Throughout the month of October, power outages caused distraction, confusion, and frustration for students and staff on Glendale Community College’s Verdugo campus. Dr. Alen R. Andriassian, Vice President of Student Services, assured students that the electrical issues on campus have been resolved. “We utilized this experience as an opportunity to activate our Incident Command Center. This allowed us to solve the initial problem and to test out the emergency management process,” he said in an interview.
The unexpected outage caused widespread disruption, as classrooms struggled to continue without key resources. In one instance, on Oct. 8 upon the initial outage affecting multiple buildings on campus, lectures ended abruptly. While backup lights came on within seconds, lectures were unable to continue without working projectors or access to the internet, and professors had no choice but to dismiss class. One student, freshman Giselle Aguirre, recalled the power outage of Oct. 8: “I saw the lights go out and everyone looked around the room in confusion. Our professor told us class would go on if in 10 minutes the lights came back on, but they never did, so class was dismissed.”
The outages were an inconvenience for some students and others a huge obstacle. Another student, Jojo Mkhitaryan, recalled the ordeal sabotaging his studies. “I was at the library in one of the study rooms when the power went out. It was the first time I had been at GCC during the outages and I had an assignment due very soon, so the lights going out didn’t phase me. Because I didn’t know about the procedure, I continued rushing through the assignment when one of the library’s staff knocked on the door and directed us out of the library. I ended up turning that assignment in late because I couldn’t find any seating to finish my work afterward.” Considering campus improvements, student experiences like these should be prioritized.
Upon inquiring into the root of the problem, El Vaquero spoke with Patrick Shahn, the Director of Facilities at GCC, and reached a consensus with him on the underlying issues causing the outages. Glendale Community College has an outdated electrical and switchgear system. The question remains whether the current infrastructure can adequately support the new additions to campus. “I came here in 1987 and the campus has a lot more buildings and uses a lot more power than it did back then,” said Mike Eberts, professor of Mass Communications. “I think this is a campus that’s going to need more and more electricity.” While the institution was established in 1972, the Verdugo campus was built decades ago during the fall of 1937. What may surprise students who walk through campus is that several original buildings remain, such as the auditorium – built in 1947 – and the Sierra Nevada building – built in 1937. Since then, several additions have been made to the campus, including the Buena Vista building which opened in 2024.
It’s known that the power systems of the school as well as other parts of the campus infrastructure could use some necessary upgrades. In addition, annual updates and check-ups on the electrical system will continue annually to ensure that everything is functioning properly. Ongoing efforts by faculty members to secure a bond of $600 million over the next 15 to 20 years will likely come to fruition, ensuring $110 million towards new and updated infrastructure. This money will allow other necessary upgrades on campus, including the addition of solar panels, necessary upgrades on current buildings, upgraded plumbing, and an updated water cooling system. These highly anticipated upgrades to campus will create an improved learning environment, making the campus more welcoming, and creating new opportunities for everyone at GCC.
Gabrielle Glick can be reached at [email protected].