Disorganized scheduling and unclear communication from student guard management contribute to frequently unmanned guard posts in campus residential spaces, according to student guards. 

Student guards, who are employed by the university and managed by the Department of Public Safety, have not had permanent shifts this semester, resulting in scheduling complications and assignment confusion. The scheduling system switched from a permanent, consistent shift assignment system to one in which guards are scheduled on a daily, as-needed basis. 

During the first weeks of the academic year, private security guards from SecTek, a security contractor based in Virginia, sporadically filled guard posts or the posts were left unattended, according to several student guards. 

Student guards send their daily availability to management to organize the day’s schedule, according to a student guard who requested to remain anonymous for fear of employer retribution. The daily schedule caused confusion about scheduling, the guard said in an interview with The Hoya.

“I’ve been giving them my availability trying to be flexible,” the guard said. “A shift is four hours, but I’ve been scheduled for six hours a day for the last three days.” 

Student guards play an essential role in protecting the campus community, according to the university student guard website. The guards sit in residential hall lobbies and Lauinger Library for four-hour-long shifts and scan ID cards before permitting students to enter the building between 8 a.m. and midnight. Student guards receive semesterly training and work with public safety officers to identify potential issues and respond to incidents that may arise. 

The Georgetown University Police Department is about 20% behind in their recruiting schedule this semester because there are more students taking classes in the middle of the school day, less interest in weekend morning shifts and students’ commitment to studies and social activities, according to Georgetown Chief of Public Safety Jay Gruber. These roadblocks, in addition to a strict I-9 policy and restrictive human resources hiring dates, have led to open positions. 

Some student guards have also not shown up for their assigned work hours, Gruber wrote in an email to The Hoya. 

“We have had some student guards not show up for shifts and had to quickly backfill,” Gruber wrote. “For shifts we know are left unfilled we backfill in advance with our contract guard service.”  

Although last semester open posts were not consistently unguarded and the permanent shift assignment system ran smoothly, the student guard program faced other organization problems, according to Kristin Rabil (COL ’22), who served as a student guard in spring 2019. 

“I’d say at the beginning it just seemed very unorganized compared to some of my other jobs,” Rabil said in an interview with The Hoya. “It was kind of slow-paced, but I think that was because they were trying to work with so many students, trying to get them organized.”

Last year’s more consistent work schedule made the transition to daily, more flexible assignments confusing, the current guard said. 

“I was given three shifts, and so I assumed that those were my shifts, so I put them in my calendar and everything,” the guard said. “When they asked for availability the next week, I assumed that those shifts were already mine, so I didn’t send them my availability because I figured it was for nonpermanent shifts, but then I was not scheduled.”

The scheduling chaos deters registered guards from picking up shifts and the unscheduled slots have remained empty, according to the guard. 

“They send us an email the next day saying, ‘These are the open posts — sign up for them,’” she said. “Some people do but some people don’t.”

Although scheduling problems have prevented student guards from effectively working throughout the day, the university hired a comparable number of students this year and last year, the guard said. 

“There are 130 guards in the group chat,” she said. “I think it’s an organizational thing right now because the number of guards we have right now is not very different from last year.”

However, the guard program has yet to reach full capacity and is still actively recruiting more guards, according to Gruber. 

“We have seen this trend for the past year with less students either interested in working on campus or not interested in becoming student guards,” Gruber wrote.