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.
The new policy goes into effect on Thursday, Aug. 1. Several tents were still set up on Dunn Meadow and numerous Palestinian flags were still stuck 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.