University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters

[cbabe]

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

University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters

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

Tom Perkins
Fri 6 Jun 2025 06.00 EDT

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.

Among those who say they’re being regularly followed is Katarina Keating, part of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (Safe), a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Keating said the surveillance has caused her to feel “on edge”, and she often looks over her shoulder since November, when she was first followed.

“But on another level it sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around,” Keating added. “It’s just such a waste of money and time.”

The students who spoke to the Guardian tracked dozens of investigators who have followed them around campus and Ann Arbor, often working in teams, and in some cases sitting at nearby tables at cafes and bars, eavesdropping on conversations. Their allegations were supported by videos reviewed by the Guardian – some taken by students of the people following them, along with police body camera footage – or corroborated by multiple students who were being surveilled.

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[ck4829]

1. "surveil"? No. That's actual gang stalking.

[cbabe]

2. Dox them. Lawsuit UM. Call cops for dangerous stalking etc.

Confront and video: who are you and why are you stalking me?

Turn it around and follow them. With a bulllhorn. Or a whistle.

Better yet, offer them a cookie. Girl Scout thin mint. Interrupt the whole situation.