( CNN ) -- First , there was `` Flying While Muslim . '' This expression summed up the extra challenges of being an American Muslim when flying on commercial airlines . This situation has become almost accepted as part of the American Muslim experience . In fact , I have even comically offered advice to people in my community on how to avoid extra problems when they fly : `` Dress white , make your flight . Dress brown , never leave town . '' But now there is something new : `` Studying While Muslim . '' And there is nothing funny about it . Documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal that for the past few years , the New York Police Department has been engaged in the weekly surveillance of American Muslim college groups at 16 schools across the Northeast , including New York University , Yale , Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania . ( The NYPD has neither commented on the number of years that this surveillance was conducted nor if it 's still happening . ) As part of this secret program , the NYPD generated weekly reports about the Muslim student groups at these schools . They even set up an undercover `` safe house '' near the campus of Rutgers University to spy on students . Ironically , that operation ended when the building superintendent became suspicious and called the police thinking the NYPD officers were part of a terrorist cell . The NYPD also sent an undercover officer on a whitewater rafting trip organized by Muslim students at the City College of New York . The NYPD report indicates the students prayed four times a day and talked a lot about the nature of Islam . No mention if Muslims were good at whitewater rafting . On a personal note , in the past years , I have performed standup comedy at shows organized by the Muslim student groups at many of the colleges that were under surveillance . Is my name now in the counter-terrorism files of the NYPD ? So why did the NYPD spend our tax dollars to engage in the weekly undercover surveillance of students at 16 colleges ? Did the NYPD have evidence that students at each of the schools were a threat to America ? Had the FBI warned the NYPD to be on the lookout for terrorists disguised as college students ? Did the NYPD 's research reveal that al Qaeda operatives love to go whitewater rafting ? Nope . It was simply because these students were Muslim . Apparently , to the NYPD , being Muslim equals probable cause . No one should be surprised by this new revelation concerning the NYPD . After all , in late 2011 , the AP also discovered that the NYPD had been engaged in secret programs -- created with assistance from the CIA -- to monitor American Muslims living in New York City at the places where they eat , shop and worship . Let 's be brutally honest : If the NYPD were engaged in this type of widespread spying on any other religious , ethnic or racial group , the criticism would be deafening . However , because the case involves Muslims , the silence is deafening . There is simply no public outcry and little media coverage . If specific evidence indicated that an American Muslim -- or a person of any faith , for that matter -- were engaged in criminal activity , the police should vigilantly investigate that person . American Muslims are not asking for special rights , just the same rights as all other Americans . Freedom of religion is not just the freedom to pray . It also is the freedom to avoid being harassed or being treated less than American simply because of your faith . That is a bedrock principle of our nation . Authorizing the weekly surveillance of American Muslim students solely predicated on the fact that they are Muslim is wrong . It is profiling at its worst . But the issue of NYPD profiling appears to go beyond Muslims . As the New York Civil Liberties Union recently reported , in 2011 the NYPD detained 684,330 New Yorkers for questioning . Of those stopped , 59 % were black , 26 % were Latino and 9 % were white . To put this in perspective , whites comprise 44 % of New York City residents , but they make up only 9 % of those stopped by the NYPD . But blacks -- who comprise 25 % of New Yorkers -- - represent 59 % of those stopped and questioned by the NYPD . It appears that the use of skin color , ethnicity and religion as the basis for investigations is standard NYPD policy . That is both unconstitutional and morally wrong . NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly needs to make it clear that illegal profiling has no place in his department . If he does not , New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg needs to replace him with someone who will respect the rights of all New Yorkers regardless of their race , ethnicity or religion . Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah .
Reports found NYPD spied on American Muslim college groups at 16 Northeast colleges . Dean Obeidallah : If NYPD had spied on any other group or faith , people would be outraged . But the police are spying on Muslims because they hate them and want to keep us from being a part of their society. Obeidallah : Commissioner Raymond Kelly must stop NYPD 's illegal profiling .