Editor’s Note: This article will be updated following the July 29 meeting.
On June 26, Indiana University’s Board of Trustees released a draft of a new “Expressive Activity” policy, which would apply to all those within the “IU Community.”
According to The Herald-Times, Trustee Jeremy Morris stated that, “during the June 13 trustee meeting that the board was seeking to create a policy across all IU campuses in response to ‘issues from the past few months.’”
Although it was not explicitly stated what these “issues” are, they may be referring to the encampments established at IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis. IU has been under heavy criticism following their last minute change in policy in April, which resulted in 57 arrests of students and faculty. The charges were eventually dropped by prosecutors.
On July 25, an 70-page independent review was shared by IU regarding the events at Dunn Meadow.
“IU leadership’s decision to change the Dunn Meadow policy was permissible under university policies and applicable legal standards, including the First Amendment; however, doing so the night before the planned encampment caused a number of unintended negative consequences,” the review reads.
Recommendations were also made in the independent review, including for IU to approve a new expressive activity policy, establish a plan for policy implementation and future encampment interactions and for IU to consider using, “campus-wide communications to alert the IU community of encampments or other large-scale or disruptive protests.”
In the proposed “Expressive Activity” policy, a statement at the beginning of the draft states that IU respects the first amendment right of the “IU Community” to free speech and assembly on IU campuses. However, since the release of this draft, there has been much community discourse about the restrictiveness of this policy.
The new proposed policy lists areas where expressive acts are prohibited.
“Expressive Activity may not unreasonable interfere with or substantially disrupt official activities or the operation of the University and must not take place in areas that are used for instruction, administrative or residential purposes, or are not otherwise open to the general public, such as classrooms, studios, laboratories, residential spaces, or office areas,” the policy reads.
Some worry that this could ban free speech in classrooms entirely. Laura Beltz, director of policy reform for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), addresses this concern in their written statement in The Herald-Times.
“This policy could be used to limit protected, nondisruptive protest, such as wearing an armband protesting an invited speaker or silently carrying a protest sign in a library,” Beltz said. “This broad drafting essentially bans any speech inside classrooms — a result that was surely unintended by the administration.”
This draft also includes policies that would make student encampments illegal on IU grounds.
“Overnight camping, which includes the use of any item to create a shelter, is not a form of Expressive Activity,” the policy draft reads. “Encampments and overnight Expressive Activity are not permitted in any indoor or outdoor locations.”
This policy also outlines that expressive activity may only take place between the hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and that substances such as spray chalk and other semi-permanent or permanent substances are not permitted to be used on university property.
Indiana University Student Government (IUSG) released a statement on their social media in response to this policy proposal and feedback from a survey that was sent to IU Bloomington students.
“Based on the survey responses, numerous discussions with student governance groups, and a unanimous Student Body Congress vote, IUSG does not endorse this policy as written due to its punitive, restrictive nature and questionable neutrality,” IUSG said. “Currently, the policy fails our students by focusing on enforcement rather than empowerment. It risks stifling student expression instead of fostering an environment that encourages free thought and open discourse.”
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) also released a press statement to the Bloomingtonian regarding the new policy.
“Expressive activity lies at the core of the practice of academic freedom central to American university culture and IU tradition. No policy adopted under the rushed, opaque, and arbitrary procedure the General Counsel proposed will be credible,” the statement reads.
AAUP also urged the board to consider the policy consideration through the fall term in order for, “proper public deliberations by established governance bodies across all IU campuses.”
In addition to the statements made by IUSG and AAUP, there were also statements signed by the IU Divestment Coalition, IU Bloomington Palestine Solidarity Committee (IUB PSC), IU Indianapolis Palestine Solidarity Committee (IUI PSC), Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition (IGWC), IU Academics for Justice in Palestine (IUAJP) and Indiana Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP Indiana) that were published in the Bloomingtonian on July 11 .
“The definition of ‘Expressive Activity’ is vague enough that it could be used to justify penalties against any student or faculty organization or gathering on campus,” the statement reads. “As it is clearly not the university’s intention to eliminate all campus activities, it can be assumed that they intend to enforce this policy in a biased fashion, leveraging it only against groups or activities that they disagree with or that they see as criticizing or inconveniencing the university.”
The Board of Trustees will be discussing this policy during their July 29 meeting. The current deadline for the decision on this policy is Aug. 1.
Update: During the July 29 meeting IU's Board of Trustees voted to pass the Expressive Activity policy. The policy will go into effect starting Aug. 1. According to the immediate release from IU News, the final policyas well as other resources related to free speech, can be found on IU's Free Speech website. Emails were sent out from IUI's Division of Student Affairs regarding the new policy signed by Eric Weldy, vice chancellor of student affairs IU Indianapolis.
"IU Indianapolis continues to thrive because of dynamic students who create brighter futures for local communities, the state, and the world through their academics, innovations, and advocacy," Weldy said. "This policy protects freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration, while creating a safer environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors to engage in expressive activities."
Abigail Godsen (she/her) is a junior majoring in Applied Information Sciences with a minor in Classics. She is Campus Editor for The Campus Citizen. When she isn’t writing, Abby likes to cook, do crossword puzzles and drink a lot of tea. She can be summoned using anything shiny or books.
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