An organization for free speech alarms about Indiana University’s efforts to halt school protests
A free speech organization is raising the alarm over a draft expressive exercise policy that is being reviewed at Indiana University, claiming it is so large that it could effectively ban classroom speech if followed exactly.
A major point of contention is, for one, the plan’s definition of expressive exercise, stating it includes: “assemblies, talk, distribution of written material, carrying of signs, picketing, protests, counter-protests, or sit-ins”.
The proposal also states emotive activity “must not take place in areas that are used for academic, operational, or personal purposes, or are not usually open to the general public, quite as classrooms, studios, laboratories, personal space, or office areas”.
Laura Beltz, chairman of plan reform for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told The College Fix that because the proposal bans all expressive activity in areas used for academic, operational, or personal purposes, including classrooms, home spaces, and office areas, it could be used to reduce protected, nondisruptive protest.
According to Beltz, it might be prohibited to wear an armband in a library while protesting an invited speaker or someone silently carrying a protest sign.
But perhaps even more notably, she added, because the proposal defines expressive activity as including” speech”, and bans it in “instructional” areas —” IU has, presumably unintentionally, banned all speech in classrooms with this policy”.
Administrators are urged by FIRE to revise the policy, which is scheduled to take effect on August 1, alleging that as written, it amounts to administrative overreach and violates the rights of students.
Cooper Tinsley, president of the university’s student government, sent the policy draft to the campus community via email at the end of June asking for feedback, stating the deadline for feedback is July 15, according to local news reports.
Tinsley did not respond to The College Fix’s comments on the article.
After receiving criticism for its midnight policy change in April, when top administrators revised the outdoor policy, which had been in place for over 50 years, the night before a planned anti-Israel encampment was scheduled to go up, IU’s latest expressive activity policy draft is IU’s attempt to further clarify rules on campus protests.
The hastily written revise banned overnight camping and temporary structures, such as tents.
On April 25, the same day as the encampment protest and after 34 protesters were detained, President Pamela Whitten confirmed the policy change in an email to faculty, according to NPR.
That regulation angered many observers, including faculty and students, especially because it governed a campus-specific area called Dunn Meadow, which had for decades been a beacon of free speech and activism.
On May 3, FIRE sent a five-page memo to the school, citing several instances of tents being used on Dunn Meadow for peaceful protests for various causes, but it appeared to be attempting to stop the pro-Palestinian demonstration.
The memo stated that shortly after IU had pushed through this overnight policy change that protestors woke up to the alert that signs displaying the revised policy alerted them to Dunn Meadow the morning of April 25.
” ]R ] eports indicate that at about 4 p. m., the university sent in police officers—armed with assault weapons, riot shields, and pepper spray. These officers began forcefully removing protestors from tents, dragging them across a field, and zip-tying their hands”, the memo states, adding more than 50 protesters were arrested under the newly revised policy.
According to Beltz, the university’s proposed draft policy is still problematic because it “fully prohibits overnight camping, despite it being IU’s tradition to permit overnight camping in Dunn Meadow in connection with expressive activity.”
She added that the draft policy mandates that any temporary installations of any signs and structures be requested at least 10 days in advance. She noted that protesters frequently attempt to respond to recent or current events, so the lengthy time frame is prohibitive.
Signs “may not be affixed to or hang from any structure or property owned, leased, or managed by the University… without the prior consent of University Capital Planning and Facilities,” according to the draft policy.
This presumably makes it illegal for students to post flyers without school permission, which also makes it illegal for students to speak on an issue anonymously, Beltz said.
According to Beltz, “FIRE will be urging IU to take into account revisions to this policy to more narrowly target disruptive expressive activity.”
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