The New York Police Department has monitored Muslim Student Associations at various colleges in the Northeast, but Brandeis officials say the University has not been a target of increased scrutiny. The NYPD surveillance has resulted in an uproar on many campuses.

Recently, the president of Yale University, Richard Levin, admonished the New York Police Department for monitoring the online activities of members of the Yale Muslim Student Association. It was also revealed that, in recent years, MSAs at other schools such as Rutgers University, State University of New York at Buffalo and Brooklyn College have also been watched by the NYPD.

In an email to the student body which was posted on the Yale MSA's website, Levin stated, "Police surveillance based on religion, nationality or peacefully expressed political opinion is antithetical to the values of Yale, the academic community and the United States."

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has staunchly defended the NYPD's actions. According to an Associated Press report, he responded to Levin's remarks: "I don't know why keeping the country safe is antithetical to the values of Yale."

Bloomberg argued that national security depends on proactive measures to prevent terrorism. An NYPD spokesperson told AP that 12 people who had been arrested or convicted of terrorism had formerly been members of MSAs.

Brandeis Director of Public Safety Edward Callahan wrote in an email to the Justice, "The Department of Public Safety does not monitor student groups. Brandeis is a diverse community that welcomes students, staff and faculty from across the United States and around the world. It's one of the great strengths of Brandeis. There is always a balance between public safety and the exercise of personal freedom and the university works hard to maintain that balance. We're very proud of that."

Frishta Abawi '13 of Brandeis' Muslim Students Association wrote in an email to the Justice that the NYPD's surveillance is unfair.

"Just because these people [the 12 arrested or convicted terrorists] were part of a MSA, it doesn't mean that an entire MSA group consists of terrorists or threatening people. A lot of these terrorists think that they are serving Islam by doing the terrible things that they do. These people are portraying Islam in a different light, and making it seem like it's not the peaceful religion it really is," wrote Abawi.

She added that if the Brandeis MSA was to be monitored by the government, she would be disconcerted but would not oppose it. This way, "the agency [could] see that we are just young college students who want to serve our campus [in] the best way possible."

In an interview with the Justice, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer objected to what the NYPD was doing on other campuses. He expressed full support of the Brandeis MSA members' rights to privacy.

Sawyer commented, "We would never condone surveillance on this campus."

When asked if he thought that the monitoring of Muslim student groups was an invasion of privacy, he answered in the affirmative: "Absolutely," he said. "That is trampling on peoples' rights in pursuit of suspicions."

While Sawyer acknowledged that security would be tightened if the campus were threatened, he denounced the idea of watching any particular group of students based on religion, ethnicity or other such classifications. "Most people treasure the openness of our campus," he asserted.

Brandeis students had varying opinions on the issue.

"I think it is okay to monitor these organizations as long as they are also monitoring other common activities that terrorists partake in. This would prove that they are not monitoring the Muslim organizations because they are racial profiling, but because they are following statistical trends," said Suzanne Schatz '15.

David Scherban '15 had a similar perspective and commented, "It is simply a matter of taking precautions to save lives."

Emily Duggan '15 and Karen Lengler '15 disagreed.

"What creates terrorism is tensions between different groups, and isolating these kinds of groups as different just increases tensions," said Duggan.

"It all boils down to the fact that they are Muslims. It is discrimination. Period," stated Lengler.