The Undergraduate Student Government Senate passed a resolution to increase lighting in what some students describe as one of the poorest lit residential areas on campus -- the Nittany Apartments complex.

At previous Senate meetings, Erik Ives, a South Halls senator and research and action committee chair, said the lighting in the Nittany Apartments area is poor and that he has received complaints about the issue.

The research and action committee decided to pursue the idea of obtaining more or better lighting for the residents of the apartments.

"We went out and conducted interviews and looked at where it (lighting) was needed," Town Sen. Justin Fanelli said.

USG will work with the Nittany Apartments Housing Office in looking for options to make the area safer.

Nittany/Pollock housing manager Dave Manos said they were already in the process of trying to get better lighting for the complex. He said they began about a year ago when University Environmental Health and Safety officials did a survey of areas around campus to see what safety issues needed to be addressed.

They made some recommendations to improve the campus, and the lighting in the Nittany Apartments area was included.

When USG got involved this year, Manos said he was interested in combining ideas and seeing what USG had observed.

"I wanted to make sure we hadn't missed anything," Manos said.

During last Tuesday's Senate meeting, the Student Safety Forum addressed concerns with lighting in all areas on and off campus.

"I think there's a need for extra lighting there," said Senate President Mike Fazio. "It's one of the darkest areas on campus."

USG's feedback from students proved that better lighting is needed in the apartments.

"Even the Papa John's (pizza shop) delivery guy thought it was the most poorly lit area on campus," Fanelli said.

The groups discussed different ways to improve the lighting conditions.

One option mentioned was increasing the wattage of the existing bulbs, but the possibility of the lights being too bright could bother residents.

"We're trying to walk that balance with lighting it up so it's safe, but not too much to inconvenience people trying to sleep," Manos said.

Another idea discussed was to link the porch lights of the apartments to an automatic "night light" system that would turn on the porch lights at a certain time each night around dusk.

Manos said he has not personally heard from students about the issue of lighting.

"All we're doing now is investigating different options. Before we make a decision, we'll ask students," Manos said.

An issue that will come up is the cost.

He said that if the wattage of the bulbs were increased it would be less expensive than adding lighting fixtures or tying them into the night light system.

"It's always potentially expensive," Manos said.