Hunter College’s Muslim Students Association discovered earlier this year that the silent strangers who often sat in on their club meetings were actually undercover NYPD informants. An in-depth Associated Press investigation revealed that Muslims all over the city, including those in student groups in the city’s colleges, were being spied on by New York’s Finest.
Leaked police documents that supplemented the AP investigation suggested that the spying had begun as early as 2006. Reactions within the Hunter community have varied from outrage to indifference. Some argue that the spying is blatantly racist and illegal, while others defend it in the name of security. The Muslim community at Hunter, mirroring feelings voiced by many Muslim New Yorkers at a rally in November, felt unfairly singled out and argued that their rights were being violated.
“It’s worse because many students are not even willing to speak out against the blatant discrimination,” said a Muslim student and MSA-member who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “Because they don’t want what they say to be used against them.” The student added that many Muslim students at Hunter were “terrified” and felt helpless in fixing the situation.
Although some Muslim students were unsure whom to turn to, President Jennifer Raab’s spokesperson Meredith Halpern said in an email, “The Office of Diversity and Compliance remains available to discuss concerns the [MSA] may have.”
While many condemn the spying, others don’t see a need to do so. Finn Quigley, a recent graduate of Hunter College and aspiring police officer, feels the spying could be justified. “If I was a radical Islamist, I would do my best to get followers from college Muslims, because it’d be easier than other groups. So to me, it makes sense that they are spying on college Muslim groups,” he said. Quigley also pointed out that law enforcement often spied on a number of different groups at any given time.
Although Quigley can see how the spying could be problematic, he doesn’t think it calls for outrage. “It’s the smart thing to do to prevent another attack, but it does walk a very fine line between security and our freedoms. Maybe it crosses that line, but I’m not sure,” he said.
While the Hunter administration has not issued a public statement on the issue, members of Hunter’s faculty have responded strongly against the spying. The Hunter College Faculty Delegate Assembly called for “CUNY’s central administration to issue a public statement outlining its opposition to on-campus surveillance, based on the principle of academic freedom and a robust commitment to civil liberties.”
While it is not yet clear if anyone at Hunter knew about the monitoring in advance, the AP report alleged that CUNY officials might have released student records to the NYPD. Halpern said the administration had no knowledge relating to that charge.
“There is no evidence that Hunter knew in advance,” added Joanne Mariner, Professor and Director of Hunter College’s Human Rights Program, but she mentioned that it would cause problems for CUNY if the allegations were true. “That would be a complete violation of privacy statutes,” she said, which could cause Hunter to lose federal funding.
Mariner, who has also served as the Director of the Terrorism/Counter-Terrorism Program of Human Rights Watch, not only views the monitoring of Muslim communities as inherently unconstitutional, but also as ineffective and bad police work. “When you cast too wide a net, you’re wasting resources,” criticized Mariner, “and you alienate members of that community, who are the best sources of information.”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly disagreed, as demonstrated in an interview given to the Brian Lehrer show in September. “We’re not violating the law in the activities we undertake.” he said. Contrary to Mariner, Kelly also considered the spying to be a successful strategy. “I think it’s very important in protecting New York City from a terrorist attack,” added Kelly.
Others argued that criticisms are missing the larger picture. Student Michael Knower believed that while it was unfair, there were probably security reasons involved in the NYPD’s decision to spy on Muslim New Yorkers. “I actually believe that the NYPD has most citizens’ best interests in mind, and I support the ‘for the greater good’ argument,” he said.
On the other hand, the spying unnerved Human Rights student Jamie Leone. “Everyone thinks it’s okay when it’s happening to someone else,” she said, “but you don’t realize that tomorrow, that person could be you.”
