UWM Campus Surveillance Follows Other Colleges as Police Install New Cameras Around Mitchell Hall

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Police Department has installed new cameras on the former student encampment site on the Mitchell Hall lawn, following the trend of college campuses across the country increasing surveillance after mass pro-Palestinian student protests erupted last year. 

“Surveillance cameras were put up around Mitchell Hall as part of a multi-year camera expansion project,” said Brian Switala, police chief for the UWM Police Department, in an email.

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic college campuses increased surveillance technologies akin to metropolitan areas with high murder rates, according to a study conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The study examined a database released by the University of Nevada that documented the acquisition of surveillance technologies by law enforcement. Spotting a trend of over 200 universities across the nation that participated in around 250 surveillance purchases.

“I think it’s very important that students call this administration to task,” said E.S. a master of fine arts student with a concentration in photography, who asked to remain anonymous out of concerns for their current enrollment. “I think a lot of people in the university are too complacent with allowing things to continue as is when we pay a lot of money to go here.”

Student activism has been a driving force for many students at UWM to accommodate themselves and others on campus. The main points of contention come from how these protests are organized and how the university responds. However, many argue that the protest made Jewish students and faculty feel unsafe.

“This is my 27th year at UWM,” said Shale Horowitz, political science professor at UWM. “There never was a protest movement like this, before this set of anti-Israel protests before October 7th, there never were illegal activities like encampments on university property, or vandalization of university property.”

The pro-Palestinian encampment took over the Mitchell Hall lawn, students set up tents and a perimeter around the site. There were cases of vandalism during the encampment, such as a broken window at Golda Meir Library and graffiti on Mitchell Hall.

Many students believe in the importance of an open discourse on college campuses. Increased surveillance on a college campus can have the effect of limiting student voices and the possibilities for open dialogues. 

“I grew up in a small predominantly white midwestern town so I was enculturated to all of these beliefs that I didn’t even know I had; I knew that being a queer partly indigenous man, I didn’t fit in the mainstream,” said E.S. “I didn’t realize how exactly flawed the thinking of the people I grew up with was until I went to Cardinal Stritch University that had a student body made predominantly up of Black students and undocumented Latino students; it was an uncomfortable experience, but through that I was able to gain a deeper understanding of many of the issues that impact their everyday life.”

Student protestors renamed Mitchell Hall in honor of Refaat Alareer, an Islamic University of Gaza professor who was supportive of the Oct. 7 attacks and was later killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the BBC.

“Those things are not free speech, they are law breaking and in violation of university conduct,” said Horowitz. “Anyone’s entitled to any point of view they want, they just can’t break the law and they can’t destroy the rights of other students to participate equally at the university.”

The police presence and influence on campus have impacted student life.

“The lighting studio in Mitchell Hall was shut down indefinitely, because they (UWM PD) were installing security cameras on where the encampment was last year and I have noticed at the Kenilworth studios more so on my floor that there are people installing more cameras up there,” said E.S. “I question why it needs to happen, I haven’t really run into any trouble or seen any trouble around campus, Kenilworth is quiet most of the time, because people are either studying or working.”

Surveillance expansion aims to provide an objective view on public places like a college campus. This issue is similar to police body cams in that video can more easily provide the facts, but it is important to recognize that video can also be tampered with.

“Generally speaking video is a good thing of course it can be taken out of context, but if you have continuous video footage of something it creates a much more objective discussion over what happened,” said Horowitz. “It would be better if it wasn’t necessary, but I think it is necessary.”