Baldwin ? A blackout hit the campus of Baker University on Tuesday afternoon, forcing cancellation of classes and driving students from residence halls in search of cooler accommodations.

On a day when temperatures again soared above 100 degrees, the heat also forced Haskell Indian Nations University to postpone annual convocation services.

In Baldwin, power to the Baker campus was shut off about 2:30 p.m. after smoke was seen coming from a transformer near Constant Hall. Baldwin city workers began making repairs to wires that were smoking.

The outage left classrooms, offices, residence halls and two apartment buildings dimly lit and sweltering.

“We’re dealing with it — there’s not much you can do about it” said Stephanie Stotts, a Pratt junior who lives in the Horn apartment house, as she walked across campus.

“We just shut the door (to the apartment) and left the window open,” said Stotts’ roommate, Megan Hart, a junior from Bogue.

Campus empties

After the power was cut, students left classrooms and gathered outside, many of them playing Frisbee, said Stacy Cohen, university spokeswoman. There are about 900 students enrolled at Baker.

Campus office personnel went home as their buildings heated up, said Gary Walbridge, director of Baker’s physical plant.

Baldwin High School students Daniel Beuthien, 17, left, and Anna Gillispie 17, do school work by candlelight in Baker University's cafeteria, where they hold after-school jobs. A transformer malfunction Tuesday afternoon knocked out power across the Baker University campus in Baldwin. Electricity was restored about four hours after the blackout began.

At Harter Union, cafeteria staff worked by candlelight to prepare cold cuts and related food items that could be kept on ice trays.

Walbridge speculated days of high temperatures and heavy electric loads could be responsible for the failure.

“This heat is really taking a toll,” he said.

Power usage on campus reached a peak of 1,450 kilowatts Tuesday afternoon. The average has been 1,312 kilowatts, Walbridge said. At 5 p.m. the temperature was 104 degrees at Lawrence Municipal Airport.

Power was restored at 6:53 p.m., university officials said.

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The heat also was blamed for the failure of air conditioning at Haskell Auditorium, which led to postponement of convocation services.

“Everything was a go and then the compressor went out,” said Haskell President Karen Swisher, standing outside the auditorium minutes after calling off services.

“This heat is taking a toll on our infrastructure,” she said. “This is the third or fourth compressor that’s gone down in the past week. Fortunately, we’ve been able to get them back up and running again.”

When Swisher announced the postponement — shortly before 3 p.m. — the temperature was 102 degrees.

Swisher said the convocation probably would be rescheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday. “That’s not official yet,” she said.

Postponement of the convocation also caused university officials to postpone the annual post-convocation watermelon feed. It, too, will be rescheduled.

At Baker, the heat-related trouble also scrubbed — for the second time — the university picnic to welcome returning faculty and staff. It had been postponed to Tuesday because of hot weather last week. It was set Tuesday for Collins Sports Center, Cohen said. No new date had been set.

If power hadn’t been restored, students from Baker residence halls would have been guests of President Dan Lambert, Cohen said. Arrangements were being made to bed down students in Collins House, a reception area adjoining Lambert’s house.

Haskell Indian Nations University women's volleyball team members inspect Miss Haskell Shawna Douma's regalia as they wait for the start of the school's convocation in the Haskell Auditorium. An air-conditioning malfunction Tuesday in the auditorium sent temperatures soaring inside and caused postponement of the annual event.

There were no power outages elsewhere in Baldwin, said City Administrator Jeff Dingman.

Schools struggling

Tom Bracciano, the Lawrence school district’s director of operations and facility planning, said the heat had put stress on air-conditioning units used to cool portable classrooms.

“We’re struggling a little bit,” he said. “We’re getting a few complaints about them being uncomfortable.”

He said large air-conditioning equipment at the district’s two-dozen sites was functioning on Tuesday. The only crisis of the heat wave so far was the overloading of equipment at Quail Run School last week, he said.

Bracciano said the scorching sun was parching school lawns.

“We’re keeping up with the watering on the sports fields,” he said. “They’ll be in pretty tough shape in the fall.”