Power Failure Shuts Oxnard College
Oxnard College was shut down for most of Tuesday, after the main power cable serving the campus blew out.
Summer session classes were canceled and administrative offices closed as crews worked to replace the 25-year-old underground cable, parts of which were corroded, said college President Steven Arvizu. The cable, which failed Monday night, was installed when the 118-acre campus was built in 1975.
“I guess some of our infrastructure is getting old,” said Arvizu, who relied on cell phones and walkie-talkies to communicate with a pared-down staff. The power outage also knocked out telephone service to the college.
About 1,000 students are enrolled in summer school. Some had not heard the news by Tuesday morning and showed up for class, only to find the college closed, Arvizu said.
He speculated that the power cable could not support the 500 high-speed computers in use on the campus.
“We now have computers on every faculty and staff members’s desk, and we have eight computer labs,” Arvizu said.
The college was expected to return to normal operations today.
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