Eye in the Sky: Senate Awaits Policy on Security Cameras

By: Caravan Staff
@Caravan_AUC

After a protracted delay, the AUC Senate last week discussed the issue of surveillance cameras on campus and whether these impinged on academic freedom and privacy.

Late last semester the administration installed a number of surveillance cameras across campus and activated those already found in the parking lots.

Some senators were unhappy and dismayed that the decision to install surveillance cameras had been taken without prior discussion in the Senate.

The Senate Administrative Affairs committee delivered its report after having met several times with Executive Vice President Brian MacDougall and members of the AUC security team.

The committee had received and amended a policy statement from the administration on the uses and limitations of these cameras on campus.

It found that “the installation of the cameras is a three phase project approved in the budget by the Board of Trustees in October 2015 and ready for implementation.

For 70 minutes, MacDougall responded to questions from faculty and students about the need for security cameras and whether they would be installed in classrooms and hallways.

MacDougall said there would be areas on campus where cameras would not be installed and these included bathrooms, offices, classrooms, hallways and other zones.

He proceeded to show closed circuit TV footage of crime on campus which he said proved the efficacy of security cameras.

Assistant professor of anthropology Hanan Sabea, however, demanded statistical proof that crime – theft of laptops and money – had been reduced because of the cameras.

AUC Head of Security Mohamed Ebeid promised that statistics would be forthcoming but stressed that parking lot security cameras had already served as deterrents to vehicle break-ins and theft.

But student senators voiced concerns that stored footage could be handed over to Egyptian security or fall into the wrong hands, thereby threatening the freedom of expression, movement and protest on campus.

When asked why AUC was now using security (sniffer) dogs, Ebeid said that there had been a prank bomb scare a few months ago and that he did not want for an incident to happen before beefing security precautions.

AUC last used sniffer dogs in early 2011 amid a lapse in security nationwide, but canceled the contract after just three months.