Grand Valley State University’s Student Senate is working to improve lighting on campus near the Little Mac Bridge.

Eric Cousins, Student Senate’s vice president for campus affairs, is leading the efforts to make this possible.

“Multiple GVSU staff members have encouraged me to let them know if there are any areas on campus that students feel are poorly lit so that they can remedy the issue,” Cousins said.

Cousins said that he will be meeting with Tim Thimmesch, associate vice president of facility services, along with Terry Pahl, facility services engineer, to discuss what other areas on campus they think need improvements made to existing lights.

“We are currently in the process of installing another light pole near (the Performing Arts Center),” Pahl said. “We have been very active the past five years with installing new LED site lighting fixtures. Part of the reason is to provide a better light from a visual perspective. LEDs provide a whiter light that helps with color recognition. They also provide a better distribution of light and more uniformity. This summer alone we installed the rest of the LEDs on our 100-foot-high mast poles at the Allendale Campus and installed over 300 new light fixtures on the Allendale and Pew campuses.”

“I appreciate the administration being so proactive on this issue, and I look forward to seeing more great changes on our campus,” Cousins said.

Grand Valley Police Department Capt. Brandon DeHaan said that Student Senate has had discussions with the university in the past about lighting on campus. He said that the police department has worked with facilities to recognize and report areas that have been a challenge in terms of lighting.

“There are a number of initiatives that facility services have gone through to increase lighting,” DeHaan said. “We work with facility services if lamps are burnt out, or there are issues with different circuits that are out, or we will put in work orders.”

DeHaan said that he cannot recall any recent reports of students feeling unsafe or of crimes occurring near the bridge.

“To the best of my knowledge there hasn’t been anything reported by the small foot bridge in the recent past,” DeHaan said.

Lighting at GVSU has improved in general over the past five years, DeHaan said.

“Find someone who has been here for an extended period of time, over five years,” DeHaan said. “Ask them what they think it was now versus five years ago. My sense is that they would say it is much brighter.”

Cousins encourages members of the GVSU community to contact Student Senator Rebecca Noell, a member of campus affairs committee, if there are any areas on campus that they would like to see better lit. Noell may be contacted at [email protected].

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