Five students participated in a large-scale rally protesting the National Security Agency’s use of mass surveillance in Washington Oct. 26. The trip was organized by the Brown American Civil Liberties Union and funded by the Undergraduate Finance Board.
The students joined StopWatching.us, a coalition of more than 100 public advocacy organizations and companies, in the Rally Against Mass Surveillance. The rally, organized in response to disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the agency’s spying programs, included a march on the National Mall with more than 3,000 participants from across the country.
The rally was held to show Congress that mass surveillance violates the U.S. Constitution, said Vivian Hsiao ’14, a rally attendee. “We were right on Capitol Hill so people working in (Washington) and on the Hill can see,” Hsiao said.
“Privacy is important,” said Joshua Liebow-Feeser ’15, treasurer of the University’s ACLU chapter and rally attendee. “It’s good for college students to be part of these things, or at least be aware of it.”
Liebow-Feeser learned about the rally through emails from outside political groups and proposed attending to the Brown ACLU chapter. After internal voting, the group applied for UFB funding, which covered the transportation costs for five students.
Both Liebow-Feeser and Hsiao described the NSA’s use of mass surveillance as threatening to “civil liberty” and “free speech,” particularly in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The violation of privacy makes people “lose the ability to speak freely because of the fear over repercussion,” Liebow-Feeser said. He described the silencing effect as a “chilling,” particularly for activists involved in “politically controversial” issues.
“The government wants to sweep it under the rug and wave it away,” Hsiao said, “but other Congress people and activists are not willing to let this go.” Hsiao added that President Obama’s administration cannot “justify surveillance” by calling Snowden a “traitor” to distract attention.
Liebow-Feeser described the revelations of mass surveillance with documents provided by Snowden as “extraordinary.” He said the mass surveillance issue is “traditionally not very visible” because the officials try “very hard to keep it out of people’s eyes or conscience.”
“It opposes civility,” Hsiao said. But the recent revelations of spying on European leaders have made this “an international issue” so it is “more likely something is to be done.”
Liebow-Feeser said the trip was “a lot of work to organize but (he) absolutely looks forward to organizing similar events” in the future. He said he sees rallies as “a form (of political participation) that works,” drawing examples from the protests for civil liberties in the 1960s. He said the form is “good for people who are not experts” because unlike organizing a large-scale rally, participation does not require as much effort.
Hsiao noted that “peaceful demonstration” coupled with other forms of activism are “very powerful.” She described the trip as “a lot of traveling” but said that the rally was “full of energy.” She said she learned a lot from the speeches from “both sides of the political spectrum.”
About 25 students applied to join the trip over the course of two weeks. “There was a waiting list, but UFB could only fund five,” Liebow-Feeser said.
UFB Chair Leila Veerasamy ’15 said the board “evaluates applications on a case-by-case basis” and considers whether “events proposed fit (the) mission statement and the capacity of UFB.” The groups funded by UFB are expected to “bring something back to the Brown community,” Veerasamy added.
She said UFB does not “look at ideology” and does not “balance” the number of political groups with different views on campus. UFB currently funds several political groups on campus including the Brown Democrats and the Brown Republicans. This trip was classified as a conference for funding purposes, she added.
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