Michael Chamberlain
Staff Writer
With a boom that was heard halfway across campus, a transformer exploded outside the Art and Engineering Annex Thursday afternoon.
"It sounded like the cannon they fire at the Renaissance Festival," said Ivan Benevich, senior music education major.
Benevich was only 30 yards away when he heard the blast and saw a puff of green smoke rise from the transformer.
A dead bird found hanging from a wire may have caused the electrical explosion.
After the explosion the electricity went out in the ARA. One student in a pitch dark classroom said he found his way around with a cigarette lighter.
Art professor Val Link stood watching the repair crew from the door of his darkened classroom.
His jewelry and metal smithing class was interrupted by the black-out.
One of these same transformer units blew three years ago, he said.