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StudentNation
/ February 4, 2026
Surveilled on Your Own Campus
Universities across the country have used extraordinary measures to target student activists following more than two years of pro-Palestinian protests.
Hannah Epstein
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Pro-Palestinian protesters at the encampment on University of Michigan’s campus.
(Adam J. Dewey / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
It took Josiah Walker nearly two months to realize he was being followed. One afternoon in July of 2024, as he was walking down State Street in Ann Arbor, a white car pulled up beside him. Walker, a student at the University of Michigan and member of the college’s pro-Palestine student activist group called Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), recognized the car’s license plate, he said, having frequently noticed the vehicle around campus.
According to Walker, an older man got out of the vehicle and stood beside him for a moment, then began walking down the street in the same direction Walker had been going. Near the end of the block, though, the car’s driver stopped. As he did, Walker said he suddenly noticed multiple other vehicles—all of similar makes and models of the one now parked beside him—driving up and down the street.
Walker told The Nation he was becoming increasingly unnerved, and decided to go into a nearby academic building. He entered through one door and rushed through to another exit, hoping to put some distance between himself and the strange scene he had just witnessed on State Street. But just as he was about to leave, he spotted the same man through a window, standing just across the street outside. Hoping to avoid him, Walker said he retreated back into the building, going down its main stairwell towards a different, ground floor exit.
Upon reaching the new exit, Walker ran into a friend. And as the two engaged in small talk by the double doorway, Walkers said the man from the car on State Street walked right through it, pausing to stare directly at him. After a few seconds, the man turned around, left the building, and planted himself near the door.
Concerned that he was being paranoid, Walker walked out of the academic building he had been in, past the man, and around the corner. Then he waited …
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Current Issue
Activism
/
StudentNation
/ February 4, 2026
Surveilled on Your Own Campus
Universities across the country have used extraordinary measures to target student activists following more than two years of pro-Palestinian protests.
Hannah Epstein
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the encampment on University of Michigan’s campus.
(Adam J. Dewey / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
It took Josiah Walker nearly two months to realize he was being followed. One afternoon in July of 2024, as he was walking down State Street in Ann Arbor, a white car pulled up beside him. Walker, a student at the University of Michigan and member of the college’s pro-Palestine student activist group called Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), recognized the car’s license plate, he said, having frequently noticed the vehicle around campus.
According to Walker, an older man got out of the vehicle and stood beside him for a moment, then began walking down the street in the same direction Walker had been going. Near the end of the block, though, the car’s driver stopped. As he did, Walker said he suddenly noticed multiple other vehicles—all of similar makes and models of the one now parked beside him—driving up and down the street.
Walker told The Nation he was becoming increasingly unnerved, and decided to go into a nearby academic building. He entered through one door and rushed through to another exit, hoping to put some distance between himself and the strange scene he had just witnessed on State Street. But just as he was about to leave, he spotted the same man through a window, standing just across the street outside. Hoping to avoid him, Walker said he retreated back into the building, going down its main stairwell towards a different, ground floor exit.
Upon reaching the new exit, Walker ran into a friend. And as the two engaged in small talk by the double doorway, Walkers said the man from the car on State Street walked right through it, pausing to stare directly at him. After a few seconds, the man turned around, left the building, and planted himself near the door.
Concerned that he was being paranoid, Walker walked out of the academic building he had been in, past the man, and around the corner. Then he waited …
Surveilled on Your Own Campus
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Current Issue
Activism
/
StudentNation
/ February 4, 2026
Surveilled on Your Own Campus
Universities across the country have used extraordinary measures to target student activists following more than two years of pro-Palestinian protests.
Hannah Epstein
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the encampment on University of Michigan’s campus.
(Adam J. Dewey / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
It took Josiah Walker nearly two months to realize he was being followed. One afternoon in July of 2024, as he was walking down State Street in Ann Arbor, a white car pulled up beside him. Walker, a student at the University of Michigan and member of the college’s pro-Palestine student activist group called Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), recognized the car’s license plate, he said, having frequently noticed the vehicle around campus.
According to Walker, an older man got out of the vehicle and stood beside him for a moment, then began walking down the street in the same direction Walker had been going. Near the end of the block, though, the car’s driver stopped. As he did, Walker said he suddenly noticed multiple other vehicles—all of similar makes and models of the one now parked beside him—driving up and down the street.
Walker told The Nation he was becoming increasingly unnerved, and decided to go into a nearby academic building. He entered through one door and rushed through to another exit, hoping to put some distance between himself and the strange scene he had just witnessed on State Street. But just as he was about to leave, he spotted the same man through a window, standing just across the street outside. Hoping to avoid him, Walker said he retreated back into the building, going down its main stairwell towards a different, ground floor exit.
Upon reaching the new exit, Walker ran into a friend. And as the two engaged in small talk by the double doorway, Walkers said the man from the car on State Street walked right through it, pausing to stare directly at him. After a few seconds, the man turned around, left the building, and planted himself near the door.
Concerned that he was being paranoid, Walker walked out of the academic building he had been in, past the man, and around the corner. Then he waited …
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