Loss of power, water make for tense time inside UAPB dorm

Staying calm under pressure was difficult for University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Resident Assistant Taylor Hill after the dormitory she lives in lost electricity during last week’s winter storms.

Hill’s responsibilities are for the general welfare of the students and the facilities, but she said a lack of communication from the outside left the students in her dorm worried.

“When I didn’t know anything, I was trying to keep them calm at the same time as trying to keep myself calm,” Hill said. “For a while, they didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Hill said the power went off Wednesday night, and the water was shut off the next day on the second and third floors of Harold Complex. Hill said students were sharing the showers and toilets in the first-floor bathrooms.

“I was concerned about not having any water,” Hill said, adding that the students used space heaters to warm their rooms, which got down to 57 degrees. “Once the water went out, it was like, OK, what are we going to do now? We can’t wash clothes. We can’t do nothing.”

On Thursday night a UAPB Campus Alert email was sent out stating that the extreme weather had caused a problem with the water system in Pine Bluff. The email went on to say that the campus was experiencing little to no water pressure in some areas, and officials were working closely with the

city and Liberty Utilities, the water company that serves Pine Bluff.

Late Friday, a statement about the water pressure was released from a spokesperson at UAPB who reiterated that an increased demand on the water system had affected water pressure levels on campus.

“Unfortunately, this not only created a sanitation problem campus-wide, but it also impacted our heating system for several buildings and two residence halls,” said Michael M. Esparza, UAPB public information officer. “The water-pressure issue improved significantly on Friday in some of the residence halls.”

Students living in residence halls that lacked water pressure were moved Friday by the Office of Residential Life to temporary accommodations in Little Rock. According to Hill, about 120 students were displaced Friday, and a second group would be staying in a hotel in White Hall.

Hill said she understands that the university was trying to wait it out and see what the problem was, which caused a delay in communication, but as a resident assistant, she didn’t know what was going on and couldn’t pass along any information when the students approached her.

“For a while, they didn’t know what was going to happen, and it became confusing,” said Hill, who added that once a plan of action was implemented, the level of worry eased. “It took too long for us to move, but once we did, they were very swift about it. It worked out in our favor at the end of the day.”

Hill, speaking from the Marriott Hotel in downtown Little Rock, said she doesn’t know how long the students will be there, but she expects to be there at least through Monday. Residential life staff members will accompany all displaced students and remain with them overnight. Meals also will be provided for students during their stay, UAPB officials have said.

According to several students, they were initially supposed to check into a hotel in White Hall, but the hotel could not accommodate all of the.

Frustrated parents who contacted the Pine Bluff Commercial said their children were on the bus for more than five hours Saturday and were on their way to Little Rock to join the group that had arrived Friday.

One mother who didn’t want her name used said she had to send her daughter money to eat because the students had not been fed.

As of 6 p.m. Saturday, unless food was purchased on their own, the students reportedly had not eaten.

“For some of those kids, they depend on campus food,” the mother said. “A lot of them didn’t have money.”

An attempt to contact the university Saturday for a response was unsuccessful.