
By Claire Davenport
City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, whose district includes Morningside Heights and the northernmost part of the Upper West Side, has called on Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong to end the months-long closure of the university’s campus and reopen its gates to the wider community.
“What may have been an appropriate temporary measure has now become a prolonged and unjustified restriction on public access,” Abreu and Victor Edwards, chair of Community Board 9, wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the New York Daily News
Last spring’s demonstrations at Columbia, which culminated in the occupation of Hamilton Hall by pro-Palestine protesters on campus, led to a series of security measures, including locked gates, barricades, and restricted entry to campus. Though some restrictions were eased during the summer, when classes resumed in the fall access was once again limited to those holding Columbia identification or granted special permission by the university.
In a late September statement to the Columbia community, Armstrong said she hoped the campus could be “fully reopened” in “weeks, not months,” and despite a few protests in the fall semester, the campus has been much quieter this academic year.
But the access restrictions have remained. In their letter to Armstrong, Abreu and Edwards asked that College Walk – a pedestrian thoroughfare connecting Broadway and Amsterdam at West 116th Street – be opened again to the public. They also called for a free, ID-based access system that would allow non-Columbia people living or working in the area to pass through campus, in the event that the gates needed to be closed temporarily due to safety concerns.
Abreu and Edwards note that since 1953, Columbia has had an agreement with the community to retain the right to a pedestrian pathway between Broadway and Amsterdam. They also say Columbia has practical obligations to keep College Walk open, including accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities. “Residents have contacted our offices to register these concerns for months,” they added.
The letter also says that the long closure of the campus erodes trust between Columbia and the wider community. “An institution built on the free exchange of ideas has no business erecting barriers to the public, particularly at a time when national and local trust in academia is waning,” wrote Abreu and Edwards.
In an email about the letter sent out to constituents in his district, Abreu noted his longstanding connections to Columbia. “When I was in high school, I worked at the Morningside public library, right across from Columbia’s campus. I drank coffee on the steps, joined afterschool programs, and got to know the institution I would one day attend,” he wrote.
Abreu’s email continued: “For kids like me, from families where no one had gone to college, Columbia was intimidating. … But what made a difference was the campus’s openness. Interacting with Columbia students, overhearing campus tours, or simply saying good morning to a professor created a sense of possibility.” He added, “This isn’t about safety anymore – it’s about exclusion.”
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I liked walking around the campus, it was nice to be able to do that. They are private and need to protect their campus. I can understand why Columbia would not want to open it to the public.
The Manhattanville campus is open, the art gallery is open, free and worth a trip.
Yes, you right. However, NYC taxpayers subsidize Columbia to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year, since Columbia does not pay property taxes. Perhaps it is time for Columbia to pay property taxes like the rest of us?
That is not true. Columbia pays taxes on many of its non-academic buildings as well gives hundreds of millions of dollars per year in tuition support and financial aid, free programming, access to their facilities, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars a year in free medical care at its medical center. It also is one of the largest employers of the city and attracts top world talent. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
It’s find to understand why they’d want to prevent public access to the campus, but it’s also important to understand that they’re not allowed to do that under the agreement they made with the city over 70 years ago.
Columbia’s #1 priority must be protecting its students and staff from haters and violent attacks. Opening the campus would definitely be nice. But the priority needs to be controlling the campus so students can safely learn and staff can safely work without harassment and fear.
You all need to get over yourselves. Students protest – you might not agree with a point of view but locking down campuses is ridiculous
Right, but how long will the campus be closed out of fear that someone will protest? There will never be a lack of issues to protest or of reasons to demand that Columbia divest from this or that set of investments.
No NYPD on campus is a great policy!
I have been a proud alum. I am confused at the administration’s failure to abide by the law in this case. 116th Street access to the public has been a longstanding practice. The acting administration has verbally endorsed free access. Why is there no follow-through? The current closure causes harm to those who have limited mobility. The course of lawful action is clear.
Unfortunately most of the protestors and disrupters were non students and non affiliates. How do you propose to stop them from protesting and disrupting campus? Columbia is a private school and is under no obligation to open their campus. All of its other campuses are fully open, Manhattanville, Medical Center, and Baker Complex. He needs to provide security at the city’s expense.
How do I propose to stop them from protesting and disrupting campus? If they are behaving in an anti-social way that prevents others from using the campus as it was meant to be used, remove them from the campus. And if they return, lock them up. It’s really not that hard. If they had enforced the law last spring before these people became truly destructive, it would have pre-empted a lot of problems.
My kids love going up to Columbia, walking around and seeing where mom and grandma went to school. It is a shame that they can no longer do so because a few bad apples ruined it. Bad apples who couldn’t pick out Israel from Botswana on a map.
Appreciate the link to the 1953 article documenting the agreement with the city.
Shaun Abreu is the first one I know of who cares about those of us who want or (in my case) need to have access to Columbia University’s campus.
I live within walking distance of Columbia. As an alumnus, I have a Columbia I.D., but I have not been allowed to enter campus for many months now. Columbia has been treating us alums as risky, if not potential terrorists, which is ridiculous.
I’ve been researching and writing books at Butler Library for decades, but my current project was cut off because I am not allowed to enter the library. There’s no justification for this, and they don’t listen to requests for exceptions, or give any reasons. It’s about time someone pressured them. Councilman Abreu will get my vote in the next election.
He’s only doing this because of the election? Where has he been during the riots and concerns about the safety of the Jewish community in Morningside Heights? Serious issues have been raised, including the assault on a Jewish Columbia University student during a protest. Additionally, Jewish students have reported harassment and criticized the lack of adequate response from university authorities.
I hope you are aware that there were allegations of anti-Muslim behavior/activity as well at Columbia.
Not only have they closed the access to the campus, they are also blocking sidewalks on 3 streets with giant tents. Columbia does not own 116th Street. Agree they must re-open the campus.
Agreed. My family used to use that passthrough often. It adds insult to injury to have their tents on our public sidewalks without allowing the public access to the legally required passthrough.
As a Columbia graduate, I would like this. I used to sometimes go to Butler or Avery if I needed a quiet place to work, but haven’t bothered since all the restrictions. It’s too much of a hassle. For the amount I paid for my graduate degree, I feel like it’s the least they could do!
(And there’s also the fraught history Columbia has with the neighborhood…see also 1968.)
Really upsetting and unbelievable that City DOT allowed open streets on Amsterdam forcing diversion of the M11.
But even worse given the lack of access Amsterdam-Broadway.
Nah, the open streets on Amsterdam are nice. I suppose there are some people out there who just don’t like nice things.
Matt-
When buses are detoured from Amsterdam/Open Streets combined with no access through Columbia it is a hardship for people with mobility issues, not to mention general lack of bus transit service to people who rely on the bus.
I am puzzled that you’d word your POV in this critical (snarky?) way?
Do you feel that mass transit is not important?
The NYTimes summary of the issue from 1953 suggests that the city requires access for water mains, utilities and (if needed for campus access) emergency vehicles.
The link doesn’t indicate Columbia has an obligation to provide public pedestrian access. I’m guessing Columbia has pretty good lawyers who have looked at the text of the agreement before they locked the campus.
I’d like the campus to be open again but it’s pretty obvious why it hasn’t been — the place has been flooded with protestors and encampments on-and-off for over a year. Many of the protesters are non-students. It’s unfortunate but understandable that it remains closed.
Like his crusade for paid leave due to pet illness, Mr. Abreu is once again demonstrating a habit of grabbing headlines for trivial matters.
Their botched handling of last year’s hate fest resulted in condemnation by major donors, and a decrease in Giving Day contributions, among other things. Columbia wants to avoid a decrease in applications and enrollment. So even alumni ID’s get the red light at the gate. Columbia won’t modify current Campus Security Policy without public pressure. It’s worth a try.
I am a professor at an adjacent institution on the west side of the campus and I have not been able to cross through at 116 on my commute from my home east of Amsterdam Avenue. I’m luckily healthy and mobile (albeit annoyed) but I can’t imagine the added hassle for folks with accessibility issues. If they’re so concerned about safety, just beef up the security.
The closed gates certainly make the walk between N.R.S. Books and Salter’s Book Center a drag.
Oh, wait….
Did the city agree to the dominant party of the right of way be allowed to put up closing gates?
I can not read the whole agreement (no online subscription).
I believe NY State adverse possession has been clarified. The $1,000 payment related to walk would needs to be clarified exactly what that was for.
Promises legally mean nothing,
Did Columbia seek permission to block the right of way or just do it?
This article does not make clear that Columbia illegally gate off 116th Street to the public 70-odd years ago, and was never held to account.
Great news. Next step – revoke the University’s tax-exempt status. It is now the single largest property owner in NYC
Are you sure Columbia is the city’s largest property owner? For years it’s been said to be Trinity Church.
Add me to the list of alumni — with alumni ID — angry and upset about being suddenly cutoff from using the library system with no explanation or response despite numerous attempts to find out. I understand the need to keep “outsiders” from causing troubles, but alumni with IDs doing research and writing in the library? It’s insane and bureaucratic…
I am directly affected by the campus closure. I always walked right through the campus at 116th Street to get to the #1 subway at 116th Street. Now if you want to go from Amsterdam to Broadway or Broadway to Amsterdam you have to go down to 114th Street or up to 120th Street. It is an inconvenience for sure, but I understand why Columbia is doing this. If I were not able bodied I might not be so understanding.
Thank you, Shaun. This is a fight worth fighting.
The city closes streets all the time. Stop whining. No big deal.
What people are missing is streets can always be closed due to security or safety reasons. This happens all the time in Midtown.
Interim President Armstrong said in September that reopening campus was “a matter of weeks, not months.” Here we are four months later and no change in sight (except for a bit of vacation modification).
It’s hard to see a solution of Israeli-Palestinian grievances any time soon. Is campus going to be locked down indefinitely into the future? There will never be a time when there’s no chance that someone will show up to protest that or some other issue.
Barnard Campus should be open too.
In addition to being closed to the public, Dr. Armstrong cut off alumni access to campus. I used to work at Butler and I have a CUID. I wrote to the alumni association asking why we pose a threat to the student population and did not get a satisfactory answer.
I agree that there is no real cause to maintain a closure this way – if the worry is about out-of-campus protestors (which was a valid worry last spring and sadly long mishandled by the university), then make it clear that any such disruption will NOT be tolerated – if you come to make a mess, you will be removed, and if you refuse or make a mess again, you’ll be arrested. Violating the university’s rules should lead to law enforcement’s involvement. Like in any other place. Why punish the whole city, including colleagues from other campuses, and Columbia’s good neighbors (let alone those with mobility needs)?
You make an egregious error it was anti-war not pro Palestine. About people not being slaughtered, starved and denied food, water, medical treatment, and electricity . Yes, I’m Jewish. Why do you ask?
There are plenty of urban universities that have no choice but to allow public access to their “campus.” NYU, for example. which also had protests over the situation in Gaza.
Much of the Columbia campus (and the Barnard campus) is open to the surrounding streets. Are we to assume Columbia is unable to provide a safe environment for students and staff at those locations?
Columbia is able to close off the heart of its campus, so it did, during a period of crisis. But it had been open — safely— for decades before that. To refuse to open it now citing “safety,” when there are no ongoing protests, is disingenuous, and hostile to the community.
I’m an alum of Columbia and am appalled at not only the closing of the campus, but also the military-like fashion in which it has been done. To gain access is an onerous burden. The experience left me feeling like I was viewed as a person with criminal intents.
Especially problematic for getting to/from hospital Mt. Sinai/St. Luke’s and subway.
Major issue for Amsterdam to be closed for open streets and therefore no buses running on Amsterdam
The Columbia admin has been incompetent and needs to resign.
Although I recognize the right of Columbia to restrict access to their campus, I remember living in an apartment building that Columbia purchased many years ago. They weren’t very nice to the sitting (mostly rent controlled and stabilized) tenants!
When Columbia closed down we had a family alumni membership to the gym . We’ve been excluded from the campus since then. No emails offering any reimbursement for the useless membership. My husband’s been up several times and was turned away by both the guards and gym office. A neighbor who has an on going faculty membership through City College has been turned away on sveral ocasions by surly security guards(These memberships have been Columbia policy for years with private and public institutions in the area. These memberships aren’t free .) Both my husband and the neighbor both experienced rude and irrational behavior from these PRIVATE hired guards. Most of them at the gates aren’t trained Columbia Security. They are rent a cop goons.
Please note that they are not “pro-Palestinian” protesters. They are anti-Israel protesters. None of the protesters ever called on Hamas to stop using Palestinians as human shields.
This is an old and tired comment by someone who knows nothing. Sigh
I have been bothered by Columbia’s closed gates. I often used to pause there when tired to sit on their benches. As a tax exempt institution I would like them to open up again and embrace their community. I’m glad the topic is being raised.
Lincoln Center has also closed off its public space, and I hear little about it. I enjoyed sitting at the fountain at 5 am drinking coffee in the past. This city is slowly becoming unfriendly to it tax payer base.