Dunn Meadow Statement

Dunn Meadow Statement

May 2, 2024

Dear CRRES community,

Many of our CRRES faculty and graduate student affiliates have been actively supporting the IU Divestment Coalition and the Palestinian Solidarity Committee in their efforts to establish a peaceful protest at Dunn Meadow since last Thursday, April 25, 2024. In the midst of writing open letters, de-escalating confrontations with the Indiana State Police, learning and teaching about the Palestinian freedom struggle, communing with others with food, chants, songs and poetry, we wanted to take a brief moment to publicly share our sentiments with each other and the world at large. We feel that our sentiments best align with the open letter below, which has received more than 1,000 signatures from IUB faculty as of May 1, 2024.

We want to be clear that we stand with our IUB faculty, students, and staff, as well those at other higher education institutions across the nation protesting the genocide in Gaza and violence against student protesters in universities and colleges across the U.S. The social movement we are witnessing nationwide is a strong reminder that the political liberation of all people cannot be achieved without protest.

We are also critical of media accounts portraying the Dunn Meadow encampment and others across the nation as antisemitic. This narrative is dismissive of the Jewish students and faculty members who are participating and leading the protests, and who refuse to allow university administrators and the police to justify the use of force in their name. This narrative also delegitimizes the Palestinian struggle for freedom by conflating Palestinians with Hamas. Palestinians’ demand to live in their own land cannot be equated with a terrorist group’s intent to engage in genocide. We believe it is possible to mourn the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, at the same time that we mourn the victims of the October 7th attack in Israel, and the agony of Israelis whose family members are still being held as hostages of Hamas. The IUB community is made up of various communities with numerous political viewpoints. Until each and every group has the capacity to express their political beliefs freely, we will continue to promote peaceful protests and demand an end to genocide.

Open Letter from Indiana University Bloomington Faculty

To: The Indiana University Board of Trustees, Indiana University Alumni, and Concerned Citizens of the State of Indiana

As faculty members of Indiana University Bloomington, we are appalled and ashamed by the militarized response to the peaceful campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav authorized an unnecessarily aggressive reaction first on Thursday, April 25, and again on Saturday, April 27. Many of us have been direct witnesses as Indiana State Police brutalized and arrested unarmed students and fellow faculty colleagues holding an entirely peaceful rally on Dunn Meadow. Rally participants were expressing their rights to freedom of speech and assembly: two of the most basic principles of US democracy and American higher education.

By action of the Trustees in 1969 and under a policy created by an appointed faculty committee in 1989, Dunn Meadow is a dedicated free speech and assembly area on campus with a long history of peaceful protest, including encampments in 1991 during the Gulf War. The “ad hoc committee” decision on April 24th to revise the Dunn Meadow free speech and assembly policy BL-ACA-I18 was clearly done to disadvantage and discriminate against a group based on their viewpoint, violating well-established First Amendment law.

The student organizers of the protest come to this public space on campus with nothing more than food, provisional tents, music, art, prayer, and chants. The Indiana State Police come with orders from President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav in full riot gear: they bear automatic weapons, carry tear gas and batons, and position snipers with guns aimed directly at students from the rooftop of the Indiana Memorial Union. Faculty have watched as students and colleagues were beaten to the ground, some hogtied as if they were animals, despite their lack of resistance in the face of arrest. We have witnessed heavily armed police officers kick, punch, tackle, body slam, and beat students. We have also seen police explicitly target and arrest some of the more vocal organizers of the protest – many of whom are students of color - even when they were not on the front line of those protecting the encampment. This force was not used because the protesters were violent or provocative; its sole justification was President Whitten’s decision that tents and signs were symbols too dangerous to tolerate.

This outrageous violation of the safety and well-being of our university community must stop now, before someone is killed.

This latest and most egregiously shameful display of President Whitten’s and Provost Shrivastav’s ineptitude and lack of moral compass follows in the wake of the IUB Faculty’s Vote of No Confidence on April 16, 2024. Out of nearly 900 voting faculty members, 93% expressed no confidence in President Whitten and 91% expressed no confidence in Provost Shrivastav.

The President’s and Provost’s decision to authorize unprovoked, violent, armed attacks on the very students and faculty they are supposed to protect proves without question that they have neither the administrative competence nor the basic human decency required to lead this campus and university.

We demand that President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav resign immediately or be terminated.

Stay safe and please do let us know how CRRES can support you at this time. Meanwhile, members of the campus community have access to the following mental health and other resources, including via remote access:

• For all members of the campus community: Timely Care offers FREE, 24/7 virtual mental health support including on-demand support, health coaching, peer support and topical resources.

• For students: CAPS – Counseling and Psychological Services. Please visit their website to find information about the virtual services they offer in support of student mental health and well-being.

• Student Advocates are available to listen non-judgmentally, provide unconditional support, and to assist in resolving academic, financial and conduct challenges. • Student Care and Resource Center staff can assist with any additional resource information you may need.

• At the School of Education: Counseling and Wellness Clinic provides support mild to moderate mental health issues. Multilingual services are also available in English, Mandarin, and Spanish.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Martinez
CRRES Director

Sonia Lee
CRRES Associate Director