University of Michigan ends undercover surveillance contracts after Guardian revelations

Outcry after report that private investigators had been trailing and recording pro-Palestinian protesters for months

The University of Michigan has canceled its contract for undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestininan campus groups, following outcry after a Guardian story revealed the private investigators had been trailing and recording students for months, and published damning video of one investigator’s interaction with a student.

“We recently learned that an employee of one of our security contractors has acted in ways that go against our values and directives,” the U-M president, Domenico Grasso, wrote in an email to students and faculty on Sunday night. “Going forward, we are terminating all contracts with external vendors to provide plainclothes security on campus.”

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