On Sept. 2, there was an attempted robbery of a Columbia employee in the lobby of 218 S. Wabash Ave. Bernadette McMahon, the associate vice president and chief information officer of Information Technology, was approached by two men who reached into her backpack. The men ran off, and nothing was reported stolen. The incident was an alarming threat to campus safety that we understand Columbia is taking seriously.

Columbia leases floors seven, eight and nine of the building, managed by the Ashwood Corporation, to house offices such as Payroll, Accounting and Human Resources. Columbia cannot station security in the lobby because it does not own the building, but the school did provide security on the floors it rents until Aug. 31, when the positions were cut from the budget.

Floors seven through nine are now monitored by surveillance cameras at Columbia’s security headquarters seven blocks south at the 916 S. Wabash Ave. Building, but the lobby is not covered. Furthermore, even if security personnel caught the robbery attempt on a camera, how could they quickly and effectively protect McMahon from seven blocks away?

Local urban campuses like DePaul University and Northwestern University have small fleets of campus patrol cars and motorized security while Columbia’s expanding open campus has one lone patrol car.

We worry whether Columbia’s security team is fully prepared in the event of a true emergency, which thankfully has never been put to the test on our campus. Although the emergency notification system in place is strong and effective, are the personnel prepared and are the resources ready? Most Columbia students know campus security as the friendly faces stationed at building desks, while the employees of 218 S. Wabash Ave. are left with a deserted lobby and an ominous set of elevators.

We have full confidence Columbia will work with the Ashwood Corporation to ensure a higher standard of security is implemented to protect employees. If an acceptable agreement regarding lobby surveillance cannot be reached, we hope Columbia will relocate the employees of 218 S. Wabash to a safer, more central spot on campus.