University Police, Facilities work to brighten campus

The NC State University Police Department and Facilities Division are working to ensure campus is as well-lit as possible to make it safe for students walking at night through events such as the upcoming annual Night Walk.

Every year, the University Police Department in conjunction with Student Government conducts a Night Walk with other campus partners and the student body to identify problematic areas on campus. 

The University Police Department works with Campus Facilities to address problems found during the night walk. Major Ian Kendrick from the department explained the purpose and the scope of the walk.

“The purpose of that is to walk around and identify some deficiencies or possible needs for either lighting, maybe turning back overhanging limbs or shrubbery, looking at and testing blue lights to make sure they’re working,” Kendrick said. “It’s getting a chance to go out with our campus partners, see everything at the same time, talk about potential problems and identify solutions and who would be responsible for making remedy to any deficiencies.”

In addition to the Night Walk, the department stays on the lookout year-round for any non-working lights or any vegetation that is blocking light. Kendrick also noted that the blue emergency lights are checked monthly.

“We encourage you to travel in well-lit and well-traveled areas,” Kendrick said. “Try to remove any distractions you might have, instead of walking and listening to earphones or earbuds, maybe take them out, don’t look down at phones, stay off social media and just focus on where you’re going to.” 

David Josephus, the landscape architect at the Office of the University Architect at Facilities, described what is currently being done to address lighting concerns on campus.

“We hired a consultant … to look at our lighting levels on campus and try to identify some areas that are lacking lighting,” Josephus said. “What they found out is it’s really the low uniformity of the light levels that give you the perception of some places seem unsafe, some seem over-lit, some are under-lit, so what they recommended and what we’re going to implement is more uniform lighting levels throughout campus. And how we’re going to achieve that is by switching all the lighting out to LEDs.”

Josephus also said he understands concerns that have been brought up about the amount of light in the Brickyard. Facilities is currently in the works of swapping older lights with LED bulbs across campus as well as adding light fixtures, beginning in 2019.

“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,” Josephus said. “We found the area from Broughton Drive to Garner was not adequately lit and it’s dark. So if we can get that lit, whether it’s lights coming off the building or adding new lights near the building to give the students and users a safer walk, that’s our first priority.”

This year’s night walk will take place on Nov. 14 and 15. Students can find more information on University Police services here.