Students at Alamito and Cibolo Halls quickly began reporting numerous maintenance issues, such as malfunctioning outlets and recurring elevator outages, after fall move-in.
According to records obtained by The Star in a public information request (PIR), the first outlet outage was reported on Aug. 7, with similar outages occurring during move-in week starting Aug. 17.
As of March 7, at least 2,580 total maintenance requests were filed for Alamito and Cibolo Halls, according to the PIRs. Since the start of the academic year, electrical problems made up 39% of all requests. However, since Nov. 3, they have accounted for 63% of reported issues.
Construction on Alamito and Cibolo Halls, also known as Hilltop Housing, began on June 28, 2019. Texas State paused construction in 2020 due to COVID-19 and resumed in May 2022.
A university representative wrote in an email that the university is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of students, faculty and staff but did not specify how the university is addressing the issues.
“Texas State Housing and Residential Life, and Facilities, Planning, Design and Construction are aware of issues within Alamito and Cibolo Halls and are actively working with the contractor to correct the issues,” the representative wrote in an email.
Additionally, Vaughn Construction, the company that built the dorms, refused to comment and said in an email they were instructed to direct all questions to Texas State Facilities.
According to records from the PIR, the cause of the electrical issues is malfunctioning arc fault circuit breakers purchased from Siemens, a global technology company.
Kyle Estes, director of Housing Facilities Services at Texas State, acknowledged the widespread breaker issues in an email obtained via the PIR.
“For some reason at Hilltop, the breakers have been regularly tripping supposedly for arc fault…it has been 99.9% arc fault issues…,” Estes wrote. “Unfortunately we seem to have a variety of contributing factors that have made it nearly impossible to fully eliminate the problem.”
An electrical arc occurs when electricity transfers from one connection to another. Arc fault, which is the recurring problem at Alamito and Cibolo, occurs when electricity takes a path it isn’t supposed to, creating a spark or “arc,” which can lead to fires.
After the 2020 update to the National Electric Code, all dorm bedrooms must have arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs) installed to detect dangerous electrical arcs and prevent fires by shutting off power when irregularities are detected.
Estes wrote the breakers trip due to a variety of reasons, including issues in the wiring installation or something to do with a device the resident had in the room.
A 2022 class action lawsuit filed by a group of consumers and electricians alleges that Siemens’ AFCIs “fail to adequately distinguish between harmless and dangerous electrical arcs,” resulting in the breakers repeatedly tripping with no real cause, according to the lawsuit.
Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that Siemens’ AFCIs are “effectively unusable” and that the company “has been unable, or unwilling, to update its AFCIs to recognize harmless arcing signatures created by the normal use and operation of everyday appliances.”
While Siemens’ motion to dismiss the case was partially granted in 2024, the court allowed claims related to the fraudulent concealment of malfunctioning equipment to proceed.
According to Estes, Vaughn Construction and their electrical sub-contractor implemented the recommendations Siemens staff and engineers made, including adding radio frequency surge protectors in rooms with recurring outages issues.
“While those efforts seem to have had a positive impact in some areas of the building, it has not eliminated all issues,” Estes wrote in an email. “[Housing, Facilities and Services] staff members in Hilltop begin and end each day with checking every electrical panel in Hilltop and resetting any breakers they find.”
Some students have reported power outages lasting anywhere from a few hours to several days, particularly on weekends when maintenance services are limited.
Ava Rapley, a diagnostic medical sonography freshman, said her outages started in October.
“I was losing power every 7 to 14 days,” Rapley said. “Basically, I’d put in [maintenance requests], and I think they would just temporarily fix it, but they weren’t actually going to fix the problem….it was really awful.”
Rapley said the only communication she received from Texas State about the issue was an email this spring saying there may be temporary power outages, but she received nothing from the school last semester.
“This is crazy how much [the power outlets] keep turning off,” an Alamito resident wrote in a maintenance request from Sept. 22 obtained via PIR . “I have expensive medicine that can’t be room temperature, and we can’t put them in the community fridge. They turn off like three times a week, and [the medicine is] going to [go] bad if this keeps on happening, and it takes super long to get more medicine, so I’m going to be very upset.”
On Oct. 13, another Alamito resident wrote the outages caused her to waste food due to her mini-fridge not working.
“[The outlets] have constantly gone out,” the Alamito resident wrote on Oct. 13. “I am paying out of pocket for my tuition and expect that my living arrangement [will] reflect that. I would appreciate [if] someone can be sent up here that will actually fix the issue, and I won’t need to constantly have maintenance in my room or have to fend for myself on weekends when facilities isn’t open.”
According to the PIRs, Alamito and Cibolo are both under warranty until Sept. 30, 2025, but additional emails say they are under warranty until August, which would be a year after the buildings’ completion dates. Once the warranty expires, any necessary repairs or maintenance will likely no longer be covered by Vaughn Construction, leaving Texas State responsible for the costs.
Additionally, all maintenance issues covered by warranty must be worked on by Vaughn’s staff, according to the PIR.
Residents also reported ongoing issues with the elevators, with numerous students getting stuck in the elevators at Alamito and Cibolo.
In an email chain from the PIR discussing a recent elevator outage, Director for Housing Facilities Services Henry Moreno wrote on Jan. 28, “When will these elevator[s] actually work 100%?”
Various maintenance requests said residents were often stuck in the elevator due to the doors not opening once they reached the first floor.
In an email following the elevator malfunctions obtained via PIR, Texas State Facilities Operations Construction Manager Tim Haley wrote, “[Technicians] are going to look at the Elevator Braking Systems on all 4 of the elevators if possible to determine why there have been so many Service Calls concerning the Braking Systems on these elevators since the building opened.”
Rapley said the elevator outages were more of an issue last semester and that the problem has been improving this semester.
“Our elevators would go out a lot,” Rapley said. “We always just figured it was because it’s a new building, and they’re still figuring it out…A lot of us [got stuck in the elevators].”
While solutions such as installing surge protectors have worked to solve the problem, electrical and elevator issues at Alamito and Cibolo remain unresolved, with no permanent solution in sight.
It remains unclear whether Texas State will use Siemens’ AFCIs for the new dorms, but under the National Electric Code, the university is required to use AFCIs, leaving the possibility that future dorms could face similar electrical issues depending on the university’s chosen manufacturer.
