From the time the Gaza solidarity encampment was established on April 22, to its violent destruction by University and State Police, policing and surveillance have escalated on the University of Michigan’s campus. This Orwellian nightmare, where police intimidation has become the new norm, has made life measurably worse across the campus.
The University administration has become increasingly desperate in its attempts to quash the groundswell of public support for the University to divest its endowment from companies supporting the genocide of Palestinians. The University tells us this is in the interest of promoting “public safety,” but does so without the input of the public, making our communities less safe.
Photos on the Instagrams of “detroit2palestine” and “voices4palestinemi” reveal the presence of a hidden camera in the Hatcher Library, its lens trained on the encampment. Unmarked surveillance cameras sprouted up on the advertising boards surrounding the Diag. The physical evidence of an expanding police footprint on campus is everywhere. For weeks after the encampment was cleared, I witnessed the ongoing presence of at least three uniformed police and six private security officers in the area. At the time of writing, three private security guards maintain a constant presence around the Diag. This can only be described as unilateral action by the University to suppress student and staff speech.
On the Diag, attempts at intimidation frequently journey into the absurd. I have seen security guards surround chalkers writing messages in support of Palestine, threatening to alert the police if they do not stop chalking. DPSS officers have hassled individuals sitting in chairs, making the farcical argument that a folding chair is a “structure,” and the presence of a “structure” makes sitting in the Diag an unsanctioned “event.” I have observed the intrusive questioning of community members building tiny fairy houses out of sticks. On June 4, police radioed into the Emergency Operations Center to request backup for handling a vacant tent sized for a small pet.
Despite appearing ridiculous on its face, this pattern of interactions indicates an insidious expansion of police powers on campus. In unilaterally deciding to place surveillance cameras near the encampment, authorities are redefining the accepted parameters of privacy. In subjectively determining the definition of an “event,” the authorities are shifting policy against civil disobedience. And in seeking to remove community members simply sitting in chairs, the police are using their power to restrict the accessibility of public spaces.
The rapid expansion of United States police technology and tactical violence is directly tied to the relationship between the U.S. government and the Israeli military. Through exchange programs, U.S. law enforcement agencies have imported surveillance technologies and adopted tactics developed by the Israeli military in its desperate, violent and ultimately futile attempts to eradicate Palestinians from Palestine. These programs have included police agencies from across Michigan and the United States. From these exchange programs, U.S. police adopted “military-style” tactics. Only in the last few years have some communities realized the damage these programs have done — such as in 2003 when the New York Police Department formed a “Demographics Unit” to surveil Muslim scholars — and ended their involvement.
The growth of police presence and power does not make our campus safe. Intentional and unintentional experiments have demonstrated that removing police presence reduces the rate of violence and harm experienced by individuals and communities.
We are being sold a false promise of “security” — one that comes at the cost of our privacy and safety. In this atrocious exchange, we also surrender the vibrancy of campus life. University employees come to work knowing that they are being intrusively surveilled. Students are denied the space to develop and explore new political ideas without this exploration potentially resulting in criminal charges that could derail their lives.
The heavy law enforcement presence on public spaces is even more concerning for our most vulnerable community members. If the University can remove people simply perceived as engaging in disobedience, then no one is safe. Individuals who are unhoused, international students, disabled or otherwise marginalized rely on the availability of public spaces to survive. As a result of the University administration’s draconian crackdown on free speech, a very public part of the University is no longer accessible to people who need chairs to spend significant time on the Diag without experiencing pain. International students are witnessing an escalation of surveillance at a time that high ranking politicians are pushing for legislation that will subject them to deportation for participating in constitutionally sanctioned acts of civil disobedience.
Members of the U-M campus community deserve to be seen and listened to, not surveilled. At its best, the University is a place of learning, community and productivity. Expansions of surveillance and policing interrupt these functions, and people of conscience should refuse to tolerate it. We demand an administration that prioritizes community safety over coercive control.
I stand with the student protestors who continue to call for justice for Palestine and an end to the genocide, and I call on my colleagues to do the same. I join the students in demanding the University’s Board of Regents divest from the $17.9 billion endowment any investment benefitting from the slaughter of our Palestinian comrades. We also demand an end to police intimidation and surveillance on campus. The U-M community must continue to fight for liberation, from Ann Arbor to Palestine.
Shanna K. Kattari is an associate professor of social work and an associate professor of women’s studies in LSA. They can be reached at skattari@umich.edu.
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