public-safety

It might have been difficult to find the perfect study spot on campus during finals season, but how about during a global pandemic? For students living either on or off campus, it can be exhausting to search for a place to sit and work with the physical distancing guidelines. Spectrum’s got you covered with tips on where to study around campus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

University Professor and Dr. Mathilde Krim-amfAR Chair of Global Health Wafaa El-Sadr has been appointed the next director of Columbia World Projects, University President Lee Bollinger announced in an email to the student body Thursday afternoon.

Barnard President Sian Beilock announced the cancellation of the college’s nationwide search for a new executive director of Public Safety in an updated safety plan released on Dec. 3. Instead, Barnard will restructure the role of Public Safety to focus on community safety under an umbrella organizational unit titled Community Accountability, Response, and Emergency Services, according to Beilock’s email.

The Black Lives Matter movement has ushered in an era of reexamining policies and practices of police departments across America. While the movement primarily examines municipal precincts, Columbia’s Department of Public Safety has also come under scrutiny. From the Alexander McNab incident to the University’s practice of hiring former police officers, members of the Columbia community have been protesting Public Safety’s connection with the New York Police Department. The goal of Spectator’s newest project, DIY Policy, is to attempt to create policy alternatives—supported by argument and evidence.

Last semester, the crisis unleashed by the pandemic underscored how Columbia not only serves the role of educational institution and employer for its students and workers but also functions as a landlord for over 10,000 Columbia affiliates—with all of the forms of power over students’ and employees’ lives that this status implies. Columbia frames its position within the New York real estate market as beneficial for the project of higher education, but in reality, it has subjected students and faculty to a particularly brutal form of landlordism while having extremely destructive consequences for the working-class communities that surround the University. Now more than ever, Columbia’s role as a landlord-University must be challenged through an interconnected fight for housing justice, one that would unite both student-tenants and community members behind a vision of accessible and affordable housing for students, workers, and longstanding residents alike.

When the Mailman School of Public Health shut the ivy-covered doors of its student housing in March, many of its students were forced to move home and left floundering without explicit information or plans. We relied on University-wide emails sent by University President Lee Bollinger, yet every school’s handling of the pandemic was different.

As academic institutions in Morningside Heights plan to allow students back to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are concerned about the effects on the health of local residents in the surrounding Morningside Heights and West Harlem neighborhoods.

Outside of Costas Ieromonahos’ iconic Tom’s Restaurant in Morningside Heights, all but two of the tables he had set up on the sidewalk for the lunchtime rush stand are empty. A few pedestrians make their way down Broadway in the July heat, ensuring there is a 6-foot bubble of space between them and passersby. Those who venture outside are met with the discordant sound of tires cruising across the pavement.

A teenage boy—who was charged as a minor—was sentenced to 18 months in the custody of The New York City Administration for Children’s Services for his involvement in the robbery that led to the death of Barnard first-year Tess Majors in December 2019. He was 13 years old at the time of the incident.

New York provides free and low-cost emergency medical care for its low-income residents, but as of February, healthcare could cost noncitizen immigrants a green card or a visa.