Blue light. Or lights, rather.

Pretty? Yes. Decorative? Of course. Helpful?

That’s open to some debate.

Increasing the number of ‘blue lights’ — those aquamarine lightposts with emergency call phones attached to them — will not deter crime.

Making them more ‘visible’ will not deter crime.

Both those things may make help more accessible to victims on this campus, but shouldn’t we take a more proactive approach to reducing crime?

Putting up more lightposts — blue or otherwise — is not what keeps our campus safe.

Granted, it’s comforting to know that there’s a phone available for disasters. It’s reassuring to know that at any moment, one could pick up that phone and alert campus police of one’s location. We don’t advocate removing those blue lights.

But we also don’t recommend relying on them to make us feel safe. What makes us safe is reducing our risk of being victims of crime by keeping our wits about us.

By being aware of our surroundings — including suspicious people on our trail, hiding in the bushes, or brandishing a knife. We can reduce our risk by carrying pepper spray, knowing how to stand up for ourselves, and being assertive when confronted by someone who wants to cause us harm.

We can look out for each other, too.We can be our own blue lights. If we see crime happening — harrassment, assault, break-ins — we can take it upon ourselves to take action. We can help our fellow students instead of leaving them to their own devices or leaving them to handle it themselves. We can all be Good Samaritans.

We can demand of our campus police increased patrolling. We can demand of our fellow students the right not to be victims of crime. We can demand of ourselves the confidence and security to walk at night without keeping our eyes peeled for the next blue light, ‘just in case.’

Instead of putting up more lights, bigger lights, brighter lights, we need to educate ourselves so we don’t take it for granted that blue light keeps us safe. We need to keep us safe.

Campus safety is not something we should leave to somebody else. As the aphorism goes, luck favors the well-prepared. Relying solely upon the blue lights does not enter into the equation.

Besides, the combined blue light which would emanate from having both a Pepsi vending machine and an emergency light every five feet could quite possibly spark an epileptic seizure, or at the very least skew our vision.

And skewed vision is the last thing we need when we’re looking out for ourselves and our fellow students.