{"id":274588,"date":"2026-08-29T10:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T10:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274588\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T10:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T10:10:15","slug":"new-lighting-installation-illuminates-quad-year-round-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274588\/","title":{"rendered":"New lighting installation illuminates Quad year-round \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

Permanent lighting was installed on Lafayette College\u2019s Quad after a student and faculty-led movement raised concerns over on-campus safety. The project, which includes 148 lighted paving stones, was installed over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased with the research that was done to try to install a type of lighting that would address the concern, but also leave the Quad in a way that could still be used by everybody who wants to use it,\u201d said Dana Cuomo, an associate professor of Women\u2019s, Gender & Sexuality Studies and the co-director of the college\u2019s Gender-Based Violence Research Lab.<\/p>\n

The installation follows a petition<\/a>, launched in October by the research lab, calling on college President Nicole Hurd and facilities to develop a plan to improve campus lighting. The petition, which cited research findings that students \u2014 especially women and LGBTQ+ students \u2014 felt less safe in underlit areas of campus, received 305 signatures.<\/p>\n

In an email written on behalf of Hurd, Chief of Staff Scott Morse deferred comments to Assistant Vice President of Operations Geoff Labe.<\/p>\n

After the petition was created, student representatives from Pards Against Sexual Assault and Peer Anti-Violence Educators, both co-signers, met with members of facilities and Public Safety as part of a campus lighting committee to provide feedback on the lighting plan, according to Director of Student Advocacy & Prevention Karmen Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important because most of the administration isn\u2019t here when it\u2019s dark out or walking around during the hours that students are out and when safety might be a primary concern,\u201d Madeline Loomis \u201828, a Peer Anti-Violence Educators coordinator on the committee, wrote in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Gender-Based Violence Research Lab was not involved in committee meetings, according to Cuomo.<\/p>\n

Director of Public Safety John Troxell said that Public Safety officers actively patrol campus and will report dark spots or areas of concern to the committee when identified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s still a ton of work to do, but that\u2019s why we\u2019re continuing to have the meetings, and I think they\u2019re very willing to hear our concerns and implement them,\u201d said Emma Drewry \u201828, the co-president of Pards Against Sexual Assault. She also identified areas near New Oeschle Hall and the Watson Courts where she felt like lighting could be improved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny work that\u2019s being done on campus takes time, and it is a process because so many people are involved,\u201d Drewry said. \u201cI definitely think in the near future, we\u2019ll reach a point where we\u2019re feeling good about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Campus Lighting Committee will continue to meet and provide feedback to administration through this academic year, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate continuing lighting enhancements across campus,\u201d Labe, who did not provide specifics regarding future project locations, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

The college\u2019s master plan<\/a>, an outline for future campus construction, mentions \u201cimproved campus lighting\u201d to Cattell Street, another area of concern noted in the Gender-Based Violence Lab\u2019s Research, at an undetermined time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Permanent lighting was installed on Lafayette College\u2019s Quad after a student and faculty-led movement raised concerns over on-campus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-274588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}