Campus Alert Archive
Lafayette

A Split Utility Pole and 27 Hours of Darkness on College Hill

PApower outageadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

Lafayette College's main campus in Easton lost power around 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 9, 2025, after tree damage broke two electrical poles near the Leopard Parking Deck and Bushkill Creek. A campus-wide email canceled or moved main-campus classes online and told non-essential staff to stay home; the roughly 27-hour outage was not fully resolved until late Monday, November 10, 2025.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Lafayette College
Private Liberal Arts · PA
~2,700 studentsLafayette Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction203 chars
Lafayette Alert: A power outage is affecting main campus. Monday's main-campus classes will be canceled or held online, and non-essential staff should stay home. Updates will follow as power is restored.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed: The Lafayette reported a campus-wide email canceling/moving classes online and telling non-essential staff to stay home, but did not publish the verbatim message.
Easton, Pennsylvania observes Eastern time; in November the offset is EST (UTC-5). The outage began about 6 p.m. Sunday, November 9, 2025.
Classified as an advisory because a utility power outage is a discretionary operational notice, not a Clery immediate-threat emergency notification.
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstruction162 chars
Lafayette Alert: Power has been fully restored to main campus. Normal operations and in-person classes will resume. Thank you for your patience during the outage.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed all-clear: The Lafayette reported electricity was restored late Monday and normal operations resumed, but the verbatim restoration message was not published.
This is a true all-clear because it announces full power restoration and a return to normal operations.
The roughly 27-hour duration, with one pole split in half requiring full replacement, explains why generators carried campus through Monday.
Context

Background

Lafayette College's main campus in Easton lost power around 6 p.m. EST on Sunday, November 9, 2025, after tree damage broke two electrical poles near the Leopard Parking Deck and the Bushkill Creek, with one pole splitting in half and requiring full replacement. A late-night campus-wide email canceled or moved Monday's main-campus classes online and told non-essential staff to stay home. The outage lasted roughly 27 hours, with generators powering most dorms and academic buildings through Monday before electricity was fully restored late that night. The disruption came just weeks after a separate Halloween power outage at the college. As a small private liberal arts campus, Lafayette adds institution-type diversity and shows how weather-driven utility failures—not crime—often drive a campus's mass notifications.
Analysis

Key Findings

Tree damage broke two utility poles, one splitting in half and needing full replacement
A campus-wide email moved classes online and sent non-essential staff home rather than triggering an emergency notification
The outage lasted roughly 27 hours, with generators carrying dorms and academic buildings through Monday
It followed a separate Halloween power outage weeks earlier, a recurring infrastructure theme on the campus
Outcome
Most Monday classes were canceled or held online while generators powered dorms and academic buildings. One pole that split in half required full replacement. No injuries were reported; electricity was fully restored late Monday, November 10, 2025.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Campus goes dark, power outage halts classes - The Lafayette
    lafayettestudentnews.com
  2. Student Paper
    Power outage resolved after day of campus disruption - The Lafayette
    lafayettestudentnews.com
  3. Student Paper
    Halloween power outage spooks campus - The Lafayette
    lafayettestudentnews.com
Tags
power-outageadvisorypennsylvanialiberal-artsutility-failureeaston
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion