Open Letter from Indiana University Bloomington Faculty re: Campus Protests and Arrests

Comments

#1

Professor of Anthropology, IUB.

Shane Greene (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#2

Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History, IUB

Amrita Myers (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#3

Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, IUB

Sara Friedman (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#4

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Computer Science

Sam Tobin-Hochstadt (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#5

Professor, Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

This university administration is terrorizing students (and faculty)

Amr Sabry (Carmel, 2024-04-28)

#6

These brutal tactics of the police state have no place at an institution of higher learning. Whitten and her enablers must resign.

Colin M. Gray
Associate Professor
Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

Colin Gray (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#7

Associate Professor, Department of American Studies & Latino Studies Program

Sonia Lee (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#8

Provost Professor, Department of Gender Studies

Brenda Weber (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#10

Associate Professor, School of Education

Andres Perez-Rojas (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#12

Associate Professor Spanish and Portuguese

R. Andrés Guzmán (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#13

peaceful protest is key to democracy as a way citizens make their voices heard. A university that claims to value diverse points of view should be the first to uphold the right to do so. The revised policy and police actions created to prevent peaceful protest are unethical, immoral and inexcusable. I am ashamed to be affiliated with a university that did this.

Susan Alt (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#14

Indiana University is a public university, not a plantation. The actions the administration has authorized are worthy of Bull Connor.

Leah Shopkow (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#15

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Central Eurasian Studies

Kathryn Graber (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#16

I support students' and faculty members' right to free speech.

Lucinda Carspecken (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#17

Clinical Associate Professor
Early Childhood Education

Lauren Ray (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#19

Associate professor of English

I am appalled by this administration's brutality against its own students, staff, and faculty. The damage they have done to our university is immeasurable.

Jesse Molesworth (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#21

Professor of Anthropology

Andrea Wiley (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#27

Professor of Counseling and Educational Psychology and Senior Scientist at the Kinsey Institute

Zoe Peterson (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#28

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Daniel Suslak (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#30

Professor, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Ray Cashman (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#31

As a former professor and departmental chair (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) I am outraged at how much damage this trio has done to the university to which I “gave my all” for 35 years.

James Brophy (West bath maine, 2024-04-28)

#32

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Comparative Literature
Director of the ACT Humanities Program, Collins LLC
Director of the Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies Program

Jennifer Goodlander (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#34

The President is deliberately trying to create divisions on campus to make it seem that the widespread disappointment in her leadership skills reflects political divisions rather than her own incompetence. For her own personal benefit she is damaging IU’s reputation by creating the appearance of a serious conflict that simply does not exist here at IU.

Rick Harbaugh (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#36

I'm outraged by the violence perpetrated on our peaceful students, on the change of the rules for activities in Dunn Meadow, and by the disinformation being spread.

Rebecca Manring (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#39

I’m appalled by the illegal and arbitrary behavior of IU’s higher administration vis-a-vis our faculty and students participating in legitimate political protest.

Alexander Rabinowitch (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#40

I am an emiritus faculty at IU where I taught for over 30 years. I am appalled by the administration's behavior.

jeffrey gould (princeton, 2024-04-28)

#43

President Whitten hasn’t the skills to lead our university and is guilty of mishandling the right to protest. A shameful lack of intelligence and diplomacy.

Darlene Sadlier (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#44

This egregious act of incompetence and in clear violation of the first amendment must be loudly repudiated by Trustees, Alumni, and citizens.

Patty Ingham (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#47

Professor, Kelley School of Business

Nandini Gupta (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#48

Professor of Law, and someone who was mentored in administration by kind and decent human beings with academic values.

Steve Sanders (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#49

Associate Professor of English

Scot Barnett (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#50

Associate Professor of Political Science and MELC

Whitten and Shrivastav are a blight on Indiana University. They have lost all respect and authority because of their incompetence and misbehavior. They lack credibility, decency, and good judgement. They are despised by most students, donors, faculty, graduate student workers and administrators at the level of dean and below. They have shown how irredeemable they are when they unleashed armed police on our students right after they dramatically lost a vote of no confidence. IU cannot function with them around. They must leave.

Abdulkader Sinno (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#51

We are better than this

Armin Moczek (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#52

Senior Lecturer-Parks, Recreation, & the Outdoors, School of Public Health-Bloomington. As a faculty member at IU-Bloomington, one of my responsibilities is to serve and protect my students. Clearly the administration does not hold this same value.

Brian Forist (Michigan City, 2024-04-28)

#53

As a faculty member at IU (History, American Studies), I am outraged by the administration's reckless disregard for established campus procedure on freedom of expression and for the safety of IU's students and faculty.

Alex Lichtenstein (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#54

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies

Richard Nance (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#56

It's both sad and outrageous that this administration has diminished the status of our great institution to such low levels. The events of last week were the last straw of patience for anyone attached to Indiana University.

Hamid Ekbia (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#58

Professor, Department of Biology

Tuli Mukhopadhyay (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#62

Professor, Department of Religious Studies

Michael Ing (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#64

Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology

Stacie King (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#66

This administration must go

Rae Greiner (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#71

Professor, Department of Biology

Andrew Zelhof (Ellettsville, 2024-04-28)

#76

Professor, Department of Religious Studies

Alexus McLeod (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#77

Professor of English

Purnima Bose (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#78

Professor of History
IU Bloomington

Michael Dodson (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#81

Linda and Jack Gill Chair of Neuroscience
Professor of Biology

Dan Tracey (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#87

I am disappointed and outraged at the morally non-committal, weak response of Indiana University’s upper administration in the face of blatant hate speech and lawless acting out on campus.

Prof. Eli Eban (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#96

I’m signing because I believe it is right and good for university students to have places on campus to protest even if it includes peaceful encampments. I was arrested Thursday.

Barbara Dennis (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#98

Pam Whitten and her cronies pose a very real security threat to students, staff, and faculty.

William Scheuerman (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#99

Guidelines for peaceful protests were not followed. The confrontational and draconian techniques of law enforcement personnel and rush to judgment of campus administrators was emblematic of poor leadership and not worthy of IU’s tradition as an open- minded campus. As an alum, former faculty member and donor, the recent practices were upsetting and saddening.

Lynn Jamieson (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#100

i am repulsed by the shameful behavior of these administrators.

Oscar Kenshur (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#103

I taught for 30 years at UVa in Charlottesville. I was standing just feet away from Heather Heyer when she was struck and killed by a neo-Nazi with his car. I know what it looks like when anti-Semitic protesters invade a college campus and endanger students. That's not what is happening here. We often accuse college students of confusing their discomfort at hearing opposing ideas with their safety. Right now it is the IU administration who is deliberately confusing their own discomfort with public safety. The only threat to student safety is the administration who SWATTED their own students.

Margaret Gardiner (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#104

Professor of Education Policy

Christopher Lubienski (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#114

I’ve been a faculty member at IUB for 34 years. I’m appalled by the grotesque and dangerous display of excessive force and swat weaponry to be used against students and the faculty who were there to try to protect them. This new administration is very lucky that their show of military force didn’t result in the death of a peaceful protester. Yet.

Linda Charnes
Professor of English
Affiliate Professor, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies;
Gender Studies; Renaissance Studies; Cultural Studies
IUB

Linda Charnes (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#117

I am signing because I agree entirely with this statement. The misbehavior of the administrators is reminiscent of the administrators at UC Berkeley back in the late 1960s.

William Hansen (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#121

Emeritus Associate Professor, Informatics, Cognitive Science

Michael Gasser (Santa Cruz, 2024-04-28)

#123

President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav have misbehaved badly in the past, and the faculty has sent them a withering vote of No Confidence to let them know we think so. Yet their misbehavior gets worse. They are now using police power to prevent and even attack free speech and free assembly, the most fundamental values of any university. Universities have long been the guardians of these values. When these values cease to be honored in a society, that society descends into fear, violence, repression, and totalitarianism. Unlike their earlier transgressions, this one cannot be countered by better future behavior in their offices. They had their opportunity for that, and they chose to take the opposite course. Nor can they lead a faculty that disrespects them. They are now wrecking the reputation of Indiana University, and they must resign their positions.

Frederick Schmitt (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#125

I have come to believe that the President has, through her recent official acts, indicated that she is not fit for being the chief administrator of a great university.

James G. Hart (Bloomington, IN, 2024-04-28)

#128

Where are the deans in all of this? Rick van Kooten from the COAS? Why don't you speak up? Shame on you, too.

Matthias Weber (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#130

Provost-appointed Rudy Professor
Professor of Chemistry

I love IU, but not with the current Administration. They have shown themselves to be ineffective and antagonistic managers of this great university, which was why I supported the vote of no confidence. Now, I support their removal from the institution for the moral corruption they have shown by violating the first amendment, continued violation of shared governance, and bringing unnecessary force to campus.

Sara Skrabalak (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#132

The leadership must go!

Claire Walczak (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#133

I agree with it

Jonathan Elmer (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#135

I am signing this petition because I am deeply shocked at the violation of human rights. As a German well aware of my country's history, I am alarmed at this blatant sigh of authoritarianism.

Susanne Even (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#137

The IU admins do not care about the wellbeing of IU students and faculty.

Ariful Azad
Assistant Professor
Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering

Ariful Azad (BLOOMINGTON, 2024-04-28)

#138

Assistant Professor of Communication Science, The Media School

Nathaniel Geiger (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#139

IU leadership has failed in its most fundamental duties to the university’s mission of liberal learning (“lux et veritas”), of respect for the dignity of its students and faculty, of commitment to its traditions of free expression and vigorous exploration of ideas. It has reached for violence not understanding. The corruption of judgment reflects a pattern of management contemptuous of the very stakeholders who have come to IU with dedication to its ideals.

Benjamin Robinson (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#142

I'm signing because I am outraged at what this administration has been doing for many months to limit free speech and assembly on the campus.

Jeffrey Isaac (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#149

Associate Librarian

nicholae cline (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#150

I am appalled by the aggressive and militaristic response to our community’s exercise of free speech and assembly, a cornerstone of our university and our nation. IUB’s motto is ‘Lux et Veritas’, or ‘Light and Truth’. President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav have repeatedly betrayed these principles, and must go.

Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
IU Bloomington

Frederika Kaestle (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#152

Professor and former chair, Dept. of Information and Library Science, Luddy School. I'm signing because of frustration with administrative and moral ineptitude. How a protest by students at the end of a semester can't be managed is utterly beyond me. Morally, it is reprehensible to have snipers aiming at students and sending in state police. And administrative lying to faculty regarding policy and policy issues is pointless. It's all terrible PR, too. Enough is enough.

Ronald Day (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#154

Associate Professor, Department of History & The Media School

Cara Caddoo (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#155

Professor and Chair, Department of Geography

Justin Maxwell (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#164

President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav have no understanding of the history and culture of IU. They are incompetent to lead an R1 University. Trustees: fire them and hire academic-administrators from within IUB.

Claude Cookman, Ph.D. (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#167

Peaceful free speech is what we WANT from students. It's what we encourage in our classrooms and in informal interactions with students during activities outside of the classroom. This administration has demonstrated an unwillingness to encourage such engagement, but they have gone beyond that. They have acted swiftly and capriciously to provoke violence toward students they claim to be here to protect.

As a faculty member and alum, prior to last week I was just disappointed in their leadership. Now, I am moved beyond disappointment to a point of signing this petition demanding their resignation or removal.

Robert Potter (Professor, The Media School, 2024-04-28)

#168

Professor, Mathematics, IU Bloomington

Larry Moss (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#170

Pam Whitten has endangered our students.
Austin Toombs
Associate Professor
Informatics

Austin Toombs (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#172

Within the last two weeks Indiana University (fortunately for us perhaps is that in one case we were referred to as "the University of Indiana") has been noted by such media outlets as the NBC Evening News, the New York Times, the Indianapolis Star, and local papers for the regretful events taking place on campus. This recent notoriety comes not from our high academic standards and or student and faculty achievements or even outstanding student-athletic success. Rather, because of egregious decisions and policies our leadership has made leading to the widespread loss of confidence of virtually all stakeholders in the university. The recent rebuke of open and guaranteed 'free speech' on our campus is unconscionable and can not be defended. The possible exception to this deep concern is the recent support voiced by the president of the IU Board of Trustees. I fear that the most recent example, the reported last minute formation of an "ad-hoc committee" without student or faculty involvement may be an ethical point too far. Standing silent, regardless of any personal specific perspective on aspects pertaining to the social protests -would seem to make me appear to be complicit. Assault rifles on campus roofs? What have we done? How close might we have been to May of 1970 at Kent State University? How can this administration be further supported? What have we done?

Joel Stager (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#174

The call for armed off-campus police was unnecessary; it served only to assure that violence would occur: armed police in riot gear against student armed only with cardboard petitions calling for peace.

Richard Rose (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#179

Associate Professor Emeritus
Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts
(Eskanazi School of Art, Architecture + Design)

Wendy Calman (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#182

The IU community deserves leaders whose decisions are based on the values of our institution; not fear and optics.

Norbert Herber (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#185

I am a faculty member (20 years) and until recently, was a member of the Arbutus Society, planning an estate gift to IU. I have emailed them to resign. I will NEVER give IU a penny, due to the Trustees’ deplorable hiring and supervision skills. I have lost my trust in IU and its leadership. This week is the most recent in a long string of decisions violating the policies and collaborative culture of our wonderful university. In this case, President Whitten had other options — look at how Purdue and Michigan State handled things differently, deescalating the confrontations and prioritizing student safety. I’m signing this petition today because when we faculty watch our administrators order para-military action against our students, we tend to want to protect our students. Why don’t Pam Whitten and Rahul Shrivastav want to protect our students? I urge IU parents to pay close attention to what is happening on this campus.

Beth Gazley (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#188

Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies

Cooper Harriss (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#190

They are using military force to disrupt peaceful and constitutional expression of views--and they are doing it against one particular group instead of enforcing it equally against all groups.

David Thelen (Bloomington IN, 2024-04-28)

#191

Luther Dana Waterman Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Anna Mueller (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#192

IU administration's last minute change to policies and their militarized response to peaceful protests is reprehensible.
Unit Director, Media Arts and Production
The Media School

Jim Krause (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#194

As a Jewish scholar who comes from a family that was partially brutally exterminated during the Holocaust I beg the administration to not tarnish the memory of the victims by justifying dictatorial procedures against our students and faculty as a measure to fight antisemitism on campus. Not in our name.

Hernán Matzkevich (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)

#197

Associate Professor
Department of Applied Health Science
School of Public Health-Bloomington

Patrick Quinn (Bloomington , 2024-04-28)

#199

Ruth N. Halls Professor of Folklore and Anthropology

Jason Baird Jackson (Bloomington, 2024-04-28)