Bloomington council overrides mayor’s veto of resolution on Gaza by same 9–0 vote as before
At its regular Wednesday meeting, Bloomington’s city council voted 9–0 to override mayor Kerry Thomson’s veto of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza so that humanitarian aid can be delivered.
The 9–0 tally satisfied the two-thirds majority on the nine-member council that is required to override a mayoral veto.
Council chambers were packed on Wednesday night with a crowd who were there to support the override of the veto.
Many of that crowd also appeared to be in attendance in order to support speakers at the public mic who denounced the actions to taken by Indiana University president Pamela Whitten on April 25 and April 27, when she called in state riot police on Dunn Meadow protesters and made a total of 55 arrests over two days.
Council president Isabel Piedmont-Smith led off the meeting reading aloud an open letter to Whitten, signed by eight of nine councilmembers. The letter demanded among other things that the university rescind its quickly enacted new policy, that prohibits tents during the daytime in connection with Dunn Meadow protests.
Gaza resolution veto override
The resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire was approved nearly a month ago, on April 3—also on a unanimous 9–0 vote.
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson had stated at the council’s previous meeting, on March 27, that she would not be signing resolutions like the one on a Gaza ceasefire. In an emailed statement to councilmembers on April 15, Thomson wrote: “I will not spend city time on issues well beyond the scope or influence of our city’s government.”
In city council chambers, immediately after the April 3 meeting, Thomson responded to a B Square question about whether the 9–0 vote had changed her mind about a veto. “It did not,” she said.
The April 3 meeting featured hate speech from several commenters from the public.
In an email message to The B Square later in the early morning hours of April 4, Thomson’s position did not seem as certain: “I haven’t changed my mind and the truth is, my mind is quite full from what I heard.” She continued, “After what I heard tonight I was so disturbed…that I need some time to reflect.” Thomson added, “Tonight’s deliberations warrant more reflection than 30 seconds after a council meeting allows.”
Thomson did veto the resolution, but not by returning the resolution to the council with a veto message within 10 days of being presented with it. The city clerk presented the resolution to the mayor on April 9. At Wednesday’s meeting, Piedmont-Smith put it like this: “The mayor passively vetoed it on April 19.”
Under state law, the mayor is required either to sign legislation inside a 10-day window after being presented with it, or return it to the council with “a message announcing the executive’s veto and stating the executive’s reasons for the veto.” Thomson did not do either of those things.
But the failure of the executive to perform their duty with respect to legislation approved by the city council is analyzed under state law as having the same effect as a veto.
Council Member Dave Rollo, who put the resolution forward with Piedmont-Smith, gave brief remarks in support of it. “People are still suffering and dying, and it needs to end,” Rollo said. He added, “Bloomington has a long history of these resolutions.”
Wednesday’s vote marks the second city council override of a Thomson veto in the first four months of her term. In mid-April, the council also overrode Thomson’s veto of a resolution opposing a pipeline in northwest Indiana.
The council did not entertain public comment on the vote to override the mayor’s veto.
City council’s open letter to IU president
At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, during public comment on topics not on the agenda, several speakers addressed the police action in Dunn Meadow a few days earlier.
A handful of speakers delivered sharp criticism of Isak Asare, who was the one councilmember who did not sign the council’s open letter to IU president Pamela Whitten, calling for the new Dunn Meadow policy to be rescinded. The letter was released on Monday, April 29.
Asare is assistant dean for undergraduate affairs and co-director of the cybersecurity and global policy program at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
Immediately after the council’s letter was issued, Asare responded to a B Square question by confirming that it was a conscious choice that he made not to sign on to the letter.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Asare gave two basic reasons for not joining his city council colleagues in signing the letter. First, he does not think it’s appropriate for him, given his role as an IU faculty member, to use his role as a city councilmember to comment on IU operations. Second, he did not simply want to join in an angry chorus, but rather wanted to help build better outcomes in the future.
Asare put it like this:
The reason I did not sign the letter is, first off, because I don’t think it’s appropriate for me, as an IU faculty member to be opining on issues that the city council is doing, that directly relate to the operations at IU. I think that sort of as a principle, I shouldn’t do that. We have multiple methods to do that, as faculty members. And I have, and I will continue to use such methods.
But I think in the broader sense that I think it’s very easy when everyone is angry, to join with that chorus of anger. And I think that we need to have a space as well for thinking about: OK, how do we move forward from this? … What constructive outcomes can come out of a terrible, ugly situation. Very many mistakes were made. Very poor judgment was executed and lots of just immoral, wrong…bad decisions were made. I’d like to be a part of helping to solve it, not just being angry about it.
Responding to a B Square question about whether he had joined in the methods that faculty have available to weigh in on IU matters, Asare confirmed that he had taken part in a College of Arts and Sciences faculty vote on topics related to Dunn Meadow, the results of which he believes will be announced soon.
There were three resolutions put in front of the faculty, Asare said. One resolution called on the IU board of trustees to repeal the university’s new policy governing the use of Dunn Meadow, which was adopted by an ad hoc committee on April 24, 2024, and prohibits tents in the meadow during the day in connection with demonstrations. Asare voted yes, to call for the new policy’s repeal.
A second resolution called on the IU board of trustees to immediately repeal the campus bans imposed on students, faculty, staff and community members who have been arrested for violating the new Dunn Meadow. Asare said he voted yes on that resolution.
The third resolution called on the board of trustees to terminate the employment of President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav, based on a vote of no confidence and their handling of the events in Dunn Meadow. Asare said he voted no on the third resolution.
