Here’s a new excuse Kansas University faculty might soon hear: A squirrel ruined my homework.

“I was making progress on an assignment that’s due tomorrow, and the computer just switched off,” said KU freshman Kim Carmichael, who was working in a lab in Stauffer-Flint Hall on Wednesday morning when the power went out. “I really hope I haven’t lost all my work.”

The electrical outage that disrupted life for Carmichael and others on much of the campus and nearby neighborhoods was caused by a squirrel that got into an electrical transformer at 1523 19th St.

Power was cut to the eastern half of campus and about 4,000 nearby homes for about an hour.

The outage occurred about 9:40 a.m., said Gina Penzig, a spokeswoman for Westar Energy. It was restored about 10:50 a.m.

“It was a squirrel,” she said. “They want it to be warm and dry.”

The residential area affected was roughly from ninth to 19th street, and from West Campus Road to Schwarz Road, Penzig said.

KU officials reported no major problems with the darkness.

“Just disruption of classes,” reported David Shulenburger, provost and executive vice chancellor. “And everybody’s computers came up slow after being turned off.”

Many classes in Wescoe Hall, one of the busiest classroom buildings on campus, were able to continue using emergency lighting and windows.

Melody Harries, a teaching assistant who was supposed to lead a German course in Wescoe, wasn’t so lucky. Her classroom didn’t have windows or emergency lighting, so she canceled the class.

Squirrel knocks out power

“I don’t think my students see it that way — that it was bad luck,” she said.

Kansas university professor Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm, left, and Ph.D. student Evelyn Allgeier, Dornstelten, Germany, work together under a lone safety light in a hallway in the basement of Wesoe Hall. A squirrel caused a short in a transformer at the 19th Street substation Wednesday, causing a power outage to half of KU's campus and some surrounding neighborhoods.