Debate over lights is still on

Every light on University Drive, near the location where two female students were sexually… Every light on University Drive, near the location where two female students were sexually assaulted at gunpoint Sept. 22, is now working, according to Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill.

The lights are located along a stretch of University Drive between Chevron Science Center and the Learning Research and Development Center.

When the assaults occurred, a University police report noted, “Three lights were down on University Drive where the incidents took place.”

According to Hill, Facilities Management had no knowledge of any lights being down on University Drive before the assaults.

“We know for a fact that the lights were on the Friday before the assaults,” Hill said.

But Jim Fischerkeller, a library staff member of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, said he called the Pitt police once and the Pitt Parking Administration three times during the summer to alert them of the broken lights.

Fischerkeller said he noted in his agenda that the second call was placed Aug. 20, and the third call was placed Aug. 29. According to Fischerkeller, he reported the following four lights down: a light on University Drive at the overpass of the LRDC, two lights at the driveway behind Eberly Hall, and one at the top of the first flight of stairs at the Eberly Hall parking lot.

Fischerkeller also said the lights had not worked for more than a month. But yesterday, Hill reaffirmed the University’s stance.

“Prior to the attack, the University did not receive a report of the lights being out at the area of the attack,” he said.

Last week, The Pitt News spoke to an anonymous source within the University that said a Pitt engineer alerted Facilities Management that lights were out in the area along University Drive Aug. 14, possibly as a result of the deconstruction of the Mineral Industries Building.

Hill said no such notice was ever received.

“I am not aware of any report saying that deconstruction caused any of the lights to be out,” he said.

According to the source, the call was entered into the system, and on Aug. 24, an electrical foreman with Facilities Management signed the lights off as repaired. The source said that immediately after the sexual assaults, Facilities Management investigated the broken lights and determined that the electrical foreman never actually repaired the lights, but logged work hours and signed it off as completed.

Hill said that when he compared his own reports to the reports from the anonymous source, there were discrepancies with the source’s information, but he did not specifically indicate any “inaccuracies.”

On Oct. 2, a Pitt police officer reported that the lights on University Drive near Chevron were down, according to the police blotter.

Hill confirmed yesterday that all the lights are now working.