Recent news coverage about the federal lawsuit between the FBI and Apple Inc. has raised questions of government surveillance and overreach. To what scale can we expect our governments to survey our personal information in the name of safety? How much surveillance is too much? This has become a point of contention across the United States ever since Edward Snowden released 'Wikileaks' on May 20, 2013.
Throughout the five Claremont Colleges, students also experience a certain type of unique surveillance. Because the Claremont Police Department typically defers to the college’s Campus Safety Department to enforce certain regulations, students live under what’s commonly referred to as a “bubble” where students must adhere to a set of rules set up by the colleges.
Ernie Didier, the lieutenant and second in command for the Claremont College’s Campus Safety department, described their relationship with social media. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are the most popular online platforms where students interact. However, one of the most controversial ones is Yik Yak, which is a website that allows users to post anonymously to people in their direct vicinity. Consequently, most of the people posting on Yik Yak in Claremont are students at the colleges.
Unfortunately, this has become a common place for hate speech and threats. Following one of the “CMCers of Color” protests in the fall of 2015, there were multiple death threats reported to the school, one of which occurred on an anonymous online platform.
Alex Jasienowski, a student at Pitzer College, recounted on the incident. Jasienowski said that the students only have limited information on this incident because the school did not release most of the details. Students are now aware that an anonymous Google form for Claremont Mckenna Alumni of color was made for previous students to discuss their experiences at the college. Someone logged on and made a threat claiming that they would kill all the students who were involved in the protests. The offender even mentioned an individual’s name in the post. The school did not report this threat and did not even tell that student until weeks later.
Even with such a steady stream of hate coming out of these sites which makes students feel unsafe, the Campus Safety department is not doing anything to track them. Didier claimed it was a line they did not want to cross. This strident use of boundaries around monitoring student behavior online aligns with Snowden’s principles for privacy, but how does it affect students, predominantly students of color, at the colleges?
The school’s priorities when it comes to surveillance and preventative action are in a much different vein than most police departments and security agencies investigating terrorism. The intelligence collected on vast groups of people who have ever been considered suspicious is logged. Anything resembling a connection to a potential thought related to terrorism is flagged. This behavior is justified by the “you never know” logic. This simple phrase is used to justify all types of surveillance and spending. The Campus Safety department does not adhere to this reasoning. Didier claimed that if no one feels threatened by a post, no crime has technically been committed, resulting in a lack of defensive measures.
While some may consider it an invasion of privacy, how might students benefit if the Campus Safety office was more proactive online? Would they be able to identify certain students committing hate crimes and making death threats when the campus climate towards certain student groups is hostile? At what point would it be justifiable to cross this line? Does our freedom to speech and privacy protect those using hate speech?
And what technologies does the college currently deem acceptable to use? Security cameras and bait bikes are installed to help monitor the campus. Bait bikes are owned by the school and contain tracking devices to crack down on bike theft. Bait backpacks and computers have also been used around campus hot spots like basketball courts and eateries.
There is more technology used to protect property than to protect the people whose lives are threatened by other students on the internet. Is online surveillance the same as security cameras? Each monitors potentially threatening behavior, but only one is considered to be “over the line."
In a community where student presence online is growing, Campus Safety may have to question what their priorities are, how they intend to prevent the crimes, and how invasive their tactics are to student privacy.
