Editor,
The editorial in the Aug. 13-19 issue of the Daily Lobo, regarding the campuswide power outage on Aug. 4 is inaccurate.
The planning for this outage had been in the works for months. Arrangements had been made with the utilities division, facilities coordinators, special events, campus police and CIRT.
Specific buildings requiring outages Friday evening were scheduled well ahead of time and coordinated with respective building occupants.
That included an e-mail reminder from the Area 4 shop, dated Aug. 1, that stated, “Please remember that there is a campuswide power outage scheduled on Aug. 4 starting at 5 a.m. Several buildings (Carlisle Gym, Marron Hall, Biology Annex, Clarke Hall and Mitchell Hall) will be taken off line on Friday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m. Elevators will be turned off Friday, Aug. 3, starting at 5:30 p.m.”
The Friday outages allowed us to power mission critical buildings with our co-generation plant. The Department of Engineering buildings were not part of the Friday outages. To suggest that Physical Plant Department would shut down power “early and without warning” is clearly untrue.
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The Physical Plant Department made every possible effort to communicate this outage to the campus. The coordination efforts were extraordinary and, to date, we have received no complaints. I would suggest that this is indeed due to the exceptional efforts of the utility outage project management team.
On June 27, the campus experienced a power failure that affected 11 buildings. The Department of Engineering Buildings, as well as others, were without power. Even during this unexpected outage, the Physical Plant Department communicated effectively and received considerable praise from the College of Engineering. Dean Checchi and his staff took their gratitude one step further and in having a barbecue for Physical Plant Department employees and contractors who worked around the clock to restore power to campus.
The Physical Plant Department takes its role at UNM very seriously. We believe that we are here to support the mission of the University. To that end, we will continue to provide the improvements and upgrades that will allow the work of the University to continue.
We will continue to demonstrate the we are committed to providing an environment that is functional, safe and aesthetically pleasing for anyone who uses this campus. This, along with our response to situations such as unexpected power failures, is what we know as “typical UNM.”
The Daily Lobo has always been supportive of communicating Physical Plant Department activities that impact the campus and we hope this continues.
Mary Vosevich,
Director
Physical Plant Department
Editor’s Note: Five sources from different parts of the main campus told the newspaper that they were not informed that their power would be shut down early and, as a result, were adversely affected. The newspaper stands by its editorial.
