On Tuesday, July 11, a lightning strike damaged several parts of the Bates College telephone system, including the link that connects the telephone system to the voice mail system.

While our telecommunications staff works with our vendors to diagnose and fix the problems, please follow these interim instructions to leave voice mail for Bates people:

If your party does not answer, your call is forwarded to the voice mail system. You may leave a message for your party by entering the star key (*) and the last four digits of the Bates phone number. You may do this any time after the recording says, "Thank you . . ." If you stay on the line, these instructions will be repeated for you.

Bates phone numbers are available on the Bates online directory.

We regret the inconvenience. We will restore normal voice mail services as soon as possible.