said. “My family can not justify the gas expense of sending someone to get me, so I could not go home with the possibility that class could happen later in the week.”
President Wayne Webster said he had an “ongoing communication chain” with cabinet members, along with several campus departments.
“It’s been a broad spectrum of work, but that’s kinda what you prepare for in crisis management,” Webster said. “Luckily, we’ve got an experienced team.”
Vice President of Marketing and Communications Melissa Anderson was a part of that team, and on the day of the storm, she said she played the role of a public information officer. According to Anderson, she was on campus “all night,” working out of Campus Safety’s office.
When working with emergency management protocol, Anderson said communications weren’t only approved by the Marketing and Communications Office. She said information and messages were reviewed by several parties before they were distributed. This process of gathering and preparing information takes time, Anderson said.
“Quick is important, but accuracy is more important,” Anderson said.
Future Storms, Outages
Webster noted that past investments on campus, like “updating some of our generators,” helped the college more readily respond to the extended outage, including providing charging stations and dining services.
After this outage, Webster said it’s a possibility that the college will look into “adding some more generators in some places.”
“I think we’re entering a time period where storms are more intense,” Webster said.
If the future does hold more intense storms headed for Albion College, Wright said he hopes to maintain a “level of urgency.”
“There will be more storms and unfortunately more power outages, that’s the sad part about it all,” Wright said. “But the college will be responsive.”
Bella Bakeman also contributed reporting to this story.
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