A campus safety walk took place last week to continue the effort by the university to identify areas in need of more light at night.
Along with Associated Students Inc. senators, Fresno State’s vice president for administration and associate vice president of auxiliary services Deborah Adishian-Astone and campus police officers participated in the nighttime walk across campus on Nov. 7.
The idea behind the safety walks is to identify areas on campus that are dimly lit at night or might draw unsafe behavior, said Edgar Castro, ASI Senator of Parking and Safety, who helped organize the event.
Castro said individuals who participated in last semester’s campus safety walk were able to pinpoint poorly lit areas on campus, and, since then, the university has implemented changes such as adding more light fixtures. P20 was an area that became more visible for students because of lighting fixtures that were added this semester.
“We want to add more lighting to the dorm parking lot, especially closer to Shaw [Avenue],” Castro said.
Safety walk participants this semester pointed several areas that needed more lighting, like parking lot P27.
Castro stated that the notably dim areas included the Joyal Administration Building patio; the area behind Science II; walkways between the Henry Madden Library and the Peace Garden; parking lots P23 and P24 located between the swimming pool; and Engineering West Building; as well as the area next to the practice soccer fields.
Stretching west of campus, Bulldog Lane was another area of concern, Castro said, especially because it contains several student residences.
“I hope to see more being done on Bulldog Lane because students feel very unsafe on that road in the evening, and it is a student living area,” Castro said.
He added that there are plans to install light fixtures along Bulldog Lane during spring 2018.
“With the awesome support of the city and our council member, Paul Caprioglio, we plan to make the neighborhoods surrounding Fresno State much safer and comfortable for students,” Castro said.
ASI plans to make the campus safety walk a recurring event because of its success in improving campus safety, Castro said.
“It is crucial to facilitate events of this sort,” he said. “This is important for the safety of our students on campus as a whole.”
Mario Vargas, senator of craig school of business, who also took part in the Nov. 7 safety walk, could not be reached for comment.