In a statement released on Wednesday, the Office of Public Affairs shared that Columbia University Information Technology is actively addressing an ongoing issue affecting Columbia’s Wi-Fi network. The connectivity issues first began Wednesday morning as students returned to campus from fall break, hampering online access across the university.
The technical trouble is impacting some users’ ability to connect to wireless internet across Columbia’s network infrastructure. “We are aware of a disruption to wireless internet connectivity that is impacting some users on Columbia’s network,” the Office of Public Affairs wrote in its statement, adding that CUIT is working to resolve the issue.
The campus network offers two primary wireless options: Columbia U Secure, which requires affiliates to log in using their UNI, and Columbia University, a publicly accessible network.
During a class in the International Affairs Building basement on Wednesday, Sean Lee, CC ’27, discovered the Wi-Fi outage as he attempted to take notes. “It was a game of cat and mouse where I was trying to connect to the secure and then the general Wi-Fi network,” Lee said. With a paper due at 5 p.m., he noted that the outage significantly hampered his ability to complete his work on time and expressed frustration over the lack of direct email communication from the administration regarding the disruption.
Columbia Agrees to Pay Millions Following Data Breach
In June 2025, Columbia faced a major outage to its online platforms after hackers breached university systems and stole personal information—including Social Security numbers and financial aid data—affecting an estimated 3 million applicants, affiliates, and prospective students. The university subsequently agreed in September to pay $16.1 million to affected individuals in a class-action lawsuit alleging serious failures in its cybersecurity processes.
Separately earlier this year, a different cyber incident shut down access to CourseWorks at nearly 9,000 schools nationwide in May, before Columbia restored users’ access on the very first day of final exams.
As CUIT continues working to resolve Wednesday’s wireless disruption, the university has not provided further details on when full connectivity will be restored.
