616 break-in leaves residents concerned about safety, dorm security

Barnard employees who were on duty at the time have been placed on leave.

Photo by Sherry Chen/The Barnard Bulletin

By Anika Bahirwani, Jahnavi Bolleddula, and Jaya Shankar

January 25, 2026

On Friday, December 5, a “male presenting” individual entered 616 West 116th Street around 9:35 p.m. According to an email sent by Gary Maroni, Director of Barnard CARES Community Safety and Emergency Response, the individual “fled the location going West on West 116 street toward Riverside Park” after staying in the residence hall for approximately two and a half hours.

“No one was injured,” a Barnard spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Barnard Bulletin. “The safety of our students is Barnard’s top priority, and we take any breach of security and access protocols extremely seriously.”

“We didn’t know that anything happened until [a] suitemate told us at noon the next day,” a student whose 616 suite was broken into and who wished to remain anonymous told The Bulletin. During the time of the break-in, the resident was in their suite with two of their suitemates.

“Between 11:00 to 11:30, I went to use the bathroom and I saw [the toilet] unflushed,” the student continued. “I also saw an empty vanilla ice cream carton from our freezer out on the entrance mat, and one of my spoons.” The student assumed the items had been used by a suitemate but later realized it had been the intruder. 

“We were all in our own bedrooms with the door shut,” the student continued. “All three of us remember hearing some movement outside.”

616 residents said they were not notified during the time the intruder was believed to be inside 616. 

The student only understood what occurred the following morning, after seeing posts on the anonymous student platform Sidechat. They later learned the intruder had been on their floor and allegedly “chased” another 616 resident down the stairs. 

“It’s definitely a very uncomfortable feeling of violations to our space,” another resident stated. “I’ve personally been a lot more hypervigilant ever since.”

An email from Barnard Residential Life and Housing sent on Saturday, December 6, to students living in off-campus residential halls advised them to “lock all outside doors and windows at all times, including bedroom and suite doors.” The email did not explicitly mention the break-in. 

According to the two 616 residents interviewed by The Bulletin, Barnard CARES later told them that Public Safety had received a report shortly after the individual entered the building and “sent people to sweep the building … [but] couldn’t find him, so they assumed that he had left.”

Both suitemates expressed their frustration with the breach of campus security measures. “I enter that building every day, and I have to swipe my ID to get buzzed in at the door,” one stated. “I’m always caught by the security if I don’t have it. So, how did we let this happen?”

Others commented on the break-in on Sidechat, with one anonymous user identifying themself as a resident of 616 and claiming that the trespasser was “literally in my suite, outside my bedroom door,” and that when they and their roommate called Public Safety, “like always, they failed to address the situation right away.” The user added that “the man managed to chase a poor girl down the stairwell before Public Safety could find him.”

Another poster claimed that “the same man was inside of the GS [Columbia University School of General Studies] housing at 8:30 p.m.” Several GS students who spoke to The Bulletin reported receiving no communication about a break-in occurring in GS housing.

A campaign posted on the website Action Network by Madeleine Day (BC ’27) urged students to write letters to Barnard President Laura Rosenbury, Dean Leslie Grinage, and Director Maroni demanding “transparency, accountability, and action” in the wake of the trespass.

“Given the recent rise in campus security due to past protest activity, it is unacceptable that someone was able to enter the dorms, stay there for multiple hours, and chase a student without being apprehended by dorm security,” Day wrote in the campaign’s description. “Even though the administration says these heightened security measures are to protect Barnard students and staff, it is obvious that when a true safety risk is presented, this security did nothing to protect the students.” As of January 24, 126 of the campaign’s goal of 200 letters have been submitted.

According to a Barnard spokesperson, the College’s review of the incident revealed that “elements of our established residence hall security protocols were not followed.” Employees on duty in 616 at the time were placed on administrative leave. 

In another statement made on January 23, a Barnard spokesperson told The Bulletin that “616 West 116th Street is fully staffed, and since December, the College has strengthened our safety protocols and escalation procedures to ensure this type of breach does not happen again.”