A power outage that began Friday afternoon and lasted into Saturday night darkened parts of campus, raising safety concerns among students already jittery after a series of on-campus burglaries.

The outage began Friday afternoon at about 5:30 p.m. when a transformer under Copley Lawn failed, university spokeswoman Laura Cavender said.

Copley, White Gravenor and the Healy Gate gatehouse all lost power. Street lamps from White Gravenor to Healy Circle were off as well, leaving much of the area in the dark.

Although students continued to walk through the area, some said they were worried for their safety.

Sarah Sanders (SFS ’05) said that while she was walking from her Henle Village apartment to a meeting in Healy Hall, she feared being mugged or assaulted.

“We’ve heard so much about crime lately, somebody could have been hiding in the bushes and I wouldn’t have seen him,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve felt unsafe since I’ve been on campus.”

David Morrell, vice president for university safety, said Monday that the campus was safe throughout the power outage. DPS officers increased patrols and manned fixed posts outside Copley on Friday and Saturday nights, he said, adding that DPS would have a similar response to any future power outages affecting student housing.

By 1 a.m. Saturday morning, Georgetown’s Electric Distribution Manager John Rogers was on the scene with workers from Kelly Electrical Service and Construction to install two large generators.

A temporary transformer was also installed and full power was restored to Copley and partial power to White Gravenor on Saturday. Police tape surrounded the area on Copley lawn where the transformer originally failed.

Power remained limited, however, and some on-campus lighting remained off until late Saturday night.

In Copley Formal Lounge, an Alpha Phi Omega fraternity party ended at 11 p.m. Saturday after some revelers said DPS officers told them that a scheduled power outage had disabled fire suppression systems.

But Cavender said that the party was actually broken up after complaints were received by university officials.

“The function in Copley Formal Lounge ended one hour early because of security concerns with people moving about the residence hall, not because of fire alarm issues, and none of the building was evacuated,” Cavender said.

University staff continued to work throughout the weekend attempting to install more temporary generators. But Monday classes had to be relocated in one White Gravenor classroom because an air circulation machine was not working.

Cavender said that although the university is now fully powered, administrators are still awaiting the replacement of the permanent transformer.