Initiative To Light Up Campus Moves Forward

By: Muriel Almeida / Staff Writer

Modesto Maidique Campus In-House Senator, Dominique “Rose” Ingraham, set up a small table outside of Green Library last week to bring awareness to students and faculty about the lighting issue on campus. 

Directors of Physical Plant for Facilities, Joost Nungia and Daniel Paan; Operations and Safety Manager, Javier Marques; and FIU PD Lieutenant, Paul Masforroll attended to further support any questions or concerns any passerby had about the initiative. 

“As a student leader, I really love it when the administration has our back and they’re willing to make changes to enhance the student experience,” Ingraham said.

Many students crowded around the Dos Croquetas bowl and free clip-on flashlights in exchange for placing a star sticker on the FIU MMC campus map indicating where they thought more light should be present on campus. 

Senior undergraduate student, Elena Guerra, placed a star on University Towers by Breezeway Cafe, “Personally it is dark but I feel like a lot of catcalling happens in that area especially since it’s not monitored,” she said. “I feel the most unsafe [there].”

FIU hosts safety walks annually, where students and faculty come together to discuss different areas on campus that require significant improvement. One of the safety concerns was the dimly lit yellow lighting around campus back in 2013 which Chief Casas had addressed.

Today, those dim, yellow lights have been replaced with bright, white LED lights.

“Safety Walks [are] better because we’re able to actually walk through areas, have people point out [things] and we progress through there,” Lt. Masforroll said. “Here it’s a little difficult because it’s harder to gauge what people want.”

Attention was brought up about facilities that stay open 24 hours including the Green Library or residence halls which incentivize students to roam around campus during late-night hours, according to Ingraham. 

“The thing I’m most hoping to achieve is consistency,” she said. “There have been a lot of great improvements but there is still work to be done.”