Because of an unanticpated power outage and cold weather, the University of Tennessee closed the Andy Holt Apartment Residence Hall at 6:30 p.m.

Students who live in the residence hall have been asked to retrieve the personal items they'll need if they opt to spend the night at Thompson-Boling Assembly Center and Arena, where beds, bedding and shower facilities are provided in separate quarters for men and women. 

Many students have chosen to find other housing options for the night. "I'm not staying in Thompson-Boling tonight," said Marshall Stephens, a UT journalism and electronic media student and resident of the Andy Holt residence hall.

"Most people are just going off-campus with friends," he said. "I'm going to a buddy's apartment off-campus."

Though several buildings on the west side of campus -- the Apartment Residence Hall, the T-RECS facility, Facilities Services and the Volunteer Boulevard Parking Garage -- have been without power since 9:30 a.m., Stephens said no one has been able to give him information about the cause for the power failure; he was told only that "the power was going to be out for an indefinite time" and that he should take extra clothing.

"They told us to take two changes of clothes because we can't go back in until the power comes back on," Stephens said.

UT Police will be escorting students from the residence hall to the arena until 11 p.m. tonight. They also will provide security at the residence hall and the arena.

Students may enter Thompson-Boling at the Student Gate, which is the arena's southwest ramp.

Facilities services personnel are trying to locate the cause of the power failure.