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Bloomington Faculty Council President Colin R. Johnson released an open letter Monday calling for IU President Pamela Whitten’s resignation or removal.
The letter comes after a protest Monday with hundreds of faculty, graduate workers and community members outside Bryan Hall calling for Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s resignations.
Johnson wrote in his letter that Whitten has used some provisions of the 1969 policy for the use of IU assembly ground, but ignored certain other provisions within the policy.
Specifically, Johnson wrote that the events of the past week are not reconcilable with a provision that said the university should not use physical force to enforce rules against unapproved structures and overnight camping at Dunn Meadow.
“In cases of non-compliance, the University should use the legal process to enforce its legal rights,” the policy reads.
“That physical force was used as a first resort, on the very first day of the protest, rather than a last resort, constitutes an even greater affront to that wisdom,” Johnson’s letter reads.
The letter makes a specific argument for Whitten’s resignation or removal “that is likely to be more persuasive to the people who are best positioned to respond to it.” According to Whitten’s contract, which was obtained by Indiana Public Media, the Board of Trustees has the power to end her employment.
The specific argument broadly says that it will be impossible for students, faculty and staff to look past the events of the past week or the “frustrating and dispiriting events of the past three years” and continue the normal functions of the university.
“President Whitten has clearly become a liability to Indiana University,” the letter reads.
The letter says that Whitten damaged the university’s reputation through constant controversy and through violating its foundational principles.
IU Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly voted in favor of a no confidence motion for Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty on April 16.
However, Johnson writes that in the past few days, faculty members have become more outraged than ever. He argues that Whitten’s tainted reputation damages the entire organization’s credibility and reputation.
“And it is a reputation that is currently being trod upon and damaged in the most distressing and abhorrent ways,” the letter reads. He ends the letter, “the time has come for the Whitten administration to end.”
6 p.m. in Dunn Meadow
As rain poured down on Dunn Meadow, protesters huddled under multiple canopies and tents. Some stayed sitting on tarps, covering themselves with umbrellas.
The Palestinian flags on poles in the encampment hung soaked with the rain. Amongst the encampment, other cardboard and papers signs stood drenched and shaded darker with water marks. Some cars honked as they passed by, as they have been for the past few days.
As the rain picked up, the protesters continued their stay on the muddy and dampened meadow.
3 p.m.
Guy Loftman, a retired attorney who helped organize the first anti-Vietnam war protest on IU’s campus during the 1960s, told the IDS he and other students worked with then-Dean of Students Robert Shaffer to develop the policy that designated Dunn Meadow as an assembly ground.
Loftman, who also served as IU student body president and organized IU’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter, said the policy was made official by the Board of Trustees in 1960.
“And now, President Whitten has decided that these Board of Trustee policies don’t control her actions,” he said.
Though the university cited a provision in the policy that recommended the creation of a committee with faculty and student representatives when they updated the policy on the eve of the IU Divestment Coalition’s protest, Loftman said their interpretation was incorrect. The provision was originally intended to create an oversight committee to change policies as time changes, but his understanding was that changes still required approval from the Board of Trustees, he said. The committee IU charged with updating policy also did not contain student or faculty representatives.
“They’re just looking for an after-the-fact justification for what they did,” Loftman said.
He also criticized Whitten’s Sunday night email, where she called the encampments “magnets for those making threats of violence.”
“Saying ‘I’m afraid something bad will happen if we let people express themselves’ was complete nonsense,” he said. “That defeats the whole purpose.”
Noting that the original policy recommended against the use of police force, Loftman said he never saw sights like state police in Dunn Meadow or police on the roof of the IMU with rifles when he was at IU.
“The idea is just totally, totally anathema to just everything that this university stands for,” he said.
Loftman paused and then corrected his earlier statement.
“Stood for,” he said. “I’m not sure it stands for it anymore.”
2:23 p.m. via email
In an email to faculty, Bloomington Faculty Council president-elect Danielle DeSawal called the events of the last few days “disturbing" and expressed disappointment with the results of her meeting with Shrivastav on Sunday, which Whitten referenced in an email to the IU community.
While DeSawal wrote that participants “shared the space in good faith,” the two goals of the meeting — revoking the change to policy and ensuring state police would no longer engage with protesters — were not achieved.
“While we were able to have productive conversations, I am disappointed in the early release of the message to provide an update, as it was sent without review of anyone who was in the meeting,” she wrote. “That has resulted in additional confusion and more mistrust in our ability to move forward collectively with the administration. It saddens me deeply to have to share that viewpoint.”
DeSawal also confirmed that the BFC was not involved in the ad hoc committee nor the creation of the updated policy, as recommended by a section of the original policy. She criticized the lack of clarity regarding how students could gain approval for the structures on the signs placed in Dunn Meadow the morning of the protest Thursday and the impracticality of asking students to gain approval for an event scheduled the day after the policy requiring approval was created. The use of force by state police, she wrote, was done without consultation from students, the BFC or the two ad hoc committee members present at the meeting.
The ad hoc committee consisted of four administrators according to faculty sources and multiple media outlets. They include Superintendent for Public Safety Benjamin Hunter, Associate Vice President of Events and Conferences Doug Booher, Vice Provost for Student Life Lamar Hylton and Vasti Torres, the interim vice provost for undergraduate education.
DeSawal concluded her email with a commitment to represent the voices of faculty when trying to find a path forward.
2:15 p.m. in Dunn Meadow
Former Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton walked around the exterior of the encampment in Dunn Meadow speaking to protesters.
“I wanted to make clear that I support the right of people to protest, of course, and express their views,” Hamilton said in an interview with the IDS. “I also wanted to express support for the strong hope that the administration of the university — that cooler heads will prevail and fix what has been done.”
Former Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton is pictured April 29, 2024, at Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. Hamilton served as mayor for eight years.
He said the university’s decision to change long-standing policy to ban unapproved structures without prior approval the night before the IU Divestment Coalition set up their encampment Thursday was “inadvisable at best, and unconstitutional probably.”
Hamilton also expressed shock at the use of Indiana State Police to arrest protesters and those protesters’ subsequent bans from campus.
“The bringing out of the very radical show of police force with the state police and heavily armed was not necessary in my view,” Hamilton said. “But even more specifically to me, I have never heard of banning — banishment — from campus for numbers of people who were peacefully protesting.”
Hamilton said he thanked students banned from campus for expressing themselves and apologized on behalf of the Bloomington community. However, he said it will be up to administration and the IU Board of Trustees to improve the situation.
Hamilton said the Dunn Meadow encampment will play a part in what happens in Gaza.
“There are hundreds of views on what ought to happen in the Middle East, and it’s a terrible cycle of violence that needs to be hopefully remedied, but no doubt what happened here is part of that process.”
1:37 p.m. online
The Bloomington City Council sent an open letter to President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav demanding the university drop criminal charges and bans from campus brought against the 56 arrested protesters.
The letter, signed by all eight councilmembers, expressed the council’s concern with the IU administration’s response to the demonstration and encampments in Dunn Meadow. Specifically, the letter mentions how IU changed its policy on the use of temporary structures in Dunn Meadow to ban the use of structures without prior approval the day before the IU Divestment Coalition set up its encampment April 25.
“The context under which the new policy was instituted indicates that the new rules were meant to directly target the April 25 rally and its subject matter, violating Bloomington residents’ First Amendment rights,” the letter said. “We denounce these actions and demand that the new policy be immediately rescinded.”
The letter also describes the Indiana State Police response as “far in excess of what was necessary" to enforce IU’s new policy.
“The large number of police officers, the weapons displayed and used by the officers, and their forceful actions to arrest protesters only served to escalate the situation,” the letter read. “Their violent response to peaceful protest is unacceptable.”
The council demanded IU immediately revoke any bans or disciplinary charges against the protesters. According to an email from Rick Van Kooten, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, those who received a campus ban can appeal by contacting IUPD administration on their website or by emailing at iupsadmn@iu.edu. When an appeal is submitted, individuals will receive the appeal's outcome within 15 business days. Van Kooten said the trespass bans will be suspended in the appeals process in most cases.
Some protesters who were banned from campus have struggled to contact IU about the appeals process. One protester told the IDS on Sunday that the process has been slow and frustrating.
“We swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, including the First Amendment,” the letter said. “The actions of IU President Whitten’s administration in recent days have been harmful to our community. We expect better. Bloomington deserves better.”
Around 1:30 p.m. in Dunn Meadow
Around 100 protesters remained in Dunn Meadow. Some sang songs while others prayed. Many just sat on the grass or blankets.
One protester in Dunn Meadow brought their dog, a small Boston terrier, to the encampment.
“Just Frank,” his owner said his name was.
A protester who was arrested and banned from campus stood on the sidewalk, which is managed by the city.
They asked the owner if they could pet the dog. The owner brought Frank up the hill.
They pet Frank.
12:30 p.m. in Dunn Meadow
Clouds covered the encampment in Dunn Meadow as the crowd dwindled to about 100 protesters. They looked up toward East Seventh Street.
Tom Sweeney, an IU alumnus arrested during an April 8 protest on the day of the eclipse, took hold of a megaphone from the sidewalk by the street.
IU alumnus Tom Sweeney holds a megaphone as he speaks to protesters April 29, 2024, at Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. Sweeney was recently arrested April 8, 2024, in Dunn Meadow during a separate pro-Palestinian protest.
He told the story of former IU President Elvis J. Stahr's resignation in 1968.
Stahr resigned following the student power movement because of what he called “presidential fatigue,” or “the result of 24 straight years of working for unusually long hours in unusually demanding jobs."
The student power movement was nationwide and included two campus demonstrations at IU in October 1967. Students protested Dow Chemical recruiters and a speech by Secretary of State Dean Rusk in the context of the Vietnam War.
Dow Chemical produced napalm, which was used in the Vietnam War.
"I was the recipient of an Elvis J. Stahr Award for campus leadership, which is a joke, because that man was anything but a supporter of campus leadership," Sweeney said.
Sweeney received the award in 2020.
Herman B Wells served as president from 1938-62 and was succeeded by Stahr in 1962. When Stahr resigned in 1968, Wells served as interim president for three months.
Sweeney said Wells fought for the Kinsey Institute, Black students and free speech.
"He said, 'We must listen to our students, for that is the legacy of Indiana University,'" Sweeney said. “Herman B Wells fought for the right of students to assemble for a better community.”
A crowd of protesters are pictured April 29, 2024, at Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. Hundreds of protesters came from the Rally for Resignations at Bryan Hall to join the encampment in Dunn Meadow.
Sweeney finished by urging IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav to resign considering the arrests of protesters.
“It is a disgrace and a humiliation to the movement and the values and the principles that Herman B Wells fought for,” he said.
Noon at Dunn Meadow
The chants of hundreds of protesters, some of whom walked over from the Rally for Resignations at Bryan Hall, continued to call for President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav’s resignations. Palestinian flags waved in the air as the crowd gathered around encampment leaders chanting among three canopies and five tents.
A crowd of protesters walk into Dunn Meadow on April 29, 2024, in Bloomington. Hundreds of protesters came from a protest outside Bryan Hall calling for President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav’s resignations.
An ambulance drove down East Seventh Street with its siren capturing the attention of the crowd. While passing the protesters, the ambulance rang its horn several times, eliciting loud cheers from Dunn Meadow.
On the sidewalk, Bryce Greene, one of the leaders of the encampment and graduate advisor of the IU Palestine Solidarity Committee, played on a drum set. The syncopated rhythm rang with chants such as “disclose, divest. We will not stop. We will not rest,” and “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry; all the people are by your side.”
Greene then broke off into his own rhythm, a drum solo that the crowd applauded.
Afterward, Bryce spoke into a megaphone, asking students and faculty to walk out from their remaining classes.
“The only time we have seen change made in history is when people organize,” he said.
He led more chants before handing the megaphone over to other protesters.
Around 11:45 p.m. on Indiana Avenue
Following the Rally for Resignations, protesters walked down Indiana Avenue which was , closed off by police due to the protest, to join the encampment in Dunn Meadow.
Hundreds filtered into Dunn Meadow, creating one of the largest crowds since the encampments began Thursday.
11 a.m. outside Bryan Hall
David McDonald, associate professor of folklore and ethno-musicology, stood in the middle of Indiana Avenue outside of Starbucks. Into the megaphone, he said that he has been banned from his own classroom and has been told by the administration that he will have to finish out the semester teaching his students off campus and on Zoom.
McDonald was arrested in Dunn Meadow on Thursday and charged with criminal trespass. He received a one-year ban from campus. He said the ban appeal process is flawed, as IU President Pamela Whitten must review the appeals.
“The power balance is wrong,” McDonald said.
He also criticized Whitten's leadership.
“I’m not asking she resign as many of you are today, I’m demanding she be fired,” he said.
Hundreds of facutly, students and community members look to the other side of Indiana Avenue as arrested protesters speak into a megaphone April 29, 2024, at Bryan Hall in Bloomington. The protesters who were arrested were banned for at least one year.
During his speech, the surrounding crowd cheered and clapped. His speech continued.
McDonald said despite the events of the last few days, he doesn’t want to leave IU.
“I am not going to leave Indiana University, and you know what, neither should you,” McDonald said. “Because this is Indiana University. What’s going on in Dunn Meadow right now, that is Indiana University. And you want to know how I know this? Because we are Indiana University. She can’t have it.”
He began a chant which went, “who’s IU? Our IU.”
Around 10:40 a.m. on Indiana Avenue
IU professor Barbara Dennis was arrested at the encampment Thursday and spoke at the Rally for Resignations at Bryan Hall. She gathered some protesters who were arrested Thursday and Saturday — they recalled linking their arms while being pushed by Indiana State Police troopers.
“I am here because I mourn the murder of over 13,000 children,” she said into the megaphone. “I am here because I refuse to be a bystander to genocide."
Dennis cried into the megaphone, screaming why she has protested since Thursday.
“I am here because I have a lot to learn and I should learn,” Dennis said. “I am here because IU leadership is failing us.”
10 a.m. outside Bryan Hall
At least 300 faculty, graduate workers and other protesters gathered outside Bryan Hall — where the office of the Provost is located — to rally for the immediate resignation of IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav over free speech concerns on campus and excessive force perpetrated against students by police. Some protesters also called for the resignation of Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty and Superintendent of Public Safety Benjamin Hunter.
IU Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly voted in favor of a no confidence motion for Whitten, Shrivastav and Docherty on April 16.
Protesters held signs calling for Whitten’s resignation and signed open letters from faculty and students calling for her to step down. Demonstrators placed several “no confidence” stickers on the wall of Bryan Hall.
Speakers included suspended professor Abdulkader Sinno, current faculty and members of the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition. Professors who were arrested at the encampment, including David McDonald, Barbara Dennis and Heather Akou, also spoke.
Demonstrators also stood outside the Starbucks across Indiana Avenue. Encampment leaders Aidan Khamis and Bryce Greene, who were arrested and banned from campus Saturday, spoke in the street.
Bryce Greene speaks into a microphone to a crowd at the Rally for Resignations April 29, 2024 at Bryan Hall in Bloomington. Greene was arrested on April 27, 2024.
IU police blocked off the street after protesters began to spill from the sidewalks onto the street.
9 a.m. at Dunn Meadow
Bryce Greene, a leader of the encampment at Dunn Meadow who was arrested and banned from campus for five years Saturday, led a press conference on the sidewalk of Seventh Street Monday morning.
Greene started with an opening statement refuting claims made in the letter released by IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav Sunday evening. The letter was the first public statement signed by Whitten and Shrivastav since the protests began on Thursday.
Bryce Greene, one of the leaders of the Gaza encampment at IU, speaks with members of the media April 29, 2024, in Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. Greene answered questions on Monday morning.
Greene denounced Whitten’s use of aggressive police force at Dunn Meadow on Thursday and Saturday to arrest 56 protesters, adding that her allegations of antisemitism to justify the use of force in the letter were meant to smear pro-Palestine ideology.
There have been reports on social media and expressed to IDS reporters of both antisemitic and Islamophobic violence on campus this semester, including in the last four days. The IDS is working to confirm these reports.
“Criticism of Israel has nothing to do with the Jewish people or Judaism at all,” Greene said. “It has everything to do with political ideology.”
Greene also addressed the letter’s claim that unregulated encampments were “magnets” for violence and bad faith actors.
“I think anyone on campus — students, faculty, staff — can tell you that their perceived threat to their security did not come from nonviolent students in a park with a tent,” he said. “It came from the show of military force.”
He added that continued police presence created an unsafe space for students that they did not create themselves.
Greene confirmed that the reference in the letter to a request made by a student organization for a 48-hour reservation of space in Dunn Meadow was no longer accurate. He said that a student who wished to remain unnamed initially made the request on behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Committee but revoked their request after being told they would be held responsible for what occurred during the allotted time.
A reporter asked Bryce about statements made by Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter and other law enforcement officials regarding antisemitism at the encampment.
Carter said in an interview with Fox 59 News that protesters at the encampment were making antisemitic remarks.
Other law enforcement sources said the protesters were chanting slogans like “We Are Hamas” and “Death to all Jewish people,” according to Fox 59. No Indiana Daily Student reporters at the scene since Thursday have heard those or similar chants.
“If he can provide any evidence for those statements, I’d be happy to review it,” Greene said. “But based on our experiences in the encampment, this is completely fabricated.”
Greene also addressed rumors of weapons in the encampment, saying that he believed there were accusations being made at an administrative level.
“We'd like to reiterate that this is a non-violent demonstration, a peaceful demonstration,” he said. “We would not allow any violence or intentions of violence to be in the encampment, and any insinuation otherwise is incorrect.”
Greene said he and other leaders of the encampment were working on a written response to Whitten and Shrivastav’s letter.
During the arrests Thursday and Saturday, police confiscated materials from the encampment, but Greene said that they have received many donations of food and medical supplies from community members to refuel the encampment.
“Students are very encouraged by the response from the community,” Greene said. “Spirits are high, and we’re ready to keep this thing going until our demands are met.”
Greene concluded by calling for attention to be refocused on the war in Gaza.
“This is about a genocide,” he said. “This is about wars that we are trying to end, and this is about a nation of people we’re trying to uplift.”
The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in January stating there was “plausible” evidence Israel was violating portions of the 1948 Genocide Convention. While the court ordered Israel to increase aid in Gaza and prevent acts of genocide, it did not order a ceasefire in the war. However, Israeli officials rejected these allegations and argued representatives from South Africa, who brought the case to the court, were “weaponizing” the international convention against genocide.
CORRECTION: The dominant photo caption has been corrected to more accurately reflect the intentions of the faculty protest at Bryan Hall.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that Bloomington Faculty Council president-elect Danielle DeSawal met with Provost Rahul Shrivastav.
