The Associated Student Government passed a resolution calling for Northwestern to reinstate its annual winter lights, which the University is removing to save costs as a result of the Trump administration’s $790 million funding freeze.
The resolution, authored by Weinberg freshmen Senators Alexander Hampton and Carridee Raymundo, called on the administration “to discontinue the removal of the winter lights for the 2025-2026 winter season in the interest of the student body’s well-being.”
The Daily reported on the elimination of the lights in October, which spurred an online petition to restore the winter tradition that has garnered over 300 signatures.
“I already knew this was an issue that many people were disappointed about, but it wasn’t until I was writing the legislation, and I found a Daily article that had all these photos of these Christmas lights,” Raymundo said. “That’s when I realized what a huge loss it was that we wouldn’t have that.”
Hampton and Raymundo cited mental health risks and the prevalence of seasonal affective disorder among college students in their resolution. They specifically named increasingly shorter days, with recent sunsets as early as 4:30 p.m., as a reason to reinstall the lights.
Hampton said he was optimistic that the administration would take notice of their legislation, which passed with overwhelming support.
“We’re hoping that the legislation will cause the administration to actually recognize that people are genuinely serious and passionate about having these lights on campus, and they actually mean something to these people,” Hampton said.
Raymundo said she reached out to Facilities Management a week ago about the cost of the lights, but had not yet received a reply.
She noted that the legislation would give ASG additional leverage to reach out to the administration a second time.
“It’s infuriating when you see the brewery being built, the stadium being built,” Raymundo said. “It’s all these things that are impacting very niche parts of campus, but then something that should be so unifying as Christmas lights is not prioritized.”
Weinberg senior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez, who cosponsored the resolution, said the winter lights were an important cause. But, she was not optimistic about their return this year.
“We’ve already passed the time for the lights to be put up, but I’m really hopeful this could send a message to the administration for following years that the lights are something that’s really important to Northwestern students,” Salgado-Alvarez said.
Besides the winter lights resolution, ASG senators passed several minor code amendments as emergency legislation and resolutions calling to expand athletic tickets for non-incarcerated undergraduate students in the Northwestern Prison Education Program, mandate excused mental health absences and eliminate financial barriers to Bienen School of Music lessons.
ASG senators also passed a resolution calling to resume Pride Month lighting at Deering Library, which Weinberg senior and Senator Quillen Kai said would be popular among the student body.
“This was a multi-decade-old tradition that was suspended abruptly, just a couple of years ago,” Kai said. “There is some sort of student approval for this kind of lighting.”
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