This past Monday, November 12, the entirety of the Howe Center was closed for the day because of a water main break. Students were notified about the closure via email at approximately 11:40 p.m. Sunday night, though few details were given.
In a joint email, Robert Maffia, the Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations, and Sara Klein, the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, clarified that “at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, the water main feeding a tank at the top of the Howe Center ruptured. This break was in a line that is also interconnected with the campus water loop, which serves most of our buildings north of Walker Gym.” Furthermore, they said that this is also why some other buildings experienced small issues, specifically the low water pressure observed in the upper floors of residence halls. Normally, the residence halls are serviced by both the city of Hoboken and the water tank at the top of Howe, but with the breakage, water pressure was only being provided by the city.
The water main break was repaired at approximately 6 a.m. on Monday, but the rupture also caused a waste line running out of Howe to burst about five feet away from the initial failure. This issue is actually what kept the building closed on Monday, as the waste line had to be repaired for it to function normally. This repair was completed at approximately 3 p.m. on Monday. Afterward, water was run through the building and additional tests had to be run before it could be reopened, which took another three hours.
To compensate for the lack of Pierce Dining Hall, Colonel John’s, and Pierce Cafe, a food truck accepting meal swipes was hired to serve students in front of Walker Gym. The truck served burgers, hot dogs, chicken ribwiches, chicken wraps, chicken tenders, and a couple other things, all of which came with fries. According to Klein and Maffia, it was not up and running until the middle of the lunch meal period, so students were not notified about it and the fact that it accepted meal swipes until a 3:42 p.m. email.
The Howe Center reopened for normal business on Tuesday, November 13, along with all of the offices and dining services it houses.
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