By Robby Temprano

At Indiana University Bloomington, Professor Benjamin Robinson describes being arrested during the Palestinian rights protest. He explains that the police’s response was harsh and disproportionate given that the protest was peaceful and did not violate any policies.

Robinson mentioned his involvement in social justice causes over many years. He was present to support the student protesters, many of whom he knew from classes and civil rights trips. When police moved in to break up the protest, Benjamin Robinson tried to reason with officers but saw the police commander giving orders to push forward aggressively into the protesters.

Robinson and others were subsequently arrested and spent 6-7 hours being processed before release. Soon after, Robinson found he had been banned from his very own campus, despite having tenure and 20 years of service at the university. He sued the university for prior restraint with help from the ACLU. The ban was soon lifted, although some protesters faced conduct hearings where it seemed student leaders were disproportionately targeted.

While protests at Dunn Meadow have died down, pro Palestine vandalism is still at large. Just days ago, a bridge on campus was vandalized once again.

The university continues to prosecute protestors through changing policies despite lack of evidence. For example, Indiana University changed their policy regarding encampments only one day before pro Palestine protests began. Protestors were completely unaware of the policy change and carried on, using tents as previously allowed since 1969. On April 25, the day of the encampment protest, 34 protesters were arrested.

Robinson emphasizes the importance of academic freedom and the right to protest at universities. He believes that universities should be places where people can freely express their ideas and engage in political discussions. The events at Indiana University raise concerns about how to balance campus safety with protecting individual rights. Robinson’s experience also shows a growing trend of more surveillance and control over activist movements, which he thinks harms democratic values and slows down social progress.

Robinson mentions that the university’s president, Pamela Whitten and political organizations opposed the protests. Robinson highlights his perspective on how protesters advocating for human rights continually face targeting and smears from those wishing to suppress criticism of policies impacting particular groups.

Robinson mentioned that the university and the law enforcement damaged the protestor’s fundamental rights.

“They had one purpose which was to damage a point of view and damage a fundamental right, and they executed that purpose, with the sort of hostility and intention that they were to do by Pamela Whitten.”

This conveys Robinson’s views that the police were not just moving protestors back, but intentionally and aggressively hitting them in order to suppress their point of view and fundamental rights of expression.