BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Monroe County Prosecutor's Office announced it will not charge 55 people arrested during Israel-Hamas war protests on the Indiana University campus in April.
The arrests were for criminal trespass at IU’s Dunn Meadow on April 25 and April 27, 2024.
The prosecutor's office released a statement reading in part:
Based upon the facts and circumstances surrounding these arrests, including, among other things, the constitutionally dubious process by which the University passed and enforced its new policy regarding structures in Dunn Meadow, the State is unlikely to be able convict these individuals at trials on the merits.
According to a release from IU at the time, the protesters were arrested for not removing tent structures after being warned it violated university policy — a policy that was only days before the arrests.
Indiana University is facing a lawsuit from the ACLU of Indiana over the arrests.
It was issued on behalf of three people who were arrested during the protests on campus.
All of them received a trespass ban from campus for at least a year.
The lawsuit names IU professor Dr. Benjamin Robinson, IU graduate student Madeleine Meldrum, and Bloomington resident Jasper Wirtshafter as plaintiffs in the case.
The ACLU of Indiana says it could expand the lawsuit to include others who were also arrested and received trespass bans from campus.
The lawsuit takes issue with the bans from campus that Meldrum, Robinson and others are facing, saying those bans violate their free speech rights.
It can be found here:
"IU is telling these people, 'We don't care what you want to say. We don't care that we have a place reserved for you to say it. We're not going to let you go there,'" said Ken Falk with the ACLU of Indiana.
13News reached out to IU for comment on the lawsuit in early May. A spokesperson said they don't comment on pending litigation.
