Pro-Palestine demonstrators gather at Cox Arboretum shortly before the total solar eclipse Monday, April 8.
(Katy Szpak, WFIU/WTIU News)
This article has been updated.
Indiana University police arrested one person and detained three others during a pro-Palestine demonstration on campus Monday.
The individuals were among a large group that gathered after 2:30 p.m. at the Cox Arboretum, shortly before the solar eclipse. The group later moved to Dunn Meadow.
Police detained three people at the arboretum and later arrested Thomas Sweeney at Dunn Meadow.
IUPD spokesperson Hannah Skibba initially said Sweeney is not affiliated with IU but later clarified he is an IU alumnus and is not “currently associated with the university as a student or employee.” Sweeney was charged Tuesday with disorderly conduct, a class B misdemeanor.
Sweeney said he committed no crime and should not have been arrested.
“We were doing nothing illegal,” Sweeney said. “In fact, we were doing something that most people in the crowd were very grateful was being done.”
He added his charge may be dropped after six months to a year if he completes a pretrial diversion program, which entails community service and a fine. However, he said this sets a negative precedent.
“Number one, I should have the charges dropped regardless — without a fee, without hours — because there was no crime committed,” Sweeney said. “Second, the ability to have me with this charge lingering for so many months is a tactic to disincentivize me from participating in any future speech activities that may be disappointing to the university.”
Skibba said the department won’t pursue charges against the individuals who were detained, which include two students and an alumnus.
In an emailed statement Monday, Skibba said the university warned demonstrators they were disrupting scheduled eclipse events at the arboretum and Dunn Meadow.
“University officials asked the members of the group to stop being disruptive three separate times,” Skibba wrote. “They were also asked to move their demonstration to a new location that was not already reserved.”
IU prohibits demonstrations and other “expressive activity” at the arboretum since it is designated as a space “for reflection and quiet respite from the sounds of the rest of campus,” according to the university’s Office of Student Life.
Dunn Meadow, by contrast, is a designated assembly ground. However, IU spokesperson Mark Bode said the demonstration did not comply with university policies since it disrupted a scheduled event on university property.
IU’s policy statement on free speech says demonstrations must not interfere with classes in session, other scheduled programs or events, and scheduled uses of university property.
“As a public institution of higher education, IU encourages the free and civil exchange of ideas from students, faculty, staff, and the public,” Bode wrote in an emailed statement.
He continued, “As outlined in the university’s free speech policy, IU also expects civility and respect between and among members of the IU community and that expressive activity does not impede the operations of the university.”
Sweeney contends there were no legal grounds for his arrest, and that this will dissuade other students from engaging in political speech.
“(This) created a reason for the other protesters to either feel that they can’t speak or to feel that they’re being antagonized,” he said. “We’re going to have to worry about now speech being chilled for a long, long time among the core base of students who are organizing.”
Skibba said Sweeney was interrupting a live concert at Dunn Meadow by speaking into a megaphone and was asked several times to stop before being arrested.
She added university officials told the group that failure to comply with requests would result in police intervention, but participants continued being disruptive.
Sweeney said he did not resist officers and was arrested without warning.
He added he participated in the demonstration because of “a precipitous increase in the degree to which the state Republican Party would like to interfere with university affairs.” He cited Senate Bill 202, which critics say threatens academic freedom and the tenure system.
Sweeney said he believes the bill is a response to recent headlines involving professor Abdulkader Sinno.
The demonstration involved several groups including IU Alumni for Palestine, the IU Palestine Solidarity Committee (IU PSC), Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America, Indiana Resiste and more.
Bode confirmed to WFIU/WTIU News that Vicka Bell-Robinson, associate vice provost for involvement and belonging, warned the IU PSC — a student organization — against holding the rally.
IU PSC representatives did not respond to an interview request from WFIU/WTIU News, but the organization later posted a statement on its Instagram page.
In it, the group blasted IU, saying police arrested Sweeney without adequate warning in a space where speech rights should be protected.
“(IU) has also repeatedly stifled students’ free speech when it comes to speech about Palestine, using arbitrary rules and event guidelines to disallow protests in the face of genocide,” the statement reads. “Given the inadequacy of the warnings, this constitutes a clear breach of policy by police and administration.”
