The Bloomington City Council overrode Mayor Kerry Thomson’s veto of a resolution calling for more aid and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War during their regular meeting Wednesday. Councilmembers voted unanimously to override the veto.
Thomson failed to sign the resolution within 10 days of it coming to her desk, meaning it was considered a pocket veto under Indiana law. Thomson told the council during their meeting March 27 that she intended not to sign any resolutions addressing issues outside of city business. Thomson also pocket vetoed a resolution opposing the LEAP water pipeline, which the council voted to override on April 17.
The resolution directs City Clerk Nicole Bolden to send a copy of the legislation to the Indiana Congressional delegation and President Joe Biden. It asks national leaders to work toward a bilateral ceasefire to allow more humanitarian aid in the war. It condemns Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians — when about 1,200 people in Israel were killed — and opposes “all violence that leads to the loss of innocent civilian lives and ongoing human suffering in both Palestine and Israel.” In response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli government launched an airstrike campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, two-thirds them women and children.
The resolution also calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken by Hamas. Hamas took around 250 hostages Oct. 7 and has since released 110 hostages. The Israeli military believes Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others, according to the Associated Press.
The council’s vote comes two days after eight members of the council sent an open letter to IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav demanding the university drop criminal charges and bans from campus brought against pro-Palestinian protesters arrested during a week-long encampment and protest in Dunn Meadow that is still ongoing. The letter was signed by every councilmember except Isak Asare.
Indiana State Police and the Indiana University Police Department forcefully arrested 57 peaceful protesters in Dunn Meadow April 27 and April 29 during a protest and encampment, which is now in its eighth day. Many people arrested were charged with campus trespass and received a ban from campus for at least one year.
Around 60 people filled council chambers Wednesday night for the meeting, and many spectators held signs reading “Let Gaza Live,” “Override Mayor’s Veto” and “Thank You City Council.”
Before Thomson’s first State of the City address on April 9, demonstrators lined the sidewalk outside the event’s location holding signs urging Thomson to sign the resolution. The demonstrators expressed disappointment and anger with Thomson’s intent to veto.
During public comment Wednesday night, some community members thanked the council for speaking out against the IU administration's actions and use of police force in response to the encampment. However, one public commenter spoke directly to councilmember Asare and asked him to “break his silence” on the encampment and the IU Divestment Coalition’s demands. The coalition is calling for Whitten, Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty to resign. It also calls for IU to ends it collaboration with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, adhere to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — which means IU would financially divest from Israel — and open Muslim and Middle Eastern cultural centers.
The letter mentions that IU changed its policy a day before the encampment began April 25, effectively banning the use of temporary structures in Dunn Meadow without prior approval. The council argued the policy change violated Bloomington residents’ First Amendment rights and demanded IU immediately rescind it.
Asare told the Indiana Daily Student he agrees with the content of the letter but did not sign it because he is an IU employee and doesn’t think he should use his position as a councilmember to make demands from IU, especially when he already participated in faculty votes on the issues. Asare is an assistant dean for undergraduate affairs for the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and co-director of the school’s cybersecurity and global policy program.
Asare recently voted in his capacity as an IU faculty member to call for IU to repeal its new policy on temporary structures and any campus bans facing arrested faculty, staff, students and community members. He said as part of his faculty vote he also voted against a resolution asking the IU Board of Trustees to terminate Whitten and Shrivastav’s employment based on their handling of the events in Dunn Meadow and faculty’s vote of no confidence.
Asare also said the council developed the letter very quickly, so he did not have time to make any amendments to the letter before being asked to sign his name.
“You need to have a space for thinking about how we move forward from this and what constructive outcomes can come out of a terrible, ugly situation,” Asare said. “Many mistakes were made. I think very poor judgement was executed and lots of, just, immoral, wrong, bad decisions were made. But I’d like to be a part of helping to solve that not just being angry about it.”
In the letter, the council also said the Indiana State Police response was “far in excess of what was necessary” to enforce the 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.”
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson also released a video statement on Facebook on April 27. Thomson said she was supportive of the protesters’ ability to express themselves but not unauthorized encampments and violence. It was unclear what violence she was referring to.
The IDS cannot confirm any instances of violence initiated by protesters from the encampment.
In this statement she claimed the Dunn Meadow encampment — part of a national movement on college campuses — attracted people from outside the community with an “outside agenda” to the protest but did not provide any specific evidence in this video.
The Indiana Daily Student has confirmed most of the protesters arrested were students, faculty or people tied to the Bloomington community.
The next day, Thomson released another statement clarifying some of her remarks.
“We had reports of Proud Boys and other involvement, and I had concern about the possibility of escalation beyond what our students and faculty present on campus were gathered to achieve,” Thomson said. “This statement, I see now, pointed the finger in the way I had not intended. I am sorry.”
She also said the Bloomington Police Department would not be involved with any response to the encampment and that she met with students who organized the protest.
“I hope that in the future, there will be greater communication and collaboration with our team when Indiana University undertakes actions that affect all of Bloomington, not just campus,” Thomson said. “As I said yesterday, I stand with the protesters’ right to free speech, their right to assemble, and I ask that any future police involvement happens only when all de-escalation paths have been exhausted.”
