The college has moved forward with implementing a lightly controversial campus lighting plan released in January. Last month saw the addition of temporary light fixtures along some Quad paths, while a newly-formed campus lighting committee has met monthly.
The new fixtures — plastic LED lights staked into the ground with extension cords snaked through the grass — are intended to “bridge the gap” between the Quad’s seasonally-installed tree lights and the permanent pathway lighting, according to Assistant Vice President of Operations Geoff Labe.
The permanent lighting, which Labe said will take the form of pavers embedded into the brick pathway, will begin installation “in the coming weeks.” The Quad lights were the only concrete project outlined in the campus lighting plan, which faculty criticized for using artificial intelligence.
The plan was developed in response to a petition that called on college President Nicole Hurd to address what petitioners described as inadequate campus lighting with a “detailed plan of action” and timeline of improvements. The petition drew on the findings of a 2022 mapping initiative from the college’s Gender-Based Violence Research Lab, which found that poor lighting led students to feel unsafe on campus. Lab members identified the Quad as a “key location” in need of improved lighting.
Following the plan’s release, several students involved in the petition — along with lab co-directors and professors Susan Hannan and Dana Cuomo — were invited to join a campus lighting committee made up of employees from Public Safety, facilities and the Office of Student Life.
“We have been working on a monthly basis to provide a student perspective on the campus lighting plan and keep our groups and other students updated on the status of the plan,” wrote committee member Lauren Karwacki ‘26 in an email. Karwacki is a member of Peer Anti-Violence Educators, one of the groups that co-signed the petition.
Cuomo said she and Hannan declined the invitation to join the committee, choosing instead to focus on the lab and their research projects.
