Reporting was contributed by Alexis Hosticka.
Harding students’ overall opinion of the National Security Agency is negatively correlated to how close the same students followed news about the NSA, according to a recent survey conducted by the Bison.
This means the more informed a student is about the NSA’s surveillance practices, the more likely that student is to have an unfavorable opinion about the NSA.
The plurality of students – 33 percent of the 157 asked – said they followed the news of the NSA “not too closely.” Still, 44.6 percent said they were “somewhat concerned” about the collection and use of personal information, but 50 percent said their opinion about the NSA was “mostly favorable.”
In June of 2013, the Guardian reported the scale of the NSA surveillance practices when it released a Verizon court order that revealed the NSA was collecting call data from millions of Verizon’s U.S. customers. Additionally, the NSA spied on heads of state, such as Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The NSA’s surveillance practices opened a discussion about mass data collection by both the government and tech and marketing companies. In March, the New York Times reported that the Obama administration was preparing a proposal that would end some of the surveillance practices that citizens found the most disturbing. Under the proposal, the NSA would end its systematic data collection and require permission from a judge to obtain specific records from phone companies.
“I think that the government should have authority, but they shouldn’t have that much hidden control,” Alexis Sheets, junior business management major, said. “The government should be sitting behind glass doors, so we, the people, are able to see what they’re doing and how they’re functioning.”
Lori Klein, assistant professor of political science, said she does not think people are fully informed of what is going on with the NSA.
“I don’t think people have taken into account the very negative effect that it’s had,” Klein said.
In addition to concerns about personal privacy, both Klein and sophomore marketing major Kelby Czerwonka said they were concerned about foreign policy implications of NSA surveillance practices.
“Domestically, I see we’re all citizens, and we want to be safe, but internationally is where we may have crossed the line,” Czerwonka said. “Looking at the fact that we’re spying on other countries who we say we’re allies with could lead to some major repercussions that we see in the future.”
Klein said she has mentioned the topic of the NSA in several of her classes, both lower- and upper-level political science courses. However, she said she thinks students “don’t feel informed enough to speak up and don’t feel infuriated enough to get informed.”
Instead, Klein said, students are losing interest and trust in their government.
“The fact that the government has been using our information for whatever they are doing makes me very insecure and untrusting of them,” Julia Ervin, senior business management major, said. “I don’t like the thought of the people for the government. I like the government for the people, so I think they lost a lot with a lot of people when that happened.”
Ervin said her overall distrust of the government has steered her away from traditional political parties, a trend that can be seen in the research. Overall, students who identified as libertarian reported following the news of the NSA more closely than any other political group.
Still, Klein said she thinks the system is not broken and students can still engage and affect change. Klein and Ervin both emphasized the importance of being informed and watching legislation in Congress.
“Those are the kind of voices that still get heard, so be that voice,” Klein said.
