Justice For the Brickhouse.
Shots Fired Alert Required.
The Blood is on Your Hands.
These were just a few of the signs that students carried as they marched to the Dean of Students’ office in protest of Indiana University’s handling of a shooting a few weeks earlier.
The shooting occurred at an off-campus residence referred to as the Brickhouse during an October 13th party, leaving two students injured. IU did not send out a notice through its campus-wide alert system IU Notify, a decision that university officials said was due to the house’s off-campus location and the quick response time of police.
Less than two weeks after the incident, the tenants of Brickhouse were informed that they would be given 24 hours to decide between eviction or a mutual termination of their housing contract, requiring them to move within three days.
Many students took exception to both the treatment of the residents and the lack of an IU Notify Alert. Over 3,000 students signed a petition in support of the Brickhouse tenants and over a dozen attended a Friday morning march from the house on S. Grant Street to the Dean’s Office in the Indiana Memorial Union.
“They kind of needed someone to blame, and we got scapegoated,” said Grant Mitchell, one of the former tenants of the Brickhouse. “We obviously would not have thrown this party if we knew something was violent, and we used to pride ourselves on being a very safe space.”
The Brickhouse is no stranger to parties similar to the one Mitchell and his housemates were hosting when the shooting occurred. That house had a reputation for fostering the local music community in Bloomington, which Gus Gonzalez, the creator of the petition, said will now suffer a huge blow from the university.
“It’s not like this is a place where people just have a party every now and then,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a culture hub of Bloomington. I mean, there are 3,000 signatures on this petition because I guarantee you that those 3,000 people spent their time here at Brickhouse.”
The petition itself outlined a couple specific issues that the protesters had with the university. The students wanted a change in the IU Notify policy to also include off-campus safety concerns. They also requested that the university recognized the tenants’ efforts to provide a safe environment and mediate the situation, as well as “recognize the hardships that the university has unjustifiably brought their way.”
Mitchell also expressed concerns about his increased rent in the future, although a formal request for a stipend was not a part of the original petition.
Upon arriving to the IMU, an employee told the protesters that they could not all speak with the Dean, but that a small group could have a meeting with him. Mitchell and Gonzalez met with the Dean and insisted on having a student reporter with them. The Dean’s office informed them that journalists were not allowed in the meeting but agreed to let the reporter enter as a student as long as she left behind her notepad.
Afterwards, Grant and Mitchell said they felt that the Dean was open to some of their concerns, but they believe there is plenty still left unanswered and unjust.
“The deans showed that they were very receptive to changing and implementing new policies, so I’m very satisfied with that conversation,” Gonzalez said.
“There are simply things about my situation, like why they had me sign a piece of paper in 24 hours that signed away all my rights, and they advocated for that. Why they decided to do that, they still haven’t answered for.”
Gonzalez and Mitchell said they both plan to stay in communication with the university to further resolve this dispute and ensure that nothing similar happens in the future.
