People who have business on campus at night may be in the dark now, but light is on the way.

Phase One of the Campus Lighting Committee’s plan is almost complete. About $100,000 of lighting will have been added to the areas prioritized by the Committee.

Phase One included lighting improvements in the parking lots of Hamlin Hall and Rice/Arbour Acres, East Lee Boulevard by the Student Media Center and University Florist and Sorority Row.

Over the Christmas holidays, the Rice Hall and Hamlin Hall projects of Phase One were worked on, but the Rice area has not been completed. Currently, the East Lee Boulevard and sorority row areas are under construction for the lights.

Gene Tice, chairman of the campus planning committee, said, “As soon as all the lights from Phase One are installed, the Committee will wait until the trees are in full foliage again to evaluate the lighting situation. We would get a totally different reading of the light situation right now since the trees have no leaves.

“Once that is done, we will start over again with the surveying and looking at the existing lighting situation.”

The Campus Lighting Committee, headed by Dean of Students Mike White, is a sub-committee of the Campus Planning Committee. The members were appointed by Tice and include Tice, Sam Hogue and Charlie Scoggins of Campus Landscaping, John Beale and Don Mott of the Physical Plant, Melanie McClellan of the Residence Hall Association. Vice President for Business Affairs Gaddis Hunt and Bryan Nesbit, Student Association president.

“As a committee we will continue to survey the campus. I’ll be meeting with the committee very soon to tour the lighting that has been added for Phase One, and we have about a hundred projects to look at and prioritize for Phase Two,” White said.

White added the Committee will be looking at additional lighting for the Arbour Acres area near the building, not just in the parking lot.

“Demographics are constantly changing. Some places that weren’t heavy traffic areas have become areas students use a lot and at all hours of the night,” White said.

Lindsey Swearengen, a Rice Hall resident, said, “I can’t tell they have done anything — there are still some poles lying around on the ground. We definitely need more lighting in the Rice parking lot, especially ‘the pit.’ It’s very scary at night. Sometimes I can’t even see to put my key in the car door if I am parked in the pit.”

“We want students to feel safe when they walk out to their cars,” Meredith McCollum, director campus safety for the SA, said.

“They’ve been needed a long time.”

McCollum added she is pleased about lights being added to Sorority Row because of the high-traffic area for residents.

Sorority Row resident Holly Callaghan said, “I am glad they are going to install some more lighting along Sorority Row,especially since so many people walk around it.”

“It’s been an ongoing project,” McCollum said, adding her committee has continued the work that last year’s committee began.

“My committee is really excited about it.” McCollum said. “We are glad it is finally being implemented.”