IU’s new policy shut down the ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. Photo courtesy of Theo Hawkins and The Indiana Daily Student.

LILY O’CONNOR | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR | lkoconnor@butler.edu 

JULIA VERES | STAFF REPORTER | jveres@butler.edu

Butler — along with Indiana University (IU) and other college campuses across Indiana — has recently updated their free speech policies. These changes affect when, where and how students are allowed to conduct protests and expressive activities, which include speech and writing on public surfaces. 

On Aug. 24, the updated Butler Arts & Event Center’s Performance, Presentation and Speaker Events University Policy went into effect, following heightened political tension seen on other college campuses, such as the encampment at Columbia University. The updates included a section entitled Physical Demonstration Structures.

The section on Physical Demonstration Structures “prohibits permanent or temporary structures or shelters on University property.” The exception for structures related to religious ceremonies and celebrations is approved by the Compass Center at least four weeks prior and must be removed within 12 hours.

The other Butler policies relating to freedom of speech are rules two and three in the University’s Rules of Conduct and Performance, Presentation and Speaker Events University Policy: Free Speech.

These policies include the prohibition of disruptive, dangerous or destructive activities. It is also required that any speakers on campus are approved and allowed to deliver their speeches without interruption.

Chief of Public Safety John Conley said that Butler does not allow any people outside of Butler students and staff to hold demonstrations or protests on university grounds, whereas at public institutions, such as IU, all protestors are not always students.

“Butler is a private institution, and as a private institution and private property, it has a right to regulate free speech,” Conley said. “Butler’s academic mission is one that encourages free speech for the academic environment and the learning environment, so that’s what is supported. Butler’s policies lay out pretty clear what you can and can’t do on private property.”

Both associate dean of students Kelly Freiberger and Conley agree that all of Butler’s policies related to free speech are in the interest of keeping students safe.

“Butler University is responsible for student well-being, and so we do need to take a proactive approach to make sure that our campus community is safe for everyone who is on campus,” Freiberger said. “Certainly there is that element of making sure that we are upholding students rights … but all within that realm of making sure that everyone’s staying safe.”

Conley agrees and is appreciative that Butler students are respectful and are willing to follow the policies that Butler puts in place.

“I think Butler students have followed the guidelines and been able to do and complete their objective the way they want to and kept it safe,” Conley said. “Our students understand they have the right to do that, and they want to feel safe, just like other students on the other side of the issue want to feel safe.”

Many Butler students, including Omar Daas, junior computer science, chemistry and neuroscience triple major and co-president of Butler’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), feel that Butler has managed protests and free speech issues in a fair way.

“SJP has held many demonstrations,” Daas said. “We have had many events. We talk about some things that are considered controversial, but Butler, the campus, has been very open to having that debate and having the impactful discussions that are needed to tackle something as heavy as liberation.”

Along with Butler, other Indiana institutions, such as IU, have developed new policies in response to country-wide protests and encampments.

On July 29 IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis (IUI) introduced a new policy — the Expressive Activity Policy — that went into effect on Aug. 1. It prohibits protesting from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., demonstrating within 25 feet of building entrances and any amplified noise that will disrupt university life.

Daas does not have the same appreciation for the new policies put into place at IU in April and August. He feels that these policy changes are purposely vague and lead to confusion among students. 

Some IU Bloomington and IUI students are also frustrated about the larger effect of these emerging policies that were shut down. 

Among the frustrated students is Abby Godsen, a junior applied information sciences major at IUI.

“Since [the clearing of the encampment] there has been a lot of discourse among students where we have been discussing what we can and cannot do,” Godsen said. “We used to have a whiteboard in our campus center where students were able to express their opinions and voice issues, which has been torn down.”

Many clubs and organizations on both the IU Bloomington and IUI campuses agree with Daas and Godsen and are upset about this new policy, including the IU Bloomington Palestine Solidarity Committee, the IUI Palestine Solidarity Committee and Indiana Jewish Voice for Peace. They believe that IU has historically targeted pro-Palestinian groups and protests, as these policies are in the wake of the pro-Palestinian encampment at IU Bloomington’s Dunn Meadow. 

The encampment was put in place on April 25. On April 25 and April 27, 57 protestors were arrested by Indiana State and IU Police for violating a policy prohibiting temporary structures, including tents, without prior approval. This policy was established on April 24, one day before the start of the encampment, following pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses all over the country.

Despite the arrests, the encampment persisted for 100 days, until Aug. 2 when IU Bloomington cleared it and placed fencing around Dunn Meadow, only one day after the new Expressive Activity Policy came into effect. 

Conley is confident that with the new policy in place, there will not be disruptive or destructive protests on Butler’s campus.

“Butler is not hesitant to enforce the rules,” Conley said. “The rules are there to protect our students, to protect their right to free speech, but also to protect their right to get an education.”