If the university has the financial means, it should make efforts to provide more lighting along campus walkways.

The Student Assembly of ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, is considering a measure encouraging university officials to provide more consistent lighting on campus.

Lights have recently been added and faulty ones replaced along the trail that runs past the Kellogg Center. However, malfunctions have caused the lights to flicker on and off, but officials say they have been repaired.

ASMSU should be commended for its efforts to improve safety on campus. Safety issues greatly affect the student body and ASMSU should work to improve conditions for students. ASMSU should also be applauded for its efforts to place Braille on green light emergency telephones.

The group passed a bill in February asking university officials to put Braille writing on all green light emergency telephones. Braille is needed because the phones do not provide enough light for those who are visually impaired to see the numbers, members said.

MSU has about 100 emergency telephones across campus that students - and others - can use to contact police in an emergency.

While more lighting won’t make walkways completely safe, it will at least make students feel more comfortable walking on campus at night. Light will not make crime disappear, but it can help deter it.

The university has a responsibility to make sure the paved walkways are well-lit. The university’s ultimate responsibility is to the students and their safety and more lighting would help provide that.

The cost of more lighting should also be considered. If providing more lights would cost too much, the project could be scaled down. However, the benefit of a safer campus could be valuable enough to outweigh a high cost and the proposal should not be dismissed on price alone. The university should carefully examine the proposal before acting either way on it.

More lighting provides for safety in many ways. Besides deterring crime, it can also help prevent injuries. A student would be less likely to trip on something on a well-lit path than a dark one.

Students should consider, however, that just because something is well-lit, it is not necessarily completely safe. Safety precautions should still be taken, like walking in groups at night.

There are also other safe ways to get around campus. StateWalk can provide escorts or students can take an evening bus. However, it wouldn’t hurt to have a well-lit path to the bus stop or along the way home with StateWalk.

The safety of students should be a top priority for MSU. ASMSU’s proposal to provide more lighting on campus is an important one. The university should consider this and other safety issues on campus.

More lighting may not be a cure-all for safety issues, but it certainly can’t hurt anything.