Faculty voice condemnation of IU actions after 22 more arrested at pro-Palestine protests

Indiana State Police troopers strengthened their response with arrests on Saturday as pro-Palestinian protesters continued to hold an encampment for Gaza on Indiana University’s Dunn Meadow. Protesters remained Sunday in Dunn Meadow but their numbers were fewer and there was no police action from the morning through at least 8 p.m.

Indiana University Police Department and ISP officers arrested 22 people around noon Saturday after protesters refused to take down tents that ISP troopers said violated policy at IU. ISP troopers dressed in full-black riot gear used riot shields, batons and zip ties to advance on and arrest protesters surrounding the encampment. Detainees were again taken to the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse and then to Monroe County Jail.

The right of protesters to use tents at Dunn Meadow has been the central point of conflict in police response to the encampment. The day before the pro-Palestine encampment began, IU quietly changed its policies to require “structures,” including tents, to be registered in advance.

That move has drawn condemnations from First Amendment experts inside and outside of IU, who say the action, its timing and the lack of clear communication from IU and ISP troopers amounts to "viewpoint discrimination."

IU and IUPD spokespeople still have not responded to questions from The Herald-Times about why policies were changed the day before the pro-Palestine encampment began and why police officers didn’t clarify the new policy to protesters.

Fallout from IU action: 'Serious First Amendment problem': A day before protests, IU changed a free assembly policy

Key student organizer arrested, given 5-year ban

Bryce Greene, the founder and graduate student adviser for IU’s Palestine Solidarity Committee who’s been a key organizer for the pro-Palestine encampment, was detained and given a trespass charge by IUPD on Saturday. Greene was given a five-year ban from all IU Bloomington properties. He says he plans to appeal the ban, and in the meantime, is continuing to support the Dunn Meadow protest on the public sidewalks surrounding campus.

Greene said he believes the response of IU and ISP to protesters has helped to further motivate the cause.

“Hour over hour, we have more people,” Greene said. “We have more people than we did yesterday. It’s going strong.”

Faculty condemnations of IU’s actions grow

A growing number of faculty members are calling on IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav to resign from their positions for their response to the protests. On Sunday a petition distributed to faculty by anthropology professor Shane Greene calling for Whitten and Shrivastav’s resignation has garnered over 450 signatures, although not every signature has a name attached to it, making it hard to gauge faculty numbers.

"The President’s and Provost’s decision to authorize unprovoked, violent, armed attacks on the very students and faculty they are supposed to protect proves without question that they have neither the administrative competence nor the basic human decency required to lead this campus and university," the petition reads. "We demand that President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav resign immediately or be terminated."

Faculty at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs also passed votes asking IU to withdraw the outdoor policy change approved by a four-person ad-hoc committee the day before the protest. They called on IU to allow all students, faculty and staff who were banned from IU premises after being arrested to be allowed back on campus immediately.

The executive committee of the IU Bloomington American Association of University Professors (AAUP) also released a statement calling on faculty to "condemn Thursday’s actions by the administration, to immediately reverse all university sanctions on those arrested, and to request that all criminal charges be summarily dismissed."

The statement also called on the IU Board of Trustees to investigate the process that led to the quiet policy change, and "to demand changes necessary to ensure that such a breach of the university’sprinciples never be repeated."

Faculty and graduate workers also are planning a protest calling on Whitten and Shrivastav to resign at Bryan Hall on Monday morning.

Response from Bloomington mayor

Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson released a video on Saturday about the recent arrests on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. She said she was updating people on "what is happening" and her position on the situation. Thomson said she supports "freedom of speech and the ability of our residents to express themselves in peaceful manner." She said Bloomington police were not a part of any of the police actions at IU.

On Sunday, Thomson released another video and statement clarifying remarks she made in Saturday's video on the City of Bloomington Office of the Mayor Facebook page. The statement, in part, reads:

“Bloomington, I’m coming to you today with an apology. I see now that my statement yesterday was less than clear, and that one statement in particular was harmful. ... In my message about the protests yesterday, I made a statement about the presence of outside groups. We had reports of Proud Boys and other involvement, and I had concern about the possibility of escalation beyond what our students and faculty present on campus were gathered to achieve. This statement, I see now, pointed the finger in the way I had not intended. I am sorry."

Thomson continued, saying that in the Saturday video she talked about the need to remain peaceful while protesting and "ensure de-escalation rather than use of force." Thomson said she was unclear and did not say she was referring to the state police "advance on peaceful protesters when I believe all routes to de-escalation had not been met."

"The purpose of my message yesterday was really intended to stand with the peaceful protesters and be clear that our police department — the Bloomington Police Department — would not be involved in advancing on the protesters. In fact, they advised against any such action."

Thomson said she met Saturday with a few Indiana University students who were part of the group that organized the protest and that she valued their insights. She ended the Sunday statement, saying, "I hope that in the future, there will be greater communication and collaboration with our team when Indiana University undertakes actions that affect all of Bloomington, not just campus. As I said yesterday, I stand with the protestors’ right to free speech, their right to assemble, and I ask that any future police involvement happens only when all de-escalation paths have been exhausted.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Faculty condemnation grows as pro-Palestine protests at IU continue