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After an increase in disruptions by pro-Palestinian student protesters, Indiana University paused all guided campus tours last week and shifted to self-guided tours. On Friday, guided tours resumed—this time with IU police officers as escorts.
An IU spokesperson wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the switch to self-guided tours was a “standard contingency that occurs in severe weather and other circumstances that impact the safety of tour guides and prospective students and families,” adding that the police officers subsequently assigned to tour groups were meant to “provide warnings and enforce campus policies if necessary.”
“Those found in violation of IU’s policies by disrupting tours may be detained, arrested and face criminal charges depending on the nature of the disruption,” the spokesperson said.
Student protesters have targeted prospective student activities like campus tours and admitted student events for months. Admissions offices have had to adapt by changing tour routes and, in some cases, temporarily canceling tours all together.
Indiana appears to be the first university to explicitly make disrupting tours an arrestable offense. The escalation comes a month after the university changed a 55-year-old protest policy and arrested dozens of student and faculty demonstrators.
