Sarah Becker/ The Towerlight

When Student Government Association Senator Becky Wiacek said she felt unsafe on the walk back from her night class to West Village and noticed a lot of poorly lit areas, she organized a night walk to make campus as safe as possible.

Concerned students, University President Maravene Loeschke, SGA President Matt Sikorski, members of facilities management, members of the Towson University Police Department, including Chief of Police Bernard Gerst and others walked around campus pinpointing safety issues that could be resolved.

“We uncovered a lot of problem areas and many of the concerns were immediately addressed,” Wiacek said.

The main concerns addressed were poorly lit areas, the blue light system,and pedestrian worries, according to Wiacek.

Already, the crosswalk button on Osler Drive and a light on the Tower D stairs have been fixed, graffiti was removed from the baseball dugout, and a broken blue light emergency device outside Linthicum was repaired.

One concern for the future is the effectiveness of the blue light emergency devices.

On the walk, the group tested blue light devices to see where new ones could be installed.

Wiacek plans to form a committee with Trades Maintenance Manager for Facilities Management Rick Walsh to get more information on the blue lights.

Associate Vice President of Facilities Management Roger Hayden participated in the walk and said Facilities will be replacing some of the older blue lights with newer models.

“I think it was very successful, and it was good that people will devote that amount of time to going around and being that thoughtful and forthcoming, coming up with questions, ideas, and concerns,” he said.

Facilities management plans to sit down with the student government to compare lists of the concerns mentioned on the walk, create a timeline in which to accomplish them, and see how to fit these additions into the budget, Hayden said.

This was the first campus night walk in two years.

Wiacek said she plans to continue the momentum of creating a safer environment.

“I don’t want this initiative to just fade away, because it is so vital to our Towson’s safety,” she said.