BY MACAYLA COOK
Staff Reporter

This story was last updated Sept. 11, 12 p.m.

Students were surprised on Thursday night to discover that the majority of Perkins Student Center was being closed down due to a sewage issue.

According to students at the scene, university officials began to evacuate the back half of the building between 6:20 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

“I just saw the adults telling all the students to leave the area,” Lauren Liberto, a sophomore finance and accounting double major, said. “They were closing the gate, and I basically just saw everyone get evacuated from that side. They didn’t really tell us what was going on, they just said that it was a sewage problem.”

Signs posted on the doors of the building read, “Perkins Student Center is currently closed due to a sewer issue, sorry for the inconvenience.”

Students were still seen studying in the Scrounge, purchasing food at the Market Place, and picking up meals from Flip Kitchen and The Den by Denny’s. However, a divider in the Scrounge sectioned off the rest of the building, which was closed to the public.

“The lounge area was closed off to everyone,” Alex Raymond, a junior medical diagnostics major, said. “There weren’t really signs, it just had cones in front of it, and the same thing with all the bathrooms.”

A construction excavator, a hose and a stadium light could be seen outside of Perkins near the West Lounge. They were blocked off by cones and tape, but any relationship to sewage issues remains unconfirmed.

Friday morning, signs posted in numerous spots in the building said that bathrooms are “closed for an urgent maintenance issue.” According to the sign, students are able to use the bathroom in The Den by Denny’s and surrounding dining halls.

The entire first floor of Perkins was open as of Friday morning. Stairs leading down to The Hen Zone were blocked off with caution tape.

There was construction activity outside the building Friday, though any relationship to maintenance issues remains unconfirmed.

Bathrooms reopened later Friday evening.

This is a developing story and will be updated.