Murray State students signed a petition to hold the University accountable for a “negligent infrastructure.”

Students have been without power since 4 a.m. on Feb. 15 following a lightning strike which disrupted power on campus. Some dorms have been without heating, light and hot water for over 42 hours.

In an email from MSU Housing at 6:26 p.m., the University said it had been determined that R.H. White and Regents Hall would likely not have power restored until later in the week. Residents of these halls are being temporarily relocated to halls with empty beds.

The petition, titled “Demand Accountability for Murray State University’s Negligent Infrastructure” was started by user “S H” who shared their story as a student affected by University power outages on Sept. 18-23, 2024, Jan. 22, 2025 and Feb. 15-16, 2025.

“I am a student at Murray State University and I, along with many others, suffered the direct consequences of the University’s lackadaisical management of its infrastructure,” S H said in the petition. “On several occasions…the University failed to maintain electricity, heat, water, and provided little to no alternate shelter accommodation during these critical outages that affected the majority of the University. Alternative housing provided for residents of Regents and R.H. White Halls came with little communication that began at 5 p.m. CST and delayed information with failures that lead to displacement of roughly 700 students and delayed temporary housing accommodation information until long after the required vacate time of 8 p.m. CST.”

S H said that the water system of these dorms started experiencing issues around the same time as the power failure. Within less than 12 hours, S H said, bathrooms had been backed up and residents had no access to clean drinking water in dorms unless they purchased water bottles. S H said housing’s failure to address the situation quickly ushered in “unsafe living conditions, including extreme cold and loss of crucial internet access.”

“Acting as a center for education and development, a university has the primary responsibility of ensuring a safe and conducive learning environment for its students,” S H said. “Each outage reflects a negligence to address urgent infrastructure issues, leading to blatant violations of the students’ right to safety and education. Despite Murray State University receiving $48 million in funding during the same period (source: US Department of Education), the necessary renovations to the infrastructure were not addressed.

“I ask you, members of the community, to help by signing this petition which demands Murray State University be held accountable for their negligent actions and takes immediate steps to rectify the situation. This way, we can ensure that such infrastructural failures do not reoccur, thereby safeguarding the right to safety and education of all students.”

The petition currently has over 130 signatures. As they sign, students have shared their perspective on the University’s handling of the power outage.

“Can’t believe this has happened like three times already THIS YEAR,” wrote one signer, Cupid. “I can’t explain how frustrating it is to go 30+ hours without electricity or heating in this weather (with family three hours away) and then get told at 5 p.m. I have to leave my dorm by 8. It’s insane and absolutely shouldn’t be happening with how much we’re paying this place.”

R.H. White and Regents Hall residents expressed their frustration with the quick turn around of the evacuation and the lack of details provided.

“(The University is) forcing students into unreasonable conditions with little to no warning,” wrote signer, Skyler. “How am I meant to reach my 8 a.m. classes from an off campus location? Why am I being forced into a room with some stranger, with little to no coordination OR details? And they expect us to continue classes in these conditions? I’m literally just going to go home, I can’t complete anything in regards to my academics like this.”

Murray State cancelled classes for Monday, Feb. 17 but as of now, classes are set to resume normal operations on Tuesday.

Some R.H. White and Regents Hall residents voiced further complaints on YikYak. As of 10 p.m., some residents said they still didn’t know where their temporary relocation would place them, leaving them unsure where they would sleep that night. Other students without roommates, living in other halls, voiced confusion as to whether they would be getting temporary roommates arriving after they’d gone to bed.

Most commonly, students have expressed confusion and frustration.

“We should not have to pay ‘the racer experience fee’ if the experience is power outages and little to no help from the school,” wrote signer, Dannielle. “I have worked hard to get here. This school should work hard to keep us here. All of us.”

“This just shows that you don’t care about your students,” wrote signer, Lily.

Upperclassmen signers expressed gratitude that the petition was bringing awareness to the issue of University responses to power outages, citing multiple “questionable responses to crisis situations” experienced throughout their years as MSU students.

The petition can be viewed on Change.org at: https://www.change.org/p/demand-accountability-for-murray-state-university-s-negligent-infrastructure/feed.

The Murray State News will be publishing multiple articles covering the impact of the power outage in the days to come. If you would like to share your experience as a student or concerns as a parent, please contact [email protected].