Week 9: Protesters continue to challenge Indiana University’s expressive activities policy

Sunday night was the ninth week in a row for a protest at Sample Gates in Bloomington, against Indiana University’s new “expressive activities” policy, which was effective Aug. 1.

Sample Gates is the spot where Kirkwood Avenue dead ends at the western edge of the Bloomington campus.

On the university campus, during the 7-hour window from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., the policy prohibits expressive activities like vigils.

Hosting the vigil on Sunday were Heather Akou and Barbara Dennis. Both are faculty at the university, who were arrested during two days of protests in late April, when the university used state police in riot gear to break up a protest encampment on Dunn Meadow in support of Gaza.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit over the policy on behalf of ten plaintiffs—all of whom joined the protest in Dunn Meadow against the war in Gaza on April 25, or in the following days, according to the filed complaint.

The timing of the regular Sunday night protests is meant to deliberately violate the new policy. In recent weeks, the protest has started at around 10:30 p.m. so that participants like Akou, who have already been sanctioned by the university and threatened with termination for further violations of the policy, can still speak on the campus side of the plaza.

A pattern has evolved: At 11 p.m. a handful of protesters who don’t want to risk termination from their jobs or expulsion from the school, retreat to the public sidewalk for the duration of the protest.

On Sunday, Dennis told the gathering: “If you are a student and you have concern, you get a misconduct violation, please know that Heather Akou and I, Barbara Dennis, are happy to support you as advocates in the process. So reach out, if you want an advocate.”

Akou reported that Rahul Shrivastav, university provost, had acknowledged over the past week that “exactly 20 people” have been sanctioned under the new policy on expressive activities (UA-10). That number reflects just those who have attended the weekly protest at Sample Gates, Akou said.

Akou, who is a named plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit, noted that the total of just 20 sanctioned people means that all of the university’s sanctions for violating the policy have been on people who were attending the weekly Sample Gates protest.

Akou called it “insane” for the university to focus just on the protesters, when many others routinely violate the policy as it is written. Akou said, “Just this weekend, Homecoming, think about the thousands of people who were here after 11 p.m. celebrating, talking with their friends, wearing clothing, all kinds of super subversive activities.” She continued, “And were any of them cited for violating the policy? No. It’s ridiculous.”

As another example of disparate treatment, Dennis described how pro-Palestinean sit-ins at Indiana University’s library unfolded earlier in the year.

Students were sitting at library tables with signs, distributing buttons to people who wanted them, QR codes for signing a petition, Dennis said. Library staff were watching and taking notes on the Palestinian protesters, she said, and did nothing when other students arrived and threw the signs on the ground, kicked them, and said “unkind things” to the students who were there in protest over Palestine.

The university is responding differently to different speech, Dennis said: “I mean, they’ll let students toss signs around, literally, pick them up and throw them in the middle of the library and not do anything, but they’re sitting there taking notes on what the Palestinian protesters are doing.”

On Sunday night, a staff member who has been sanctioned by the university for previously violating the policy and threatened with termination, stood near the boundary between campus and the public sidewalk along Indiana Avenue. They started their remarks on the public sidewalk: “Here, In the United States of America, I retain my freedom of speech.” They then took a step towards the Sample Gates: “But in here in Indiana University, I don’t have it.” They added, “I suppose I could speak after 11, but I’ll be fired, which I prefer not to be.”

A key claim in the ACLU’s lawsuit is that the 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. timeframe in UA-10 is “overbroad.”

All of the briefs have now been filed in connection with motion for a preliminary injunction, which was filed on Sept. 16.

On Oct. 1, the university filed its response to the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction. On Oct. 7, the ACLU filed its reply to the university’s response.

That means all the briefs are now filed in connection with the motion for a preliminary injunction, under the case management plan.