Signs on Old Main's columns read "No Big Brother" and "Stop the Cameras" at yesterday's rally for civil liberties hosted by The Streets Project.

About 50 students and faculty members and a State College Borough Council member spoke out against the proposed installation of surveillance cameras on East Beaver Avenue.

Roger Stahl, a member of The Streets Project, said they were hoping for at least a hundred people to be at the rally, but relied on word of mouth to attract students to the gathering.

"[The speakers] made a point about the cameras and that they're not welcome with the students," Stahl said. "They are an invasion of privacy and most people got the message that it's not right to treat people like criminals and dehumanize them by presuming guilt."

Stahl said The Streets Project has two main issues. One is the dehumanization that accompanies the cameras. The other is that it is an intrusion for all who walk by.

"They say that we've been unruly and deserve to be watched," said Ian Rosenberger, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president. "I challenge you as students to take initiative to show the Borough Council that we don't need, much less want, the cameras on Beaver Avenue."

Rosenberger said 70 percent of students voted against cameras in Beaver Canyon during the recent student government elections.

Takkeem Morgan, USG vice president, mirrored Rosenberger's sentiments.

"We are talking about cameras, surveillance, fear; it all sounds like imprisonment," Morgan said. "This is ridiculous, this is reactionary and this does not speak to the issue."

Morgan encouraged students to do more than listen to the speakers at the rally. He told students to prepare to take action and to attend the council meeting at 7:30 p.m. on May 5 at the Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St., to voice their opinions.

"You do have the power, and we can do this if we work together. Our voice can be heard," Morgan said. "The second we start to speak, our voices will start to be heard."

Topics such as civil rights, human rights and the Patriot Act of 2001 were also discussed during the rally.

"The struggle for civil rights and civil liberties are at the heart of our country's history," Dan Letwin, associate professor of history, said.

"Come help write the page of our history."

Tom Daubert, one of the three council members opposed to the cameras, said he believes alternate ways to deter crime should be attempted.

"Beaver Avenue is not the only avenue of troubles," Daubert said. "More lighting and emergency call boxes, like those on campus, should be available downtown."