Seven AI-powered license plate reader cameras are coming off Cornell University's campus after the Ithaca school ended its contract with Flock Safety on Oct. 14. The cameras, installed at major entry points to campus since October 2024, had drawn months of student pushback over privacy and surveillance concerns before the university pulled out of the deal.
Cornell notified Flock Safety that it expects the seven cameras removed as quickly as possible, and the company has begun that process, according to The Ithaca Voice. The cameras had been positioned at intersections representing major entry points to the Cornell University Police Department's patrol area, capturing detailed data on every vehicle passing through their range — data that other law enforcement agencies could search if they opted into sharing arrangements. As KDNL reported, Cornell is a private university, and its decision to sever ties with Flock stood apart from a separate wave of local contract cancellations already underway in Ithaca.
Students Feared Data Could Reach Immigration Agents
The move followed sustained concern from Cornell students, who worried that Flock camera data collected on students and faculty could be leaked to immigration enforcement agencies or used against protesters, per the Cornell Daily Sun. The Sun describes the cameras as AI-powered automatic license plate readers capable of tracking plate data for police investigations, and notes that Cornell's contract with Flock expired on Oct. 14 — a timeline the university frames as a termination rather than a simple lapse. The Cornell Student Assembly had the cameras on its agenda for discussion the day after the partnership ended.
In a statement, Cornell said it remains committed to maintaining an open and accessible campus environment while balancing privacy with campus safety. The administration's handling of campus safety has drawn scrutiny before: students expressed dismay and staged protests over the university's response to an alleged 2024 gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity, part of a broader backdrop of distrust that shaped how students viewed new surveillance tools on campus. Concerns about the cameras trace back to at least May 2025, when the Sun reported that Cornell's administration first discussed increased surveillance under a campus policy.
Ithaca and Tompkins County Already Cut Ties
Cornell was the last of five Flock contract holders in Tompkins County to announce the end of its relationship with the company, the Ithaca Voice notes. Officials in Ithaca, Tompkins County, Trumansburg and Cayuga Heights had already moved earlier this year to end their agencies' Flock contracts. The Ithaca Common Council passed a resolution ending the city's agreement with the company on March 4, following the city's 2023 decision to begin using the cameras in the first place, according to WSKG. The Tompkins County Legislature followed with a 12-1 vote of its own to drop Flock.
Part of a National Reckoning Over License Plate Surveillance
Cornell's exit fits a pattern playing out well beyond Tompkins County. At least 30 localities nationwide had deactivated their Flock cameras or canceled contracts since the start of 2025, according to NPR, even as the company maintained contracts with more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the country. NPR reported that opposition campaigns have centered on fears of mass surveillance and worries that local data could feed a federal deportation dragnet — the same anxieties Cornell students raised about their own campus cameras.
Other college towns have reached similar conclusions. Penn State confirmed its on-campus Flock cameras — more than 20 of them, installed in August 2025 as part of a one-year pilot — would come down after administrators reviewed their operational value and cost, per the Daily Collegian. Student representatives there said they still intend to pursue a formal resolution on automated license plate readers and gather more survey responses from students.
Binghamton University took a different path, discontinuing its Flock cameras but transitioning to a new platform from Axon, according to Spectrum News. Under the new system, Binghamton will own and control its own license plate data and plans to shorten its standard retention period from 30 days to 21 days. The university said its commitment is to use technology where it provides a clear public-safety benefit, while putting appropriate policies, safeguards and oversight in place. In Flagstaff, Arizona, officials cut their Flock contract after reducing data retention from 30 days to 14 days first, with the mayor concluding that the community had simply lost trust in the company, NPR reported.
