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Spying for the 'protection' of students.
At the start of the 2016 academic year, North Carolina State University
installed surveillance cameras inside select fraternity and sorority houses.
The cameras were ostensibly there to monitor entrances for security purposes, but
Campus Reform has learned through multiple sources that they were set up in a manner conducive to
monitoring student behavior in their personal living spaces.
© Campus Reform
The university, though, has defended the practice to
Campus Reform by arguing that the "video cameras are a part of the university's security plan designed for the protection of students."
Fred Hartman, NCSU director of university relations, went on to explain that the school's security plan "calls for cameras at the entrances and exits of all buildings on campus."
However,
in at least one fraternity, there are five cameras installed at various locations throughout the interior of the house, including three in a common area—a place where the fraternity brothers spend their leisure time and host guests, with one camera capturing a live feed of the fraternity's bar area.
While both cameras are pointed towards nearby doorways, it was discovered after installation that the cameras were
zoomed out to a degree that allowed for the observation of students in their living space, which university officials acknowledged in an email exchange obtained by
Campus Reform.
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