University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters

[demmiblue]

Revealed: security trailing students on and off campus as video shows investigator faking disability when confronted

The University of Michigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations, the Guardian has learned.

The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.

Students say they have frequently identified undercover investigators and confronted them. In two bizarre interactions captured by one student on video, a man who had been trailing the student faked disabilities, and noisily – and falsely – accused a student of attempting to rob him.

The undercover investigators appear to work for Detroit-based City Shield, a private security group, and some of their evidence was used by Michigan prosecutors to charge and jail students, according to a Guardian review of police records, university spending records and video collected in legal discovery. Most charges were later dropped. Public spending records from the U-M board of regents, the school’s governing body, show the university paid at least $800,000 between June 2023 and September 2024 to City Shield’s parent company, Ameri-Shield.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/06/michigan-university-gaza-surveillance

[Biophilic]

1. That's just plain sad.

So obviously freedom of speech isn’t real anymore.

[oberle]

2. SHAME! nt

[David__77]

3. I'm glad it is being exposed.

[ret5hd]

4. .