Point Park will no longer require desk attendants to be on duty in upperclassmen housing, according to Keith Paylo, vice president of student affairs, in an emailed announcement on July 28.
Paylo said the university decided to switch from attendants hired through Velociti, a facilities services contractor, to attendants hired in-house. This leaves Thayer Hall as the only building with a round-the-clock attendant.
The new, in-house attendants will rotate between a pool of 10 newly-hired employees to operate the front desk of Thayer Hall, according to a supervisor.
Conestoga Hall and Boulevard Apartments will not have attendants at all, and security will be provided by existing facilities. Lawrence Hall has so far only had a daytime attendant.
For the Boulevard Apartments, this means visitors must scan a valid university ID to enter the building, lobby, residential stairwells and the dormitories. An ID is also needed to operate the elevator.
But for Conestoga, there’s just one scanner at the front entrance of the building. The elevator can be operated and residential floors can be accessed without scanning an ID.
Point Park’s Chief of Police Jeffery Besong said in an emailed statement that the university plans to add additional scanners into Conestoga’s lobby, elevator and residential floors. In the meantime, Besong said university police will adjust patrols to prioritize the sophomore residence hall at nighttime and on weekends — what he calls “peak hours.”
“We are confident these measures will uphold a secure environment while meeting the needs of our campus community,” Besong said in the statement.
He added that the decision was not made lightly and that officials at the university had reviewed security data and surveyed residents prior to green-lighting the change, which he said would help cut costs.
Attendants with Velociti were previously hired with janitors under a roughly $2.7 million contract, according to Point Park’s most recent Form 990 filings from August 2024.
The university’s janitors are still contracted through Velociti. University officials declined to provide details on the current contract with Velociti and representatives of Velociti did not respond to the Globe’s request for comment.
The Velociti-hired attendants still have jobs, according to SEIU 32BJ Pittsburgh spokesperson Eddie Kadhim. 32BJ is a labor union who represents workers for Velociti.
Kadhim added that Point Park dropped the Velociti attendants after deciding to “automate their building security operation.” He provided no further comment.
Many students said they oppose the attendant changes. An account on Instagram named “pointparksafety” appeared and began posting within days of the email announcing the change.
The administrator of the account, who said they are a student but prefer to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, decried the removal of the employees. The administrator said the attendants had made strong connections with the university’s students.
“They’ve been working here for so long,” the administrator said. “Mr. Fred [an attendant] had been working here for 25 years . . . They’re part of our family; they’re Pioneers too.”
The account regularly reposts graphics demanding “real security — not just scanners.” The administrator said they meant this in regard to upperclassmen housing.
“Just because we’re older does not mean we don’t need safety,” they said. “Somebody can just follow us in at any given moment, and that’s a safety hazard.”
Kate Halaja, a junior history major, created a petition opposing the changes. It demands the return of attendants to residential buildings and has so far amassed over 200 signatures.
A description of the petition says it opposes the recent changes with desk attendants and says the university is replacing human attendants with automated devices, like ID scanners and lobby turnstiles. The Globe did not reach out to Halaja for comment.
Paylo said that while he appreciated the petition, students should give the new desk attendant arrangement a chance.
“Change in some cases is interesting to different types of individuals,” Paylo said. “Some go, ‘Okay, it’s change, no big deal.’ And some will say it’s a big deal. I always say let’s obviously give this an opportunity.”
For Paylo, the new attendant arrangement is preferred. He said he views desk attendants as “ambassadors” who serve as the first faces that visitors to the university see.
“Can [the new attendants] do everything? No,” Paylo said, “but they’ll be … more immersed and more knowledgeable of everything.”
While Paylo said he was not critical of the performance of Velociti-contracted attendants, he said he felt in-house hires were a better overall option.
“It’s just a different mindset in a sense,” Paylo said.
