Student Move in Resumes following Storms and Damage Thursday

NORMAL, Ill. — During Thursday afternoon’s storms that swept through Illinois State University and the Bloomington-Normal area, students and move-in workers recorded glass shattering and falling at Watterson Towers residence halls.

Videos recorded by students showed broken windows on Watterson’s T floors, while another video that circulated on social media showed glass falling and shattering just feet from workers near the south entrance of the towers.

Watterson Towers T Floor Window as taken by student Jordan Wilson

Illinois State University Housing Services Assistant Director of Marketing, Communications and Assessment Hillary Campos said the building remains safe for students and families despite the damage.

“The building is completely safe for students, families and anyone coming for move-in,” Campos said. “It is safe for them to move in, and it’s safe for them to live in.”

Campos said the storms caused several windows to break, though none of the damaged windows were located in student rooms.

“We did have a couple of broken windows. Luckily, not student rooms, so we’re very grateful for that,” Campos said.

The damaged windows have been boarded up, and repairs are expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

Housing officials are also assessing water leaks caused by the storm and are working to determine a repair timeline. Campos said the affected areas are not impacting student living spaces.

Move-in operations, which were briefly impacted by the severe weather, resumed as scheduled Thursday.

“We have a ton of families that are excited to be here and excited to move in,” Campos said. “We picked it right back up where we left it.”

Campos credited Housing Services staff members for working through the night to prepare the residence hall for incoming students.

“We have a great team of staff here who have just been working all hours of the night to get it back to regular standing,” Campos said.

With the fall semester set to begin next week, Campos said Housing Services does not anticipate any disruptions to residence hall operations.

“Move-in has returned to normal,” Campos said. “I don’t think we will have any sort of problems from here on out in terms of the residence halls.”

University officials have not announced any changes to move-in schedules or housing assignments as a result of the storm damage.

If you need immediate assistance, please contact the Emergency Operations Center at 309-438-1489