The members of the Student Art League at the University of Wyoming have vocalized their safety concern for the need of street lamps near the visual arts building on 22nd street.
As art students, they spend a lot of their time at the visual arts building, even when they are not attending meetings there. Some art students even work long into the night, so the lack of light near where the students’ park has become a subject for concern.
Remembering the sexual assault near the football stadium last semester, given the close proximity to the visual arts building, Jandey Shackelford, president of the Student Art League, said, “There may have been some incidences that haven’t necessarily been reported.”
The building has a parking lot, however, that parking lot is for permit holders only. So, many students and staff utilize the free parking on 22nd Street instead, in order to avoid the probable outcome of getting a ticket.
The idea of implementing the street lamps was brought up at the last Student Art League meeting and many of the students in SAL agreed with the concern.
SAL member Mitch Quade contacted the City of Laramie when the lamppost had gone out at the intersection of 22nd Street and Armory Road, who was then going to contact Rocky Mountain Power to fix the light. Quade has also spoken with an engineer tech with the City of Laramie, Karen Tangeman, about the issue of lighting near the visual arts building.
“She [Tangeman] is going to get a quote from Rocky Mountain Power for the cost of putting in an additional street light midway between the four-way stop sign and Armory Road,” Quade said.
Members of SAL have come up with alternative solutions to the problem and one temporary solution. One alternative was to have a couple of people escort one person out to their cars parked on 22nd Street in groups of three.
“One of the things we actually discussed at the Student Art League was that at 5 [p.m.], the parking lot was open, you didn’t have to have a permit,” Quade said. “So, we suggested that if you know you’re going to be in the Visual Arts Building after dark, that at 5 [p.m.], you could move your car to the parking lot, where there is good lighting.”
While there has been no official faculty consensus on the issue yet, faculty advisor for SAL, Shelby Shadwell, plans to bring it up at the next faculty meeting, which will be held tomorrow, March 2. Shelby has a feeling that the faculty will care about this issue just as much as the students do.
“I can assure you from my perspective, having worked here for 11 years, the visual arts faculty is very concerned with student safety and if something can help, then we should do anything we can to make that happen,” Shadwell said.
