Update for Our Community

Dear members of the Columbia community:

I am writing to update you on our current situation on campus, our understanding of what different groups are planning given the significance of the week ahead, and our preparations to support you and the Columbia community.

As I expressed in my message last week, we anticipated and have been preparing for a period of uncertainty in the coming days. Over the last few days, and particularly the last 24 hours, there has been rapidly increasing evidence that the Morningside campus is a major focus for protest and other activity. We have several student groups planning for special events and non-violent protests and are working diligently to support those plans with public safety and delegate support. At the same time, we have also learned and had evidence of plans of groups not affiliated with Columbia choosing to come to our Morningside campus for activities that raise concern about the potential for violence. We understand that there has been a call for a walkout as part of a larger protest effort across New York City. This walkout was not notified through the process established by the Guidelines to the Rules of University Conduct. We continue to implement public safety measures to plan for every eventuality. We take those concerns with extreme seriousness.

Because of this information and in line with our responsibility for the safety of our campus community, we are taking several immediate steps to ensure that our campus can continue to carry out our academic mission, particularly in the classroom. First, for today and tomorrow (October 6 - 7) and possibly later into the week, we are no longer accepting the QR codes generated when guest access to the Morningside campus is requested and will be working closely with leadership across the schools and programs to determine where guest access is critical for our academic mission. We are also working on revising the automated system so that it can be used again. Anyone who is not a current employee or student is considered a guest for this purpose. We are also working to develop approaches for student groups who were hoping to have meetings with guests on Morningside campus at other locations and to provide support for all our students to see their family and friends at this challenging time.

Second, we will be increasing the public safety presence across campus for the next three days. We are all eager to get back to an environment where that is not needed and appreciate the challenges that widespread public safety presence can create for our community and the wellbeing of individuals within that community. We will also be using traditional approaches to guide people tomorrow to ensure the appropriate safe locations for protest and counter-protest for public safety. We expect that there will be more dividers and barricades than are commonly seen on campus and will have public safety on site to help with guidance in the moment. I am learning more and more that the remarkable benefits of being an open campus within New York City also come with the need to make difficult decisions about when that position can lead to significant safety risks for our Columbia community.

Third, we will be reevaluating building access to balance the importance of access to university resources and the need to ensure the safety of our campus, particularly the risk of violence to any member of our community. Again, we anticipate having reduced building access over the next three days at certain time periods and understand the challenges that will create.

Fourth, because we will need to move public safety personnel to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff, and campus, we will shift to the restricted gate access status for the next three days. Restricted access means that some gates will not be available. Information about gate access is available at the Public Safety Morningside Campus Access page.

We will take the necessary steps to respond to these developments while working to support the student group special events that are currently scheduled, as well as non-violent demonstrations that have been sent through the notification system established under the Rules of University Conduct. Public Safety and delegate support are fully prepared for this purpose. We will continue to provide frequent updates to inform you of any changes to scheduled events or other developments.

I know that this incredible University community can navigate the challenges of the next several days with compassion, understanding and resilience. Throughout all this planning, we are working closely with Senate leadership, faculty, student and decanal leadership, and our partners across the city and the state. None of these are easy decisions and we will continue to ground every decision in our mission and our principles and expand our engagement and dialogue as we move forward.

All my best,

Katrina Armstrong
Interim President
Columbia University in the City of New York