For over a year, several students have been reaching out to administration, the University Police Department (UPD) and Facility Services to bring change to the lack of lighting in some areas on campus.
Last year, UPD facilitated the first ever campus night walk in which students were able to point out “dark areas” (areas with little to no lighting) around campus to members of administration, Facility Services and UPD.
On Nov. 8th, UPD facilitated the second campus night walk. The goal of this year’s campus night walk was to take a look at the upgraded light installments on the areas that were deemed as still too dark from the previous night walk.
Mei Curry (senior, Criminal Justice), a student who has attended both campus night walks, said that some lighting spots have improved, “but some of them have not.”
A few areas that were targeted last year were the walkway next to the Child Development Center and the pathway along Calaveras Way.
“Facility Services, based on that information, installed some brand new lightings in those areas…Facility Services has continued to install upgraded LED lighting over the last year, so there’s a lot more of that LED lighting [on campus],” said Interim Chief of Police, Clint Strode.
Over the past year, several lighting fixtures have been replaced by LED lights.
“The LED lighting is much brighter, so it provides more light using the same infrastructure that was already in place,” Strode added. “But it also is much more cost effective, so we’re saving energy and of course reducing our carbon footprint by using more efficient ways of lighting.”
According to Energy.Gov, LED lights use 75 percent less energy than non-LED lights, making them last about 25 times longer.
Not only are LED lights much more energy efficient, they are much brighter and able to illuminate larger areas, which is important to students.
“Some of the lights do not cover [the entire area] or [are] nonexistent in some areas on campus,” Curry said. “Students sometimes avoid certain [areas] because of the lack of lights, and students should be able to go anywhere on campus without fear.” 
Although there is not enough evidence stating that there is a direct correlation between lighting and crimes, according to a 2015 Safety Science study, people tend to feel safer in brightly lit areas.
“I always encourage people to look at [the crime statistics], and while I can say statistically this is a very safe place, that doesn’t necessarily mean people feel safe,” Strode said.
Regarding what he hoped to see in the future regarding lighting, Roger Lobe (junior, Psychology) said, “I’m hoping we can put up more lights…in housing. Even though it’s a gated community, there’s still a possibility of [assault] happening to students… Overall, I think there should be more lighting so students could feel better.”
There are plans to continue fixing and adding lights to the dark areas around campus. However, due to weather conditions, it could take a couple of months for the rest of the areas to be fixed, explained the Director of Facility Services, Tim Overgaauw.
“We have recently finished the areas around the gym and towards the Student Recreation Complex and around the art and drama area. The next spot we are looking to improve will be the main quad,” Overgaauw said.
Until then, Facility Services has also been looking at pruning some trees and bushes that are blocking some of the light and creating dark spots on campus in order to create a safer, more well lit environment on campus.