Indiana University Provost Rahul Shrivastav has rescinded letters of reprimand for faculty who violated an expressive activity policy.
IU’s policy, also called UA-10, used to ban protests, gatherings and other First Amendment activity from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The faculty intentionally violated the policy with candlelight vigils last fall as a protest for free speech.
The provost’s move comes after the faculty joined an American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana lawsuit that called the policy unconstitutional.
A federal judge sided with the faculty and the ACLU, issuing an injunction in May preventing IU from enforcing the time restrictions. The judge signaled the policy was overbroad and likely violated the First Amendment.
Despite the order, Shrivastav still did not remove the citations from faculty members’ files. Afterward, he said the faculty knew they were breaking policy, and the letters are the consequences of those actions. But on Wednesday, Shrivastav’s message was different.
“Given the court’s order, your letter of reprimand is hereby rescinded and no longer has any force or effect,” Shrivastav wrote in a formal message.
Deborah Cohn, one of those cited, said faculty never should have been reprimanded in the first place. They appealed through the Faculty Board of Review. The board sided with the faculty after an independent investigation, but the provost overruled their recommendations.
“When we appealed our reprimands through the proper channels, though, the provost brushed us off, telling us that our ‘perspectives’ were immaterial — even though three First Amendment experts from IU deemed the policy to be unconstitutional,” Cohn said, “And, in effect, that the power of the trustees supersedes the law."
In addition to the faculty, the ACLU represented students and staff who were cited for violating the original policy. Some faculty and staff feared they would lose their jobs.
“It has taken a tremendous amount of energy and time that would have been better spent otherwise to get the university to respect the Constitution and not put itself above the law,” Cohn said.
The expressive activity policy has been amended since it went into effect last summer. On June 12, the Board of Trustees amended the policy to allow activity overnight and eased other restrictions.
An IU spokesperson said the university does not comment on personnel matters
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
