Dear President Pamela Whitten and the Board of Trustees,

We, the undersigned alumni from Indiana University, express profound outrage at our alma mater’s complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people, its anti-Palestinian and selective commitment to the safeguarding of students, and its financial investments that contribute to the illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Indiana University has demonstrated a clear pattern of censorship, suppression, and sanctioning of students, faculty, and alumni who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The suspension of Professor Abdulkader Sinno, cancellation of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s exhibit, the arrest of IU alumnus Tom Sweeney, and the outrageous decision to call in the Indiana State Troopers to aggressively arrest students who organized a Gaza solidarity encampment in Dunn Meadow while exercising their rights to protest at the designated “University Assembly Ground” are appalling and an affront to our First Amendment protections, as well as our collective humanity. First Amendment watchdog groups, Hoosier activists, and community members have repeatedly called on IU to promptly reverse these decisions and be transparent about cited security concerns that warrant such action. While Indiana University has had more than ample time to provide a path to redress for those affected by these actions of censorship and retribution, our leadership has failed to provide the IU community with anything other than hollow public statements. 

Further, it is critical that we as alumni reckon with how Indiana University has become an effective perpetrator of anti-Palestinian racism. The University’s initial sanctioning of an event with Mosab Hassan Yousef, an overt Islamophobe, is especially egregious considering the context of Professor Abdulkader Sinno’s swift suspension and the cancellation of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s exhibit over alleged security concerns. Here is a question for Indiana University leadership: how did you not take into consideration that hosting a man who has publicly stated he would choose a cow over 1.6 billion Muslims would pose safety risks to Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab students on campus?

Earlier this year, Pamela Whitten also announced a campus training partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that has a long history of actively targeting Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims for their activism. These actions reveal the University’s hypocrisy in its embrace of anti-racism and diversity principles and the perpetuation of anti-Palestinian racism at the leadership level. Since the beginning of the genocide, no meaningful support has been extended to Palestinians on campus in acknowledgment of the community's pain or to ensure their safety. The University is effectively cultivating a campus environment that allows for anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bigotry to flourish. As such, it is failing to fulfill its obligation to protect Palestinian students, faculty, and alumni.

The University’s systemic support of the oppression of Palestinians has prompted the formation of an IU alumni collective who stand with Palestinians in their fight against illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide. As alumni, we urgently call on the University to:  

DEMANDS:

• Divest from companies and stakeholders that contribute to the illegal occupation of Palestine & genocide of the Palestinian people; including severing the $110 million invested partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), a US Navy research and development center located in Crane, IN with direct ties to the IOF, and removing their involvement from campus activities and academics;
• Formally recognize the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and acknowledge the pain affecting the Palestinian community on campuses;
• Establish Cultural Centers for Middle-Eastern and Muslim communities on campus;
• Immediately reinstate Samia Halaby’s exhibit at the Eskenazi Museum of Art;
• Reverse the suspension of Professor Abdulkader Sinno and reinstate him in his roles as tenured IU faculty;
• Demonstrate that students, faculty, and staff who advocate for Palestine are also entitled to their rights of academic freedom, free expression, and principled protest;  
• Affirm and increase protections of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied students, staff, and faculty from harassment and discrimination on the basis of their identities; 
• Terminate student-exchange initiatives like the IU Hillel Israel Leadership Delegation Trip, an annual trip that obscures the reality of the Israeli occupation and marginalizes the Palestinian perspective. These trips do not provide equal access to Palestinian-American students, who are routinely subjected to invasive interrogations at the Israeli border and can face denial of entry, detention, and deportation because of their Palestinian identity.

As IU alumni, we recognize the importance of academic freedom, open inquiry, diversity, and inclusivity needed within higher education. While IU tells us to celebrate diversity in all of its forms, there remains a visible gap between rhetoric and action. If IU wants to claim itself as “among the finest in all American higher education,” it must demonstrate a genuine commitment to translating these values into tangible outcomes.

Until then, we refuse to serve as the University’s ambassadors in the wake of the University’s complicity in the active genocide of the Palestinian people. The undersigned alumni thus pledge to withhold all financial contributions and halt alumni involvement in University initiatives until our demands are met. 

Signed,

IU Alumni