Photo courtesy of the Muslim Student Association.
Madison Fantozzi/News Director
The Muslim Student Association is now asking for the listening device that was found in the Graham Center’s Serenity Room during prayer back from the University Police Department after a year-long investigation has yielded no results.
A University spokeswoman said, “FIU Police will only return the listening device found in the serenity room to its rightful owner, which [Council on American-Islamic Relations] representatives have indicated that they are not,” however.
Nezar Hamze, CAIR’s executive director, said that when the device was handed over to UPD, the MSA agreed to the department’s wish to keep the incident low key.
But MSA President Farouk Farouk said they “don’t need to be hush-hush about it” anymore.
“We need to be bold,” he said. “The goal is to reignite the situation and put it back in people’s mindsets. This doesn’t only concern the Muslim community, it concerns every student at FIU. It could potentially be a breach in our rights and we want to make sure that FIU has strict policies in place to restrict any sort of spying on campus.”
“The goal is to reignite the situation and put it back in people’s mindsets. We want to make sure that FIU has strict policies in place to restrict any sort of spying on campus,” said Farouk Farouk, president of MSA.
In a recent town hall, students raised questions about the device and whether or not it really targeted Muslim students, as the room is open to anyone of any religion to pray and meditate, and is also used for testing.
Hamze said the location of the device was very telling, however.
“Muslims pray in a certain direction and the person giving the sermon stands in front. The device was placed right in the direction that would catch the audio of the person giving the sermon,” Hamze said. “It really raised an eyebrow; it was strategically placed.”
“It was strategically placed. It was installed. People had to have been involved,” said Nezar Hamze, executive director of CAIR.
He also said a wire attached to the device ran underneath the carpet.
“It was installed; people had to have been involved,” Hamze said.
A local spy shop determined that the bug was a couple-thousand-dollar device, according to CAIR.
Miami-Dade Police Department, UPD and the FBI all said the device does not belong to them.
“There’s only one other case that we’re aware of where any federal agency flat out denied because of the egregious nature,” Hamze said. “Instead of the typical, ‘We neither confirm nor deny,’ the FBI denied it because it’s such a constitutional violation.”
Hamze and Shihab stressed that this is not an issue unique to Muslim students nor FIU.
“There are groups that target Muslim students across the country and mean them harm,” Hamze said. “Students are here to get their education, not to be spied on.”
As for the University’s investigation, Hamze said “it goes beyond saying, ‘We care about the concerns and safety of our students.’ Show us.”
“As of this time, FIU Police have been unable to determine the origin of the device or confirm if any outside law enforcement agency was conducting an investigation,” an FIU spokeswoman said in a statement to Student Media.
If CAIR and the MSA obtain the device from UPD, Hamze said an expert and private investigator will be hired to carry out an investigation.
“Maybe FIU Police already have answers,” Hamze said.
But in a statement to Student Media earlier this month, a University spokeswoman said:
“As of this time, FIU Police have been unable to determine the origin of the device or confirm if any outside law enforcement agency was conducting an investigation.”
Additional reporting by Cristina Garcia.
– madison.fantozzi@fiusm.com
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