The announcement earlier this semester that NCSU has chosen to enter a partnership with the National Security Agency in the creation of a center for data analysis on campus concerns and angers us. The $60.75 million NSA grant (the largest in NCSU history) promotes surveillance of all US citizens by encouraging further warrantless spying and infringement upon our fourth amendment rights. We feel the constitution is clear…

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Neither the public nor members of the NC State community will truly know what goes on in this lab! This project has remained a secret and will remain so given that the building will require security clearance. 

 Additionally, the increased influence of private interests on campus will further marginalize the faculty, student and worker's ability to voice a growing range of policy concerns. Documents released by Edward Snowden confirm that the NSA has played a crucial role surveilling US citizens with the intention of limiting the right to freedom of speech. The NSA has already been caught snooping through the personal data of ex-lovers given their access to ‘big data.’

The strength of the university has always been the space it has provided for independent critical thought beyond economic and political influences. We strongly encourage Chancellor Woodson, the NCSU board of trustees and the UNC Board of Governors reconsider this business endeavor. To do so otherwise would be a betrayal of our values as an institution of higher learning. 

For a transparent NC State,

NCSU SDS