Encampment protests at IU’s two largest campuses have been left alone for several months, but new policies from the Board of Trustees may lead to arrests later this week.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have occupied areas of IU’s Bloomington and IU Indianapolis campuses since April, with two major police interventions in Bloomington creating a significant backlash against the IU administration .
Since more than 50 protesters were arrested in Bloomington for violating rules related to setting up overnight structures, the IU administration has chosen not to intervene, according to an external review document from Cooley, a Chicago-based law firm. The review details IU’s response to the protests, including the policy change enacted by an ad hoc committee the day before protests began on April 25, creating confusion among students and faculty.
The document says administrators from IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis would wait until the Board of Trustees created rules before asking protesters to disassemble the encampment. With the latest policies enacted by the board on Monday, the campus administrators no longer need to wait. The updated expressive activity policy takes effect on Aug. 1.
The new policy prohibits using temporary structures without approval at least 10 days before and camping at any time unless approved in conjunction with a university-sanctioned event.
“The Dunn Meadow report validated the need to update policies that were outdated, unclear and inconsistent across IU’s campuses,” Trustees Chair W. Quinn Buckner said in a news release. “We can’t let one person or group’s expression infringe on the rights of others, disrupt learning experiences for our students, or interrupt regular university business.”
When asked about possible enforcement actions, an IU spokesperson referred IndyStar to the released statement and did not answer questions about what to expect on Thursday.
IU Indianapolis has seen similar ongoing encampments to IU Bloomington, but with virtually no response from the administration or police , despite the encampment's location not being in a designated free speech zone like in Bloomington. The review document says administrators did not want to see a situation unfold like in Bloomington, even though the same university-wide rules banning overnight camping as a form of protest apply to IU Indianapolis.
The range of responses on both campuses has confused students and faculty, who wonder when and if policies will be enforced. A key finding from the report was that “IU has a decades-long history of inconsistently enforcing its policies.”
IU’s administration has been racing to ensure a new policy before the start of the fall semester on Aug. 26. IU has routinely voiced concerns about the encampments and students’ safety. The review noted at least two instances of homeless individuals in the Bloomington camp, one of which has a violent criminal record.
Several standoffs occurred during the initial weeks of the encampment between encampment protesters and counter-protesters at the Chabad house, with IUPD frequently separating the opposing groups when verbal exchanges became heated.
The encampments have drawn down significantly and have been much quieter since the end of the spring semester.
IU President Pamala Whitten has additionally voiced concerns regarding a connection between anti-Semitic episodes and the national encampment campaign in emails to students and faculty. About 13% of IU Bloomington’s undergraduate students are Jewish , and the location of the encampment sits across the street from the Chabad house at IU.
University presidents across the country have faced criticism from Congress and other federal and state officials for handling the protests, and IU is no exception. IU was already under investigation by the Department of Education for not appropriately responding to anti-Semitic incidents before the encampments began in April.
Tyler Spence is a Pulliam Fellow. He can be contacted at jspence@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU looks to enforce new policy; protesters could be arrested Thursday
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