More than 100 red emergency phones are mounted on the walls near stairwells and hallways through Columbia’s campus. Though often overlooked, these phones provide direct access to campus security in case of an emergency. Installed nearly two decades ago, they are present on nearly every floor of each academic building. While most are red, phones inside the Student Center are silver due to design choices, both function identically and are marked with the Campus Safety and Security logo.
The phones let security know where the caller is, showing the location “to make it easier for our security team to get to them,” said Safety and Security Operations Coordinator Rachelle Hadnot.
The phones are hardwired into Columbia’s internal safety system. When picked up, a call is routed directly to the security officer at the front desk of the building. If the officer is unavailable, the system reroutes the call to the central command center after three rings, allowing for a timely response even during high-traffic incidents like evacuations.
Though originally intended for broad emergency use including medical assistance or evacuation support, the phones are now used infrequently.
“Technology keeps advancing but the objective is to make sure someone is able to reach campus security if they need to,” said Associative Vice President of Campus Safety and Security Ronald Sodini. “We’ve got them already pretty well deployed and saturated but there are other methods to reach us like a regular telephone or a cell phone.”
Campus Safety staff said that most students and faculty use their own phones to contact security or dial 911. Despite this shift in behavior, the phones are still maintained and regularly tested at the first of each month by staff.
Placement of each phone was determined in coordination with the city fire department and is largely focused on stairwells and designated areas of rescue. These locations allow officers and first responders to locate individuals who may not be able to exit a building without assistance.
In some buildings such as the Student Center and 1104 S. Wabash Ave., they’re easy to find and consistently positioned, while in other buildings such as 623 S. Wabash Ave., they are in a less obvious location, a Chronicle review of the phones found.
“When students are first arriving and go to orientation, they see the slideshow [about the system] and we show it to them,” said Sodini. “It kind of isn’t something they notice until they need it.”
What students are saying:
For students who never attended orientation, the phones often go unnoticed. Graduate strategic communication student Jala Bell said she wasn’t aware of the red phones until recently, despite attending the school since 2020.
“I would probably go to the Columbia website and search up campus security numbers but this is way easier and it saves time,” she said.
After learning about the system, Bell said it would be time-saving compared to searching online for emergency contacts. She also mentioned it would be interesting to try the phones for practice, since she’s never used one.
“It’s very helpful to have of course, definitely like living down here, anything can happen” said Bell.
Some students expressed confusion between the red emergency phones inside campus buildings with the exterior network of blue light phones.
“I’ve seen them, they’re basically the phones outside in the streets,” said junior illustration major Jeremy Rivera.
While similar in enhancing campus safety, they differ in location and response.
The blue light cameras and emergency intercoms across campus were established in 2018 in response to student feedback about campus safety issues. When a caller activates the system, the blue light at the location begins flashing to draw the attention of nearby passersby.
“I was an RA last year and we did a lot of events with campus security and I feel like they would mostly promote having their contact in our phones; I had never heard of them talking about this,” said senior graphic design major Rachel Manlubatan. “I would still lean towards calling 911 directly.”
There are no current plans to expand the system, as security officials believe there is already sufficient coverage on campus.
“It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” said Hadnot. “I’m glad that they’re there and I hope that our students and faculty are as well.”
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
