'I begged you yesterday not to make martyrs': An inside look into IU's protest response

The night and early morning hours before planned encampment protests began at Indiana University , top administrators worked rapidly to respond.

Some appeared shocked at the arrests that followed.

The Herald-Times obtained hundreds of emails sent and received by Provost Rahul Shrivastav and members of the ad hoc committee that changed decades-old policy the night before the IU Divestment Coalition’s protest was scheduled to begin. They offer a glimpse into the decision-making that resulted in the arrests of 55 protesters – most of whom were IU students, faculty and staff.

A late-night meeting and the arrests that followed

On the eve of the first day of IU’s protests, Vasti Torres, interim vice provost for undergraduate education, Superintendent for Public Safety Benjamin Hunter, Doug Booher, associate vice president for events and conferences and Lamar Hylton, vice provost for student life, received an email from the provost with “urgent” in the subject line.

It was 10:27 p.m., and Shrivastav was appointing the four administrators to an “ad hoc committee,” citing “emerging information” and the nationwide context of encampment protests. Three minutes later, they met on Zoom with senior associate general counsel Anne Jbara and Andrea Newsom in attendance as advisors.

By 11:40 p.m., IU had a new policy. A flurry of emails followed, directing IU Document Services to create signs and handouts using language crafted during the hour-long meeting.

What exactly the group discussed is not clear, but multiple emails from Torres in the days that followed shed light on what was not discussed: state police or “any of the actions taken” April 25.

“During that meeting the ONLY thing we discussed was language regarding structures on Dunn Meadows,” Torres wrote in an email addressed to "Undergraduate Education."

Torres did not return a call asking for comment.

Emails the morning of April 25 show Indiana University Police Department’s initial plan was to prevent organizers from erecting tents in the first place, which was apparently unsuccessful. In the email, Hunter describes plans to “move IUPD officers from the state to IU Bloomington” in advance of the protest.

For her part, interim chief Margo Bennett didn’t appear too worried, emailing Hunter a news article and her thoughts on the nationwide protest movement shortly after 8 a.m.

“It’s alot like the black lives movement without the violence and property destruction,” she wrote. “A lot like protests associated with the anti-Vietnam War movement, the free speech movement…efforts to stop the machine in order to bring change.”

If the group focused on Hamas’ atrocities as well as the atrocities in Gaza, they would “have a better chance at peace,” she wrote. She wished Hunter luck with the protests.

Bennett is relatively new to IU, hired as interim after IU did not hire either of the final police chief candidates it held town halls for in November. Bennett retired from her job as chief of police for University of California Berkeley’s police department in 2022. Before Berkeley, she worked as a special agent for the FBI and currently is a special advisor for the Healy+ Group, which provides services ranging from Clery Act Compliance to diversity, equity and inclusion strategies.

As the day progressed, administrators fielded an email regarding protesters who were confused as to why the policy advertised on the signs was not easily available online. When students were arrested and taken to Gladstein Fieldhouse on campus buses, the administrators were met with a flood of emails expressing fury, disappointment and, in some cases, gratitude.

Police monitor social media, consider declaring “unlawful assembly”

More than two hours before Indiana State Police began making arrests on April 25, it appears ISP and IUPD were looking for a reason to arrest protesters. Monroe County Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Kehr told Hunter in an email that declaring the Dunn Meadow group an “unlawful assembly,” as ISP had apparently advised, could not occur unless the group became a riot.

“(W)hich is not what you have (yet anyway),” Kehr wrote.

In an interview with the H-T in May, ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said protesters were ultimately arrested for trespassing because they did not take down their tents when asked.

As the protests continued, documents show IU public safety officials were monitoring specific social media pages and accounts to track the protests. In one email, officials describe protest planning on the Indiana University subreddit, while a document titled “Protest and Dunn Meadow Intel” lists specific X accounts to monitor for their protest content, including individuals as well as @IUOnStrike.

The document also contained screenshots of X posts describing the potential First Amendment implications of the policy change from the account of IU Maurer School of Law professor Steve Sanders.

Emails give inside glance into reactions of administrators

In internal communications, some administrators expressed their disappointment in seeing students and faculty arrested.

The night of April 25, Hutton Honors College dean Rebecca Spang emailed Shrivastav, writing she understood the pressures he and President Pamela Whitten faced and admitting even Herman B Wells may not have been able to “thread the needle” were he in charge today.

“But I begged you yesterday not to make martyrs and I am afraid you made 34 of them today,” she wrote. “I worry this is a bad look.”

In the days after Spang’s email, Shrivastav and Whitten faced calls for their resignations from faculty, students and donors. Schools such as the College of Arts and Sciences and the Luddy School of Informatics passed resolutions calling for the end of the administrators’ tenure while then-Bloomington Faculty Council president Colin Johnson argued Whitten’s leadership had damaged IU’s reputation.

Shrivastav later responded to Spang’s email, admitting there were no easy answers or perfect responses to the protests.

“But I will sleep well knowing that we made the right choice given the information we had at that time,” he wrote.

Though ISP later confirmed it had personnel with sniper rifles in “overwatch” positions, Shrivastav wrote at the time that rumors of a sniper on the roof of the IMU were untrue, claiming the individuals only had binoculars and a scope. He also wrote that Whitten was in support of a quick return to campus for arrested faculty members.

“Nobody - and especially me (or Pam for that matter) - wanted to see the arrests happen,” he wrote.

Reach Marissa Meador at mmeador@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 'I begged you yesterday not to make martyrs': An inside look into IU's protest response