Occupy IU members protest in Fine Arts Building auditorium

Update as of Wednesday at 12:49 p.m.

IU Police arrived to the Fine Arts Building at approximately 8 a.m. Wednesday where Occupy IU protesters occupied the auditorium, Fine Arts 015, overnight.

When police arrived Wednesday morning, IU Police Department Chief Keith Cash said approximately 12 protesters remained in the auditorium. But because they were already preparing to leave, he said police did not have a problem and no arrests were made.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., one protester remained, sitting on a bench outside the Fine Arts Building with a stack of Occupy literature on his lap. When he said police arrived, they did not want to risk arrest. He said the remaining protesters conformed to the officers’ request to vacate the auditorium.

Previous update as of Wednesday at 3 a.m.

IU Police initially arrived at about 9 p.m. Tuesday. No arrests were made.

Police asked the protesters, some of whom were using code names and wearing bandanas over their faces, to move their bikes, which were parked illegally outside of the building.
During the altercation with two IU police officers, protesters told police the occupation was a “gun-free zone” and began chanting “less guns, more bikes.”

At approximately 9:35 p.m., protesters padlocked one of the doors of the auditorium shut but left the keys inside the locks. In front of the doors, protesters obstructed the entrance with garbage cans.

The IU Police Department left around 9:40 p.m. As they left, police made comments that they can continue occupying the space until 2 a.m., before being evicted.

At various points of the night, police entered the building, surveyed the sight, then left.

During the officers’ second round in the Fine Arts Building, two protesters standing outside tried speaking with the two officers as they approached the front door.

“I’m not worried about that,” one officer responded.

Without another word, the policemen walked into the building and approached the first door to the auditorium—the door that had been padlocked shut.

Peeking through the small window, one officer turned to the other.

“Ah, not too many,” he said. “I’d say 40, maybe 30.”

As quickly as they came in, the officers turned around and walked outside.

“Have a good evening officers,” one protester said as they left.

When the police arrived for the fourth time at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, IUPD Officer Garth VanLeeuwen said he was there to stay.

“I’m willing to talk if you have any questions,” protester James Lewis said to VanLeeuwen. Lewis was the designated police liaison.

“I’m the one who talks to the police,” Lewis said. “There are a few times when they were a little bit rude, but they are doing their job and I understand sometimes they are rude when they do it, but the newest ones have been pretty all right, actually.”

With a toothpick dangling from his lips, he sat down on a stair railing. As long as the protesters remained peaceful, he said they could stay and he would not make any arrests.

Protester James Lewis said he planned to stay in the auditorium all night, but unlike some of the protesters, he said he did not plan to sleep.

“I pull all-nighters to write a paper,” Lewis said. “This seems like more valuable of a cause than any paper my professors are going to have me write, so I can pull an all-nighter for this.”

By 10 a.m. he said he would have to leave to go to work. While he did not know what the collective group would ultimately decide, he said he hoped to remain in the auditorium if it were used for lectures Wednesday morning.

He said his purpose behind his involvement was to inform students they do not have a voice in decisions made by the University. To provoke change, he said he called for students to attend the upcoming IU Board of Trustees meeting.

“They claim we have a voice, however the Board of Trustees makes all the decisions,” Lewis said. “They are not elected officials, they are appointed by the governor, who many of us students did not vote for. We need a voice.”
According to a handout distributed by the protesters, they were "occupying this space as art students."

“Art is no longer for its own sake; we are being taught by a capitalist university to succeed in a capitalist society,” according to the handout. “We are being conditioned to sell ourselves in disgusting ways.”

Occupy IU posted a statement on its Facebook page that reads, “Fine Arts Room 015 has been occupied as a liberated space in which to express discontent with the University establishment. The intent is to hold this space for the purposes of planning for the IU Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday and Friday and generalized creative dissent. All are welcome.”

***
 
Prior to their occupation inside the Fine Arts Building, Occupy IU protesters gathered on the lawn of the IU Art Museum for a mass assembly. Many protesters said they were gathering in response to tuition increases.

Student debt, said protester Justinian Dispenza, has increased 45 percent in the last five years and may rise another five percent in the next year.

“I think it is important that lower-income people who don’t necessarily have the financial means and want to learn and want to get a degree are able to,” Dispenza said. “The University is starting to look a little more like it’s being run by corporations and less by the governor, and that’s upsetting to me because I don’t think Walmart has my best interest in mind, and I don’t want them hypothetically running a university that I attend.”

But along with concerns about tuition increases, protesters were concerned with the lack of a student voice on campus.

“The Board of Trustees have one student representative out of nine who is appointed by an application process by the governor of the state,” said Occupy IU Media Liaison and IDS opinion columnist Peter Oren. “So the student representative is not really a student representative. She was not elected by the students, which is a problem.”

During the IU Student Association elections held last week, 458 ballots were cast. This voter apathy, Dispenza said, was driven by a belief that IUSA does not have power to decide important issues such as financial matters.

“Before anything else, I want to have an actual voice,” Dispenza said. “The Board of Trustees, there isn’t even a public comment period at the meetings. You’re allowed to sit and be quiet, and it’s the students who are paying for the University, so the students should be able to have a voice.”

Oren said Occupy IU’s mass assembly was held in direct response to the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting.

“With events like this, we’re hoping to get students back into the mentality that you can do something about your future,” Dispenza said. “You don’t have to let the higher-ups dictate your life.”

***

Inside the room, an air mattress rested on stage at the front. Earlier in the occupation, members laid on the mattress. After a few hours, however, it became mostly deflated.

At the beginning, one protester manned the computer and projector at the front of the room as others developed a list of suggested activities during their occupation. Saving the document onto the desktop, the protester titled it “what to do with this space.”

“That’s a long list,” one protester said.

The list included “build blanket/plywood forts,” “medical and recreational marijuana” and “yoga,” among others.

Ultimately, “dance party” won as protesters dimmed the lights and played “Paper Planes” by M.I.A on the computer. A few sang into a microphone on the stage and danced.

Along the back of the room, protesters snacked on potato chips. An empty pizza box lay on the floor.

In the back of the room prior to the arrival of police, a small group gathered to discuss a strategy.

Protesters discussed holding their own meeting with the IU trustees. That way, they said, they could discuss their goals to lower tuition prices without an authority structure looming over their heads.

“I’m worried that this is going to create opposition to us from the art community,” one protester mentioned.

As of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, protesters remained occupying the auditorium without further police altercation.