expressive activity policy

IU faculty and students gathered on campus last night after a court ordered the university to stop enforcing a ban on overnight protests.

Indiana University Provost Rahul Shrivastav denied an appeal to wipe formal reprimands from 13 faculty members who violated an expressive activity policy last fall.

The amendment allows approved university events during otherwise restricted times. Trustees passed the changes by a 5-2 vote.

Indiana University’s Board of Trustees meets Thursday and Friday. While changes to the expressive activity policy are on the agenda, IU officials won’t disclose what specifically is under consideration.

After hosting candlelight vigils for free speech every week since Aug. 25 on Indiana University’s campus, organizers planned to gather for their last protest Sunday. But they might have changed their minds.

Some Indiana University professors say Hoosier fans who showed up overnight for ESPN’s College GameDay show violated the university’s new expressive activity policy. IU officials say they didn’t.

After reporting himself to Indiana University leadership, another staff member is facing termination for attending candlelight vigils for free speech on campus.

Bloomington officials have struggled with hiring and retaining police officers and fire fighters. Dairy farmers warn the price of milk could skyrocket without a new farm bill. And IU has threatened an employee with termination over its new expressive activity policy.

The university has cited 18 people for violations. One of them, a staff member, has been formally threatened with termination.

The vigils are held in protest of the new policy restricting “expressive activity” to daytime hours. The policy is a response to an antiwar encampment in Dunn Meadow in the spring.