Security get new more formal uniforms

On Monday, college support staff, including the security team, were given brand new uniforms, which for the security staff meant cumbersome new ties, epaulettes, long-sleeved shirts with the Imperial logo and suit jackets with name badges.

Whereas before, the security staff were free to wear collared white shirts of any sleeve length, depending on the weather, they now must wear long-sleeved branded shirts with their suits at all times. This week, temperatures hit highs of 26°C, making the new outfits particularly impractical.

Imperial’s security department website says its top priority is to “the protection of College students, staff and visitors from harm through physical assault, fire or smoke inhalation”, which are activities which arguably need security officers who can move across campus quickly.

Although many will be familiar with the security staff members who have an office in Beit, you will often see them patrolling the campus. Security guards partly act as a deterrent to crime – the fact that the new uniforms look impractical to the point where the wearers don’t look like security guards, could mean that they aren’t such a deterrent.

Their new purple ties and epaulettes, which sit on the shoulders of the shirts, are bright purple, reminiscent of Imperial ‘mauviene’, a dye accidentally discovered in the 1800s by one William Perkin from the Royal College of Chemistry, which also adorns Imperial graduation gowns.