Campus security and GOLEM
Security Services keeps the University’s buildings and people safe around the clock. At night, in two of its oldest buildings, it has help.
The Control Room
The Security Control Room at the Bellhouse Lane lodge is staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and can be reached on 01632 960733. In an emergency, call the emergency services first and then the Control Room, so that we can meet them and show them the way.
The Night Wardens
The University’s Night Wardens patrol the city-centre buildings from 21:00 to 07:00. The title is older than the job: the Academy employed wardens to keep its gates from 1611. Today there are fourteen, led by the Head of Security Services, Keith Dransfield.
GOLEM
GOLEM is an autonomous security system that patrols the Treasury beneath the Old Schools and the closed stacks and Special Collections strongroom of the Old Library at night, between 22:00 and 06:00. It holds a licence from the Turing Registry, filing TR-01270, under the operator’s legal name, Oxenfurt Academy. Its name is older than the system: “the golem” was what students called the Treasury’s alarm in the 1960s, and the University kept it.
What its licence allows
- It may not leave the University’s grounds. In practice it never leaves the two buildings on its route.
- It may detain a person it finds in those buildings at night only until a Night Warden arrives. The Warden, not GOLEM, decides what happens next.
- It takes instructions only from the Office of the Rector. Security Services cannot redirect it or stand it down, and nor can anyone else; changes to its route or hours are made by the Rector’s office and reported to the Registry.
If you meet it
You should not: the buildings it patrols are closed at night to everyone, including staff. If you do, stay where you are and speak to it. It will call a Warden, who will normally arrive within four minutes. It does not touch anyone who keeps still.
What it records
GOLEM keeps a log of each patrol and of any person it detains, with the time and place. It does not keep images. The log is kept for 31 days, or longer if it is needed for an investigation, and is covered by the University’s privacy notice for Security Services.
Its record
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 December 2003 | Licensed by the Turing Registry for campus security (TR-01270). |
| 2 March 2017 | A complaint from a visiting performer, detained in the Library after it had closed, was investigated by the Registry and closed with no breach found. The Library now rings a closing bell at 21:30. |
| 11 December 2025 | Licence renewed. |
Complaints
Complaints about Security Services, including about GOLEM, go to the Head of Security Services at security@oxenfurt.uk. Because GOLEM is a licensed system, you may also complain to the Turing Registry, which can investigate its operator.
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