Administrators at Columbia University announced a change to campus access weeks before students and staff return for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Starting Monday, the university's color-coded campus status moved to "orange," which only allows for Columbia-affiliated persons onto campus. Students and staff must carry proper identification while on the school's Manhattan campus.
“This change is intended to keep our community safe given reports of potential disruptions at Columbia and on college campuses across the country as we approach the beginning of the new school year,” Cas Holloway, Columbia University’s chief operating officer, said in a message over the weekend.
“We are particularly concerned about non-affiliates who may not have the best interests of the Columbia community in mind,” Holloway added.
Guests will be permitted on campus, however, they must be process through a registration process that university officials announced back in June.
The university administration said it acknowledges the "inconvenience" the changing access will have on student and faculty.
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The weekend announcement, made just three weeks before the start of the school year, included a list of five access points around the campus where students and staff can enter 24 hours a day. Those entry points include:
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• College Walk at 116th Street and Broadway
• College Walk at 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
• Wien Gate on 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive
• John Jay Gate on 114th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
• Northwest Corner Building at 120th Street and Broadway (CUID swipe access between5:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m., 7 days a week)
Columbia University became the site of regular protests in the spring as college students on campuses around the country pushed for administration's to divest from Israel and demanded a ceasefire.
The protests came to a head right before graduation when the NYPD dispatched thousands of officers to a number of NYC schools to clear out protesters and sweep encampments.
Columbia University resumes classes on Sept. 3.
