Now in the second half of the fall semester, the new security measures from the start of the year haven’t gone anywhere. Students report feeling isolated and exhausted by the feeling of added surveillance on campus after the Spring 2024 protests. 

When Columbia students moved back onto campus at the start of September for the new semester, many were surprised to see new private security guards on campus in place of the familiar faces of Columbia Public Safety.

The guards—from the private companies Apex Security Group and Allied Universal Security, according to their uniforms—are part of the new security measures in place this semester. Their presence on campus is one of many other changes that were new to students returning from summer break, including the new closed campus policy where only Columbia affiliates and their pre-registered guests can access campus.

At the start of this academic year, many students, faculty, and staff members were concerned about what the on-campus climate would be like in this first semester back after last semester’s protests. During the weeks-long student protests and encampments of Spring 2024, former Columbia president Minouche Shafik called on the NYPD to arrest more than 100 pro-Palestine student protestors in April, when protestors occupied Hamilton Hall on April 30, renaming the building Hind’s Hall after Hind Rajab, the five-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip whom Israeli forces killed in January 2024.

Less than one month after the arrests, after professors canceled many final classes and exams and pushed others online, students went their separate ways for the summer vacation. Many were wary about what would happen when summer ended and students, staff, and faculty reconvened back on campus. “I really didn’t expect the level of security to be as intense as it had been,” one student, a current senior at Barnard, told Bwog about her first few days back after the break.

Now, as we near the end of the fall semester, students have gotten used to a number of new rules, including most campus buildings closing after 8:30 in the evenings for about a week in October, visitors without CUIDs prohibited from freely accessing campus, and students having to register parents or other guests at least 24 hours ahead of time before they arrive to visit. Meanwhile, the contract security officers from Apex Security Group and Allied Universal Security whom students first noticed at the start of the semester are still on campus, sitting outside at the gates where students have to swipe their ID cards to enter and standing on Low Steps and at the perimeters of Butler Lawns.

This semester’s new security measures have sparked quite a range of student responses—some funny, some less so. Bwog has spent this first half of the fall semester speaking to students, faculty, and other Columbia community members about their experiences with the new security on campus. To protect the students’ privacy, none of their names are shared in this article.

New Security

Returning students are familiar with Columbia’s Public Safety Officers, who wear blue uniforms and sit at the front desks of undergraduate residence halls and on-campus buildings where people need to swipe their Columbia IDs to enter. The new contract security officers wear uniforms from Apex Security Group and Allied Universal Security, both private companies specializing in event security and crowd management. According to Apex’s website, “Apex personnel consists of off-duty and retired law enforcement officers who provide supplemental services for clients that require support above and beyond standard event security and crowd management services… The presence of Apex security is based on each client’s requirements and will be as visible or as unobtrusive as necessary.”

According to a University spokesperson, responding on September 10 to Bwog’s questions about the new private security guards, “The mission of Columbia’s public safety department is to enhance quality of life for our community, while adhering to core values of pride, professionalism, and service. The safety of our community, including students, staff, and faculty, is our top priority.” Columbia also confirmed that the new security guards are unarmed and augment rather than replace the existing Public Safety officers.

When Bwog asked how much money Columbia is spending on this semester’s hired security guards from private companies, the University declined to comment. However, according to various salary and career websites online, typical salaries for Apex Security Group guards range from $16 to as much as $46 per hour while salaries for Allied Universal Security guards are reported to average about $22. 

In September, Frederick Neuhouser—Barnard College professor and president of Barnard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)—wrote the extensive paper “Barnard and Columbia in Crisis: 1968/2024.” In the 18-page article, which compares Columbia and Barnard’s harsh responses to the 2024 student protests to their more lenient responses and the student disciplinary procedures after the Vietnam War protests of 1968, Neuhouser suggests that Barnard and Columbia have “learned little” in the 56 years since 1968 “regarding university governance and wise responses to student protest.”

At the end of his article, Neuhouser offers six suggestions for Barnard to regain student and faculty trust, including “restoring normal campus access, including to nonaffiliates, and abolishing the new, inordinately restrictive constraints on on-campus events” with rules about who can access campus that might change from day to day.

As part of his September 6 interview, Neuhouser told Bwog that from an administrative perspective, there may be “certain benefits” to hiring outside companies for additional security “rather than dealing with our own security guards who have union contracts that may make it more difficult for Barnard and Columbia to ask them to do certain things.” Meanwhile, Columbia and Barnard’s Public Safety Officers “are people we know… They know us by face and to some extent and it’s harder to get people like that to enforce these draconian rules,” he suggested. “It’s much easier to get people who have no connection to Barnard or Columbia and they’re paid to do it.”

Community Responses

A first-year master’s student at Teachers College told Bwog that the on-campus security measures, especially the locked gates and new rules about swiping onto campus with an ID, have made her feel less connected to the Columbia community as a graduate student not taking classes on the main part of the Morningside campus.

“It adds this extra level of, ‘No, you don’t belong here, actually,’” she explained. “And I think that can be very alienating for new students.” She also said that it’s “demoralizing” for there to be such a large on-campus security presence of guards who are equally new to Columbia. The new guards, she said, are ”not necessarily a part of the Columbia community, but are contracted employees who are my age or younger […] who don’t have training specific for dealing with vulnerable populations, which are 19- to 24-year-olds.”

Master’s students at Teachers College tend to receive email communications about new temporary campus policies hours after the undergraduate students who live on campus, she explained, which makes it difficult to stay informed about the latest updates and adds to her feeling of not being fully part of the community. Earlier in October, she tried to attend a church service on campus with a friend she had registered days in advance, only to be told that the policy had changed that day and that pre-registered non-student guests were no longer allowed.

Regarding the on-campus climate amid the added security, she said, “The way that colleges market to students and to parents in particular is how there is a good relationship with public safety and how, if you need something, you can talk to public safety… But we see that that’s very much not true because Columbia has been in the news so much specifically for their law-based responses to students,” such as calling on the NYPD to arrest students. Looking ahead to the rest of the school year, she suggested that Columbia could hire more permanent full-time Public Safety officers as opposed to temporary guards with law enforcement backgrounds from private companies, but said she doesn’t know what a good long-term solution would be.

Other students are relieved that this semester has brought more defined policies around campus access than the sudden full-campus shutdowns and stress of the spring. “Compared to last semester, it’s a lot better and easier accessing campus,” one undergraduate student told Bwog. “I’d rather have multiple entrance points with guards than just one entrance.” The student, a senior in Columbia College, also said that she hasn’t had any bad experiences with the new security procedures.

The Rev. Ryan Kuratko, Episcopal priest and one of Columbia’s Religious Life Advisers, has noticed changes in the campus community this semester under the new security and changes to campus access. “As a Religious Life Adviser, I’d say that most of what I hear from students, faculty, and staff is exhaustion at the constant low-level intimidation and inconvenience, as well as nostalgia for the presence of community children, elderly, and families on the lawns,” he said. “I can’t see from where I stand whether it has made us safer, but I do see the constant psychic toll on much of our community.”

Catcalling and Unwanted Attention

Two students, both women, shared with Bwog that they have felt uncomfortable walking past the security officers on Columbia’s campus.

One student, a senior in Columbia College, said that she’s had “mixed feelings” about her interactions with the new security officers. “I often feel uncomfortable when security guards stare at me as I approach,” she said. “I’m not sure what about me they’re looking at but I get uncomfortable. Also, I don’t know if it’s the anxiety in my head but I’m sure it’s not.”

She also said, “There’s one guard who greets me every time I enter campus, and while he’s friendly, it confuses me why I stand out among all the students who swipe in…‘Hey it’s you again!’… Sometimes I just want to be invisible to men, which most of them are.”

Another student, the senior at Barnard quoted earlier, moved back to campus early in August before the start of the semester. Twice in those first few weeks, she reported being catcalled by security guards on Columbia’s campus, once in front of Philosophy Hall and a second time on Law Bridge.

“I was very aware that this wouldn’t happen during the school year because [there are] people around and I feel like it’s less socially acceptable to do that,” she said. “I didn’t necessarily feel unsafe. I just felt more annoyed about the fact that the people who, in theory, are here to protect students are catcalling us.”

Bwog asked Columbia what resources are available to students who experience catcalling or other misconduct from security guards. A University official responded that students should report any misconduct to Columbia Public Safety or the Office of Institutional Equity and that all reports are taken seriously and will be investigated thoroughly. (Students or any community members experiencing sexual misconduct such as catcalling or harassment can also get help from Columbia Sexual Violence Response (SVR) through the 24/7 helpline (212) 854-4357 or by calling (212) 854-3500 or emailing SVRresponse@columbia.edu. during business hours.)

The Barnard student also explained that many of the contract security guards seem unfamiliar with the Columbia community. Once at the start of the year, she had to explain what Barnard was when trying to swipe onto campus with her Barnard ID despite living on Columbia’s campus in East Campus, a Columbia dorm.

“I do hope the situation does change,” she said, looking ahead to the rest of the year. “It kind of feels like we live a little bit in the panopticon, which I feel like people joke about. It’s kind of weird that you’re not able to really hang out on campus, on the Math Lawns or anything anymore without a security guard being nearby, watching you.”

“I’m hopeful that that won’t be the case in the spring,” she said, “but I guess we’ll see.”

Closed 115th St. gate and security guards via Bwog

Editor’s note: This article was updated on December 8, 2024 to include information about Columbia’s SVR service and contact information.