Editorial: Good lighting, bad lighting

The floodlights atop the High Rises are unnecessary. The floodlights atop the High Rises are unnecessary. The students who returned this past weekend to campus for the U2 concert were no doubt pleasantly surprised by the recently installed, astoundingly bright lights lining Locust Walk and 40th Street. Although these corridors were already well lit, the new fixtures do provide more light and are more aesthetically pleasing. The ostensible purpose of this particular lighting project, as well as of the separate "UC Brite" program aimed at improving lighting off campus, is to increase foot traffic, thereby reducing fear and ultimately cutting crime. Last September's shooting of then-College senior Patrick Leroy on 40th Street prompted University officials to spruce up the street, including the opening of a temporary University Police mini-station. But administrators were a bit overzealous in installing the rooftop floodlights, whose purpose is unclear. Students returning this fall will likely want to shut them off.