The students of Murray State University are calling for the administration to take responsibility and be held accountable for the longstanding negligence of its infrastructure. 

In recent events, namely September 18-23, 2024; January 22, 2025; and February 15-16, 2025, the university failed to maintain electricity, heat, and water for the students living in the residential halls. We recognize that outside forces such as inclement weather caused the problems, but Murray State failed to communicate with students, provided little to no alternate housing in a timely manner, and prioritized sports games over the safety of the students. 

The first communication sent by the university came 9 hours after the power outage on February 15th. Even then, that day's basketball game was placed at a higher priority than giving thousands of students electricity and water. Power was not restored until 3pm on Sunday the 16th, leaving students with no power or water for 36 hours. However, Regents and RH White residential colleges did not receive power, and have yet to be fixed (as of February 18th). The residents of these dorms were told to leave their dorm at 5PM CST on the 16th and only given 2 hours to pack their things. Even so, many students didn't receive new room assignments until 10PM or later, and were forced to seek shelter in hotels (at their own cost) or in their cars. The delay of information displaced nearly 700 students, and many continue to struggle with finding accommodation.

Additionally, students in other residential halls were notified that they might be given a student from Regents or RH White to room with. However, they were not notified as to when or if these students might show up, nor were they asked for consent. 

Along with the power outages came the breakdown of the water system, and within 12 hours, bathrooms were backed up and there was no access to clean drinking water or hot water for showers. 

Murray State's failure to communicate and prioritze the safety of its students brought unsafe living conditions which included extreme cold temperatures and loss of crucial standards of living.

Acting as a center for education and development, a university has the primary responsibility of ensuring a safe and conducive learning environment for its students. Each outage reflects a negligence to address urgent infrastructure issues, leading to blatant violations of the student’s right to safety and education. Despite Murray State University receiving $48 million in funding during the same period (source: US Department of Education), the necessary renovations to the infrastructure were not addressed.

In addition to these recent events, Murray State has failed to recognize the decline in their own building safety and access of amenities to students. Many students report getting sick due to mold, particularly in Hart College. Communal bathrooms across campus are hardly ever cleaned, and present a biohazard risk. Parking is a huge issue, and always has been. Choosing to put a new building over a parking lot while offering no alternatives to commuting students shows blatant disregard to students' success.

We, the students of Murray State University, ask the members of the community to support our call to action by signing this petition and holding Murray State accountable for their negligence. Hopefully we can ensure that such failures do not occur in the future, thereby safeguarding the right to education and success.