According to reports from several reliable sources an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department began spying on a student group this Spring. The student group calling itself the May 1 coalition formed in April to organize for the May 1 day of demonstrations for immigrants’ rights. The infiltrator was not discovered until this summer when she appeared at an anti-war protest on campus in full uniform and ordered the students to disperse. One student was arrested and interrogated by campus police. The infiltrator is said to have bragged to the student about how easy it was to fool them and infiltrate the group.
This last week in response to this incident, students held a demonstration in front of the campus police station. Students are demanding that the college publicly acknowledge the infiltrator and pledge to not engage in spying on students in the future. It is also believed that the civil rights of the students have been violated and the students are currently researching possible legal action. Uploaded here is an interview with one of the students in the group that was spied on by the police.
The full extent of the spying program at Cal State Los Angeles is unknown. Also unknown is what other government agencies may be involved. However as similar reports surface in other parts of the country it is widely believed that this is not an isolated incident and that such programs of government spying are occurring throughout the nation.