Muslim Students Furious At NYPD Spy Report

Students on the Rutgers campus move about freely pursuing their education...but is big brother watching? There's word that back in 2006 and '07 the NYPD monitored the websites of a number of school Muslim organizations in an effort to catch would be terrorists.

"I think it's totally unfair just because a few individuals do something that's not right." said student Mazhar Sayed.

The president of the Muslim Student Association Ibaad Sadiq went even farther saying "This is a breach of civil liberties that all student groups should be worried about."

Sadiq and other Muslim students are angry and calling on the school to take action against the NYPD. Hira Bakshi told PIX 11 News "The whole thing is hurting the Muslim community. We aren't doing anything suspicious. Our job is to tell people about Islam. If that's suspicious I don't know what the N.Y.P.D. wants from us. It doesn't make sense to me."

But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement some of the most dangerous Western Al Qaeda linked or inspired terrorists were recruited at Muslim Student Associations and the NYPD deemed it prudent to get a better handle on what was occurring at the associations and on their websites . Browne listed 12 people who had been members of Muslim student groups who were later charged or convicted of terrorism.

But students aren't the only ones calling the NYPD tactics a violation of civil rights. Sixteen New Jersey based groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey fired off a letter to Governor Chris Christie asking him to investigate the NYPD's surveillance of Muslim communities.

The governor's office says the letter has been forwarded to the Attorney Generals office and they will determine whether or not to go forward. In a statement the school said at the time they didn't know about the surveillance and they don't condone surveillance based on students race gender ethnicity or religious beliefs.

Students say all of this has a chilling effect on campus life. The president of the Muslim Student Association told PIX 11 "It's really making students a lot more scared on campus . They don't know who to befriend."