ACLU of Indiana sues Indiana University over campus bans resulting from protests

INDIANAPOLIS — This morning, the ACLU of Indiana filed a civil suit against Indiana University in response to recent bans the school levied against participants in protests on the Bloomington campus.

The ACLU of Indiana claims the university violated the First Amendment rights of three people who face a one-year ban from campus because they participated in the protests.

The suit requests that the bans be dismissed to allow plaintiffs access to the campus to participate in current and future protests.

The plaintiffs are Jasper Wirtshafter, a Bloomington resident; Dr. Benjamin Robinson, a tenured IU-Bloomington professor; and Madeleine Meldrum, a current IU-Bloomington graduate student.

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Statement from ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk

“Since 1969 Dunn Meadow has been a public forum, a place for persons to engage in First Amendment expression. Indiana University cannot preemptively ban persons from engaging in this protected expression by prohibiting them from entering Dunn Meadow for a year or more.

Our future ability to engage in speech activities cannot be denied in this way. This is a prior restraint, and it is unconstitutional.”