{
  "id": "2024-10-22-northwestern-university-power-outage",
  "slug": "northwestern-university-power-outage-2024-10-22",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Northwestern University",
    "shortName": "Northwestern",
    "state": "IL",
    "type": "private-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "AlertNU",
    "alertPlatform": "Rave",
    "enrollment": 22550
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-10-22",
    "type": "power-outage",
    "cleryCategory": "advisory",
    "headline": "Equipment failure knocks out power to campus buildings for hours",
    "headlinePublic": "Equipment failure knocks out power to campus buildings for hours",
    "summary": "A [ComEd equipment failure on Tuesday, October 22, 2024](https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/22/lateststories/norris-university-library-closed-at-4-p-m-due-to-power-outage/) forced an emergency power shutoff across south campus at Northwestern's Evanston site. From approximately 4:00 PM CDT until just after midnight, [Norris University Center, the University Library, the Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, the south campus parking garage, and adjacent buildings lost power](https://www.northwestern.edu/facilities/about/announcements-and-notifications/emergency-power-outage.html), forcing early closures and class cancellations.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "outcome": "Power was fully restored to all affected buildings shortly after midnight on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. No injuries or damage reported.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2024-10-22T15:45:00-05:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Following an equipment failure, ComEd will conduct emergency repairs to the electrical infrastructure in the southeast portion of the Evanston campus late this afternoon, which will impact electricity in some buildings.\n\nPower will be turned off at the following locations from 4 p.m. until roughly 2 a.m. tonight:\n\nBlock Museum of Art\n\nNorris University Center\n\nPick-Staiger Concert Hall\n\nRegenstein Hall of Music\n\nRyan Center for the Musical Arts\n\nSailing Center\n\nSegal Visitors Center\n\nSouth campus parking garage\n\nUniversity Library\n\nWirtz Center for the Performing Arts\n\nNo residential buildings will be affected.\n\nSchools, units and faculty will issue further guidance about the effects for scheduled classes, events and evening operations. The University is working to provide backup power for critical operations.\n\nIf you have any questions, please contact Senior Director of Facilities Operations Jim McKinney at james-mckinney@northwestern.edu.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.northwestern.edu/facilities/about/announcements-and-notifications/emergency-power-outage.html",
      "sourceDescription": "Northwestern Facilities: emergency power outage / ComEd repairs announcement",
      "annotations": [
        "The 15-minute warning before a planned 4 PM shutoff is unusually short, usually facilities notifications are sent at least a day in advance.",
        "Reconstructed from Daily Northwestern coverage and the Facilities announcement page.",
        "2026-09-13 catch-up b22 P2 .edu. Dual HTML extract of the Facilities ComEd-repairs announcement. U+202F before the McKinney email preserved. Independent second-blind sha agreement. Same-batch 25-pass (S20 H25 L25 G18 T25 I20)."
      ],
      "characterCount": 954
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2024-10-22T20:00:00-05:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/22/lateststories/norris-university-library-closed-at-4-p-m-due-to-power-outage/",
      "sourceDescription": "Daily Northwestern, paraphrasing the 8 PM university update",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2024-10-23T00:30:00-05:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/22/lateststories/norris-university-library-closed-at-4-p-m-due-to-power-outage/",
      "sourceDescription": "Daily Northwestern, restoration timing confirmed",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "On the afternoon of [Tuesday, October 22, 2024](https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/22/lateststories/norris-university-library-closed-at-4-p-m-due-to-power-outage/), an equipment failure on ComEd's distribution system forced an emergency repair on Northwestern's Evanston campus. ComEd cut power at 4:00 PM CDT to a cluster of south-campus buildings, including Norris University Center (the student union), the University Library, the Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, and the south parking garage, to allow crews to work safely. Norris and the library closed at 4 PM, evening events were canceled, and [schools and units issued further guidance to faculty and students](https://www.northwestern.edu/facilities/about/announcements-and-notifications/emergency-power-outage.html). Power was restored shortly after midnight Wednesday, an outage of roughly 8 hours. The incident was minor compared to UMD's 30-hour 2022 storm outage or Berkeley's 2024 multi-day outage, but it was a useful test of Northwestern's communication protocols for [ComEd-driven incidents on a campus that does not own its substation](https://dailynorthwestern.com/tag/power-outage/).",
  "keyFindings": [
    "ComEd equipment failure on October 22, 2024, required emergency repairs.",
    "Power cut at approximately 4:00 PM CDT to Norris, University Library, Ryan Center, south parking garage, and adjacent buildings.",
    "Restoration completed shortly after midnight October 23, 2024, outage lasted approximately 8 hours.",
    "No injuries or property damage reported."
  ],
  "responseTimeMinutes": null,
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Norris, University Library closed at 4 p.m. due to power outage — Daily Northwestern",
      "url": "https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/10/22/lateststories/norris-university-library-closed-at-4-p-m-due-to-power-outage/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Emergency Power Outage — Northwestern Facilities",
      "url": "https://www.northwestern.edu/facilities/about/announcements-and-notifications/emergency-power-outage.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Power Outage tag — Daily Northwestern",
      "url": "https://dailynorthwestern.com/tag/power-outage/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "power-outage",
    "infrastructure-failure",
    "comed",
    "private-r1",
    "illinois",
    "2024"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-09-27",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}