(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The University of Michigan has spent at least $800,000 on a private security firm to spy on pro-Palestine student groups, according to a new report from The Guardian. The private security firm, City Shield, is reportedly using controversial tactics, with one investigator even pretending to be retarded when his cover was blown.
“The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic,” The Guardian reported Friday, citing interviews with five students who were followed. “The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way.”
The Guardian didn’t have footage of the alleged car assault, but it did have video of a student confronting one of his alleged stalkers. When confronted, the man pretended to be retarded. When that didn’t work, he started yelling and accusing the student of trying to mug him.
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) June 6, 2025
One student reportedly counted 30 different people following him.
The students, for their part, said the tactics concerned them—though the buffoonish private spies did amuse them.
“It sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around,” one of the students said. “It’s just such a waste of money and time.”
City Shield didn’t respond to The Guardian’s request for comment. A college spokesperson reportedly said the university “does not condone or tolerate any behavior by employees or contractors that demeans individuals or communities, including those with disabilities. The comment referenced in the video does not reflect the university’s values or expectations for respectful conduct.”
The Guardian’s report comes in the wake of the University of Michigan authorizing the state’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, and the FBI to conduct raids on the college’s students. No charges were filed in those raids, which were thought to be related to a crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrators.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: We obtained video of an FBI raid of a pro-Palestinian student activist from University of Michigan (several other students' homes were raided too).
MI AG Dana Nessel, who has previously targeted other pro-Palestinian student activists, issued the search warrants. pic.twitter.com/uyFtK6K4NK
— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) April 23, 2025
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
