public safety

Operating seven days a week on and in the vicinity of campus, the escort service is a valuable resource that has been greatly improved in the past few years. Nonetheless, persistent logistical flaws limit the service's ability to protect those students who count on it.

Although the Department of Public Safety successfully maintains a secure environment for the Columbia community, there needs to be a more effective system by which students are notified of crime in the area.

Over the past several months, the Columbia community has been sorely divided by repeated crises and their lingering fallout. Insofar as these events elicited heated student and faculty disagreements about proper administrative responses, some degree of tension was unavoidable.

The University must ensure that its distribution process of its new IDs has a minimal impact on students' daily lives.

Despite the enormous challenges students will undoubtedly face, University officials have chosen not to cancel classes. If Columbia intends to carry on business as usual, it must ensure that students are able to move safely and freely through out from classes to dorms and food.