Every day, Baruch students who have a class at the 23rd street campus bare witness and subject themselves to an unavoidable power play. Given the current state of the obnoxiously slow, frustrating, and now under-repair elevators, students have no choice but to queue up under the watchful eye of the generally unpleasant security guards. Every time I go to the 23rd street campus for this class I will undoubtedly observe a helpless student be scolded for forgetting to show his ID or taking a small shortcut in the winding line even if there is no one else on line. I don’t know if the security guards are told to be fervently strict about checking IDs and maintaining lines, or if they’re acting on their own accord. In any case, students who have classes more than five or six floors high have no other options and are at the will of these security guards and the authority they have been given. There’s no doubting these guards are doing their jobs, but you have to wonder if it would kill to be a bit more kind in the exchanges that would certainly have a positive affect on both parties.
Matthew Epstein