A group of Syracuse University architecture students used 4,000 glow sticks to light up the campus and raise awareness about crime and safety this week; and they plan to continue the project in the future.

The project, titled “Cuse Stay Safe,” began Tuesday on Comstock Avenue and ended Wednesday evening on Euclid Avenue. The goal of the project was to raise awareness about crime on SU’s campus, especially in underlit areas such as Euclid and Comstock — the two streets with the highest amount of reported crimes, said Estefania Maldonado, a fifth-year School of Architecture student who worked on the project alongside her classmates Brooke Shea and Taylor Johnson.

The glow sticks, which could also be worn as bracelets, came with a tag printed with DPS’s phone number and other safety resources. The bracelets help shed light  — both literally and figuratively  — on how the Department of Public Safety helps students to be safer on campus, Shea said.

“They can actually take the glow sticks, wear them and really just have the campus light up with all these bracelets,” Shea said.

Shea and Maldonado said they didn’t necessarily want students to seek out the installation, but rather bump into it during their daily routines. The goal of the installation, they said, was to show students that the streets they often walk aren’t as safe as they think.

Cuse Stay Safe initially began as a project for ARC 552: “Politics of Public Space,” an architecture class in which students analyze how public space is used to spread a message through an installation. One common interest among the three students was student safety against crime because architecture students often walk home late at night, Maldonado said.

“We think that being underlit is one of the main causes (of crime), and people not being aware of their surroundings,” Maldonado said.

Many students walk alone or look at their devices, which can make them vulnerable to being attacked. The three students hope that with the DPS information cards attached to the glow sticks, students will realize the precautions they should be taking, Shea said.

“It’s crazy, because you would think the opposite, but it just keeps you distracted, and apparently when people see you on the phone, you’re a bigger target,” she said.

The project was funded by DPS and Ben Tupper, a local landlord, but the project’s development was up to the students, said Tupper, an SU alumnus.

“It was 100 percent their idea,” Tupper said. “They came to me with an idea already in the incubator. All I’ve done is offer suggestions or tweaks.”

Tupper added that awareness is one of the key deterrents to crime.

“Unfortunately, students have a tendency to be very lackadaisical and the bad guys know this is an easy neighborhood to steal, so that’s what you’ll hear happening,” Tupper said.

DPS Detective CJ McCurty said he thinks Cuse Stay Safe will be effective in reaching students. He added that some students may not want to follow DPS’s safety precautions, so if students spread the information to their peers, they may be more likely to follow it. But above all, McCurty said, he just wants students to be safe.

Two ways for students to stay safe and prevent crime are by keeping their doors locked and traveling in groups, according to DPS’s website.

Johnson, Maldonado and Shea said they are planning on expanding Cuse Stay Safe to downtown later this year. The installation most likely won’t involve glow sticks, but will still address the same issue of lack of lighting.

Published on October 21, 2015 at 10:35 pm

Contact Haley: hykim100@syr.edu