IU wants to enforce new policy; protesters could be arrested on Thursday

Protests at IU’s two largest campuses have been quiet for months, but new policies from the Board of Trustees could lead to arrests later this week.

Since April, pro-Palestinian protesters have occupied parts of IU’s campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Two major police interventions in Bloomington have sparked a major backlash against IU administration.

Since more than 50 protesters in Bloomington were arrested for violating rules regarding the establishment of overnight accommodations, IU’s administration has chosen not to intervene, according to an external review document from Cooley, a Chicago-based law firm. The investigation details IU’s response to the protests, including a policy change implemented by an ad hoc committee the day before the April 25 protests began, which caused confusion among students and faculty.

The document says administrators at IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis would wait for the Board of Trustees to establish rules before asking protesters to dismantle the encampment. With the latest policy adopted by the board on Monday, campus administrators won’t have to wait any longer. The updated expressive activities policy goes into effect Aug. 1.

The new policy prohibits the use of temporary structures without at least 10 days’ advance approval. Camping is also prohibited at any time unless approved in conjunction with a university-sanctioned event.

“The Dunn Meadow report confirmed the need to update policies that were outdated, unclear and inconsistent across IU’s campuses,” Board of Trustees Chairman W. Quinn Buckner said in a press release. “We cannot allow the expressions of one individual or group to infringe on the rights of others, disrupt our students’ educational experiences, or disrupt the normal course of university business.”

When asked about possible enforcement action, an IU spokesperson referred IndyStar to the released statement and did not answer questions about what to expect Thursday.

IU Indianapolis has seen similar sustained campouts as IU Bloomington, but with virtually no response from administration or law enforcement, despite the camp’s location not being in a designated free speech zone like Bloomington. The review document says administrators did not want a situation like Bloomington to develop, even though the same university-wide rules that prohibit protest camping apply to overnight campouts.

The variety of responses on both campuses has left students and faculty confused, wondering when and if the policy will be enforced. A key finding of the report was that “IU has a decades-long history of inconsistent enforcement of its policies.”

IU’s administration has been scrambling to ensure a new policy is in place before the start of the fall semester on Aug. 26. IU has frequently raised concerns about the encampments and student safety. The review noted at least two cases of homeless people at the Bloomington encampment, one of whom has a violent criminal record.

In the first few weeks of the camp, several confrontations broke out between protesters inside the camp and counter-protesters at the Chabad House. IUPD frequently separated the opposing groups when verbal exchanges became heated.

Since the end of the spring semester, camps have become significantly smaller and much quieter.

IU President Pamala Whitten has also expressed concern in emails to students and faculty about a connection between anti-Semitic incidents and the national encampment campaign. About 13% of IU Bloomington’s undergraduate student body is Jewish, and the encampment site is across the street from the Chabad House at IU.

University presidents across the country have come under fire from Congress and other federal and state officials for their handling of the protests, and IU is no exception. IU was already under investigation by the Department of Education for failing to properly respond to anti-Semitic incidents before the camps began in April.

Tyler Spence is a Pulliam Fellow. You can contact him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Protesters at IU Bloomington, Indy could be arrested Thursday