Photo Courtesy of Oakland University Facilities Management

Correction: Stephen Mackey is incorrectly quoted saying the HTHW pipe was leaking 10,000 gallons of water a day; it is actually 1,000 gallons. Mackey is also inaccurately quoted saying if the pipe fails, the university would be down “ten days instead of three.” A more accurate statement would be “many days.” The Oakland Post regrets these errors.

Editor’s note: This unprecedented situation is still ongoing, The Oakland Post is working hard to attain new and pertinent information and will update this story when more is known. 

The photos obtained from Facilities Management are lower quality photos, we are aware of this and apologize in advance for any confusion surrounding the visual aspect of this story. The photos were taken on Oct. 27 before OU announced the upcoming closure. 

Oakland University announced that the campus will close from 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21 through Sunday, Nov. 30 due to an urgent need to repair the high temperature hot water (HTHW) pipe system that heats all campus buildings.

The closure, which overlaps with Thanksgiving week, will cancel all in-person classes and close most facilities. Online PACE courses and off-campus clinical classes will continue as scheduled. Faculty who wish to conduct classes virtually may do so but must provide make-up materials in an appropriate format to ensure coursework continuity.

According to Stephen W. Mackey, Senior Vice President for Finance & Administration and Treasurer to the Board of Trustees, the closure comes from a major leak in the HTHW system, an underground loop that supplies heat across campus.

“It was leaking initially at about 10,000 gallons a day,” Mackey said. “When it got cold, it was back up to about 9,000 gallons a day. It could catastrophically fail. The location of the leak has no redundancy, it’s a single point of failure for the whole heating system on campus.”

Mackey said that while the timing is inconvenient, the university chose to act now rather than risk a larger breakdown later in the semester.

“The lower the temperature, the higher the risk of failure,” Mackey said. “We did not feel comfortable waiting until after finals. If it failed, we could be down ten days instead of three.”

He stated further that the university is working with a local fabricator to create a custom replacement part, avoiding the nine-week delay that would have come with ordering a new one. Mackey added that future plans include building a redundant system to prevent similar shutdowns.

All academic and administrative buildings will close during the repair period, with only essential operations continuing. The Rec-Well Center will close at 9 p.m. on Nov. 21 and reopen Dec. 1, while Kresge Library will close at 5 p.m. the same day and reopen at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 1.

Three residence halls, Vandenberg Hall, Hamlin Hall, and Van Wagoner House, will be temporarily closed. Students living in Hillcrest Hall, Oak View Hall, the student apartments, and Greek cottages are unaffected.

Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Wadsworth said that all housing-impacted students have been contacted about their options.

“Residents who submit a request to stay, meet the criteria, and receive approval will be reassigned to an open and available space,” Wadsworth said. “University Housing will email those approved early next week with dining details.”

Mackey confirmed that no students will be left without housing.

“We’re not going to make our students homeless,” Mackey said. “We even started contacting local hotels, but we found out we didn’t have to do that.”

Dining services will remain available at Hillcrest Hall from Nov. 24-26, but there will be no dining services Nov. 27-30 during the standard Thanksgiving recess.

Faculty and staff will not be expected to report to work during the closure unless designated as essential personnel. Mackey clarified that all employees will still receive normal pay.

“When we close like this, it’s an emergency closure, everybody receives their normal paychecks,” Mackey said.

Essential departments such as Facilities, Housing, and the Oakland University Police Department (OUPD) will remain fully operational.

OU Police Chief Mark B. Gordon, who has served on campus for over 30 years, said his department is preparing to maintain safety as usual throughout the closure.

“We’re still here, 24/7, 365,” Gordon said. “We’ll be doing more walkthroughs of buildings to make sure there aren’t maintenance issues or security problems.”

Gordon said OUPD learned of the repair about a week and a half ago when crews began sectioning off part of parking lot P16, where the break is located underground.

“This is new territory for everyone,” Gordon said. “We’ve done snow closures, but not something quite like this.”

While the repair poses challenges for students, faculty, and staff, university leaders emphasized that safety and infrastructure stability come first.

“It’s disruptive for finals and the academic schedule,” Mackey said, “but the risk of doing nothing is so much greater.”

While university officials stressed the urgency of the repair, many on campus expressed concerns about how the unexpected shutdown will affect students, particularly those with limited resources or specialized academic needs.

Dr. Rebecca Mercado Jones, a communication professor, emphasized that the closure does not impact the campus community evenly.

“I’m worried about international students, foster youth, students who are estranged from their families, and our LGBTQIA students who may not have a safe home to return to,” Mercado Jones said. “The closure assumes everyone can simply go home, and that’s just not the reality for many of our most vulnerable students.”

Mercado Jones plans to post a recorded lecture for her class but acknowledged that not all faculty can easily transition to remote instruction.

“I teach a lecture-heavy course, so adapting is manageable. But what about labs? ASL courses? Our public speaking sections follow a very rigid schedule,” Mercado Jones said. “Teaching online is a significant burden for some instructors, and the library’s closure means students without personal technology may struggle.”

Student Body President Marcus Johnson shared a mix of relief and unease.

“As a student, I’m always happy to take a week off,” Johnson said. “But we’re at a point in the semester where everything ramps up. I’m more curious to see how professors adapt—and more concerned about what went wrong that the whole university had to shut down. I didn’t know the heating plant had that many issues.”

Johnson said he plans to return home for Thanksgiving but acknowledged that many students don’t have that option.

Other areas of campus are adjusting quickly.

According to Elizabeth Adams, International Student Advisor and ESL Coordinator, the ESL program will move online for the week and has scheduled one or two off-campus field trips.

“Students appreciate that their teachers are providing creative alternatives,” Adams said.

She noted that most ESL students this term live with family off campus, making the disruption manageable, but added that more detailed communication about the repairs would be helpful.

Officials also provided additional academic guidance for students and faculty: instructors must notify students by Nov. 17 if their courses will shift online. The university temporarily lifted its rule prohibiting exams during the first half of the final week of classes, allowing in-person tests originally scheduled for Nov. 22–26 to be held Dec. 1–3.

Laboratory sections may be rescheduled with advance notice, and faculty with active research labs are advised to coordinate access with Vice Provost Amy Banes-Berceli. Administrators emphasized that the repair schedule depends on weather conditions and the stability of the HTHW system, and warned that an earlier, immediate closure could occur if necessary.

Across interviews, a common theme emerged: gratitude that the university is taking steps to prevent a larger crisis, tempered by concern for students who rely on campus resources for housing, technology access, and academic stability.

As Oakland University heads into the unusual weeklong shutdown, campus leaders, faculty, and students are preparing for both the logistical challenges and the human impact the closure may bring.

While repairs move forward beneath P16, many hope the disruption will serve as a reminder of the diverse needs that exist within the OU community—needs that extend far beyond classroom walls.

When campus reopens on Dec. 1, the focus will not only be on restored heat, but on ensuring every student returns to an environment where they feel supported, safe, and able to continue their academic journey without interruption.