The University of Michigan said this week that it's terminating all contracts with private companies that provide plainclothes security personnel for the campus, following allegations that undercover officers were monitoring pro-Palestinian student activists.
In response to the backlash, U-M said the security officers were hired to “help maintain campus safety” and provide “discreet awareness of potential illegal activities without escalating tensions.”
The university also denied claims that security personnel followed students off campus or targeted individuals based on their beliefs.
Still, student activist Josiah Walker believes he was surveilled. He recalled moments when he felt he was being watched.
"It was kind of scary because I had no idea who these people were. But they all seemed to have the same agenda," Walker said. "And on top of that ... when I catch them, they become extraordinarily aggressive."
Walker said when he confronted and filmed one of the individuals, the person pretended to have a disability.
Despite the university’s earlier defense of the security program, interim U-M President Domenico Grasso announced Sunday that the school would sever ties with the companies involved.
He called one contractor’s actions “disturbing, unacceptable, and unethical.”
The university added that the employee in question “acted in ways that go against our values and directives.”
