Rutgers University AI cameras: Students furious over ‘creepy’ tech

Students, faculty and staff say they were never told the university had spent $1.5 million on software that can track faces, plates and people across campus. Lindsey Staples was shaken, but not surprised. Before graduating from Rutgers in 2022, Staples — now a cybersecurity specialist — was a computer engineering student who worked on a lab project analyzing surveillance feeds to detect whether people wer

By the Truvace deskOctober 20, 20261 min read1 sourceJournalismTRV-2026-2046· cite & verify

Rutgers University AI cameras: Students furious over ‘creepy’ tech

In brief

Members of the Rutgers community say they learned only after the fact that the university had paid $1.5 million for software that can follow faces, license plates and people around campus. The report, published in October 2026, frames the reaction as one of anger over a lack of notice.

The case matters because it ties AI surveillance to questions of transparency and trust on a university campus. The supplied excerpt does not say how the system is used, what safeguards exist, or how the university responded, so those questions remain open.

Main points

The software reportedly cost the university $1.5 million.
It is described as able to track faces, license plates and people across campus.
Students, faculty and staff say they were never told about the purchase.
A former Rutgers computer engineering student, Lindsey Staples, was described as shaken but not surprised.

The problem

Students, faculty and staff at Rutgers say they were not informed that the university bought $1.5 million of software able to track faces, license plates and people across campus.

The rundown

The report centers on a university-bought surveillance tool that, according to the article, can identify and follow faces, plates and individuals across campus. The people quoted or described include students, faculty and staff.

Lindsey Staples, who graduated from Rutgers in 2022 and is now a cybersecurity specialist, is introduced as a former computer engineering student. She worked on a lab project analyzing surveillance feeds, which the article uses to give technical context to her reaction.