My name is London Smith, and i'm a Sophomore at Michigan State University. This past week has been very interesting for all of us from the power being out for nearly 7 hours on Saturday September 19th, 2026 to the heat and hot water being unavailable for over a week after. The power outage itself led to many unprecedented concerns for students who had refrigerated medicine like insulin, food, and students who had to navigate in the dark. According to foodsaftey.gov most perishable food is no good after just 2 hours at room temperature. And the outage was much longer than this. These are problems that should never be thought of on a college campus.

Following this incident, many residents at our University, have been enduring freezing temperatures inside their dorms due to a complete lack of hot water and heating. As fall continues to set in, the circumstances were very inconvenient. Many of us have resorted to using layered clothing just to stay warm and this issue has affected many of my peers' and I ability to concentrate on schoolwork among other things.

Living without reliable heat and hot water was more than an inconvenience; it’s a risk to health and safety. With temperatures at night dropping down to 43 degrees, the cold not only impacts our comfort but also poses serious health risks, especially to those who are sensitive and have pre-existing  conditions. According to the World Health Organization, exposure to low indoor temperatures can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, and other sicknesses like the flu.

Here are just a few examples of real complaints from students:

"I was sick during the power outage. No warm water made it worse." -Marjorie Josey (student)

"I had no hot water and ended up having to buy a space heater." -Ruby Jackson (student)

"I got sick because of how cold it was" -Teshyera Hayes (student)

"I went grocery shopping and had to throw most of my food away" -Sherry Hicks (student)

MSU's housing contract GUARANTEES working heating. Despite numerous complaints and pleas, it took a full week for the heat to be restored. In addition, dorms like Snyder-Phillips were told we would have our heat restored by Friday September 25th and it was pushed back even further, disappointing many residents. As hard as we understand and were told the engineers and electricians were working, at this point, as much as it was also a comfort concern, it's now about Michigan State holding up their end of what was promised in our housing contracts. This was an issue that should have never became a reality and extra precautions should have been taken from the beginning so it could've been avoided.

Furthermore, there are people on campus who are struggling to pay for college where every penny matters and are still expected to pay the full bill even after not having heat for this long, which is unfair to families outside of current students. 

As students of Michigan State University, this is unprofessional, inappropriate and a distraction to our learning environment. Though Michigan State has already unfortunately stated that refunds will not be given. There should be ways for us to be compensated for how long we were left without proper utilities, emotional burdens for people who got sick and distracted, and extra purchases made on things like space heaters,  and lost food and medicine. With that being said we demand reimbursement for each day spent without these essential services and a formal commitment to fix the heating system permanently so this does not happen again. This can be done through spartan cash or credit towards spring housing.

 

Here is a link to the housing rates for the 2026-2027 school year. 

https://liveon.msu.edu/rates

If you take number of days we were without heat and hot water the amounts boil down to this:

Housing type
2026–27 housing cost to 9-day amount
Transitional
$3,736
$120.22
Brody Triple
$4,538
$146.02
Standard Double/Triple/Quad
$5,604
$180.32
Van Hoosen 3 Resident
$5,560
$178.91
Owen Double
$6,198
$199.45
Williams Double
$6,382
$205.37
Deluxe Double
$7,054
$227.01
Akers Renovated Triple
$7,330
$235.90
Permanent Single
$7,816
$251.54
Owen Permanent Single
$8,132
$261.71
Williams Permanent Single
$8,592
$276.52
Single
$9,420
$303.15
Owen Single
$9,584
$308.43
Williams Single
$10,198
$328.19
Residence Hall Apartment Single
$11,208
$360.69

This is a suggested exact amount for each student based on their living accommodations to be registered into their spartan cash account or as credit towards spring semester living. If this is not possible we ask for $500 flat per student, at least.

 Please join me in this fight for justice and accountability. 

Sign this petition and help us send a strong message that students deserve their rights and a livable home environment at ALL times. Together, we can make a difference. Thank you.