OPINION: NC State needs to improve lighting on campus

For a university that can afford to spend $16 million to renovate the perfectly decent D.H. Hill Jr. Library, one might assume that they might expedite the process of properly lighting up the Brickyard that surrounds it. Apparently not, because even after being a joke for so long, with Technician even publishing a cartoon about it in 1977, multiple areas on campus including the Brickyard remain poorly lighted at night and are ultimately unsafe. 

It is very common for students to stay up late at night, either at the library or any of the school’s multiple study spots, to buckle down and get their assignments done. I personally belong to the group of students who never like to study in their dorms and usually find myself studying with a group of friends late into the night.

However, it’s when I'm walking back to my dorm at 2 a.m. and realize that half of the areas I have to cross are pitch black do I start considering the possibility of maybe using my crummy dorm lounge to get homework done next time.

It may have been different back in the day, but nowadays, college campuses are busy pretty much 24 hours, and it is close to impossible to find a time when the campus is entirely inactive. Keeping this in mind, all parts of campus should be easily accessible at all times, and ensuring the walkways are clearly visible will really encourage students to be flexible with their schedules instead of them altering their timetable based on how light or dark it is outside.

It’s also important to remember that not all students have cars, and often college students travel around campus on foot, with others using bicycles, longboards or scooters to navigate around campus. For these students, it is a major safety concern if the paths are not lit up properly at night, and it has been for a while.

The landscape architect at the Facilities Division Office of the University Architect, David Josephus, even admitted as much last year, saying in an interview that “The Brickyard is very dark. We all understand that. That’s been identified for quite some time and we’re in the process of addressing that.”

Addressing this issue needs to happen quickly and without hesitation. Safety must be one of the utmost priorities of a university while designing an area on campus, and though NC State has done an admirable job of installing numerous Bluelight emergency call boxes all around campus, the Bluelights should be complemented with the installation of more regular lighting.

Furthermore, when you add the lack of lighting to the countless brick sidewalks with many missing bricks, tripping becomes a major concern late at night. I have only been on campus for a month, yet the number of times I have seen students randomly tripping over the uneven brick pavements even in broad daylight is ridiculous.

Considering the dim lighting, uneven brick pavements and steady traffic, walking back to one’s dorm or apartment after sundown can be quite a dangerous risk to take. Adding some better methods of lighting could change the entire atmosphere of the campus in the dark and provide an overall safer experience for anyone walking the streets late at night.