December 19, 2005

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is investigating a report of federal snooping on one of its students.

According to the Standard-Times of New Bedford, two agents of the Department of Homeland Security visited a UMass Dartmouth senior at his parents’ home after he requested a copy of Mao’s “Little Red Book.”

The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, talked to two of his professors, who spoke to the Standard-Times. “The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a ‘watch list,’ and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.”

The agents allegedly told the student “the book was on a ‘watch list,’ ” the professors told the paper.

The university is at a loss to figure out what happened.

“At this point, it is difficult to ascertain how Homeland Security obtained the information about the students’ borrowing of the book,” the school said in a statement on December 19. “The UMass Dartmouth library has not been visited by agents of any type seeking information about the borrowing patterns or habits of any of its patrons and did not handle the request for the book in question. The student has indicated that another university library processed the request.”

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said, “It is important that our students and our faculty be unfettered in their pursuit of knowledge about other cultures and political systems if their education and research is to be meaningful. We must do everything possible to protect the principles of academic inquiry.”

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association’s office for intellectual freedom, says, “We’re aware of the story, and we are concerned when we hear that library users are being investigated solely on the basis of the books they borrow.

However, we are in the process of trying to verify the story ourselves.”

The Department of Homeland Security “can’t substantiate the claim,” says Joanna Gonzales, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. “There’s an ongoing investigation of the claim, and we don’t comment on such investigations.”

Brian Glyn Williams, one of the UMass Dartmouth professors who spoke with student, vouches for his credibility.

“He’s a great kid. He’s mature, reliable, and hardworking,” says Williams. “He has domestic pressures at home to stay low and let the whole thing blow over. And who can blame him, honestly?”

Williams says the student was taking a course on fascism and totalitarianism with Professor Robert Pontbriand, and it was for that class that the student sought out the copy of Mao’s book.

Williams says that the news of the snooping, which he says may have been by the FBI instead of Homeland Security, has cast a pall.

“I can’t stress enough what a chilling effect it has on our students,” he says. “They’re freaked out, to put it mildly. “

Williams teaches a course on the Middle East and terrorism, and he has his students do research on the Internet and in the library. If the government is going after students who are checking out Mao’s “Little Red Book,” Williams asks, “What about our kids who take courses on terrorism and look at websites on Al Qaeda, bin Laden, or Zarqawi? I’m in a conundrum. Do I have the right to ask them to explore these issues if it could make them marked for investigation?”

Williams wonders how widespread the snooping is. He asks: “Is this just the tip of the iceberg?”

Addendum

The UMass Dartmouth student who alleged that Homeland Security had questioned him over his library request for Mao's "Little Red Book" has now come clean.