On Thursday, April 25th, pro-Palestinian Indiana University students and faculty organized and participated in a protest against continued IU administration ties to producers, developers, and distributors of federal military resources to Israel. Thirty-three protesters were arrested at Dunn Meadow, and later released. On Saturday, April 27th, 22 more protesters were arrested at the same location. Many arrestees received formal yearlong trespass warrants- thus prohibiting them from entering campus until early 2025.
Protesters began to gather at Dunn Meadow early Thursday morning, prior to installing encampments across the area. University, state, and national law enforcement members arrived, monitored and later intervened in the event with riot gear. On Wednesday, April 24th, Indiana University administrators overturned the decades-long rule allowing encampments to occur, and justified arrests and uses of force based on this change.
South junior Lewis Robinson, whose father was among the faculty arrested at the protest, stated that “students and faculty were subject to unjust violence from state and national law enforcement,” and believed that these actions represented a “disproportionate attack on the freedom of speech in America.”
The protest occurred in the midst of various criticisms of Indiana University administration/personnel actions. IU president Pamela Whitten and provost Rahul Shrivastav recently received a staggering 94% no-confidence vote among university faculty. Additionally, Whitten and Shrivastav have faced increasing pressure to resign from their respective positions due to the vote.
Multiple prominent higher education institutions throughout the nation have experienced similar pro-Palestinian protests and encampments from students and faculty members within the past week, including the University of Southern California (USC), who cancelled this year’s commencement ceremony due to “safety concerns,” Ohio State, Harvard, UCLA, GW, and most notably, Columbia University.
Both new and prolonged protests have continued, locally and nationally, throughout the past two weeks. Students and staff state that encampments and vehement opposition to university practices will continue until institutions divest from corporations supporting Israeli military actions.
