Two months after Columbia College Student Council meetings raised the prospect of opening swipe access at Barnard and Columbia residence halls to students from both schools, the issue continues to face roadblocks.
Last spring, a survey of Barnard students indicated that about 85 percent found the current swipe access system inconvenient, according to CCSC Vice President of Policy Adil Ahmed, CC ’09. This survey was consistent with longtime student complaints about the system, in which students from Barnard must be signed into Columbia residence halls and vice-versa. Working with the Engineering Student Council and Barnard’s Student Government Association, the council set out to augment swipe access availability between Barnard and Columbia.
But the councils have deemed universal access problematic, and say that many issues need to be addressed before anything solidifies.
According to Ahmed, permitting the entry of more non-Barnard students into the College’s Quad could interfere with security, as access from one hall to another does not require swiping a second time.
There are also questions regarding the language of the proposal. Since many saw the original term of “universal” too extreme, the goal has now downshifted almost exclusively to increased access aimed at allowing students to easily attend events on both sides of Broadway.
“Why ‘increased’ instead of ‘universal’?” Ahmed wrote in an opinion piece in the Spectator in October. “The purpose of swipe access is not to allow students to get into friends’ dormitories, but to increase the number of event spaces available.”
Still, the policy has been put on the back burner at the council, where officials say more time-sensitive or pressing questions have taken priority.
Ahmed added in his article that swipe access is among a list of “many school-specific initiatives” that the ESC and CCSC are discussing. For CCSC, these include lounge access and programs unrelated to housing.
SGA President Sarah Besnoff, BC ’09, echoed CCSC concerns, and said that the SGA has been in contact with a number of campus groups and administrators.
“We’ve had meetings with the student government committees, the department of Public Safety, and the [Barnard] administration,” Besnoff said, but declined to comment further.
But some students said they are frustrated with the lack of progress, bemoaning a swipe system that has aggravated them for years.
“My boyfriend is over there [at Columbia College],” Emma Quaytman, BC ’11, said, noting that it was particularly “obnoxious” to have to be signed in each time she wanted to visit his dorm room.
“We share everything else,” Quaytman said in reference to the Columbia-Barnard relationship. “Why not swipe access?”
Brandon Christophe, CC ’12, agreed. “It’s a big hassle to let your friends in,” he said, adding, “We’re all students of the same university. I don’t see the need for all of the red tape.”
In an interview Wednesday, Ahmed said that the council is “undertaking each issue one at a time,” and he emphasized the intention to promote “a stronger sense of interschool unity” by increasing the accessibility of intercollegiate events and study group meetings for all students.
Still, Ahmed said he is hopeful that increased swipe access will eventually go into effect. “The proposal is still out there,” Ahmed said, “but the course has kind of changed.”
“The administration knows increased swipe access” is what the councils are aiming for, he added.
The SGA will hold a meeting Monday, Nov. 17, to discuss the matter.
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