Security cameras are everywhere at Michigan colleges.
Kim Kozlowski of The Detroit News reports:
Most of the state’s 15 public universities have amassed surveillance systems in recent years that include hundreds of cameras across campus. They’re inside sporting facilities, classroom buildings and common areas of dorms.
Put another way, there is one camera for every 28 students at Central Michigan University, and one camera for every 26 students at Western Michigan University.
The cameras give some a sense of safety, but also raise concerns.
“You know that somebody is watching you,” Conrado Moraes, a Wayne State University graduate student from Brazil, told The Detroit News. “It’s security, but you also lose your privacy. It’s not bad, but it’s not good, depending on how you think.”
“We don’t want universities to condition our young people to live in a ‘Big Brother’ society where the police can monitor our every move,” Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, told the News. “This is not China. This is not the old Soviet Union. This is a country that is supposed to foster liberty and freedom.”
Diane Brown, spokeswoman for the University of Michigan Police, told the News: “We have been able to utilize videos during crime investigations, including aiding in the identification of an arsonist in one of our residence halls in March 2009.”
