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This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, April 29th, 2024.
Later in the program, WFHB Correspondent Annika Harshbarger gives us a rundown of protests at Dunn Meadow over the course of the last few days. More in today’s feature report.
That’s Ryne Shadday from the Bloomington-Monroe County Human Rights Commission. Find out what kind of complaints come in and what they do about them later in the show on a new episode of Activate! But first, your daily headlines.
IU Divestment Coalition Hosts Press Conference
On Monday morning, the IU Divestment Coalition held a press conference about the recent protests in support of the people of Gaza.
The press conference took place on the sidewalk on 7th Street above Dunn Meadow — the location where demonstrators have been protesting for several days. In riot gear, the Indiana State Police arrested dozens of protesters late last week, including both students and faculty of the university.
In a statement released on Friday, the ISP said, “At approximately 12:20 p.m. today, uniformed officers from Indiana University Police Department and Indiana State Police approached the group in Dunn Meadow and gave a series of six verbal warnings to remove the structures. At approximately 12:35 p.m. individuals who refused to remove their structures from university property were detained and removed.”
IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav put out a statement on Sunday saying, “our commitment to free speech is—and must continue to be—unwavering. Everyone has the right to peacefully rally or protest on our campus, and we will do our best to ensure that everyone can exercise these rights in a safe environment. Free speech on our campus will never be impeded. There have been no changes to the opportunities and rights for free expression on campus.”
Bryce Greene, a spokesperson from the IU Divestment Coalition, responded to a question from a reporter pointing out factual inaccuracies from Whitten’s statement.
In Whitten’s statement, she said, “this movement also coincides with a troubling rise in antisemitism nationally and on college campuses. Specifically, antisemitic episodes have been linked to this national encampment campaign. It was in this unique context that we appointed the ad hoc committee and charged them to modernize our protocols for the presence of overnight structures in Dunn Meadow to address this contemporary issue.”
The IU Divestment Coalition addressed allegations of antisemitism or hate speech from the Whitten letter and from ISP Superintendent Doug Carter.
Greene listed the demands of the IU Divestment coalition saying it begins with disclosure of the university’s relationship with Israel’s war on Hamas.
Greene is a second year PhD student in Informatics. He was arrested on Saturday in connection with the protest. Greene said he’s facing one misdemeanor of trespassing and a five year ban from campus.
Meanwhile, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson released a video statement on Facebook saying she supports freedom of speech and that the Bloomington Police Department has not been involved in policing the protests.
On Sunday, Thomson issued an apology and, “commitment to do better” after she said her original statement was “less than clear.”
Feature Report:
In today’s feature report, WFHB Correspondent Annika Harshbarger gives us a rundown of protests at Dunn Meadow over the course of the last few days. We turn to Harshbarger for more.
If you experience discrimination in Bloomington, the Human Rights Commission may be able to help. Last year the city HRC and the county HRC merged into a single entity that investigates complaints of discrimination against protected classes. Both the city and county have extended protection beyond what is federally required, to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Commission president Ryne Shadday is our guest this week on a new episode of Activate!, coming your way right now on the WFHB Local News.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Kade Young.
Our feature was produced by Annika Harshbarger.
Activate is produced by Chad Carrothers and Michelle Moss.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
