Columbia University has one of the worst crime and safety records in the nation, according to multiple reports on higher education.
The school’s record on student safety came into question when Davide Giri, 30, a Columbia grad student from Italy, was stabbed and killed Thursday night in Morningside Park, a few blocks from the university campus and a magnet for students.
Tessa Majors, 18, a Barnard College student, was stabbed to death two years earlier, also in Morningside Park.
“Take responsibility for this,” scientist Roberto Donnianni, 40, demanded of the school where he once studied. “At Columbia University, it’s the best students in the world. You have to protect them.”
Donnianni and his wife, Giulia Papiani, 38, stopped Saturday at a sidewalk memorial to Giri at 123rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, where the Columbia student bled to death.
Columbia witnessed 412 safety-related incidents in 2019, the last year for which data is available, according to College Factual, which provides university data to prospective students and their families.
Only 4.5 percent of the 3,990 schools nationwide that reported crime and safety data recorded more incidents than Columbia, the report states.
Major crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault or arson comprised 15 percent of the incidents reported at Columbia — violence against women at 9.7 percent.
“When a student goes to school, I feel like they are entitled to a certain level of safety which has not been provided to them,” graduate student Crome Max Crownover told the Columbia Spectator.
He returned later holding a sign that read “Clean up our neighborhood” and another that pleaded “Columbia do something,” according to the report.
A Columbia spokesperson refused on Saturday to answer questions from The Post about its safety standards.
“We are all concerned about the safety of our campus and surrounding neighborhoods,” Columbia President Lee Bollinger said Saturday in a statement sent to the university community. “Columbia is working directly with the New York Police Department and City officials to think through the needs of everyone. There will be more to report on these discussions shortly.
Federal data also paints a sobering picture of safety at Columbia.
The Democrat and Chronicle, citing US Department of Education data, reported that the Morningside Heights campus of 31,000 logged a 45 percent spike in crime in 2019, to 83 from 57 incidents.
Only 41 schools nationwide reported more crime in 2019, according to the DOE data.
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