Emilie Groover, Staff Writer
Continuing to address safety issues concerning lighting around campus, the Office of Facility Services hosted their third campus night walk on the eve of April 7. For the first time, faculty and staff were invited to join the students and SGA on the walk.
The Night Walks began in Spring 2015, providing students a chance to voice their concerns about the campus’s night-time safety.
Originally focused only on lighting issues, night walks now focus on several safety concerns, including overgrown shrubs and trip hazards, as well as possible projects students would like to see completed.
Facility Services creates a list of student concerns, separating projects into those easily repaired and those that will require more funding.
“Following every walk, a list of work orders is generated for those items we can easily repair. Those items that are a little bigger are put on a project list and funding requests are made,” said Katie Twining, the Director of the Office of Facility Services.
After the Fall 2015 night walk, facility services has almost completed converting all of the outdoor lights on campus to LED bulbs. The Science Center, Sports Center and Armstrong Center parking lot poles have all been converted so far.
The remaining lights will be converted when the final shipment of LED bulbs arrives. Georgia Power will assist Armstrong in converting the final parking lots and road lights.
The dark wooded area between Ashmore, University Hall and the Student Union will soon become home to light poles. Also, more lights will be placed in the lightly landscaped areas around the Student Union.
Thursday’s night walk proved productive with the largest turnout of students, faculty, and staff to date.
“The fact that Armstrong wants and cares for the opinions of their students exemplifies that they care for our safety and comfort,” said Deanna Flynn, a third year student at Armstrong.
Facility services has proposed that the twelve foot light poles along Library Drive be replaced by 8 foot light poles, creating a better lit sidewalk to Arts Drive.
Students who have concerns are encouraged to voice those concerns to facility services by emailing Katie Twining at katie.twining@armstrong.edu.
“The most important thing people can do is to email or call us with concerns about safety. We in Facilities are not always here at night, so we rely on the staff, students, and faculty who are here to let us know when things aren’t right,” said Twining.
Facility services cannot guarantee every concern will be immediately addressed, but they will take every concern seriously.
