Shantytown arrives

"How humiliating. IU-Bloomington — the last bastion of liberalism in southern Indiana — was outdone by Purdue University Saturday when 22 Boilermakers were arrested for an anti-apartheid demonstration. Those arrested — a group which included 19 students — were charged with trespassing on school property after a permit issued to them for the construction of a shantytown expired," an IDS opinion writer wrote in an article on April 11.

Three days later, two-dozen students armed with splintered boards, cardboard boxes and cans of spray paint constructed a shantytown composed of five wooden shacks and supply tent, manned in shifts by about 25 protesters.

Protesters leading up to Shantytown disagreed with the University's investment policy that said IU would invest in companies operating in South Africa only if they followed the Sullivan Principles or similar equal-rights guidelines.

"Protesters thought this did not state clearly enough the University's opposition to South Africa's segregationist policy of apartheid," according to an Arbutus article.

On Nov. 1, 1985, the board issued a "strengthened" investment policy that required IU's treasurer annually review the companies it owns stock in to determine whether they provide equal-opportunity employment and help upgrade the quality of life for South African blacks.

At the Board of Trustees' April meeting, they voted to divest about $42,000 of stock to two companies that did not meet the new policy and shantytown was built.

"It's definitely a place where people know they can stop by — it's like having an office," freshman Andrew Henderson said in an Arbutus article. "We want to keep pushing and generate interest on this. It's not going to fade away."

And it didn't. Over the summer, the campsite remained, despite harassment of people throwing rocks, eggs and tear gas at the shanties.

In November, 1986, the IU Student Association passed a resolution giving $179.95 to the shantytown residents to dismantle their dwellings. Although some protesters disagreed, most agreed that dismantling was the best option.

As one shantytown member pulled the last rusty nails from his shack, according to an Arbutus article, he said, "When people walk by here for the next couple years, they're going to remember us and what we did. Even if they disagree, they're going to remember."