Gracing the side of a building at last fall's Occupy Camp . . .
Update 4/12/12: the local paper put Occupy back on its front page today, top headline: “Student Activists taking aim at today’s IU trustee meeting.” Activists plan to attend the meeting and “participate on equal terms with the trustees.”
Also, Occupy IU fb page says the local CWA 4730 (Communication Workers of America) urges all IU staff to wear black . . .
Well, well. I haven’t been following as closely as I did last fall, but it does seem like Occupy juices are stirring here. Check out the banner below. It was unfurled Monday over the Indiana University Business School building!
- IU Indiana University Occupy objects to spewing coal-fired plant on campus Monday, April 9, 2012. Says to IU admin., “There’s blood on your hands.”
I know that there have been several rallies already, one of them on campus.
I’m not sure how often General Assemblies are held, but I notice on the occupybloomington.org site that there’s one tonight at City Hall in the atrium, 6:30-7:30, right before City Council.
Meanwhile, tonight also, a lecture and discussion on the IU campus on Steady State Economics. 7:00 p.m. Yes!
And tomorrow, a meeting of Re-Think Think Tank Teach-In: The Corporate University Part I, also 7 p.m. Yes!
Here’s a great comment on the Occupy Bloomington Facebook page:
“This whole ‘occupy’ thing has been a fantastic catalyst for creating friendships, engaging in debates and discussions, feeding bloomington, raising awareness, and in my opinion most importantly, creating community outside of the ‘acceptable’ channels. I am feeling some crazy awesome warm fuzzies now.”
Meanwhile, what got me going on this post was an interesting article in today’s Indiana Daily News, the I.U. newspaper.
Students occupy auditorium in Fine Arts Building, one door padlocked
IDS Reports
POSTED AT 08:18 PM ON APR. 10, 2012
This is a developing story. (A.K.: I just checked again, and at this point they’ve all left the building.)
Police arrived on the scene at about 9 p.m. at an occupation staged by approximately 30 people in Fine Arts 015, the auditorium in the Fine Arts Building. 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. Protesters told the police that the occupation was a “gun free zone,” and began chanting “Less guns, more bikes.”
After this, at around 9:35 p.m., the protesters put padlocks on one of the doors. All of the other doors remain open.
The police left around 9:40 p.m.
Occupy IU posted a statement on its Facebook page, saying “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.”
The protesters have set up a table with food in the auditorium. They also brought a mattress and discussed staying the entire night. The Fine Arts Building is open until 2 a.m. because it is a public building, but the people occupying discussed staying until after that.
Keep checking idsnews.com for updates.
— Mark Keierleber
