A power outage caused blackouts and flickering lights across campus Tuesday night, mostly affecting Norris and the University Library for about half an hour.

At 7:12 p.m., the main lights went out in the library, causing the emergency lights to come on, according to exit attendant Jennifer Kerbs. The library staff continued to let students in for a few minutes, expecting the lights to come back on shortly, but were then told by Security Coordinator John Brdecka not to let anyone else in.

University and Evanston police declined to comment on the source of the outage. Com Edison, the local power provider, was unavailable for comment.

Students were evacuated from the library towers, but were allowed to stay in the entrance. Later on, the library closed for Tuesday night.

“I have a paper due tomorrow so I was going to be here until it closed tonight,” said Weinberg junior Ann Schraufnagel. “Now I have to wait for my friend to pick me up.”

Communication senior Cynthia Degros came to the library after the lights went out in Norris.

“I was in Norris and I was watching the primaries and they were about to get to the juicy parts, and then the lights went out,” she said. “Starbucks went completely postal and people started leaving in droves.”

The lights returned at 7:41 p.m., a welcome surprise for many students.

“I came all the way from Hinman-Lincoln to go to the library, and then the lights were out,” said Weinberg freshman Nicole Tilley.