NO MORE: New Indiana University policy bans invasive graffiti, tent encampments
The university stated that the policy aims to balance the school’s commitments to free speech and quality education.
‘We can’t let one person or group’s expression infringe on the rights of others, disrupt learning experiences for our students or interrupt regular university business’ the IU board chair said.
Indiana University leaders have taken steps intended to better prepare for disruptive campus demonstrations.
The Board of Trustees at Indiana University (IU) recently voted to enact a new series of protest restrictions in the wake of multiple anti-Israel demonstrations across its campuses this past year, especially at the Bloomington location.
“The Indiana University Board of Trustees has strengthened the university’s longstanding commitment to protecting and supporting the right to free speech by affirming IU’s existing First Amendment Policy and ratifying a complimentary Expressive Activity Policy,” the board stated in a July 29 press release. “The new policy supports protests and demonstrations that don’t materially and substantially disrupt university operations or hinder the expressive activity of another individual or group.”
The statement notes that the new policy aims to protect free speech while also preserving the university’s commitment to protecting students’ education from protester disruptions.
“Indiana University has a longstanding commitment to advancing free speech. In order for free speech for all to flourish, we needed to clarify our policies so people clearly understand the allowable time, manner and place for free expression,” Board of Trustees Chairman W. Quinn Buckner stated. “We can’t let one person or group’s expression infringe on the rights of others, disrupt learning experiences for our students or interrupt regular university business.”
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Among other reforms, the new policy prohibits students from erecting tents in public spaces without permission, placing unapproved signs on university property, and engaging in “expressive activity” outside of the hours between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., in addition to other restrictions.
A number of the policy’s critics, including Ph.D. student Naomi Satterfield, have voiced concerns that the ambiguous meaning of the phrase “expressive activity” may give administrators excessive leeway in suppressing non-protest activities during restricted hours.
“The proposed policy does not define ‘expressive activity,’ so it can be wielded to silence anything that our administration perceives as such,” Satterfield said. “It’s not difficult to see that this policy is not for Hoosiers.”
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According to Inside Higher Ed, students and employees who violate the new rules may face serious consequences, including expulsion from the university or termination of employment.
IU Indianapolis Faculty Council President Philip Goff said that the policy also serves to create a uniform set of rules across the university system’s nine campuses.
“IU needed a policy that governs all of the campuses and we just didn’t have one,” Goff said, also noting that the policy “took into consideration a lot of our concerns. Not all of them, but it was softened between its first draft and then the final draft.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Indiana University and Philip Goff for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.