Public Safety Veteran Narrative Training

Columbia Public Safety

In 2023, the Center for Veteran Transition and Integration (CVTI) held a community listening session with Columbia University Public Safety to gain a deeper understanding of how its officers engage with student veterans on campus. During this session, we discovered that 10% of Public Safety personnel were veterans, nearly 40% had some form of military connection—including veterans, reservists, military dependents, and spouses, and yet many felt they did not possess adequate knowledge or confidence to openly engage with veterans on campus and in their own ranks.

At the time, Public Safety officers received a brief, ten-minute training module covering basic demographics and resources related to undergraduate student veterans. However, following the listening session, there was a notable groundswell of support to expand this training—driven by a collective desire to more meaningfully understand and support the student veterans who walk the campus every day.

In collaboration with the Public Safety training team, CVTI developed a more comprehensive training program: Building Capacity for Veteran Narrative: Columbia University Public Safety. This half-day, in-person course is designed to deepen officers’ understanding of veteran identity, experience, and culture. The training provides them with essential campus resources to effectively support student veterans, along with the tools to respond to their unique needs with empathy, insight, and respect.

The course focuses on the following learning objectives:

  • Recognize the diverse cultures associated with military service and veteran life
  • Acknowledge the wide-ranging nature of veteran experiences
  • Develop new ways of engaging with veterans by exploring the ambiguity of narrative
  • Become familiar with the history of veteran support at Columbia University
  • Identify campus resources available to veterans and understand how to connect with them

To date, CVTI has delivered five training sessions, integrated both into the onboarding process for new Public Safety officers and into professional development programming for sergeants and lieutenants preparing for promotions or new roles.

Over the past two years, the impact of this training has been palpable. Student veterans have shared how officers now actively engage them in conversations about their military backgrounds. Officers regularly visit the CVTI Community Space to learn more about veteran and military issues. Those with military backgrounds themselves have even reached out to inquire about returning to college. One officer, reflecting a year after completing the training, said, “The training made me more appreciative of who veterans are.”

This collaboration between CVTI and Columbia Public Safety demonstrates the power of narrative-informed training to build a campus culture that values, understands, and supports the veteran experience.