At around 1:27 p.m. there was a campus-wide blackout on the University of Massachusetts campus. Power is out in the Campus Center, W.E.B. Dubois library, Worcester Dining Commons, Goodell, Southwest residential area and Mahar auditorium.

Bartlett Hall experienced a brief surge, but the electricity remained on.

Currently, the back up electricity is up in the Campus Center.

According to the Physical Plant, a transformer is down. More information will be made available as news from the administration and Physical Plant comes in.

Update 3:00 p.m.

According to the Physical Plant service desk, power is back on or should be back on shortly for the UMass campus.

The blackout was caused by animal damage to a transformer. The damaged transformer caused power outages and surges in all campus buildings.

3:18 p.m.

According to Daniel Fitzgibbons Associate Director of the UMass News Office, the blackout hit 60 percent of campus mostly on the west side.

Utility services found that a transformer near Herter Hall had damage from what looked to be an animal. Yet the cause of the power outage is still under investigation.

For most of the effected areas the power was out for 30 minutes, but the area around Herter experienced the blackout for an hour.

-Collegian News Staff