University of Michigan drops private security after reports of surveillance
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — 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
Bloomberg
30 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
California Labor Leader Charged With Felony After ICE Protest
California labor leader David Huerta has been charged with a federal felony, accused of interfering with law enforcement after joining a protest against immigration arrest operations in Los Angeles that set off days of unrest. Huerta leads the Service Employees International Union 's United Service Workers West, which represents more than 45,000 workers including janitors, security officers and airport staff. He is also president of SEIU's California chapter.
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Feds charge another Chinese citizen with smuggling biological materials for lab work
Another Chinese citizen is facing smuggling charges from the federal government, the third in a week, this time accused of bringing biological materials related to roundworms into the U.S. for her work at a University of Michigan laboratory. Chengxuan Han is charged with smuggling goods into the United States and making false statements, according to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Detroit. She is to make an initial appearance June 9 in federal court. No attorney is listed for her in court records. Han is pursing a doctoral degree from the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint. From September 2024 to March, it indicated, she was listed as the sender of four packages of concealed or mis-manifested biological material addressed to two people associated with a lab at U-M. The affidavit did not name the lab or individuals, but it indicated the lab studies sensory biology, including mechanosensation, thermosensation, chemosensation, photosensation and nociception, and focuses on sensory transduction, sensory processing and sensory regulation of aging. The court filing indicated that Han's offer letter from U-M states she was invited as a visiting scholar to the lab. One recipient of the packages is listed an active member of the lab, and the other is listed as a member of the faculty and staff of the Life Sciences Institute at the university, according to the affidavit. More: Detention hearing adjourned for Chinese citizen accused in fungus smuggling case More: Feds: Chinese citizens charged with smuggling harmful fungus for research at U-M The packages did not contain the correct documentation and were not imported per correct U.S. Department of Agriculture or U.S. Customs and Border Protection regulations, according to the affidavit. Han arrived at Detroit Metro Airport from Shanghai on a J-1 visa June 8 and customs officers conducted an inspection and interview. She denied sending the packages to members of the lab, according to the affidavit, but when pressed, admitted to shipping them, with the materials from her research lab at the Chinese university. She initially told customs officers the packages were plastic cups, instead of petri dishes, the affidavit indicated, and a book "(omitting the envelope with suspected biological materials concealed in it.)" She then admitted sending packages containing "nematode growth medium 1 (NGM) (in the petri dishes) and plasmids (in the envelope)," according to the affidavit. In the filing, the FBI agent wrote that it was unlikely the petri dishes solely contained NGM, which is used to cultivate nematode worms in lab settings, because it is readily available and inexpensive in the U.S. Customs officials also found that she deleted the content of her electronic devices three days before arriving in the U.S., according to the affidavit. It indicates that she told authorities she deleted the content to "start fresh" while in the U.S. Eastern District of Michigan U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon, Jr. stated in a release that the alleged smuggling "is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security. The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a (People's Republic of China)-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions." John Nowak, acting director of field operations for customs and border protection, added: "The guidelines for importing biological materials into the U.S. for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars." Last week, Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud in a separate case unsealed June 3. They are accused of smuggling a fungus that causes a disease in wheat, barley, maize and rice so that Liu could research the pathogen at a U-M lab where Jian works. Jian is being held pending a detention hearing June 13 in federal court. Liu is accused of smuggling the fungus into the country at the airport in clear plastic baggies in his backpack July 27. Customs officers denied him entry and processed him for expedited removal back to China, according to an affidavit in that case. Prosecutors indicated in a news release that the fungus is Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. It causes "head blight," a disease of the crops, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. The toxins the fungus produces can cause vomiting, liver damage and reproductive defects in livestock and humans, it indicated. The federal government also has charged a former U-M student from China, Haoxiang Gao, with voting illegally in the 2024 presidential election, then fleeing the country a day before President Donald Trump took office in January, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Contact Christina Hall: chall@ Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press. Submit a letter to the editor at This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Feds charge another Chinese citizen with smuggling biological materials
Associated Press
34 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Hearing held for judge accused of allowing immigrant to escape ICE custody
BOSTON (AP) — A hearing began Monday for a Massachusetts judge facing civil charges over allegations that she allowed an immigrant in her court to evade an immigration enforcement agent. The case stems from a 2018 incident in which Shelley Joseph, a district court judge, is accused of colluding with the immigrant's attorney and a court officer to allow him escape out a back door of the courthouse after a hearing on charges that included drug possession. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer had been waiting outside the courtroom to detain the defendant, Jose Medina-Perez. 'This case is about the integrity, impartiality and independence of the Massachusetts judiciary and the appearance of the integrity, impartiality and independence every judge must uphold,' Judith Fabricant, special counsel for the commission, told the hearing. A lawyer for Joseph, Elizabeth Mulvey, said the case had been distorted over time and that everyone had come to believe that her client 'let an illegal immigrant out of the door' with half of those people believing she should be jailed and the other half calling her a 'folk hero.' She argued Joseph had been vilified in the media and people were giving the impression that 'dozens of people' had seen Joseph 'get off the bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug and wish him god speed.' 'Today in this court room and we are going to have opportunity to hear all the evidence,' Mulvey said. The case is similar to a Milwaukee judge accused in April of helping a man evade immigration authorities. The case has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president's sweeping immigration crackdown. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot. In the Massachusetts case, federal obstruction of justice charges against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench. That agency, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, concluded last year that Joseph 'engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.' Denis McInerney, the hearing officer assigned to the case by the Supreme Judicial Court, said he will hear the evidence and then make a recommendation afterward based on whether he find Joseph violated the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct. The hearing is expected to last about a week. Much of the first day was dominated by the first witness, lawyer David Jellinek, who told the court he had been hired that day to represent Medina-Perez and had been granted immunity by federal prosecutors. Along with the drug charges, Medina-Perez was in court on a warrant out of Pennsylvania. After doing some research, Jellinek believed his client wasn't the same person wanted on the warrant. 'I was worried they were going to take a US citizen into custody,' he told the court. 'I was quite concerned for my client.' Jellinek failed to convince the ICE agent that they had the 'wrong guy' so he came up with a plan to release Medina-Perez out the back door. Fabricant argued that Joseph signal her approval for the plan - including an off the record conversation during a side bar — when she appeared sympathetic to Jellinek's desire for his client to avoid ICE. But another attorney for Joseph, Thomas Hoopes, suggest that Jellinek might have misinterpreted Joseph's comments when she raised the possibility that Medina-Perez could be detained, rather than be released. The prosecutor had agreed Medina-Perez wasn't the man wanted in Pennsylvania and moved to drop the fugitive from justice charge. She also wasn't seeking bail on the drug charges so he was free to go. Much will hinge on what was said during that off the record conversation, which lasted only 52 seconds and is being disputed by both sides.
