University of Michigan student files lawsuit alleging surveillance over Gaza protests

A University of Michigan student plans to file a federal lawsuit on Thursday alleging the university and private investigators conducted undercover surveillance on him in response to his participation in protests over Israel's war in Gaza. According to the suit, the university and private investigators falsified police reports, manipulated police documents, illegally stalked and assaulted the student, illegally seized his property, and executed malicious prosecutions against him.

The suit alleges the defendants violated the student's right to free speech under the First Amendment. It also claims his privacy rights under the Fourth and 14th amendments were repeatedly violated, including by police manipulating and exaggerating reports to gain access to his Google drive and email.

Alleged incidents The complaint details an incident in which body-cam footage allegedly reveals officers plotting to arrest the student for trespassing at a September 2024 campus festival, even if he was doing nothing wrong. At the festival, officers tackled, beat and arrested the student, video shows.

They charged the student with resisting arrest and trespassing. In 2024, the Michigan attorney general brought a case against the student involving two trespassing charges that, the lawsuit alleges, relied on a falsified trespassing report. The charges stem from an incident following a May 2024 raid on a University of Michigan Gaza encampment in which the student participated.

The suit claims the student was repeatedly assured by police that he would not face consequences for retrieving seized religious items after the raid. But at the station, a university officer wrote the student a trespass warning, according to the suit.

The university ignored the student's requests for a copy of the trespassing report, which the lawsuit alleges was falsified.

Prior reporting and university response The Guardian in June 2025 revealed that the University of Michigan had hired dozens of undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian students, trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations.

Three days after the Guardian story ran, the university fired a private investigation firm and apologized for some of the investigators' actions. The suit alleges that none of the private investigators are permitted under Michigan law to conduct undercover surveillance, rendering the entire operation illegal.

The lawsuit asks for monetary damages and punitive measures for the university and private investigators.