Privacy and civil rights groups urge US colleges to end campus surveillance to protect protesters
A coalition of more than 30 privacy and civil rights groups is calling on U.S. universities to dismantle campus surveillance and data collection in order to protect student protesters from government retaliation. The demands, issued in a letter sent to leaders of 60 major universities and colleges, directly contradict changes promised by some schools in response to intense pressure by President Donald Trump’s administration to crack down on alleged antisemitism. But the groups said that with the start of the new academic year, it is essential that universities resist that pressure, including threats to millions of dollars in federal research grants, to preserve the academic freedom and rights to expression of their students, faculty and others.