ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Classes cancelled. Mid-terms rescheduled. Now, administrators at Winthrop University in Rock Hill are trying to recover important class information from computers damaged after a fire on campus over the weekend.
All classes were cancelled at Winthrop University Monday. University spokeswoman Rebecca Masters said, "There's not a part of the university that has not been touched by this."
Student Allison West has a class in Owens Hall, the building where the fire started.
"Well, I have a class in Owens so that's going to have to be changed," she said.
Also changed are the midterm schedules. Some have been postponed more than a week, which will affect spring break for West, who says, "Our midterms are going to have to be after spring break, like honestly, who's going to study over spring break?"
As students look to the second half of the semester, they see another problem looming.
"The computer lab is going to be down, which is really important to us. We use it a lot," said West.
"There's a lot of students who don't have laptops. They can't afford them. They can barely afford the school, so they really need that place," said student Catherine Weikle.
Administrators say the damage to offices, classrooms and equipment could be extensive. Masters has seen photographs and describes the sight as, "A lot of ankle-deep water -- that type of thing. A lot of ceiling tiles down."
Many professors got a chance to go into their offices and collect computers, file, and other items damaged by smoke and water in an effort to resume classes immediately.
"Right now we absolutely expect classes to begin again tomorrow (Tuesday) on a normal schedule," said Masters.
But until technicians are able to try and recover the damaged hard drives, the true extent of the damage is still unclear.
The Rock Hill Fire Department is still investigating what caused the fire in the roof of the new academic building.
Winthrop students should check for updated class schedules at http://www.winthrop.edu/.
