Crusading for Light : Crime: The parents of a murdered college student thought they had won a tougher campus safety law, but in the end, lawmakers passed only a watered-down measure.

She turned the agony of her daughter’s murder into a campaign to save other California college students from the deadly threats that lurk in dimly lit campus walkways and dark parking lots.

Genelle Reilley of Laguna Beach thought she had achieved a major victory last week when Gov. George Deukmejian signed into law a bill to set lighting standards for university and college campuses.

The euphoria was short-lived.

Friday, Genelle and John Reilley said the legislation they believed might have saved their daughter’s life four years ago would, in fact, do nothing for the more than 100 community college, state university and University of California campuses.

They said the new law, although a constructive first step, only sets standards for state campuses built in the future.

“It amazed me that the very people who should be concerned about the safety of our sons and daughters--and you would think they would be our greatest allies--are in fact our greatest enemies,” said Genelle Reilley.

She and her husband blame University of California administrators who opposed as too costly the original bill, which would have required new lighting for existing campuses.

“They have no problem finding the money for sports, new buildings and other non-academic trivia while our children remain at risk,” Genelle Reilley said. “Lighting is a deterrent to crime. If they can find the money to light up football fields they can find money to light up the walkways and parking lots.”

On the cold night of Jan. 18, 1986, Reilley’s 23-year-old daughter, Robbin Brandley, was stabbed repeatedly as she returned to her car in a dark parking lot at Saddleback Community College. Her fully clothed body was found by her car where she had bled to death. Her assailant was never found.

The night of the attack, Brandley--a popular student disc jockey for KSBR-FM--had volunteered as an usher for a piano concert and reception at the school’s Doyle G. McKinney Theatre. She was returning to her car, about 100 yards from the theater when she was killed.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) said her bill (SB-1912) originally would have required all state college campuses to adopt a lighting standard for walkways and parking lots. But Bergeson, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, said the bill was opposed by university administrators not on its merits, but its cost.

“I felt very strongly that all the campuses should be included,” Bergeson said, “but it was a matter of either forgetting about the bill altogether or getting a lighting standard for new campuses that can be applied retroactively later.”

Todd Greenspan, an analyst for the University of California office of state governmental relations, said he thought most of the university’s lots were well-lighted and that the university did not oppose the idea of the legislation.

“We pointed out that it could cost between $7.5 million and $15 million,” Greenspan said. “That’s a lot of money” in a time of tight budgets.

The Reilleys claim the University of California campuses they visited at night were among those with the worst lighting. They cited an attempted rape at UC Irvine on Dec. 7, 1989, when a knife-wielding man forced a 22-year-old female student into a men’s room and asked her to orally copulate him.

She told police she was walking along a path in the middle of the UCI campus at night when she stopped to ask a man for directions. After he unsuccessfully attempted to rape her, he tried to force her in his van. Police said the woman broke free and fled.

Under the new lighting law, the state architect, state police, the Department of General Services, the California Building Standards Commission and members of the public named by the governor will have until June 30, 1991, to come up with lighting standards for future campuses in California.

Bergeson said Friday that she would see to it that another bill would be introduced next year to apply the lighting standard to all existing community college, state university and University of California campuses.

“Tragic stories like Robbin Brandley’s are becoming far too common,” Bergeson said. “One out of five college students is a victim of a violent crime. It is imperative that a lighting standard be set to do away with poorly lighted school walkways and parking lots. This is a necessary first step to deter crime at our college campuses.”

Ever since Robbin Brandley’s death, the Reilleys have sought to assuage their pain over their daughter’s loss by pushing for campus security reforms.

They testified in Sacramento in support of a bill that would have required colleges to submit a list of all recent crimes to enrolling students. The bill passed the Senate and Assembly only to be vetoed by Deukmejian.

“I would hope that you would stress that we are not giving up on campus safety,” said John Reilley. “We regard the passage of the lighting bill as a positive, constructive first step. We believe that opposition will stop as more information about campus crime, and how to prevent it, becomes available to the public. We will concentrate on student groups for support in backing stronger legislation.”

“This family is not giving up,” concluded Genelle Reilley. “It is too late for our daughter, but we don’t want this to happen to anyone else’s child or grandchild.”