When the power went out on Friday, the electricity-powered fob system went down after burning through about a half-hour's worth of backup battery.
The system allows students to unlock the front doors to their residence halls with small key fobs. When the electricity failed because of a Medford power outage, the fobs became useless and most students were unable to open their halls' front doors from outside.
Once it was clear that power would not be restored soon, the Department of Public Safety worked with the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife), Tufts' facilities department and the administration to man residential houses.
External generators restored full power and heat to several residence halls, including West, Carmichael and Stratton Halls and Richardson House.
All residential assistants (RAs) were asked to remain on duty. Two RAs were on duty in some dorms throughout the day and night, one to make sure that only Tufts students with IDs entered the buildings and the other to monitor activity throughout the dorm.
Freshman Tabias Wilson, who lives in Houston Hall, said that he felt safe the whole night, and that Friday's security measures actually seemed tighter than the typical fob system.
"I went to an off-campus party and as soon as I walked in the door, security seemed to be tighter than when the electricity is on," Wilson said. "That's ironic."
Student workers with Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) manned unstaffed residence halls from 6 p.m. onward. Two TEMS workers each were stationed at Hillside Apartments, Latin Way and Sophia Gordon Hall.
Latin Way resident Eric Johnson, a sophomore, left campus and went home for the night to avoid the darkness. Johnson said that a friend living in an unstaffed dorm was nervous because she was alone in her suite, but he said that he likely would have felt secure had he stayed the night.
"I feel like if I were here, there are still two locked doors," he said, referring to his Latin Way apartment's front door and his room door.
The outage came at an inopportune time for the university, as Parents Weekend programming began Friday and lasted through Sunday.
All parents — including those not visiting the university — received an e-mail alert from Tufts notifying them that programming would continue as scheduled. Thurler said most Parents Weekend programming on Friday, involving mainly lectures, proceeded as planned. Activities throughout the weekend continued, though some of the locations changed to accommodate the power failure.
Sari and David Binder visited their son Justin, a junior, this weekend. Sari Binder said that she was "slightly inconvenienced" by the outage, but felt the university responded well and appreciated the e-mail update.
"We probably would have spent more time at the bookstore and some of the other buildings that were closed," she said, "but we made up for it [on Sunday]."
Laura and Rich Hameister, visiting daughter Kirsten, a freshman, said that the regular Tufts updates helped them "plan accordingly."
"The blackout wasn't a problem for us," Laura Hameister said. "We ended up spending more time with her in her dorm room, and we went out to lunch instead of going to the dining hall. I also did her laundry at a laundromat because we couldn't do it in the dorm."
