A cluster of tents had sprung up on the University of Houston's central lawn, amidst tensions with administrators that were already running high. Pro-Palestine chalk messages and similar incidents had set off alarms among university leaders. But what students didn't know at the time was that their own university had contracted with Dataminr, an artificial intelligence company with a troubling record on constitutional rights, to gather open-source intelligence on student-led protests for Palestine.
Using an AI tool known as "First Alert," Datminr scraped students' social media activity and chat logs, sending what it learned back to the university administration. The university's communications officials forwarded the alerts directly to campus police, treating the tents on their lawn as an unsafe environment.
The use of Datminr and First Alert is just one example of how U.S. public universities have worked with private partners to surveil student protests and crack down on free expression. Corporate involvement in higher education has been leveraged against students' rights, according to an investigative series by The Intercept.
More than 20,000 pages of documentation reveal a systematic pattern of surveillance by U.S. universities in response to student dissent. Public universities tapped emergency response funds for natural disasters to quell protests; in Ohio and South Carolina, schools received briefings from intelligence-sharing fusion centers; at the University of Connecticut, student participation in a protest sent administrators into a frenzy over what a local military weapons manufacturer would think.
The series also shows how U.S. universities used open-source intelligence to monitor student-led movements for Palestine, tracing back the development as part of the broader corporatization of U.S. higher education. "Institutions that are supposed to be for the public good are these corporate products that make them into vehicles for wealth extraction via data products," said Emily Tucker, executive director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.
Universities have become more like for-profit branding machines, and digital capitalism is exploding.
Students who took part in protests against Israel's policies reported being intimidated by surveillance, using burner phones and limiting communication about potential demonstrations to secure messaging channels.
The surveillance has had a "chilling effect," according to one student at the University of Virginia, Kirk Wolff. "I had so many people tell me that they wanted to join me, that they agreed with me, but they simply couldn't, because they were scared that the school would turn over their information."
As Trump returned to power and dragged the crackdown on pro-Palestine dissent into the open, universities have shared employee and student files with the Trump administration as it investigates "anti-Semitic incidents on campus." The Intercept reported in April that the Los Angeles Police Department used First Alert to monitor pro-Palestine demonstrations in LA.
Using an AI tool known as "First Alert," Datminr scraped students' social media activity and chat logs, sending what it learned back to the university administration. The university's communications officials forwarded the alerts directly to campus police, treating the tents on their lawn as an unsafe environment.
The use of Datminr and First Alert is just one example of how U.S. public universities have worked with private partners to surveil student protests and crack down on free expression. Corporate involvement in higher education has been leveraged against students' rights, according to an investigative series by The Intercept.
More than 20,000 pages of documentation reveal a systematic pattern of surveillance by U.S. universities in response to student dissent. Public universities tapped emergency response funds for natural disasters to quell protests; in Ohio and South Carolina, schools received briefings from intelligence-sharing fusion centers; at the University of Connecticut, student participation in a protest sent administrators into a frenzy over what a local military weapons manufacturer would think.
The series also shows how U.S. universities used open-source intelligence to monitor student-led movements for Palestine, tracing back the development as part of the broader corporatization of U.S. higher education. "Institutions that are supposed to be for the public good are these corporate products that make them into vehicles for wealth extraction via data products," said Emily Tucker, executive director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.
Universities have become more like for-profit branding machines, and digital capitalism is exploding.
Students who took part in protests against Israel's policies reported being intimidated by surveillance, using burner phones and limiting communication about potential demonstrations to secure messaging channels.
The surveillance has had a "chilling effect," according to one student at the University of Virginia, Kirk Wolff. "I had so many people tell me that they wanted to join me, that they agreed with me, but they simply couldn't, because they were scared that the school would turn over their information."
As Trump returned to power and dragged the crackdown on pro-Palestine dissent into the open, universities have shared employee and student files with the Trump administration as it investigates "anti-Semitic incidents on campus." The Intercept reported in April that the Los Angeles Police Department used First Alert to monitor pro-Palestine demonstrations in LA.
like they're literally watching us 24/7 with these private companies dataminr and First Alert? 
It's super scary when you think about it, i mean i know some ppl might be all "it's just a tent" but nope its not just about the tent, its about who we are as students and our right to free speech. 
I'm so done with corporate involvement in higher ed ugh! 
I think its pretty messed up how US public universities are basically using AI tools like Datminr to snoop on student protests for Palestine and other issues. Like, they're profiting off their students' free speech and dissenting views. Its also super shady that they're working with corporate partners to surveil and silence students who are speaking out against Israel's policies 
they're using AI tools to collect social media activity and chat logs, and sending that info back to the admin. its not about keeping us safe, its about silencing dissenting voices 
. And it's not just the Palestinians - they're doing this to anyone who dares to speak out against Israel or whatever issue is trending at the time 
.
. It's like they're more interested in making money off student data than protecting free speech 
. The whole thing just feels so... corporate 
.
. These universities are supposed to be institutions of higher learning, but now they're more like branding machines 
. It's like they're selling us out to the highest bidder 
. We need to fight this, you know?
they're basically spying on students who are just trying to make their voices heard about palestine 
and it's not just universities that are getting into this mess, all these corporate partners are getting in on the action too 
universities r supposed 2 be for the ppl, not just making bank off student data 
how can you expect students to feel safe when their every move is being monitored by corporate companies? 
.
It's like they're treating us like customers rather than students. And it's not just about students protesting Palestine - it's a broader issue of how corporate interests are infiltrating every aspect of higher education. Universities should be about expanding minds and promoting critical thinking, not making a profit off our data 
.
.
.
it's a real eye-opener. and let's all just take a deep breath and remember that our voices matter, even when we're being surveilled 
.