In most respects, Columbia University has instated effective campus security and student safety measures. Columbians have access to emergency call boxes, safe haven locations, a crisis text messaging program, and a walking escort service. The Department of Public Safety maintains about 120 full-time security officers, who, according to the 2009 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, have “an excellent relationship with the local police precincts” with whom they “share crime prevention strategies and local crime information.”
However, Columbia University could stand to reevaluate some of its key approaches to student safety.
First is the problem of relatively private student information being available to the public. If you go to the Columbia University home page, click “people” in the upper right-hand corner, and search the name of Columbia University students, you will find their basic contact information. If you specifically type in a Columbia College or School of Engineering and Applied Science student’s name, though, you can unearth some fairly sensitive information.
If you were to type in my name, for example, you would find my Lerner Hall address, e-mail, Rolm phone number, “home address,” and when I declare it, my major. Most of this information may be helpful to others, and I don’t find some of it particularly invasive to my privacy. However, I am not sure why my “home address,” which gives not only my dorm location, but also the floor and room number I inhabit, is listed in this directory. I would like to think that people do not need to know this information unless I give it to them. It concerns me that anyone with Internet access can attain this private information. John Doe from East Jabib, U.S. does not need to know where I sleep at night.
To be fair, Columbia Public Safety tries to take the necessary precautions when it can. For example, we have institutional grade bars on the windows of some of the dorm rooms on the lower floors, which send a resonating “beware-of-our-intense-security-measures” message. Arguably, the real test for Public Safety is how it confronts real-time situations that pose a threat to student safety. So, how does Public Safety fare in this regard?
Joe Smith, a Columbia College sophomore who wishes to remain anonymous, would likely argue, not so well. In April 2009, an unknown man approached Joe while he was shopping in Morton Williams. The man asked Joe to buy his camera, and when Joe refused, the man ominously countered, “you will reconsider,” and then left the store. The next day, Joe was approached by the same man outside of his dorm and was threatened with bodily harm. Joe explains, “I was frightened and thus went immediately to Public Safety, who took down my information and sketch info. They told me they would review the tapes and get back to me. They never did.” Joe says that he received an e-mail two days later inquiring about his personal safety but did not receive follow-up concerning the identity of the man or any information on Public Safety’s efforts to protect him. Two weeks after filing the report, Joe contacted Public Safety again who, Joe says, “ told me they could not find him on video. The Public Safety office then recommended I seek police help if I was not comfortable and to contact the police and then alert them if I encountered him again.”
The Department of Public Safety at Columbia University is, according to the Web site, “committed to the safety and well-being of the University community.” On its 2009 Report, Public Safety boasts, “We consistently score high marks in campus safety and recently were named one of the safest urban schools in the U.S. in the March 2008 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine.”
I am not entirely sure how reassuring that Reader’s Digest award is.
Now, I do have to admit that I think that Columbia University has a relatively safe campus (at least in Morningside Heights). I also understand that Public Safety officers cannot patrol every street corner and ward off every potential thread. However, I feel that it can make a more active effort in ensuring my safety and the safety of all the students at Columbia. I would feel more secure if I found out about a robbery near campus hours rather than days after it took place. I would have greater peace of mind if the public didn’t have access to my “home address,” and I would rather not hear of students being referred to the New York Police Department when they need aid.
When interviewing Joe about his experience and his concerns about his safety, he shrugged and said, “No I did not feel safe, but I am a survivor. What can I say?” Hopefully, this isn’t the experience most Columbia students have.
The author is a Columbia College sophomore.
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