Updated: Oct. 23, at 12:54 p.m.

Students reported a “sinister” rise in National Guard presence on campus over the past week, fueling concerns that the continued deployment, more than two months after President Donald Trump sent troops to patrol the city, makes them feel less safe.

About 2,300 guard troops from eight states have remained in the District since Trump ordered them on Aug. 11 to patrol D.C. as part of his crime crackdown, though students reported that troops were largely absent from Foggy Bottom during the first weeks of deployment. Since returning from fall break this week, students say a significant rise in troop sightings on campus — including inside campus buildings — have sparked general unease and a demand for clearer communication from officials on how they should interact with the troops.

Students over the past week have reported spotting guard troops standing in and near campus spaces, including a cluster of about 20 by the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro, four in Duques Hall, five on the Mount Vernon Express, seven outside of Lerner Health and Wellness Center and three in the Chick-fil-A in Mitchell Hall. About 10 guard officers were also present at the start of a rally hosted by GWU Socialist Action Initiative on Thursday near Kogan Plaza. A University spokesperson said GW did not request the troops’ presence at the protest. 

Officials in a weekly federal update Thursday said GW NROTC students were “erroneously identified” as members of the Guard in response to reported guard presence on the Vex. Officials also said they were aware of “limited instances” of Guard troops in campus buildings and officials have discussed the distinction between public and private property with Guard leadership.

“National Guard leadership has confirmed they understand Guard members are not to enter private property,” the update states.

The reason for the increased troop presence near campus remains unclear. The Hatchet spoke to two troops who declined to comment on their heightened concentration in Foggy Bottom, and a spokesperson for the D.C. National Guard’s Joint Task Force — created by Trump’s March executive order to coordinate local and federal law enforcement — declined to say whether federal officials have ordered an increased guard presence on the Foggy Bottom Campus. The Metropolitan Police Department deferred comment to the guard, and the U.S. Attorney General’s office did not return a request for comment.

In an email to the community last week, University President Ellen Granberg said she recognizes some students are concerned about the guard presence on campus and reiterated that law enforcement officers cannot enter buildings that require tap access without a warrant, though public D.C. streets fall under city and federal jurisdiction. She also said staff have been trained on how to deal with the troops’ presence.

“External law enforcement officers may not enter tap access spaces without a proper warrant, a court order, or exigent circumstances,” Granberg’s message states.

Student Government Association President Ethan Lynne held up a picture of guard troops inside Duques Hall, which requires tap access, at a Board of Trustees meeting Friday, demanding University officials work to make students feel safe on campus. 

Amid heightened immigration and federal law enforcement activity near campus, students have continued to push for GW to declare itself a sanctuary campus. The Socialist Action Initiative, a progressive student organization, held a rally Thursday reiterating its demands that GW ban federal officers from campus, a demand they first made in April. Students also walked out of classes in September to decry the guard deployment and called on GW to become a sanctuary campus.

University Spokesperson Julia Garbitt confirmed that the University noticed an uptick but said the University was not informed of and did not request the increased guard presence on campus, but officials are aware of it. 

“We are aware that guard members have been more visible on campus in recent days,” Garbitt said. “As a reminder, only authorized university community members are allowed to access campus buildings that require GWorld access.” 

The D.C. National Guard’s Joint Task Force’s spokesperson said troop deployment is determined by the Commander of the Joint Task Force, the U.S. Attorney General, who did not return a request to comment, and MPD, who directed the inquiry to the guard.

The spokesperson said they cannot discuss “operational security,” but guard personnel are assisting the MPD and federal law enforcement to enhance security in downtown, residential and commercial areas of the District.

“Guard personnel on this mission will assist MPD and Federal law enforcement partners with monument security, community safety patrols, protecting Federal facilities, traffic control posts, and area beautification,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The increased presence had prompted heightened campus discourse about the issue, with students posting photos of clusters of Guard troops on Fizz, an anonymous campus social media platform, with comments like “National Guard (allegedly) on the vex…spooky.”

Zina Parker, a first-year student studying business, said the troops’ presence has not been “pleasant.” She said in the last week, it has seemed like the guard troops are on every corner of campus, which she finds off-putting, especially since they tend to be in clusters. 

“It doesn’t feel any safer, definitely, to me, it kind of makes me feel like a little more unsafe,” Parker said. 

Trump ordered D.C. guard troops in September to remain through the end of the year, but leaders in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia — states whose troops make up about 80 percent of the total out-of-state troops stationed in D.C. — signaled they planned to end deployments into the city sometime later this fall, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. 

Parker said she understands University officials need to abide by federal government orders, but they have a responsibility to the community to stand up to Trump on issues of “right and wrong,” like the guard’s continued presence on campus. 

“It’s the University’s responsibility to keep students safe and feeling comfortable on campus because this is where we all live,” Parker said. “I feel like them saying, ‘We can do nothing about it’ is a little bit of a cop out.’” 

Senior Riley Didion said she has seen a heightened presence of troops recently, which she finds “comical” because they do not appear to be doing anything to reduce crime, and instead she saw the troops in Gelman Library in early October taking a selfie. 

“They were just sitting inside Gelman and I was like, ‘You’re really fighting the good fight,’” Didion said. “I don’t know why you’re in our library.” 

In GW’s Oct. 3 Weekly Federal Update email, officials also said they were made aware of three guard officers sitting on a bench in the entrance vestibule of Gelman Library and said the troops did not try to enter secure areas of the library and did not interact with community members.

Senior Briana Murphy said she lives on E Street and sees troops outside her dorm often. She said she doesn’t think the troops’ presence on campus is doing anything to reduce crime in the area, and she does not understand why they have been deployed in a low-crime area like Foggy Bottom. 

“I never felt unsafe on campus before their arrival, and so I don’t really know what purpose they’re serving,” Murphy said. 

When the guard was deployed in August, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said they would not be engaged in “law enforcement functions.”

Troops stationed in the District have mainly been engaging in beautification projects, which include picking up trash and cleaning up tourist spots, like the Tidal Basin and Watergate Hotel, and patrolling Metro stations. The force had cleared 906 bags of trash, spread 744 cubic yards of mulch, removed five truckloads of plant waste, cleared 3.2 miles of roadway and painted 270 feet of fencing as of Sept. 8 since their deployment in August.

Isabelle Torres, a sophomore studying international affairs and political science from the Caribbean, said she initially felt safer seeing law enforcement on the street, as she was used to their presence back home. 

“I would say that because of my environment where I grew up, I don’t really see it as like, ‘Oh, wow, they’re gonna oppress us,’” Torres said. 

Still, Torres said she feels having an influx of troops near campus unnecessary because Foggy Bottom is a relatively safe area. She said she feels the GW Police Department and MPD are enough to keep the campus community safe. 

She said the troops’ presence has made students, especially those she knows who have attended recent protests, feel like they are going to get in trouble or arrested. 

“I feel like they’ve done nothing really here except students feel hostile, and it makes sense, because we’re a peaceful campus, there’s no reason to have so much security, and it can feel oppressive,” Torres said. 

Taek Kim, a first-year studying international affairs, said the troops’ presence is “surreal,” and he and his friends will often send each other pictures when they spot troops around campus. He said the troops have stoked feelings of fear on campus instead of making people feel safer like they were intended to. 

“It’s a solution that no one really asked for and the community itself didn’t really need,” Kim said. 

Arunmoy Das contributed reporting.

This post was updated to include additional comment from University officials.