A newly uncovered page from the FBI’s classified files on civil rights surveillance reveals how the Bureau monitored and documented Black student activity at Merrimack College in Massachusetts-part of a broader COINTELPRO-style campaign aimed at suppressing civil rights momentum across campuses.
Labeled simply "Merrimack Activities Log," the one-page FBI document includes the names, addresses, and phone numbers of several individuals, including Black student activists and individuals connected to Black student unions or advocacy organizations.
📝 Names and Numbers Filed Without Context
There is no official summary or rationale attached to the list. The document simply logs:
-
Student and faculty names
-
Home phone numbers and campus affiliations
-
A few references to off-campus contacts
But its purpose is unmistakable: the individuals were being tracked-not for criminal conduct, but for their association with Black student organizing and social activism during the civil rights era.
None of the names are linked to wrongdoing. Yet their identities were preserved in FBI files.
🎯 A Small Part of a Bigger Target
This kind of logging was standard operating procedure under the FBI’s domestic surveillance efforts against civil rights groups, Black power organizers, and student movements in the 1960s and 1970s.
-
Merrimack College joins a long list of campuses under watch
-
The list may have been compiled from informants or wiretaps
-
It reflects an effort to build intelligence profiles, not conduct criminal investigations
Even routine meetings or group affiliations could lead to a file being opened-and quietly preserved for decades.
🔍 COINTELPRO’s Institutional Reach
The file stands as a stark reminder that federal law enforcement monitored civil rights advocacy as a threat, rather than as constitutionally protected political expression.
Though brief, the document:
-
Provides a snapshot of federal intelligence-gathering on student-led organizing
-
Suggests Merrimack was among the smaller institutions swept into national surveillance efforts
-
Underscores the disproportionate attention placed on Black student leadership
These are not strategic targets or national security concerns. They are young people organizing for justice-flagged and filed by the state.
