Videos secretly recorded of ASU faculty and staff members discussing diversity, equity and inclusion at the University have brought federal complaints from a conservative organization. The videos call into question the ethics and legality of covert recording tactics on campus.
In January, conservative media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media initially published two secret recordings of its staff members posing as prospective students, asking Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions faculty about DEI at the University. Since then, two more recordings have been released of University employees.
READ MORE: ASU Watts College faculty were secretly recorded, accused of maintaining DEI policies
On Feb. 19, AIM released a video, obtained with a hidden camera, of Megan Neumann, an enrollment coach for the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation. A week later, it published a video of Allison Reynolds, an academic success adviser in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
In the videos, Neumann and Reynolds are asked about ways their departments have preserved DEI efforts. They offered examples of how academic programs continue to include all students, and Reynolds referenced the University's charter.
Neumann did not respond to a request for comment on the video of her. A marketing and communication manager from ASU's Department of Psychology responded to a request for comment sent to Reynolds, referring The State Press to ASU media relations.
"ASU has no comment on the video itself, as ASU does not comment on secret video recordings of its employees who are not authorized to speak on behalf of the University," a University spokesperson said.
Protect the Public's Trust, a conservative government watchdog organization, filed two federal complaints against the University over the first two recordings, according to the Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller published the second complaint, addressed to the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Justice, on Feb. 9. It accused the University of discriminatory practices in violation of Title VI and Title IX. The first complaint was not made public.
"Given that now two officials at ASU have made similar statements, we believe these actions extend far beyond a few employees and may be orchestrated, endorsed, or sanctioned by higher-ranking officials within this institution," PPT Director Michael Chamberlain wrote in the complaint.
The complaint requested that the federal agencies investigate potential legal violations at the University.
A University spokesperson declined to comment on the complaints. However, in a written statement, the spokesperson said the University fully complies with federal law and does not discriminate in admission or scholarship decisions.
On Feb. 19, ASU President Michael Crow told The State Press at a meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents that the University is aware of and looking into the first two secret recordings.
Crow called these recording tactics "a terrible thing to do to someone."
PPT did not respond to a request for comment regarding the federal complaints.
Adam Guillette, the president of AIM, said he was glad to see the headlines regarding his organization's work and the federal complaints following the publication of the videos.
"We're not the only people who are frustrated that an institution that should be focused on education and academics has clearly been captured by activists," Guillette said.
He said the University "requires major reform" that it doesn't want to make.
"We'd like to see entire departments of administrators wiped out, and we'd like to see the federal government get more aggressively involved and potentially strip funds if this University won't reform," Guillette said.
The University has not contacted AIM about the videos, nor has it pursued legal action, Guillette said.
Lee Fink, an attorney specializing in business law at the California-based Brower Law Group, said secret recordings like those performed by AIM are legal in Arizona. State law makes Arizona a one-party consent state where only one person in a conversation has to agree to it being recorded.
As long as they operate within the scope of state laws, Fink said publications like AIM are also mostly protected under the U.S. Constitution.
"Whether you call it free press or free speech or activism, those are all covered by the First Amendment protections," Fink said.
However, if the clips featured in the videos were taken out of context, the employees and the University may be able to take legal action, Fink said.
The individuals featured in the videos could potentially take legal action against AIM by accusing the organization of publicity by false light, Fink said.
"If they can show that this was taken out of context, they'd have a pretty good claim for false light publicity and mental and emotional damages, and any professional repercussions that come from it," Fink said.
The University could accuse AIM of the same offense, but Fink said such a case would be harder to prove.
"It would really have to show that any funding reductions are tied directly to (the video) being taken out of context," Fink said.
Dan Axelrod, the chair of the Society of Professional Journalists' ethics committee, said in a written statement that the rules of journalism ethics do not apply to the videos because "they're not journalism."
"To call those videos 'journalism' would be like mistaking Mickey Mouse for an actual mouse or fresh-squeezed juice for Hi-C fruit punch," Axelrod said.
He said ethical journalism does not involve "deceiving, decontextualizing, entrapping, embarrassing and even, in some cases, intentionally harming those being covered to meet a predetermined objective or to support a particular view."
Fink echoed Axelrod's concern about ethics but said the secret recordings remain legal.
"Even though the ethical standards of the journalist do not condone this type of activity, the law still allows it," Fink said.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
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Andi Ruiz is a lead politics reporter at the State Press dedicated to serving her community with truth and honesty in her reporting. She has been working in broadcast and news since high school and was recently an anchor at The Cut Network during her first year at Cronkite. She is going into her second year at ASU as a Barrett Honors student studying journalism and mass communication.Â
