119 CommentsAn 18-year old Barnard student passed away after being stabbed in Morningside Park tonight during what police believe to be an armed robbery and assault.
An alert, sent out to Columbia students at 7:28 PM, warned students that the suspect was wearing a green jacket and a mask and that the police were in pursuit. Students were advised to avoid the 116th area as the police worked to investigate and apprehend the suspect.
An NYPD spokesperson told Bwog that an 18-year-old woman was murdered in Morningside Park, but refused to comment on the victim’s identity or affiliation with the university. Barnard Public Safety confirmed the incident involved a Barnard student in a text to students at 10:23 pm. Students were told that the NYPD continues to investigate and that they should expect an email shortly, which will feature hours at the counseling center. Students are still advised to avoid the area.
Bwog has reached out to Barnard for a statement and will update this post when we receive more information.
Update 10:47 PM: Columbia students received a Clery Crime alert confirming a Barnard affiliate was fatally stabbed during an attempted robbery in Morningside Park. There are two to three suspects, who fled south through the park. The alert encourages anyone who knows the identities of or sees the suspects is encouraged call 911 or Public Safety.
Update 11:34 PM: Barnard President Beilock emailed the Barnard student body at 11:01 PM, identifying Tess Majors (BC ’23) as the victim. Dean Grinage and President Beilock have notified the family. The Furman Counseling Center will be open all night tonight and all day tomorrow.
President Beilock’s full statement can be found here:
Dear Barnard Community,
With broken hearts, we share tragic news about the death of one of our students. Earlier this evening, Tessa Majors, a first year student at Barnard, was fatally injured during an armed robbery that occurred off campus in Morningside Park.
Dean Grinage and I have spoken to her parents and Tessa’s family is enroute to NYC. We are also in close touch with the New York Police Department as they conduct this on-going investigation and seek to identify the assailant in this horrible attack.
Tessa was just beginning her journey at Barnard and in life. We mourn this devastating murder of an extraordinary young woman and member of our community.
This is an unthinkable tragedy that has shaken us to our core. Please know that we are all grieving together and I am thinking of you as we process this awful news as a community.
In these difficult circumstances, it is important for us to take care of each other. The Furman Counseling Center will be open all night tonight and throughout the day tomorrow. We encourage anyone in need of support to come:
Furman Counseling Center: 100 Hewitt Hall, (212) 854-2092
In the days ahead, please know that all of our campus resources are available for you as we mourn this heartbreaking loss together. I encourage you to reach out to the following additional on-campus resources as needed:
Dean of Studies Office: 105 Milbank Hall, (212) 854-2024
After-hours psychological emergency line: (855) 622-1903
International SOS for students who are abroad: +1-215-942-8478
We will provide you with updates as they become available to us. Barnard and Columbia Public Safety are coordinating closely with the NYPD. We remind all students that public safety provides 24/7 escort services and students are free to reach out with any questions or concerns (212-854-6666).
To our entire Barnard community, I am in mourning with you and am here for you. Tonight and in the days ahead, please hold Tessa and her family in your hearts and keep each other close.
With sorrow,
Sian Leah Beilock, President
Update 12:29 AM: Despite reports in other outlets, Bwog has confirmed with NYPD on the scene that they have not arrested a suspect at this time.
Update 12:39 AM: Dean Cristen Kromm forwarded President Beilock’s email to Columbia College and SEAS students at 12:34 AM. In her email, Dean Kromm says that Columbia University Counseling and Psychological Services will be open tonight until 2:15 AM on the fifth floor of Lerner Hall.
Dean Kromm’s full statement can be found here:
Dear Students,
I am at a loss for words as I share with you an email from Barnard College President Sian Leah Beilock on the tragic death of Tessa Majors, a first year student at Barnard, who was fatally injured during an armed robbery that occurred off campus in Morningside Park.
I am shocked and truly heartbroken, as I know many of you are, and our priority in this moment, as we mourn together, is to connect you with staff here to support you now and in the days to come.
Tonight, Columbia University Counseling and Psychological Services will open until 2:15 a.m. on the fifth floor of Lerner. Counseling will resume at 9:00 a.m. on the eighth floor of Lerner. You can also reach a clinician 24/7 by calling 212-854-2878.
Several residential life staff and I will be in Wallach first floor Lounge, until 4:00 a.m., if you prefer to be with others as you process this tragedy.
Cristen Kromm
Dean of Undergraduate Student Life
Columbia College and Columbia Engineering
Resources
Many people on campus are available to speak with you and provide support.
Make an appointment with Columbia Counseling and Psychological Services or stop in their drop-in counseling sessions Monday–Thursday, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
To speak with someone in the Office of the University Chaplain, call 212-854-1493 or email chaplain@columbia.edu to arrange a time.
You are always welcome to reach out to your adviser in the Berick Center for Student Advising. You can also visit with the first available adviser during drop-in hours Monday–Thursday, 3:00–4:30 p.m.
Your RA is here for you. To contact the RA on-duty after hours — Monday–Thursday, 9:00 p.m.– 8:00 a.m. and Friday beginning at 9:00 p.m. through Monday at 8:00 a.m. — look for on-call contact information posted in your residence hall or online.
If you are ever concerned for a friend, please let an adviser know or, if you believe there is imminent danger, contact Public Safety at 212-854-5555.
You’ll find these and additional resources for support at wellbeing.columbia.edu.
Editor’s Note (3:30 pm, 12/14/19): Bwog has confirmed that Tess Majors used they/them pronouns. We’ve updated this and all of our coverage of their death to accurately reflect Tess’s identity.
Morningside via Bwog Staff
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119 Comments
@Richie WE LOVE YOU TESSA RANE.
@Rich These schools should be ashamed of themselves.
Tessa Majors had to become a sacrificial lamb.
The implementing in more safety measures is a little to late for Tessa.
These kids were not in the park for their first assault.
Looks like it seems to be quite the norm to let juveniles do what ever they want until there is a brutal slaying .
This poor girl was just a kid as well,
Lying in a dark street in the crosswalk bleeding out for 30 minutes.
What courage she had to fight back and crawl up those dozens of stairs paralyzed with fear in that dark park.
She had no chance for flight because they put her in a choke hold so she had to fight, screaming for help.
Three young males could easily over power a young female, no reason to butcher her to get her possessions .
This was a crime of passion, that passion was hate.
The person who stab multiple times was evil.
Tessa good always stamps out evil in this world .
When people think of you, they will always see everything that is good in life.
Your spirit, heart, and soul will always be present on this earth, right beside your music.
You were the instrument of life.
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
Will continue to let the music play Tessa Rane.
🙏🏼❤️🌈🙏🏼❤️🌈
@Richie Why does it always have to take such an evil crime foolcies to change.
The schools and precinct 26 were all aware of less petty crimes that were on the rise in this same spot, armed robberies , people getting sucker punched etc.
The have to get in the habit of making people more afraid then they like to . Fuck the bad publicity
You all have an obligation to warn these young kids that entrust you to take care of them and guide them while they are living at your schools and in the surrounding communities.
It’s good to be afraid, you make more sensible choices when out at night whether by yourself or with a friend.
These kids attack in groups and are extremely dangerous when In Groups, because it only takes one of them to have no value for human life,or even no values for his own life.
To commit such violence on a stranger, and sometimes it is just a hate crime too, I’m pretty sure they could of just held down and took her belongings, one of the had already grabbed her from behind, the suspect could have punched one or two times to calm her down to get her belongings . It take hatred to stab someone so many times.
I’m just so elated that they finally posted his picture.
My only other wish is they catch all 3 of the correct suspects, the 2 who attacked her should be tried as adults.
Poor Tessa came to prestigious Barnard so excited to move to the great NYC TO COME TO COLLEGE in her first semester a girl beaming with light in this world, just by chance found herself facing evil in the dark on a set of stairs leading out of Morning side park. It would be last time she would every repeat her daily routine in her new life at Barnard.
Last calls to mom and dad, to some friends, maybe a few of her band mates, tweet , Snapchat and instagram Facebook also on Wednesday study for one of her finals, and probably played her bass as well today, all the things she would have been doing just about everyday over her next 4 years at college.
Becoming Tessa Majors a fine young kid also, let’s not forget that Tessa was just kid herself still.
Everyone said the she light up room a space wherever she was, she was kind, bold, and funny. She was someone you count on, she was real, unique, talented.
Most of all what all of us who have never met Tessa is the she was BRAVE, her passion for life compelled her to not be a victim and just turn everything over to these three thugs, .unfortunately she encountered evil, and they left her for dead,and for what a small amount of cash and a persons cellphone. You butcher a young girl for that.
Tessa unfortunately I have to sit here and write about your murder, instead of all the contributions you would of made in your life.
You can still shine bright on a gloomy day, next time we see a rainbow will know it’s you.
Your music will on line for eternity, will be mixed with great stars to come in the future.
You have left an indelible mark here on earth .
Still my heart breaks over loosing you so soon.
@Anonymous The spineless position of not identifying the suspects as black is a disgusting liberal “hide the violent blacks” attitude of socialist American hating media…
@Anonymous columbia shouldve built the gym on that damn park
@Anonymous Why was the security booth empty?
@Your Mom Defunding the police why else
@anonymous the fact that so many of you students and trolls are using this to vilify black youth… let people mourn for god sakes. Everyone should feel safe on campus but the minute you attack or hate on another group for a single action you are being hateful and her death should not cause more hate. Tessa would not have wanted that.
@Anonymous “A text alert to students from Barnard College indicated that the suspect in the killing was wearing a green jacket and a hat.”
We can only hope that the suspect never takes off his jacket or hat, because otherwise that narrows down the suspect list to just half of humanity.
@BC ‘16 My heart hurts for Tessa’s family, friends, roommate(s), classmates, all of the special people in her life and all of the people who are touched by this. I love Barnard, and I know as a former student that the young people who are there right now are deeply affected.
I wanted to say after reading the comments that I am disgusted and horrified those who have taken this tragedy as an opportunity to be outrightly racist and blame Harlem as a community for her death. How DARE you. This is a terrible thing that happened, and to create more harm by saying hateful, inaccurate, and prejudiced things is despicable. I am ashamed that this behavior is being supported by the CU community and that Bwog is allowing this to happen, repeatedly.
For those of you voting or commenting, please think about the impact that your silent support and anonymous words have upon the students who go here and residents who already feel target by the police. For the neighbors of the university who are also mourning this loss. Everyone who reads Bwog sees you and your hateful words, and people are impacted deeply by them. They are violent and lead to real actions of violence by people who feel empowered to hurt others. Please educate yourself about policing and allow this to be a thoughtful and compassionate moment, at least for Tessa, if not for all of us.
@Anonymous How is this about me? I just asked people to think about the impact of their words and pleas on the broader community.
Also — elitist? 1) how? 2) Bitch you probably went to Columbia or Barnard too. I’m talking as an alum to other people who went here. Let’s be kind to each other and the people who live near the school. That’s all.
@Anonymous Congratulations on making this all about you by finding an opportunity to virtue signal how not racist you are. At least you can always rely on bwog to remove comments that hurt your feelings even when they’re factual.
@Anonymous That’s your opinion…
@Anonymous Update: Public Safety was at their post and did not makes “rounds” https://1010wins.radio.com/articles/suspects-in-stabbing-of-barnard-student
@Anonymous Thank you Public Safety for being there for us all. Thank you Mr. McShane for letting us know that the Officer assigned to that post WAS THERE and helped her. My thoughts are with her family. My thoughts are also with are with the Public Safety first responders who were subjected to this very traumatic event, and our community appreciates everyone of you.
@Anonymous I’ve known the guard who mans that booth for many years. He is dedicated and hard working. He physically pulled a woman off the ledge there several years ago and he has helped numerous members of the Columbia/Barnard community over the years.
I’m sure he joins us all in grieving this tragedy! Let the community grieve together, not turn on each other!
@Anonymous I am so happy that I tell new students to not go above 125th and into Morningside. It isn’t racist – it’s common sense. This is what happens when political correctness takes precedence over safety
@Anonymous The park is way more dangerous than “above 125th”. No light, plenty of isolated nooks, anyone walking alone, esp. after dark, can be an easy target. Not the case above 125th, where there’s people around and streetlights.
@Anonymous There have literally been several shootings on 125th st. in my tenure as a student. It’s just a bad area. No amount of gentrification by Columbia is going to get rid of the blight that is the grant houses.
@Anonymous So say “gentrification” is racist behavior by the rich liberal left on the poor folk of color
@Anonymous yeah, I can and do go up to 125th to avoid passing through the park on my way east. the surrounding areas are more or less fine, but the park has always been a recipe for disaster as far as crime goes
@anon Tear down the grant houses asap. High rise slums clearly don’t work.
@Anonymous I wonder how this is going to impact the reputation of Morningside Park? Student groups have been pushing to “rebrand” the park as safe, and they would chastise anyone as a racist if they voiced any concern in regards to safety. Hopefully the city will increase police patrols and after-hours enforcement inside the park. Until then, it’s unsafe!
@Anonymous Is there any documentation of students groups pushing to rebrand the park as safe?
@Anonymous Yes there is. You should have gone to Under One Roof. The one thing drilled into me more than anything was that calling Harlem and the parks “dangerous” was super racist and they were super safe. Fuck that.
@Anonymous Yeah but when I google Under One Roof Columbia Harlem Parks, or some combo, I don’t find anything documenting what you’re talking about. I’m not saying I don’t believe you that students were told/brainwashed into thinking Harlem parks are safe, just that if it’s not documented, then you can forget about it becoming part of the story.
@Anonymous I taught Under One Roof this year. We discussed the history of gentrification and understanding that its roots lie in racism. We cannot and did not tell you that it’s racist to say the parks are dangerous or that they are super safe
@Anonymous “Saying Harlem is dangerous is a phrase whose roots lie in racism”
“We did not tell you that saying it is racist”
Talking out of both sides of your mouth must be hard after a while?
@Anonymous Saying Harlem is dangerous is not phrase whose roots lie in racism it’s a phrase that comes from statics of crimes committed and reported. Stating a simple fact that has truth behind it is not racist although the facts stated may be uncomfortable to state so some like to obfiscate the facts by saying they are racist. The sooner that people can/will stop calling uncomfortable facts racist the quicker that racism will cease to be a problem. The Truth Will Set You Free so learn to accept and tell the truth.
@Anonymous person below literally quoting something different from what you said
@Anonymous I’m the same commenter from before. I did under one roof 2 years ago now, and can only speak to what was said in my workshop specifically. We were asked to give examples of microagressions (and again, I am only speaking to my one specific workshop) and the facilitator offered ‘talking about how dangerous Morningside Park/Harlem are’ Now, I go into Harlem regularly and would not call it dangerous. Morningside Park is a different story and there’s a reason people don’t go there at night. It’s poorly lit and is a center for criminal activity. Gentrification is a completely separate issue from saying Morningside Park isn’t safe, and I am sure you didn’t conflate the two in the workshop you delivered. However, from what I understood and experienced, this message was not always delivered in the clearest way.
@Anonymous It is well known that Under One Roof, mandatory for incoming students, pushed this HARD.
@Anonymous “well known” not good enough. Link to some documentation, and then that’s a big story.
@Anonymous I mean, I understand why you want documentation but they don’t really publish the workshop content from Under 1 Roof but I and all first years had to sit through it and they do indeed say that calling Morningside Park dangerous is a microaggression
@Anonymous literally every student said it happened. There are tons of comments about this. No one is going to get out a memo about this dude. At some point the number of people mentioning it is proof enough.
@Anonymous See 4:44pm comment above:
“I taught Under One Roof this year. We discussed the history of gentrification and understanding that its roots lie in racism. We cannot and did not tell you that it’s racist to say the parks are dangerous or that they are super safe.”
To students who are saying they were told at this event that it’s racist to call the parks dangerous: you need to show documentation of being told this, or if you don’t have documentation get a critical number of students testifying to it (using their names and faces, not @anon handles) — or else the instructor’s version is what’s going to be believed. That’s just how life works. You can downvote this comment all you want, but that’s still how life works.
@Anonymous Well this explains a lot. I wonder if that’s why she thought it was safe. That sure wasn’t that case at my 2013 orientation
@Alum I haven’t checked bwog in a while but had to comment on this because it is appalling to hear that this student was left waiting completely unattended for 30 minutes after she made her way to a guard booth in such a critical condition. This is unacceptable. Columbia and Barnard admins, the safety and security of your students need be your top priority.
@anonymous my heart is so heavy. how are we supposed to go on after this? how am i just supposed to study and sit for finals like i havent been thinking about this every second since i heard the news? this is like a nightmare you cant wake up from. she was one of us.
@anon Columbia, please take over the whole freakin neighborhood and gentrify everything so we can be safe. Tear down the Grant Houses and move to DeBlasio’s neighborhood.
@Anonymous Once cash bail is done (jan 1st) crime will increase much more. They promised it wouldn’t affect violent crime, but that was a lie. Source: the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York
Assault in the third degree
Aggravated vehicular assault
Aggravated assault upon a person less than eleven years old
Criminally negligent homicide
Aggravated vehicular homicide
Manslaughter in the second degree
Unlawful imprisonment in the first degree (so if you get caught kidnapping, the nypd will let you out ASAP so you can get the job done!)
@Anonymous “don’t profile an entire community, morningside park at night isn’t dangerous, and you’re being judgemental of the people who frequent the park at night”
-Under One Roof 2016
@Anonymous exactly. The administration completely dropped the ball and sacrificed our safety in an attempt be… politically correct? We were told MP is safe, not to profile people or clutch our purses Bc it’s a microagression, not to worry about the people who wander around broadway or the train platform or the park at night… let’s get real about safety here. There was another aggressive mugging this am. We can’t sacrice students wellbeing for the sake of not saying anything mean abt the kind of people who are wandering around at night. Some in this city are agressive and dangerous and have nothing to lose. There’s nothing wrong with being wary of them and acting accordingly.
@Anonymous I still remember this exact thing being said in my Under One Roof (in 2016). We got in a debate whether it was racist to warn people that north of 125th wasn’t a great place to walk after dark
Got em
@CC'12 Please don’t go into Morningside Park at night, and be super careful in the daytime
@Cody Peterson Here in Texas a college school girl made it out of an assault like that because she had concealed carry. The national press vilified the school girl for killing her attackers with a snub nose revolver, but she is still alive and well, thanks to her faith in Jesus, her training, and her gun. I think she was studying pre med or something. Never relax.
@Anonymous It’s a shame she was vilified for defending herself, it’s everyone’s right to defend oneself from anyone willing to do harm to them, but that’s how these lefty liberals want us to be, sheep to the slaughter, it’s a shame you have so many downvotes too, ridiculous the society we live in these days
@Anonymous I support gun rights, but NYC is a giant soft target. It makes sense that we have stricter gun laws here. Just my opinion.
@Anonymous Public Safety DOES NOT patrol city parks. Stay the FUCK out of the park at night. Period.
@Anonymous 5 pm in the afternoon is not “the night.”
@Anonymous sunset is at 430pm so yes 5pm is nite in NYC in the winter
@Anonymous anytime after sundown is night lmao
@Anonymous “I guess being from a smaller town she was too naive to think about walking alone in New York City,” said Martha Burton, the teen’s grandmother. “She just shouldn’t have been there.”
@Anonymous I mean that simplifies it. I’m from a small town and knew not to go into a park alone after dark, let alone Morningside.
@Anonymous Columbia and Barnard need to increase police presence and approach suspicions people not decrease.
@Anonymous I would like to know why is there only one guard on duty to make rounds if he was there when she arrived 30 minutes earlier possibly she could have been saved one guard that patrols the whole campus are they crazy I would never send my kids there!!!
@Anonymous The destruction of grant houses is long overdue
@Anonymous That’s because it’s bs and the guard posts are always manned in the main areas
@Anonymous I am a mother who also had a daughter that was going to school in another state. My heart goes out to her parents. My sincere condolences.
@Anonymous WHY DIDNT PUBLIC SAFETY INFORM THE STUDY BODY THAT THERE WAS A FORCEFUL MUGGING IN RIVERSIDE DRIVE AND 114TH AROUND 9:30 AM. WHY DIDNT THEY WARN STUDENTS TO BE CAREFULL. SECURITY? THEY DIDNT EVEN KNOW THERE WAS A MUGGING BY CAMPUS IN THE MORNING. KEEP YOUR DAMN STUDENTS SAFE. LIVES ARE ON THE LINE. SOMETHING MAY NOT HAPPEN ONE DAY BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN IT WONT HAPPEN IN ANOTHER. DONT ABANDON YOUR POST. STUDENTS – READ LOCAL NEWS AND EYEWITNESS NEWS CAUSE PUBLIC SAFETY PROBABLY WONT KNOW ABOUT IT. STAY SAFE. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. STAY VIGILANT ANS PROACTIVE. THIS IS PREVENTABLE.
@Anonymous That park is really dangerous. The culture of “not noticing,” and being rewarded with good grades and test scores for showing your ability to “not notice”, does not help.
@Anonymous How did no one see her for 30 mins?
@Anonymous Because the park is sketchy and many people probably don’t walk around there
@Anonymous How did no one notice for 30 mins?
Is public safety going to release a statement?
@Anonymous No, they are diversity silenced.
@anon lol @ the commenters thinking this guy is going to face real consequences. He’ll be given 5 years max bcs he’s a minor, his name will never be released, and the state will pay for his GED and even college classes. This man is chilling.
@anon What if this stabbing causes gentrification?
@Anonymous I cry thinking about her experience going up those stairs with multiple stabs in her stomach looking for help and found none.
“Security” on this campus is the worst.
@Anonymous That path is dark and hidden, a recipe for disaster. There needs to be permanent security for that pass-through, perhaps a dedicated cop or armed guard. More lights and cameras too.
@Anonymous Seriously. Poor girl was fully aware what happened, managed to make it up, and no one around.
@Anonymous A. That is city property parks enforcement is supposed to have a permanent patrol in there yet never do B. I always see the security guy there walk up and down morningside drive. I’ve always felt safe on campus and around it and they used to tell us not to walk through the park at night and I always used to walk around visiting friends on the other side of the park. This is so sad though especially around the holidays, agree that there needs to be more police in the park
@Anonymous so the theory here is that public safety is doing things just fine and she shouldn’t have been stupid enough to go into the park, at like 7 PM on a weekday? what’s wrong w you?
@Anonymous right.. those stairs are hard to run up in warm weather as a work out… and she managed to get herself up them in freezing weather w multiple stab wounds, thinking she’d be saved when she got up there. it’s heartbreaking
@Anonymous There needs to be a cop in the park at all times. Manhattan Avenue is extremely dark. No cops nor car patrols. Get it together. We need cops by the park at all times.
@Anonymous According to the 2019 Columbia public safety report there is to be a guard posed at 116th and Amsterdam and 116th and Broadway 24 hours a day.
@Anonymous 116th & Amsterdam =/= 116th & Morningside
@College parent They charge almost $70K per year for students to go there and the guard booth was “empty” for 30 minutes?!?!! Because the guard was “on rounds”??? Let that sink in for a minute….its pitch black out and there’s no one in a campus guard booth for 30+ minutes?!?! That poor kid might be alive tonite if they spent a bit more of the very high tuition they charge on school safety
@Anonymous More fascist cops is not the answer
@Anonymous They’re just saying the guards should stay guarding at their stations not that there should be more cops…fact of the matter is she could’ve been noticed as soon as she got to the booth but she wasn’t cause there was no one there….that’s the whole point of having guards in the first place. Fuck the world we live in. No justice. No rest. Rip Tess
@Anonymous Cops keep people safe.
@Anonymous white people
@Anonymous No. They are protecting potential victims from criminals. Not their fault the crime statistics look the way they do. At some point individuals and communities have to take responsibility for their behavior.
@Anonymous Lollolololol
@Anonymous See all the downvotes? That means 80+ people think you’re a dumbass.
@Anonymous more criminals is the answer?
@Anonymous In principle you’re right, but giving public safety more $$ rn isn’t necessarily the answer. Incidents over the last year or two have rlly highlighted what a broken institutional culture the dept has at both Barnard and Columbia, and I’m not sure it’s the right move to reward a department that just let one of the people it’s supposed to be protecting get murdered with more funding.
@Anonymous These reports regarding public safety not being present are flat wrong. The booth was not empty. The officer was there, and tried to help upon seeing her. She was not alone outside of the campus for 30 minutes. This is just misinformation.
@Anonymous Source?
@Anonymous https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-cops-release-teen-barnard-tessa-majors-20191212-i5vlw5skijhmrk6luz6xbnczx4-story.html
@Anonymous Security footage should confirm or not whether the guard was present at the time.
@Anonymous The Officer was at his post. He immediately helped her. She died in his presence. Now, you may apologize to him . You subjected him to even more trauma with your uninformed outrage. Shame on you.
@@Anonymous This is tragic and alarming that there was no help for this poor girl. Columbia University you dropped the ball. I am outraged and heartbroken for this girls family.
@Anonymous I find it outrageous that you find Columbia University the primary target of your criticism. At the end of the day, don’t lose sight that the murderer was the one who murdered this poor girl. If anything, Columbia has helped develop many areas of Morningside Heights and Manhattanville. Students claim “gentrification” is evil but gentrification reduces crime, improves economic output, and makes the neighborhood nicer. Ask the people living in public housing, and even they will admit that public housing sucks. We are in a lose-lose. Fuck those who virtue signal support for the “community” and inhibit progress!
@Anonymous I agree with you about gentrification but also Columbia is at fault when public safety was supposed to be stationed there. Wish these kids wouldn’t go in that park. I graduated a couple years ago and never stepped foot in there
@Anonymous I agree as a former alum. Students should avoid that park.
@Anonymous sure, but it’s columbia’s job to protect its students, and they failed horrendously. the fact that this student lay dying on the ground for 30 mins just feet away from campus demonstrates that. perhaps she wouldn’t’ve died if public safety had been more vigilant.
@Anonymous No its not columbia’s job to protect the students. you are adults. protect yourselves. stop relying on others to do your own job
@Anonymous Actually it is Columbia’s job. I’m pretty sure when they advertise their school to high school students, they mention all of their safety resources and use as a selling point. I’m a current student at Columbia. My tuition is among the most expensive in the world. This is part of what I pay Columbia for. And not some external benefit; it is a direct service that my tuition is stated to go towards.
Also, when the University faced security issues in the 80s, it was the easiest Ivy League school to get into. People didn’t want to go because it was too dangerous. This is absolutely under the university’s purview. To say otherwise is ridiculous. It’s not about being an adult or not an adult. This is a service I pay for.
Also… the park is infamous but it is also the only direct way to may subway lines. It’s not like the university couldn’t have seen this coming (in fact, many have been attacked in this park)…why haven’t they provided proper security???
@Anonymous she spent half an hour alone in the cold bleeding out right next to a Columbia public safety guard post, after climbing those stairs with multiple stab wounds, and you want to talk about how it’s “outrageous” to blame Columbia..?
@Anonymous she spent 30 seconds being stabbed by a youth.
@Anonymous Why did this all of the sudden turn into why gentrification is a good thing? Gentrification is, in fact, not a good thing to minorities and people who can not afford to live in these neighborhoods. Just because you can afford to do so, does not mean everyone else can. So think about that next time because you’re taking this opportunity to share your privileged thoughts. Focus on what actually happened.
Everyone takes some of the blame because there was more that could have been done. In 30 minutes, not one person walked by her? Anyone could have helped it did not have the be the officer. However, there should have been an officer there 24/7. I assume now after this tragedy that there will be. Columbia needs to provide more resources to providing protection in the area not just the perimeter of the campus.
@Anonymous Less crime is a good thing. Therefore gentrification is a good thing.
@Anonymous Can we PLEASE stop trying to spread the false notion that that it’s poverty (instead of hate) that causes crime?
@Anonymous I really hope that Bwog and other publications push the administration on reports that she was left waiting for 30 minutes before a public safety noticed her, ostensibly because the officer was on “rounds.” There needs to be a full-fledged investigation into how the hell that could have happened given the security apparatus on this campus.
@Anonymous right!? literally what rounds! they walk back and forth to wien for breaks and shift changes i have fully NEVER seen them making “rounds”
@Anonymous And they never dare leave a res hall front desk unattended
@Anonymous Why were there no students there to see her either? Why did no one see her or report this? It was only 10pm at the Gates.
@Anonymous she wasn’t at the Gates. she was at the security booth at morningside park, presumably the one right at the top of the stairs on 116/ms drive. still absolutely outrageous and confounding that there isn’t someone in that booth at ALL times, with a partner or second guard out on rounds, especially at night??? who knows what might have happened if she hadn’t waited 30 minutes to get to the hospital. it’s sickening. I sincerely hope this oversight in the security apparatus is addressed
@C Adelman Columbia University Statement: “The public safety officer assigned to 116th Street and Morningside Drive was at his post last night when the victim emerged from the park, and he came to her aid immediately upon recognizing that she was injured. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate. Officers stationed at this location do not make rounds that cause them to leave their post.”
@Anonymous Honestly this is outrageous. If the guard post is going to be left empty why at least not have a security camera in it to monitor from elsewhere?
@Anonymous Morningside Park is dangerous. Always has been. Hopefully the perpetrators are caught.