University of Maryland students maneuvered past fences and metal detectors around McKeldin Mall last week as groups hosted events on the second anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023.

Just like the year before, event staff, University of Maryland Police, outsourced security employees and student police aides stood by fences to check attendees’ bags and IDs before allowing them to enter.

Those Oct. 7, 2024, on-campus security efforts cost the university about $136,389, records obtained by The Diamondback show.

About 72 percent of the spending went toward UMPD costs. The price of last week’s events are not yet available.

UMPD spokesperson Lt. Rosanne Hoaas referred to the department’s special events website in response to a request for comment.

The website states the following factors are used to determine how many police officers or crowd managers are needed at an event:
• Event timing
• Event location
• Expected crowd size
• History of similar events
• History of event speakers
• If any “VIPs” are attending the event

For some student-hosted events on campus, the university contracts employees with Contemporary Services Corporation, a crowd management and event security company. CSC staff are unarmed and used for other large campus gatherings, such as sporting events.

Sixty-nine University of Maryland Police personnel, 70 CSC employees and two Student Police Auxiliary officers were present for events on Oct. 7, 2024, records stated.

The university also contracted security from Apex Security Group, a subcontractor of CSC, on Oct. 7, 2024 and 2025.

According to a university statement, the events on Oct. 7, 2024 and 2025 were planned in accordance with university policies and “took place without incident.” University officials, UMPD and event organizers took into account factors in university policies when coordinating security measures each year, the statement read.

[UMD students honor lost Palestinian lives with campus art demonstration]

University president Darryll Pines told The Diamondback in September that the decision to contract outside security involves discussions with law enforcement, Student Affairs and event organizers. The fatal shooting of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Pines added, makes security especially critical.

“Now we’ve had a tragedy on a university campus that has reached international attention.” Pines said. “We were already concerned, in general, for the safety of our students for various activities.”

Mia Mikowski, a junior aerospace engineering major, said she feels comfortable having security present as a deterrent to threats at an event with a large number of Jewish people gathered.

“Any sort of altercation is a poor reflection on all the communities here,” said Mikowski, the Jewish Student Union’s vice president of Israel affairs. “It prevents us from being able to express ourselves like this in the future, because it just taints a day that’s meant for mourning and gathering of the community.”

Apex Security Group also had staff on McKeldin Mall Oct. 7, 2025 last week.

The date marks the anniversary of when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages. Israel has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a daylong sit-in on one side of the mall, where community members honored the Palestinians Israel killed in Gaza.

On the other side of the sundial, groups including the Jewish Student Union, Maryland Hillel and Students Supporting Israel held a memorial to remember the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the hostages that were then still held in Gaza.

Students could cross the mall on Tuesday through a center path by the sundial, or through one of eight entrances around the mall with metal detectors and security personnel.

But Students for Justice in Palestine member Abel Amene, who helped organize last year’s event on McKeldin Mall, said some safety measures at events hindered free speech.

“The whole idea of the event is free speech,” the senior economics and physics major said. “The security actually ran counter to that, to the point that it was a detriment.”

Though event organizers were informed of increased security ahead of time, he said, it did not make him feel safer. Amene said the limited entrances to the Oct. 7, 2024 event led to long lines as people entered.

[UMD community members attend memorial honoring hostages taken by Hamas from Israel]

“It made me feel trapped and more in danger and more afraid for my life,” Amene said.

The University System of Maryland originally decided to only allow “university-sponsored events that promote reflection” on its campuses on Oct. 7. This was before the decision to employ security measures on McKeldin Mall, and paused this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter’s reservation that day.

The chapter then sued the university, university system, Board of Regents and Pines. The university paid the chapter $100,000 to settle the lawsuit.

In an October interview with The Diamondback, Pines said the university updated its freedom of expression policies last fall to include time, place and manner restrictions on where people could convene on campus as well as how long they could organize for.

“The series of protests over the last two plus years have allowed us to really upgrade those policies so that it would enable First Amendment free speech,” Pines said.

The university’s policies on expressive activities were updated last August after groups reserved space for Oct. 7 events. Reservations are now limited to four hours and groups can only reserve one space, which includes either the east or west side of McKeldin Mall.

The university’s second year of security measures for Oct. 7 events came after it increased security for Israel Fest and Boycott Israel Fest, events held annually in May.

Israel Fest is an annual celebration of Israeli culture hosted by Jewish student organizations on campus. Students have regularly held protests to the event in previous years to condemn Israel and show support for Palestine.

This university also spent about $31,000 more on security staff and equipment for the event and protest in 2025 compared to the year before, records show.

Three security employees from George Mason University were present at the May events. UMPD often collaborates with agencies such as George Mason and uses their technology, including drones, to monitor security.

“Our primary responsibility as university administrators is to keep the community safe,” Pines said. “Sometimes these measures seem harsh, but they’re there to keep everybody safe.”