Provost responds to IU on Strike

Activist group IU on Strike concluded its noise demonstration Tuesday with a visit to the Provost’s office, during which one of the strikers allegedly shoved executive secretary Karen Easter. Others had strewn flyers around the office and inside the provost’s purse.

In response, the provost made a statement that both the Bloomington Faculty Council and the IU Student Association endorsed. The statement explained the provost’s support for the discussion of important issues such as affordability and diversity at IU.

The provost then explained events that transpired at her office, calling them “unsettling.” She went on to emphasize the importance of nonviolent civil disobedience.

“There is a deep literature and practice around civil disobedience, one that at its most honorable calls, in my view, for nonviolence as its core, and nonviolence in its orientation,” the provost said in her letter.

While addressing this event, she made it clear that she would not grant immunity to the strikers for their actions.

“In direct action, honorable traditions of civil disobedience require accepting the consequences of that direct action. Doing so expresses the moral conviction of those engaging in direct action,” said the provost in the letter.

Expanding on that, she said that she couldn’t excuse the groups’ behavior when she didn’t know what that future behavior would be.

“Neither I nor anyone at the university can preemptively excuse undefined behavior,” she wrote.

She also mentioned that University policies were still in effect.

“We do not suspend university activities when a group organizes a demonstration. Our faculty and staff have a duty to provide the classes and services for which our students attend Indiana University,” the provost said in the letter.

The provost said she remains interested in talking to the group about the issues, but her offers to meet, in the past, have been denied. She also addressed the strikers' demand regarding wage freezes, saying that there is no wage freeze.

“Support staff have received base increases ranging from 1.5-3.5 percent every year since the recession started, with the exception of 2009, when the university reserved cash $500 bonuses for employees who earned less than $30,000,” the provost said in her letter.

This story will be updated.

- Sarah Zinn