Column: Events at Dunn Meadow make clear free speech at Indiana University under attack

“Free speech and democratic values are in grave danger at Indiana University, the institution from which I recently graduated.”

These were my words of warning in an Op-Ed published on Feb. 20, as a response to Indiana University’s unwarranted suspension of Professor Abdulkader Sinno due to his pro-Palestinian opinions. Though some might have been skeptical of this “grave danger” I spoke of at the time, recent events on IU’s campus show that my analysis of the situation was far from hyperbolic.

As many of you are aware, college demonstrations protesting the continued violence in Gaza and the West Bank have spread across the country. Many of these events involve setting up encampments as a peaceful protest to showcase the protestor’s solidarity with Palestinians. This was no different down in Bloomington, as protestors showed up with camping gear, tents, and signs to Dunn Meadow, adjacent to the IU Memorial Union.

Dunn Meadow has been the go-to area for large, peaceful protests starting in 1969 – and IU policy since then stated protestors did not need to seek IU’s approval unless structures (in this case, tents) remained up past 11 p.m. This was the case even during similar encampment protests at IU, like in the 1980s, when students protested Apartheid in South Africa for weeks without issue. For so long, it seemed IU students had a definitive spot to mass protest per their First Amendment rights.

Until last month, of course.

In a move reminiscent of Richard M. Daley’s midnight bulldozing of Meigs airport in 2003 to bypass protests there, President Pamela Whitten claims an “Ad-Hoc Committee” was formed and passed a rule that suddenly banned structural forms of protest in Dunn Meadow – the night before the protest was to occur.

No faculty or students had any involvement in the decision. The rule was passed so rapidly and so close to the protest that most protestors had no idea there had been a change.

There could not be a more egregious example of a deliberate attempt to stifle free speech at Indiana University. Preventing a student assembly where the participants were non-violent is blatantly wrong. I understand that the situation in Gaza and Israel is incredibly emotional for everyone involved. Still, free speech should not be taken away from either side, particularly at a university that loves to promote its motto “Lux et Veritas” — or “Light and Truth.”

I support the right of free speech for anyone, whether it is the aforementioned pro-Palestinian protestors or the Chabad counter-protestors who were across the street. Whether I agree or disagree with either should not factor into their constitutionally protected rights.

There can be no clearer message from Whitten and the IU administration here: IU students simply do not have the right to free speech and assembly. Sure, you might have it if the administration concurs with what you believe in, but the second they disagree with you, they’ll change the rules, arrest you, and ban you from campus for a year (as was the case for the protestors arrested those two days).

The scenes of what can only be described as purposeful intimidation — armed police, snipers on the roof of the IMU, and rule changes in the middle of the night — stink of an administration that is increasingly out of step with its students and faculty.

You would think that the overwhelmingly high 93% vote of no confidence against Whitten and 91% against Provost Shrivastav would’ve been enough to set off alarm bells to the University’s board — but here we are again.

It does not matter who you are and what you believe in, as long as President Whitten and this current IU administration are in charge, your right to free speech is suspect at best. It does not matter if you’re Jewish or Palestinian, Republican or Democrat, if you voice an opinion out of step with what Whitten wants, you could be out the door.

President Whitten and the administration have two choices: Correct their behavior or continue to preside over a campus without faith in their ability to lead. Repressing free speech cannot be the new normal in Bloomington.

Carter Sherwin is a recent graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and a resident of Bloomington.