The ASI Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution calling for the removal of Flock Safety automatic license plate readers cameras around campus.
College of Liberal Arts representative Scott Drouin wrote the motion and said it was built upon student advocacy across the past few months. He shared that current ASI president Marc Cabeliza worked closely with students, including members from Tech for Liberation.
READ MORE: Eyes that never blink: Cal Poly’s Flock license plate readers spark student backlash
The motion fights to ban the use of all automated license plate reading cameras, not just Flock cameras, according to Joe Fewel, Bailey College of Science and Mathematics representative.
The resolution was discussed at a board meeting last Tuesday, where members of the public were welcome to participate in the conversation.
ASI Board of Directors Chair Alyson Engel read a letter from the President’s Office sent on May 22. Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong expressed his commitment to “maintaining transparency” as a timeline was created for reevaluating the university’s relationship with Flock.
Part of this includes reviewing data access and storage policies regarding automatic license plate recognition devices.
At a town hall meeting back in March, Armstrong said the university does not share information from on-campus Flock cameras.
READ MORE: University officials clarify use of Flock Safety cameras amid student backlash
At the same meeting, George Hughes, assistant vice president of public safety of the Cal Poly Police Department spoke. He said that Cal Poly chose to use Flock cameras for their use of solar power and “investigatory capabilities.”
During the open forum, students shared their opinions and research on Flock’s presence on campus.
Agricultural science junior Ava Curtis said that having Flock cameras on campus without public approval violates California Civic Code 1798.90.55.
“You’ll see signs people are holding, my colleagues are holding, about this Flock surveillance system and about other things, because it reflects this administration’s ignorance to what students actually want and actually care about,” Curtis said.
Lindsey Alvarez-Avila, a psychology junior, wrote a letter to the ASI Board of Directors advocating for a public hearing with Cal Poly Administration and CPPD concerning the use of the cameras.
“Flock cameras are a present threat to undocumented students, and they demand immediate removal,” she said. “We must remove them in order to create a safe and just learning environment for all.”
Alvarez-Avila is not the only voice who called for a town hall meeting. MacGregor Lang, an environmental management and protection freshman, also disagreed with the presence of the Flock devices and wanted a town hall meeting to discuss them.
“We are here today because we have shown up, and we will continue to show up, advocating for what the student body wants in the spirit of Learn by Doing,” Lang said.
It was not just students who showed up to make statements. Computer science professor John Clements said he thinks community should continue to fight for ensuring the President’s Office keeps their commitment.
“Flock profits by taking our data and monetizing it, in my opinion,” Clements said. “Now’s the time to keep the pressure on and make sure that they follow through with what I believe was an actual promise to not use Flock anymore.”
2000-2001 ASI President Sam Aborne shared his own ideas of the actions he thinks should be taken.
He said that 28 years ago, Cal Poly student Victor Glover said, “The decisions made today will impact students who weren’t even born yet.”
Aborne said he wanted one, a university committee that would issue a mandate against Flock cameras now, and two, a learn-by-doing opportunity in which the university could replace Flock with student-built cameras.
On the board, College of Engineering representative Jacob Larson also said his interest in making cameras a student project.
“It is not technologically difficult to create cameras and systems that respect our rights,” he said. “You can create neural networks that specifically target what you want them to, that don’t record data, that don’t do mass surveillance, but they will achieve what you want.”
Larson said although he thinks it is a very intersectional issue, he supports the resolution.
Nimisha Thakur is another College of Engineering representative on the board. She said that as a software engineering student, she has learned of the dangers and ethics of welcoming AI onto campus.
“If the university does choose to pick a new camera system, it’s important what AI is actually integrated with it,” Thakur said.
Drouin said that there isn’t a guarantee Cal Poly administration will remove Flock Safety from campus. To ensure the resolution is followed through, “these conversations must continue to happen, and there must continue to be student pressure, particularly from ASI,” he said.