From eclipse to election: The news that defined IU, Bloomington this year

From a once-in-a-generation eclipse to campus protests, Indiana University and Bloomington stayed in the headlines in 2024. 

Here are 10 news stories that defined the campus and city this year, as reported by the Indiana Daily Student. 

For the best photos of 2024, check out the IDS’ photo gallery. 

Bloomington government shake-ups 

Bloomington began 2024 with several new government officials.  

Democratic Mayor Kerry Thomson took office in January, succeeding John Hamilton who decided not to run for reelection.  

Isak Nti Asare, Shruti Rana, Hopi Stosberg and Sydney Zulich, all Democrats, became the four newest city council members — albeit Rana’s time in office was short. Twelve days after her swearing-in, Rana, who represented parts of Southeast Bloomington and was the first woman of color elected to the council, announced she would resign to relocate her family to Missouri.  

The council briefly operated with a vacancy before Monroe County Democrats picked Courtney Daily, a local activist, to fill the seat.  

During Thomson’s first year in office, the city cleared multiple homeless encampments — including on Jan. 4, which Thomson attended herself. She’s also focused on efforts to aid the unhoused community, including partnering with religious leaders to create emergency shelters in case of dangerously cold weather. She’s also tasked the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department with creating a comprehensive city housing plan. 

Thomson has also overseen the next steps in several long-term city projects, including the development of the Hopewell affordable housing neighborhood. 

In 2024 the council passed a resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War despite the mayor’s veto. Some members of the public used racist and antisemitic rhetoric during public comment at one meeting, which the council condemned. The council also declared Bloomington a “safe haven” for gender-affirming care and approved pay increases for council members and other city officials. 

Thomson and the council quarreled on parts of the 2025 city budget proposal, including specific funding for infrastructure initiatives, but ultimately compromised, allowing it to pass Oct. 9. 

Senate Enrolled Act 202 

University faculty across the state condemned Senate Enrolled Act 202, a law that took effect July 1. The law increases legislative oversight over public universities and tenure, aiming to foster “intellectual diversity” in the classroom. 

IU President Pamela Whitten told Indiana Public Media in February that IU was “deeply concerned about language regarding faculty tenure that would put academic freedom at risk.”  

Meanwhile, IU faculty organized rallies condemning the legislation as an attack on academic freedom. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued Purdue and IU over SEA 202 in September. 

The eclipse 

Just after 3:04 p.m. April 8, the moon’s shadow completely covered the sun during a total solar eclipse visible in Bloomington. It was a once-in-a-generation moment for the city that last occurred in 1869 and won’t happen again in well over 120 years. 

City and university officials expected large crowds in Bloomington to view the moon block the sun, with one estimate nearly eclipsing 300,000 people. City parks department estimates and police testimony after the eclipse imply the real figure wasn’t as high. However, the state still welcomed over 3.5 million visitors and generated $148.5 million in net new value to the economy. 

All IU and Monroe County Community School Corporation classes were canceled, several streets were closed to vehicle traffic and the university hosted “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and R&B singer Janelle Monáe at Memorial Stadium for the “Hoosier Cosmic Celebration.” 

No confidence in IU administration 

IU Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly voted no confidence in IU President Pamela Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty in April.  

The vote came after a string of controversies.  

In December last year, Docherty suspended professor and Palestine Solidarity Committee advisor Abdulkader Sinno for allegedly misrepresenting a PSC speaker event as an academic one on a room reservation form. The move violated IUB policy, the IU Faculty Board of Review later found. 

The university canceled Palestinian artist and IU alumna Samia Halaby’s exhibition that same month, which had been scheduled for three years to start in February. According to Halaby’s grandniece, Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art Director David Brenneman gave two reasons for the cancellation: safety concerns and her Instagram posts, where she often shares her pro-Palestinian views. 

Faculty at the no confidence vote alluded to dissatisfaction with Whitten administration decisions, budget cuts and a lack of transparency and shared governance with IU faculty. 

Following the vote, the IU Board of Trustees, the body that governs the university and hires its president, issued a statement supporting Whitten. Trustee Vivian Winston later told Indiana Public Media she did not support or know of the statement before its release. 

Campus pro-Palestinian encampment and free speech  

Over 50 students, faculty and community members were arrested by IU and Indiana State Police on two days in April at the onset of a months-long pro-Palestinian encampment in Dunn Meadow. 

On the night before the encampment started, IU changed its existing policy to ban temporary structures during the day without prior approval, a move the university admitted was in direct response to the planned protest.  

Monroe County prosecutors declined to file criminal trespass charges for 55 protesters, a decision Monroe County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Kehr said was based on, among other reasons, the “constitutionally dubious process by which the University passed and enforced its new policy regarding structures in Dunn Meadow.” 

Despite the forceful arrests of the protesters, which resulted in ultimately overturned campus bans and the university deconstruction of the encampment on two occasions, it remained in Dunn Meadow through Aug. 2.  

The IU Board of Trustees in July passed, 6-3, a new Expressive Activity Policy to supersede all other free speech policies across IU campuses. The policy limits expressive activity to the hours between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. every day, bars non-university sanctioned camping at any time of day, prohibits impeding vehicle and pedestrian traffic and building entrances and requires approval for signs and temporary structures at least 10 days in advance by the university. 

On its hundredth day, IU cleared the encampment after the policy took effect and put up fencing around Dunn Meadow, which remained for most of the fall semester. The meadow reopened Monday after 136 days of closure. 

The Expressive Activity Policy garnered controversy of its own. IU community members hosted candlelight vigils Sunday nights in the fall, intentionally violating the policy. It’s also the subject of an ACLU of Indiana lawsuit.  

The Board of Trustees amended the policy in November. It now allows IU events to last into the hours of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., as well as non-IU events that receive prior written university approval. Spontaneous or contemporaneous assemblies, including distributing literature, are also permitted during those hours. 

Summer storm and power outage 

Severe storms hit Bloomington in late June, with reported wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. The storm downed scores of trees and led to over 40,000 in Bloomington losing power. It took days for some residents to receive power again. 

The Monroe County Board of Commissioners declared a local disaster emergency, and one Duke Energy official called Bloomington, as well as Terre Haute, “ground zero” for the storm damage. 

Debris pickup services stretched into early September. 

Mainstay restaurants close 

Three staple Bloomington restaurants closed their doors in 2024. 

The Irish Lion, an Irish pub and restaurant, closed in May after its owner retired. Local boutique EllieMae’s will open at the location sometime next year. 

Breakfast location B-Town Diner closed in July. 

Cafe Pizzaria, a pizzeria and icon of Kirkwood Avenue for over 70 years, closed in late August.  

For more Bloomington businesses that closed or opened in 2024, read the IDS’ coverage. 

Monroe County jail 

After an over decade-long saga, Monroe County’s new justice complex site is official. The Monroe County Council in November approved a 52-acre site in North Park, between Ellettsville and Bloomington. It is unclear when construction on the jail and court space will begin, but the hard construction costs for the jail are estimated at about $80.9 million. The purchase cost $11.375 million. 

The county decided to build a new facility after years of concerns about the current jail’s capacity and conditions.  

The County Commissioners over the years have gone back and forth on several jail locations before ultimately landing on the North Park property. A new Bloomington Transit route will service an area west of the city in 2025, with one of its stops a mile south of the future jail location. 

The 2024 election 

Republicans won big in national and Indiana elections this year. Mike Braun won the governorship after a contentious race against Democrat Jennifer McCormick. Republican Todd Rokita won reelection to attorney general, and Republican Jim Banks won his race for the U.S. Senate. 

In Monroe County, it was a different story. Democrats won all but three of the county’s elections, most uncontested.  

Republican Erin Houchin, who represents Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, beat challengers Democrat Tim Peck and Libertarian Russell Brooksbank to win reelection. Republican State Representative Dave Hall held onto his seat representing District 62 in a tight race with Democrat Thomas Horrocks. Republican Bob Heaton retained his District 46 seat. 

Former IU doctor accused of sexual abuse 

Two former Indiana men’s basketball players filed a class action lawsuit against IU in October, alleging it “systemically mishandled” players' complaints of sexual misconduct by longtime team physician Brad Bomba, Sr.  

Legal counsel representing one of the players, Haris Mujezinovic, first notified IU of the allegations in September.  

The lawsuit claims Bomba likely subjected over 100 student athletes to inappropriate invasive examinations. 

Separately, a third student-athlete came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Bomba. He alleged the abuse was part of a larger structural problem at IU and indicated an intent to file a lawsuit against the university. 

Bomba was the team’s physician from 1979 into the late 1990s and is in the IU Athletics Hall of Fame. He served as physician, along with coach Bob Knight, for the 1984 U.S. Olympics men’s basketball team.  

A judge ruled Dec. 3 that Bomba, 88, was competent to stand trial.