Policing has grown to be a hegemonic standard for public spaces, including educational institutions. A popular form of this policing is surveillance, a secretive tool that disproportionately has been used to target specific communities, such as college activist groups that are dominated by minority students and underrepresented individuals in general. This kind of surveillance can be in the form of CCTV cameras or increased public safety officers but ultimately puts students under greater scrutiny in their learning environments. are common targets for these surveillance methods. This study investigates how surveillance on college campuses impacts student activism using ethnographic fieldwork with City University of New York’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a strong college student activism organization with multiple chapters across the globe. Additionally, through multiple detailed interviews with college students from New York City who are involved in activism on their campus, this project collects data on students’ views on safety. Interviews will address demographic questions, students’ work on their campus, their experiences with policing and surveillance, and their sense of safety in the spaces they occupy. This ethnographic work as well as analyses of past literature may show how students' sense of safety is compromised with increased surveillance and hinders their work as activists because they feel criminalized. This is important because students have historically been central to important movements that cause great political change. Therefore, it is imperative to understand how the structure of public safety through surveillance and policing is impacting students to make sure the effects are the results of the intended impacts. Only then can college campuses be productive public spaces that foster a supportive environment for future leaders.