IU trustees approve camping ban, approval requirements for protesters

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — Pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday called a new campus free-expression policy a “spit in the face” to IU faculty and students.

The IU Board of Trustees early Monday afternoon approved a new set of rules governing protests on campuses systemwide.

Camping is now explicitly prohibited unless it is in connection with a university-sponsored activity. Protesters who wish to erect temporary structures in connection with their demonstration have to get university approval at least ten days in advance. Signs cannot be planted in the ground or hung from buildings or poles without written approval.

Additionally, protest activity can only happen between the hours of 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Ahead of Monday’s vote, board chair Quinn Buckner said the new policy balances the needs of freedom of expression and campus safety.

“We have to be able to be nimble, we have to be reasonable and we have to be smart about what we’re doing because we’re dealing in a situation where you have people who are trying to counter all of this,” he said. “There can be no disconnect between free speech and campus safety. Cannot happen.”

The vote came four days after officials released the results of an independent review of how the university handled protests in April against the war in Gaza.

The report’s authors concluded IU officials had not violated any laws or policies concerning free speech but the university needed a new expression policy and clearer guidelines for enforcement.

Under the new policy, university officials can immediately remove any signs or structures in violation of the policy and could issue citations or trespass charges against violators.

Trustees voted down several amendments before they approved the language, including language that would have reduced the advance notice requirement for temporary structures from ten days to three and language to allow the use of the Indiana State Police to enforce the policy only as a last resort.

The safety argument didn’t satisfy Bryce Greene, the leader of the Indiana University Divestment Coalition and a key organizer of the protests. He said he considers the policy to be a tool to repress free speech.

“No one wanted this policy to happen but the Board of Trustees decided to go with this policy anyway,” he said. “And so it’s just another spit in the face of the community, a spit in the face of students and faculty and it’s something that will justify future violence against protesters.”

Greene said the protests will continue. He said protesters’ demands have not changed: Full disclosure of and divestment from Israeli-connected companies and the resignation of IU Bloomington President Pam Whitten.

Two separate faculty groups released statements in the aftermath of the vote. A spokesperson for IU Faculty and Staff for Israel praised the new requirements, saying they were reasonable and content-neutral. The group said they hope the sanctions under the new policy will be applied consistently and fairly.

At the same time IU Faculty and Staff for Israel expresses its strong hope that the university will, in accordance with a recommendation in the Cooley Report, consistently and fairly enforce the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct. The code defines punishable harassment as “unwelcome or unwanted conduct that is persistent, severe, or pervasive, and impacts a student’s ability to access their education, or an individual’s personal safety, academic efforts, employment, or participation in university-sponsored programs or activities. This behavior includes, but is not limited to, direct or indirect written, verbal, physical, or electronic action or inaction.” Such harassment is a form of unprotected speech not directly addressed by the new Expressive Activity Policy, because such harassment is directed at individual members of the community rather than at conduct of the university’s official business.

IU Faculty and Staff for Israel

Meanwhile, the University Alliance for Racial Justice echoed Greene’s comments, saying the measure amounts to censorship and does nothing to address the way university officials responded to the protests at the time.

It is tempting in stressful times to view freedom of expression and safety as trade-offs. But there is no clause in the Bill of Rights that says “We hold these truths to be self-evident…until our leaders decide there is a threat to safety.” Indeed, it is a hallmark of anti-democratic regimes to limit dissent by creating fear for “safety.”

Russ Skiba, University Alliance for Racial Justice

The new policy goes into effect Aug. 1. Several tents were still set up on Dunn Meadow and numerous Palestinian flags were still planted in the lawn there as of Monday afternoon.

University officials would not directly answer whether the encampment would be removed, instead referring back to the new expression policy.