One of the primary reasons that Obama’s approval numbers among college students has plummeted is his use of the National Security Agency’s and its policies and practices of spying utilizing social media resources.

George Washington University student Andrew Desiderio is using this anger to inspire fellow scholars to get active.

Last June, we learned from whistleblower and Information Technology contractor Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency unconstitutionally tracks data on all Americans – cell phone records, social media posts, emails, Internet searches – you name it, the spies at the NSA probably have a record of it.

Instead of acknowledging its overreach of power and taking strong measures to scale it back, President Barack Obama’s administration has staunchly defended the tactics. Meanwhile, the verdict is mixed: recent federal court rulings have rendered one in favor of the NSA surveillance, and one against.

And now, after an initial period of outrage, the story has largely died down, and the anger, sense of personal intrusion, and urgency for reform, has ebbed.

We’re still upset, but it’s slowly transformed into a way of life for us. What can we do, we ask? It’s become a joke: “We know you’re reading this, NSA …”

…We must apply pressure, demand justice and reveal the truth wherever possible – host campus rallies, write columns for our school newspapers, send letters and emails to our congressional representatives, and support lawmakers who actively work to protect our freedoms, among other measures. The youth vote is a powerful tool.Our message? That Snowden is an American hero, and Obama is a hypocrite who snubs the very constitution he swore to protect.

The Fourth Amendment clearly states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

It is not constitutional for the U.S. government to wiretap without a warrant. It is not constitutional for the U.S. government to look at our Internet searches without a warrant. It is not constitutional for the U.S. government to invade our privacy without probable cause.

Contrary to popular belief, Snowden is a hero because he was brave enough to tell us that the U.S. government is violating our Fourth Amendment rights.

Those on the other side of the debate claim Snowden put our national security at risk.

That claim could not be further from the truth. We face real security threats not from whistleblowers or information leakers, but from extreme government secrecy and overreach which trample on the Constitution.

…Some students blindly defend Obama’s spy tactics, when they also decried the same less-invasive tactics used by the Bush Administration. Wake up!