Holiday cheer is spreading through campus, especially with the addition of Christmas lights around the McGlothlin Campus Center Wednesday.
The Students’ Association, Business Services, the Campus Center, Physical Resources and the Office of Campus Aesthetics are all helping to fund the project.
Lisa Flores, project manager for Business Services, said SA Treasurer Chris Shim approached Business Services concerning the project. She said it was more than happy to partner with SA to fund the lights.
“It shows that ACU has the Christmas spirit,” Flores said. “We have a beautiful campus, and Christmas lights are just part of the season.”
SA’s portion of the cost is coming from the Executive Initiative Fund, which SA Congress approves for its executive officers to use at their discretion. This allows SA to use the money without bringing a bill before Congress.
After several students came into the SA office requesting Christmas lights around campus – even offering to help set them up – Shim said he and the other executive officers began looking at the logistics of the project.
Shim, senior finance major from Atlanta, said SA spoke with Physical Resources and Campus Aesthetics and was given the go ahead to hang lights around campus. However, Risk Management said students would not be able to assemble the lights. Instead, SA took multiple bids from local Christmas light vendors.
Shim said the lights will add to the Christmas atmosphere for faculty, staff and students and make the project worthwhile.
The lights have been hung on the lining on the Campus Center entryway overlooking Brown Library and on the tree trunks lining the path from the Campus Center to the Brown Library. They are also on tree trunks on the opposite side of the Campus Center between the Campus Center and the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, visible from the windows in the Bean.
SA President Samuel Palomares, senior communication major from Elsa, said upperclassmen often lose their connection to campus after they move into houses and said he hopes the lights will provide an opportunity for students living on or off campus to hang out with friends.
Shim said he hopes someday these lights will one day lead to ACU covering the entire campus with lights.
