“White, Milk-Looking Substance” Described by Witness of Thursday’s Ball State Teachers College Rupture

MUNCIE, Ind. (The CI) - Ball State University students went virtual on September 4, 2026 following an email the day before from Vice President for Business Affairs and Treasurer Mike Fowler.

Fowler cited this was due to “another underground rupture in the University’s geothermal system Thursday evening—the third rupture in less than 24 hours.”

Tony Buffin, a shuttle bus driver with University Village Apartments, saw the scene and retold what happened during that third rupture to our newsroom.

“Last Thursday, at about 6:19pm, I was turning left by the Applied Technology Building—which is right next to the Teachers College—where the cave-in happened with the sidewalk,” Buffin shared.

Buffin said he saw white powder “spewing 20 or 30 feet in the air and going all over the place.” When he dropped off a student by the Art and Journalism Building and left the parking lot around 6:25pm, he said “firetrucks had come” and started spraying the substance with water.

“When I left, there was a white, milk-looking substance flowing to the left and right of the bus as I drove by the Applied Technology Building, and flowing down Riverside [Avenue] towards [the] neighborhood right behind there, and then flowing down into the neighborhood,” Buffin concluded. “It was just a bizarre scene.”

The CI has yet to hear back from Associate Vice President of University Communications and Digital Strategy Greg Fallon.