University of Michigan drops private security after reports of surveillance
The University of Michigan said it's cutting ties with a private security company that was accused of following pro-Palestinian activists on and off campus.
The university said it found the actions of one security company employee "disturbing, unacceptable and unethical." It did not elaborate.
'Going forward, we are terminating all contracts with external vendors to provide plainclothes security on campus,' President Domenico Grasso said in a statement Sunday.
In a Guardian story last week, students said they were surveilled around Ann Arbor. The news outlet posted video from a member of a Muslim group who decided to confront a man who was watching him from a car last summer. That man in turn yelled and accused him of trying to steal his wallet.
Tensions have been high between the university and pro-Palestinian student groups. A student encampment stood for a month on campus last year before authorities shut it down citing safety issues.
Seven people were charged with felonies related to the encampment's removal, though charges were dropped in May.
The university, which has campus police, said it hired private security about a year ago to report suspicious activity in high-traffic areas, not to perform surveillance.
'No individual or group should ever be targeted for their beliefs or affiliations,' Grasso said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Murderous death row inmate's final message to his loyal wife and victim's family before execution
The last words of Florida death row inmate executed Tuesday evening for murdering a young mother in 1994 expressed his love for his wife by quoting the cult classic film, The Princess Bride. Anthony Wainwright, 54, and his accomplice Richard Hamilton kidnapped 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart from a supermarket parking lot before driving her to a wooded area, where they raped and killed her. Hamilton, while serving on Florida's death row, died in prison in 2023. But Wainwright lived long enough to be executed Tuesday at around 6pm via lethal injection. In his final statement, Wainwright spoke of 'beautiful wife' and the support the couple has enjoyed throughout his several legal appeals. 'My beautiful wife Samantha, you are the love of my life. I'm so blessed we found each other. The years we have spent together have been beyond wonderful,' Wainwright said. 'They've been downright magical. Love is stronger than death and I know our love will last for eternity.' 'I wanted to thank everyone who has supported my wife Samantha and I. It has truly been overwhelming. It has meant so much to us both,' he added. He concluded with a quote from The Princess Bride, specifically a statement uttered by the character Westley, played by Cary Elwes, to his romantic interest Buttercup, played by Robin Wright. 'Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while,' the convicted murderer and rapist told his wife. Wainwright stopped short of apologizing to Gayheart's family, only telling them that he hopes 'my death brings you peace and healing.' He also railed against what he deemed a broken court system. 'The court system is broken. Especially in Florida. Please continue the fight. Because I can promise you they are not going to let up. They will continue to murder if we continue to let it happen,' Wainwright said. He then tore into his attorney, Baya Harrison, who has represented other death row inmates in Florida. 'I hope that nobody forgets how terrible of an attorney Baya Harrison has been to all of us guys on the row and how terrible he represented me for so many years. He might be Florida's worst attorney,' he said. Gayheart's older sister, Maria David, sat front and center when Wainwright took his last breaths on Tuesday. 'Carmen was so scared for her life in her final moments, thinking, 'This is it. I'm gonna die.' And I can only hope that fear is something he's feeling now, too,' David told the Daily Mail. 'She died in a horrific way… it kills me what they did to my baby sister. So I'm glad this is the last time I'll ever see him, and the last time I'll ever have to think about Anthony Wainwright.' Rev. Jeff Hood, Wainwright's spiritual advisor, told the Daily Mail that he was terrified of dying. Hood also advised Greg Hunt, an Alabama death row inmate who was executed the same day as Wainwright. Hood said that since Hunt appeared to be accepting of his fate, he chose to stay with Wainwright in his final moments. Wainwright skipped his last meal because he felt that it 'would distract him from his family and the people that he loved,' Hood said. 'He found a place of perfect peace. He stopped seeing his execution as an end but rather as a new beginning. He was ready to get out of prison - I kept on telling him that this was his release date,' Hood said. The Associated Press reported that the execution began at about 6:10pm. That's when Wainwright's shoulders shuddered a few times. Hood said that 'this was not as clean of a lethal injection as the others that I've seen,' adding that 'it was not bad enough to say that it was botched.' Wainwright blinked and took several deep breaths before going completely still at 6:14pm. He was officially pronounced dead at 6:22pm, according to a spokesperson for Governor Ron DeSantis. Hood told the Daily Mail that he was the only person who knew Wainwright that was present for his execution. None of his family members attended. 'This is the tenth execution I've been to. It's really like being kicked in the nuts,' he said. 'I've been close with Anthony for four years now. He's not somebody I just met. He mattered a great deal to me… and then to have to watch them be murdered right in front of you... It's horrifying and it's enraging.' Wainwright and Hamilton escaped from prison in Newport, North Carolina, on April 24, 1994. Wainwright was serving 10 years for breaking and entering, while Hamilton was to be behind bars for 25 years after he committed an armed robbery. They stole a Cadillac and burglarized a home the following morning, stealing money and guns, before heading south towards Florida. It was when the Cadillac started having mechanical issues three days and 600 miles later that the men decided to steal another car. That's when they spotted Gayheart. Gayheart was about to set off to collect her five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son from daycare when she was ambushed and abducted by the two men. Her remains would be found five days later, on May 2, 1994, off a dirt road in Hamilton County. She had been shot twice in the back of the head with a bolt-action rifle. Wainwright and Hamilton, meanwhile, continued on the lam in Gayheart's blue Bronco before they were eventually snared 520 miles away in Mississippi the day after her murder following shootout with police. Both were shot but survived. Initially, Wainwright told police that he raped Carmen and that Hamilton killed her. They led police to her body. At their trial in 1995, each attempted to point the finger of blame for the rape and murder at the other. Both men were convicted of murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape, with the jury unanimously recommending they be sentenced to death by the electric chair. Wainwright's lawyers have filed multiple unsuccessful appeals over the years based on what they said were problems with his trial and evidence that he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability. Since his execution was scheduled last month, his lawyers have argued in state and federal court filings that his death should be put on hold to allow time for courts to hear additional legal arguments in his case. In a filing with the Supreme Court, his lawyers argued that his case has been 'marred by critical, systemic failures at virtually every stage and through the signing of his death warrant.' Those failures include flawed DNA evidence that wasn't disclosed to the defense until after opening statements, erroneous jury instructions, inflammatory and inaccurate closing arguments, and missteps by court-appointed lawyers, the filing says. David said she isn't buying Wainwright's latest revision of events. She said she heard the evidence against him first-hand and there is no doubt in her mind that he both raped and killed her younger sister. If anything, David said the killer should be grateful that he's being given the lethal injection, rather than the electric chair as was previously ordered. 'He's getting off easy,' David told the Daily Mail. 'I'm sad it's not the electric chair.' 'He's going to get an injection that puts him off to sleep like you'd do for your family's sick dog, the dog you loved with all your heart. 'Carmen suffered… but he's taking the easy way out. He's had 31 years breathing, phone calls, letters, all of that - everything he robbed Carmen of.' David said that the three decades she has been waiting to see Wainwright held 'accountable' is far too long. During that time, she lost both of her parents. Her father died in 2013, and her mother died in 2022. Both had wanted to witness Wainwright's death, she said. 'I know they're going to be with me in spirit today, for both me and Carmen, so we can see this through together,' David said. Before her sister's callous murder, David held no strong opinions about the death penalty. It was only after Gayheart was killed that she says she understood the 'need' for capital punishment. 'When you are so closely tied to the victim of a horrific crime like Carmen, you change your opinion. You want to see it happen because they deserve it,' added David. 'We didn't ask to seek the death penalty. The state came to us and told us they were going to go for it…I absolutely have to see this through,' she said prior to the execution.
The Guardian
16 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Protests across US as anger grows over Trump's immigration crackdown
Protests against the Trump administration's newly intensified immigration raids, centered on Los Angeles, spread across the country on Tuesday, with demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Omaha and Seattle. Thousands attended a protest against the federal government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in New York City's Foley Square. Some protesters held signs reading 'Ice out of New York' and others chanted 'Why are you in riot gear? I don't see no riot here.' Shirley, a 29-year-old protester, condemned the Trump administration for targeting workers, which she called antithetical to the country's essence. 'I come from immigrant parents,' she said, with a large Mexican flag draped across her back. 'It's infuriating to see that this particular government is going into labor fields, taking people from construction sites, into industry, plants, into farms, and taking away what is the backbone of this country. 'So I'm here today to remind everybody that the United States started as an immigrant country, and it's a nation of immigrants, and I just want to make sure that I'm here for those who can't be here today.' Councilmember Shahana Hanif of Brooklyn spoke before the large crowd in Foley Square. She criticized the Trump administration and New York's mayor, Eric Adams, for the crackdown on immigrants. 'Mayor Adams has made it clear that he doesn't care about working class people,' she said. 'He does not care about any one of us. He is collaborating with Trump to use tactics. He's complicit.' She also expressed her desire to keep New York a sanctuary city, and called for more protections for international students. 'Stop the attacks and assaults on our students!' she yelled, and was met with cheers from the crowd. Thousands also gathered outside an immigration court in Chicago, and then marched through downtown streets, drumming and chanting, 'No more deportations!' At one point, a car drove through the marchers, narrowly missing the anti-Ice protesters, according to WGN TV News, which broadcast video of the incident. In metro Atlanta, hundreds of people marched along Buford Highway in solidarity with Los Angeles, local 11 Alive News reported. Protesters marched in Omaha on Tuesday, chanting 'Chinga la migra' (a Spanish phrase that roughly translates to the slogan 'Fuck Ice' on placards waved by the marchers) after about 80 people were reportedly arrested in an immigration raid on a meat-packing plant. In Seattle, a small crowd of about 50 protesters gathered outside the Henry M Jackson federal building in downtown Seattle to show solidarity with protesters in Los Angeles, the Seattle Times reported. After a rally, the protesters barricaded driveways with e-bikes and e-scooters to block homeland security vehicles thought to be transporting detained immigrants. Large rallies also took place in Dallas and Austin on Monday, and up to 1,800 protests are planned nationwide on Saturday, to coincide with the military parade Donald Trump is throwing on his birthday in the nation's capital.
Daily Mail
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Catholic school teacher breaks her silence after having sex with teen student
A Catholic school teacher who admitted to having sex with a teenage student said she was 'not asking for forgiveness' on Tuesday as she was sentenced for her crimes. Emily Nutley, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery for her affair with a 17-year-old pupil at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, which lasted from November to December 2023. The mother-of-three then returned to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, when she finally addressed the inappropriate relationship. 'There is no excuse for what I did,' Nutley admitted, according to WLWT. 'I crossed a line that should never have been crossed. 'I think every day about the impact of my actions,' she continued. 'I've lost my husband, my home, my friends. I've caused harm and embarrassment to my children.' She then told Judge Jennifer Branch that she is now 'engaging with professionals who will help me understand [my] choices' after previously claiming that her husband's 'neglect' drove her to pursue relations with the teen. 'I am not asking for forgiveness because I have not earned it,' the former teacher said. But Branch said she was hoping to hear more of an apology from Nutley, as she sentenced the one-time teacher to three years behind bars. 'I was looking for you to say that you acknowledge the harm that you caused this young man... You pretty much ruined the rest of his high school career,' the judge said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. 'I didn't see it. I didn't hear it.' Her comments came after the teen addressed the situation himself in a letter read in court by Assistant Prosecutor Elyse Deters. He said the entire situation 'altered my high school experience and my life.' 'When the abuse started, I didn't know I was being taken advantage of,' the teen claimed, noting that eventually Nutley 'would not leave me alone. 'She told me she would kill herself if I ended it. Even at sporting events, people yell her name at me,' the victim claimed. He also said that the abuse 'left me confused, lacking self worth and depressed. 'I can't get away from this. I have a hard time trusting people, especially authority figures.' In separate remarks, the victim's father said his dream of going to college on an athletic scholarship was destroyed by Nutley's abuse. The teenager first met Nutley in 2023 through a program she ran for academically struggling students at the Catholic high school. They began texting after school hours last autumn, and she sent him nude selfies and at least nine 'sexually explicit messages'. In one text message Nutley sent the boy the afternoon of November 30, 2023, she wrote: 'What would be wild is that when the whole school is at Mass, I give you the best f**k of your life in my office,' the Enquirer reports. Nutley and the boy wound up having sex several times from November through December 2023, at least once in her office at the all-boys school after hours. She also paid the teen an 'allowance' of $100 a month, would buy him food and at least once plied him with the answers to an exam. But by March of that year, the teenager wanted the relationship to end and asked to be released from the learning center's help. Soon after, the boy's grades plummeted and he was failing three classes. Meanwhile, prosecutors said, Nutley continued texting the student. Eventually, rumors also started to circulate at the $18,130-a-year school that Nutley was having sex with the student, and on October 8, 2024, the teen met with school administrators and reported at least four sexual encounters with the teacher. Nutley was fired as soon as the criminal investigation began, which led to her being indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury and arrested on October 28. St Xavier said at the time it 'believed this case to be an isolated incident.' A few weeks after the indictment, Nutley's husband, Jonathan Nutley, also filed for divorce, prompting his wife to accuse him of 'gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty' in her legal response, TMZ reported. The disgraced educator has two daughters and a son, the eldest of whom is a junior at a different high school and only slightly younger than the victim. She previously taught at Madeira Elementary School, also in Cincinnati, and posted photos of her work and students there on social media. Nutley then joined the Jesuit school ahead of the 2021-22 year and was listed as the 'multi-tiered systems support coordinator' in the student handbook. In pre-sentencing documents, prosecutors argued Nutley 'preyed on the most defenseless person she could find' as her job at the school entailed identifying at-risk students and monitoring their progress. The prosecutors asked for at least a five-year prison sentence, while the victim's family asked Branch to sentence her to 10 years behind bars. But Nutley's defense argued she has already received threats from prison and has taken significant steps toward rehabilitation. Her lawyers also noted that she has already lost a lot, and said that a doctor who examined Nutley described her as a 'broken woman' plagued by mental health and substance abuse issues. Now, in addition to serving three years in prison, Nutley will serve a five year probation. She will also be required to register as a Tier III sex offender every 90 days for the rest of her life.
