They may be trying to get more people cycling, so that they can fine them for riding without lights, which will fund the cops operation to stop them all and fine them.
Or, and far more likely, they will have been given the problem of unlit cyclists near the university as a PACT (Neighbourhood) priority, and will be dealing with it as requested by the people who attend PACT meetings and help them to set the priorities.
Check the Neighbourhood Policing website for the ward the campus is in and I suspect you will find mention of the initiative, and the reasoning behind it. If you can think of a more pressing priority, and in your opinion a better use of police resources, then you owe it to yourself to attend the next PACT meeting and help them set a more useful agenda. The time and place of the meeting will be on the NPT website.