The president of Columbia University is proposing the addition of campus safety officers who would have the authority to arrest students and use physical contact. The proposal is currently under review by school administrators, who state they will seek input from faculty before implementing any changes.
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Columbia currently employs approximately 290 campus security personnel. Following the campus protests that shook the campus this year, the proposal suggests adding “peace officers” to the security team, as the university does not have its own police force. This would reduce their dependence on the NYPD, according to a Columbia spokesperson, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“We seek to strengthen the department’s skills and training in de-escalation techniques, expanding the department’s ability to manage a range of incidents while taking into account the fact Columbia does not have its own police force, as many peer institutions have, and potentially reducing our reliance on the NYPD,” said Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang.
Pro-Palestinian protests over the Israel-Hamas war disrupted classes and graduation schedules across the country last school year. Columbia experienced some of the most confrontational demonstrations, leading the university to call upon the New York Police Department to break up an encampment and remove protestors who had taken over an administrative building.
In 1968, the NYPD clashed physically with protestors on Columbia’s campus, an event that has left lingering anxiety within the university over the possibility of another dangerous confrontation. Currently, campus safety officers at Columbia are not authorized to touch or detain students. Administrators must consult with faculty before calling the police
“There’s no middle ground, it’s either do nothing and let the protesters do whatever they want, or call the NYPD,” said Prof. James Applegate, a member of the executive committee of the university senate, who thinks the idea of a more proactive security force has merit.
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Alumni donations have declined due to concerns that insufficient action is being taken regarding campus safety. As a result, Columbia may need to draw more from its $14 billion endowment to cover operating expenses.
Minouche Shafik became Columbia’s president in July 2023. She directed the NYPD to dismantle the campus encampment and take action after protesters occupied an administrative building. According to The Wall Street Journal, the school’s board of trustees is reportedly losing faith in Shafik.
Shafik has spent the summer connecting with faculty, alumni, and trustees to address concerns and bridge the campus divide, according to her spokesperson. In a July 24 letter to the Columbia community, she stated that her objectives are “grounded in efforts to renew our commitment to one another. We must redouble our efforts in that direction, applying the many critical lessons of last year—some painful, but all useful—in our work for the fall.”
Protesting is a right in a free society.
Disrupting operations, interrupting the freedom of others, trespassing, and vandalism are not.
Nobody has an inate right to protest on someone else’s private property.
Columbia controls who’s on campus. Put me in charge of the Admissions Office and I’ll have the place cleaned up in two years. You were in the Hamas Lovers Club in high school? Thanks for your application money.
Too little too late. Our children were harassed and attacked and prevented form attending class. There was little to non protection or real consequences. Additionally there were faculty insighting this abuse.
Janice,
Really, the protestors blocked access to classes?
Nope, that was the Baroness.
There is actual video of students being blocked by barricades. That was the physical part. The emotional part was the vituperative verbal assaults. This is fact.
Janice,
“There is actual video of students being blocked by barricades.”
Barricades set up by whom?
I’m shocked people aren’t drawing a straight line from Progressives from 2014 onward and events such as these.
Good H:
In what sense, that progressives are anti-genocide?
The Baroness handled the protests incompetently.
You can be anti-whatever you want to be without also stopping the school from functioning, stopping other students from attending classes and being abusive toward students who have nothing to do with what’s going on in the middle east. Sorry you have issues with the people who run the school.
Steve:
It’s not the protesters who stopped the school from functioning; it was the Baroness.
You needs to have “issues” with her too.
Nor is there any solid evidence of protesters being abusive toward other students.
You’re citing made up talking points, like the OP.
Nobody knows what or who you’re talking about.
Steve,
If you don’t know whom I’m speaking of, you’ve not been following the Columbia events.