On Wednesday night, students, staff and administration met for a campus walkthrough to identify areas that could use more lighting as an additional safety measure.

The walkthrough was a result of students voicing concerns about campus safety due to poor lighting. The feedback was collected by RISE, Bowdoin Reproductive Justice Coalition (BRJC) and Women of Color Coalition (WoCC) in a joint conversation session the groups held after the Jane Doe case at Cornell became national news.

“We held a space for people to share their thoughts and frustrations and feelings,” Zara Lall ’27, a leader of RISE, said. “It culminated in a list of action items that we thought the school could take to make students feel more comfortable on campus, and better lighting was one of them.”

According to Associate Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects Jeff Tuttle, it had been several years since the last major walkthrough with student input.

“I don’t know exactly how long ago, but we used to do [walkthroughs] on a more regular basis ten years ago or so,” Tuttle said. “Every couple years, we’d do a revisit, but I don’t remember doing one for quite some time.”

Before embarking on the walkthrough, students listed various paths where darkness was a concern. Some of the most common areas of concern included the walk from Park Row Apartments to Brunswick Apartments and the routes from Coffin Street and Longfellow Avenue to various athletic facilities and Harpswell Apartments.

Mia Cheney ’28, another RISE member who attended the walk, said that the locations mentioned are concerns for many students.

“The same areas came up over and over again,” Cheney said. “They’re such highly traveled areas, like the walk to the athletic facilities [that] so many women and so many people walk every single day, most of the time late at night, especially now when it’s dark at 4:30 p.m.”

The walk began at 5 p.m. once the sun had completely set and lighting could properly be assessed. As the group reached certain dimly lit locations, members of Facilities Management took light readings of the areas in potential need of additional lighting.