An early-morning pipe leak Friday caused minor flooding in the basement of Cole Hall and cancellation of classes in the building.

The chilled water line that runs between Zulauf and Cole halls broke in the ceiling of an electrical room and caused minor damage in the basement of Cole, said Kevin Vines, heating plant chief engineer. The chilled water line is responsible for air conditioning in Cole Hall and the surrounding buildings. The incident was unrelated to the water main break earlier in the week.

“Our person on the midnight shift for the heating plant discovered it; I think around 2:30 a.m,” Vines said.

The water leak in the electrical room caused damage to the fire-alarm system in Cole.

“The leak disabled the fire alarms for Cole Hall and created some other electrical problems in the building,” Vines said.

The buildings initially were closed in the best interest of faculty and students.

“The decision to close the building was made because of safety issues regarding the water leaking in the building and the deactivation of the fire alarm system,” said University Police Lt. Matt Kiederlen.

Friday’s closing of Cole Hall left ACCY 207 students wondering where their 5 p.m. exam would be held.

Students who missed the exam due to the confusion regarding location, are to see their instructor to get a makeup exam request form. He or she would need to fill this out in order to be eligible for the makeup exam on April 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. in Barsema Hall, Room 301, said Julitta Gilbert, department of accountancy coordinator and instructor.

“I didn’t know the building was closed until I saw a sign saying that all classes in the building would be canceled and I didn’t even know where my test was going to be until I checked Blackboard,” sophomore accountancy major Michelle Lukaszek said.

The damaged pipe and fire-alarm system were repaired over the weekend, and the building will be open for classes today.

“I believe the system was repaired sometime Saturday and the system should be back online by Monday morning,” said Michael Saari, associate director of building maintenance. “The building was opened later in the day for faculty but no classes were held.”