A University of Michigan student who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus has filed a lawsuit, accusing the university, police officers and private investigators of engaging in an unlawful surveillance campaign against him in retaliation for his activism.
The lawsuit, filed on May 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice on behalf of Josiah Walker, says university officials and investigators violated Walker’s constitutional rights through undercover surveillance, unlawful searches and retaliatory arrests connected to protests over the war in Gaza.
“The University of Michigan’s decision to mobilize public and private assets to suppress my viewpoints was dangerously irresponsible and constitutes a profound act of institutional betrayal that must be rectified,” Walker said in a news release announcing the lawsuit’s filing.
The lawsuit names the U-M Board of Regents, university police officers, a private security company and private investigators, among others, as defendants.
Paul Corliss, a U-M spokesperson, said in an email that the university had no comment.
The filing of this lawsuit comes two years after the university’s removal of the tent encampment at the Diag, and is the latest lawsuit filed against the university, which has been the site of several protests over the Israel-Gaza war.
Walker participated in the Diag encampment, a protest that started in April 2024. When it was broken up on May 21, 2024, the lawsuit says a U-M police officer deployed a chemical agent before any verbal dispersal order had expired and before Walker and other demonstrators had a chance to comply. The lawsuit says Walker was sprayed directly in the face, and then he was shoved to the ground from behind by two officers.
A few days later, Walker attended a weekly Islamic congregational prayer, the lawsuit says. While at the prayer, an agent for the private security company was observed watching and taking photos of Walker, behavior that continued for months.
In one instance, Walker confronted the agent about repeatedly following him, and the agent responded by “gesturing theatrically and refusing to communicate,” the lawsuit says.
Walker seeks a declaration that all defendants violated his right to freedom of speech and expression, an injunction ordering all defendants to immediately cease all surveillance and monetary damages.
This filing marks the latest federal civil rights lawsuit challenging U-M’s treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters.
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of pro-Palestinian students and alumni in December 2024 said the university selectively targeted peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrators for their beliefs, subjecting them to disciplinary proceedings and suspensions.
Five more people, including two students, sued U-M early last year, claiming it violated their constitutional rights by effectively banning them from campus after they attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Shortly after, the Sugar Law Center and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a separate federal lawsuit on behalf of former U-M employees that said their Constitutional rights were violated after they were fired and blacklisted for participating in pro-Palestinian protests.
All three lawsuits are still working their way through the federal courts.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: U-M student sues over surveillance tied to Gaza protests
Reporting by Adrienne Roberts, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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