Three campus organizations launched a petition last month calling on Lafayette College President Nicole Hurd to improve lighting across campus, an ask she pledged to address. The demand is rooted in two years of collaborative research that suggests poor lighting on campus contributes to students feeling unsafe.
The petition, which closed with 305 signatures, was launched as part of the Harm Mapping Project, a study mapping gender-based violence on campus.
Jointly signed by the Gender-Based Violence Research Lab, Pards Against Sexual Assault and Peer Anti-Violence Educators, the petition calls for a “clear, detailed plan with a timeline” to address lighting issues in a campus-wide correspondence by the start of the spring 2026 semester.
“As noted in the petition, the Administration has been aware of the need to improve lighting on campus for years,” wrote Dana Cuomo, a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor, in an email. “Our goal with the petition is to call for a specific timeline in which those improvements would be made.”
Hurd, after receiving the petition on Nov. 13, has since shared her plans to comply with the petition’s request for a timeline.
“I suggested we walk the campus together,” Hurd said. “I’ve also promised them that we will have a lighting plan ready for distribution when we get back to school in January.”
She added that improving lighting is part of the campus’ long-term master plan.
In the meantime, Public Safety Director Jeff Troxell said that his officers currently monitor lighting conditions daily.
“When the sun sets, officers note if a lamp is out or if it’s dark in a certain area,” he said.
Reports are then sent to college facilities for repair or replacement, Troxell explained, adding that Public Safety uses national lighting standards to evaluate whether an area is adequately lit.
The launch of the petition coincided with a presentation by The Harm Mapping Project, which identified sites such as the Quad, Kirby Sports Center and Cattell Street locations — including Wawa and Milo’s Place — as areas with more frequent reports of physical or sexual violence.
Launched in 2022, the project aims to examine the physical spread of gender-based violence on campus. The initiative and the petition claim that “after years of awareness” from the project underscoring lighting concerns on campus, “it is now time for action.”
Morgan Dunn ’26, the president of Pards Against Sexual Assault said the petition comes after a “continuous ask from students and from faculty” to improve lighting on campus. Cuomo approached her for her organization to join the petition efforts.
“Even something as small as keeping the Quad lighting on all year would make a difference,” she said, praising Peer Anti-Violence Educators for joining Pards Against Sexual Assault in the efforts of the petition.
Dunn and the organization’s Vice President Abbie Hillback ’27 both expressed that students may feel reassured if they know that specific lighting improvements are planned.
“As long as people are starting to make plans and say, ‘this is when lights are going to be there,’ that shows there’s actually movement,” Hillback said.
Peer Anti-Violence Educators Coordinator Lauren Karwacki ‘26 said that the group became involved in the petition after the Gender-Based Violence Research Lab had asked them to help it “gain more traction.”
Karwacki said that, while the lab wrote the petition, they met with the two student organizations to ensure the petition was something they “would feel comfortable” signing their organization’s name on.
“Students need to be aware that this is a time where they can have a say in taking part in the action for a preventative measure, so then people aren’t as vulnerable to harm on campus,” said Mackenzie Steinbiss ‘26, the co-president of Peer Anti-Violence Educators.
