A group organized by IU Divestment Coalition members gather outside the Monroe County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon to protest charges against two members.
(WTIU News, Alaina Davis)
The IU Divestment Coalition gathered outside the Monroe County Courthouse Tuesday to support two protesters who were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.
Some members remained outside while others packed the court room to hear Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff assign a public defender for both Anna Sowka and Camryn Tuggle.
Court records say Sowka and Tuggle are charged with two and one counts of disorderly conduct, respectively.
Bryce Greene, a spokesperson for the IU Divestment Coalition, said protesters in Bloomington and nationally are being repressed for their activism:
Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University public administration graduate, was detained by ICE agents in New York on Saturday and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana to await deportation hearings. Khalil is a lawful US resident who has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen. He was a leader of the university's pro-Palestine rallies.
“Mahmoud Khalil, who was abducted by ICE agents on the orders of the White House and dragged to an ice facility 1,000 miles away — no crime has been alleged,” Greene said. “There have been no charges, but they picked him up, separated him from his eight-month pregnant wife, all for the crime, alleged crime, of speaking in support of Palestine.”
On Monday, a federal judge in New York City temporarily blocked efforts to deport Khalil while the court considers a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Greene wants the charges dropped for Sowka and Tuggle. Their next court appearance is April 29.
“We're certainly wary about the amount of oppression, both nationally and on this campus,” Greene said. “This administration has proven that they have no interest in safeguarding the rights of people protesting Palestine, and they have no regard for the issues that we're trying to bring to light.”
Last year, Indiana State Police arrested 55 people protesting in Dunn Meadow against IU’s financial ties to the war in Gaza for criminal trespass. The Monroe County prosecutor’s office did not file criminal charges against these individuals.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating Indiana University Bloomington and 59 other schools for alleged violations “relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination."
The warning follows President Donald Trump's executive order in January outlining a plan to crackdown on antisemitism. The order singled out college campuses, and Trump said he would cancel visas of foreign students who are "Hamas sympathizers.”
WFIU/WTIU News has reached out to IUPD for case reports.
