Construction outside of the Campion Student Center, as well as the Science Center, is the result of the replacement of underground electrical cables, according to a university official. 

The project has been ongoing, with work beginning last November, wrote Kevin Kane, assistant vice president of Facilities Management, in an email to The Hawk through Gail Benner, director of PR and Media.

“One of the underground electric cables serving campus buildings has failed,” Kane said. “The current work includes installing new electric cables from Campion to the Science Center.”

The electrical cables are in place to connect Campion’s electrical room to the Science Center. 

“The work outside of Campion was to install the conduits to accommodate the new electric

cable from Campion’s electrical room to the Science Center,” Kane said. 

The need for repair was urgent, according to Kane, because there are only two main electrical sources that power most of the academic and residential buildings on campus. If there were a problem with one of the sources, several buildings would lose power. 

 “If there was a problem with the remaining electric service, we would have no power to the Science Center, Villiger, the Chapel, McShain or the buildings on Lapsley Lane,” Kane said.

The construction was supposed to be finished by spring break, Kane said, with no future plans for maintenance. However, work has been put on hold due to orders from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe’s office, according to Timothy McGuriman, associate vice president for Administrative Services. 

“Construction projects have been interrupted under the governor’s orders,” McGuriman wrote in an email to The Hawk. “It is difficult to predict how projects might be affected and we expect to learn more in the coming weeks.”