The lighting around campus is getting an upgrade, meant to increase coverage, improve energy efficiency and address reliability concerns.
The project, which is being run by the department of facilities and maintenance, is a multi-year initiative to cut down on dark spots around campus, after a number of student complaints.
“It’s been a long time coming, if you will,” Justin Techmanski, president of the Oswego State Residence Hall Association, said. “There’s been plenty of students over the years who have complained, primarily that they just do not feel safe walking around campus, due to the many dark spots there are.”
Techmanski said that as president of the RHA, he has fielded a large number of comments expressing concern from female students primarily.
The new lighting fixtures will not only improve visibility and energy efficiency but are also equipped with motion detectors that will brighten the light as a person walks towards it. Mitch Fields, associate vice president for Facilities Services, said that this has a double benefit of improving efficiency and indicating when there is another person nearby.
“These lights dim down, but when you approach them, they sense you and brighten,” Fields said. “If someone is off in the distance, you can see them coming because the lights start activating.”
The project has been running for a few years, and its first phase was completed when the lighting around Glimmerglass Lagoon was replaced last year. The upgrades will stretch from Oneida Hall to Rich Hall, adding energy-efficient LED lighting across over a mile of campus walkways.
“The project itself has been in the works for a couple years, the first phase was over behind Seneca around Glimmerglass, those were replaced last year.” Timothy O’Hara, the former project lead, said.
O’Hara said that the expected time of completion is before the end of 2019. In the meantime, while lights are down before their replacements can be installed, the maintenance and facilities department has put up a gas powered “light tree” that is turned on before the sun sets every night.
Techmanski said that he is pleased that campus departments are able to come together to get student concerns addressed. This project has seen involvement from the Dean of Students office, Student Association, RHA and Residence Life and Housing.
“There are a lot of people working on this to ensure that the safety of our students can be assured,” Techmanski said.
He added that the role of organizations like RHA and SA is to hear from students about their concerns and to address them. He said he would urge students to go to their residence hall representatives, and SA representatives when there is cause for concern or a way to improve the campus.
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
