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Following an article in The Guardian exposing the practice, University of Michigan interim President Domenico Grasso announced Sunday that he has has cancelled all contracts for private plainclothes security that had been surveiling pro-Palestinian campus groups.
Detroit correspondent Tom Perkins reported last week in The Guardian, a British newspaper with scores of U.S. correspondence:
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.
Grasso on Sunday issued a statement:
In July of 2024, as part of our security strategy, it was decided to augment our organic resources with outside firms to use plainclothes security personnel—a common approach for large, high-traffic areas such as hospitals, sports venues, shopping malls, and college campuses. These individuals were intended to help us keep watch over our campus and enable us to respond quickly to emergencies. However, we are clear: no individual or group should ever be targeted for their beliefs or affiliations.
We recently learned that an employee of one of our security contractors has acted in ways that go against our values and directives. What happened was disturbing, unacceptable, and unethical, and we will not tolerate it.
Going forward, we are terminating all contracts with external vendors to provide plainclothes security on campus.
