Midd Briefs Consultant Attends Lighting Evaluation

Author: Tim McCahill

A group of College administrators and students traveled across campus yesterday evening on the annual lighting tour of Middlebury's physical plant. Yesterday's event, however, was attended by Nancy Clanton, a lighting consultant with the Boulder, Colo. firm Clanton Associates.
Before embarking on the tour Clanton gave an hour-long presentation on lighting alternatives for rural colleges like Middlebury, which uses yellow sodium halide bulbs in many of its lamposts around campus. Such alternatives include special bulbs made of different materials that limit glare, enhance uniformity of lighting and reduce what she termed "light trespass" from College lights in residential areas on the periphery of campus.
Clanton's visit marked a new stage in the College's approach to lighting its physical plant. The Master Plan currently does not have guidelines for lights and lighting, and the suggestions offered by Clanton — as well as the evaluation conducted by her and participants of the lighting tour — could be the first steps of a long-term plan.
Before her talk and the tour Clanton, whose visit was coordinated by Gamaliel Painter Bicentennial Professor of Physics Frank Winkler and Tom McGinn, project manager of the College's Facilities Planning Group, met with town officials and assesed the various elements that contribute to a succesful lighting regime, such as traffic patterns and gathering points for members of the College community.
Lighting will undoubtedly surface as another key issue in the ongoing discussion on campus safety, which stands to re-emerge as revisions to the Sexual Assault Policy continue.