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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office has declined to charge the 55 protesters arrested at Dunn Meadow at Indiana University for their participation in the Israel-Hamas war protests in April.
Dozens of students, staff, and other protesters were charged with criminal trespass between April 25th and 27th, which is when IU administration called in Indiana State Police. The original trespass policy included a one-year ban from campus, but that was dropped in some cases and challenged by the ACLU of Indiana in court.
This is the statement released by the prosecutor’s office: “Based upon the facts and circumstances surrounding these arrests, including, among other things, the constitutionally dubious process by which the University passed and enforced its new policy regarding structures in Dunn Meadow, the State is unlikely to be able convict these individuals at trials on the merits.”
The statement is referring to IU’s Dunn Meadow protest policy, which was changed about a day before the protesters arrived. Many critics say the process to change a policy was ignored in favor of silencing the people gathered at Dunn Meadow.
State Police were eventually sent away, and an encampment remains on campus over a month later, with small police presence.
Indiana University was just one of several college campus protests against Israel-back college connections that occurred during the month of April.
Anti-Israel protests also blocked roads in front of the governor’s mansion in Indianapolis. Over a dozen people were arrested in that incident.
