IDS Thursday, April 11, 2024
Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
INSIDE, P. 6
Scenes from the solar eclipse
Bloomington celebrates the eclipse By Benjamin LeGrand and Jonathan Frey news@idsnews.com
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loomington’s premier eclipse celebration took place at Memorial Stadium from 1-5 p.m. April 8. It featured performances and speeches from “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, astronaut Mae Jemison, and grammynominated R&B and pop singer Janelle Monáe, as well as several IU performing arts ensembles. 11:30 a.m. — The setup A chorus of horns and booming breakbeats rang out from the grand stage as 10-time Grammy nominated R&B singer Janelle Monáe’s band sound checked in IU Memorial Stadium. The bleachers were mostly vacant, save for the IU band who wandered in to take their seats by the end zone. They occasionally cheered for the horn section of Monáe’s ensemble. The sun beamed down on the field, usually made of turf, but today covered in a gray plastic platform for showgoers to stand on. A crowd of around 10,000 were expected to flock to the stadium for the main event beginning at 1 p.m., according to Visit Bloomington Executive Director Mike McAfee.
“I think it's been just this nice steady flow of people I've seen. I've been out and about in town, all weekend,” McAfee said. “Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today I’ve met tons of people from all over the country that are that are here for it.” A day once forecasted to be cloudy was turning out to be clear and blue, but the bleachers were mostly empty leading up to the event’s official beginning. The general admission floor was sparsely populated with early birds laying out blankets and staking their spots. 1:05 p.m. — A performance from IU Theatre Clad in flashy red, white and blue costumes, the Indiana University Musical Theatre department and College of Arts and Sciences Theater and Dance department put their skills on display throughout their half-hour set. Like many performances throughout eclipse weekend, the departments presented a celestial-themed setlist. They performed several Broadway and pop ballads including Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine,” and Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky.” “Let the Sunshine In” by the 5th Dimension capped off their performance.
SEE CELEBRATION, PAGE 4
ALAYNA WILKENING | IDS
(TOP) Janelle Monaé steps on stage during the Hoosier Cosmic Celebration April 8, 2024, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. Monae performed after Bloomington experienced the total solar eclipse. (BOTTOM) Ballet dancers from the IU contemporary dance program dance onstage April 8, 2024, at the Hoosier Cosmic Celebration at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The dancers performed a piece titled "Minor Bodies."
City council passes Gaza ceasefire resolution By Mia Hilkowitz
mhilkowi@iu.edu | @MiaHilkowitz
Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, such as antisemitism and hate speech. The Bloomington City Council joined more than 70 cities across the country in calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War on April 4. The council unanimously passed a resolution urging national leaders to work towards a ceasefire and provide more aid in the war. Later in the meeting the council condemned antisemitic and racist speech that occurred during public comment. The council’s vote comes after more than a month of conflicting pressure from residents regarding a ceasefire resolution. For the past three council meetings, public commenters have asked the council to introduce and pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war, which began after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel during their Oct. 7 attack. In response to this attack, Israel launched a ground offensive and airstrike campaign in Gaza, killing more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and displacing 80% of Gaza’s population. SEE COUNCIL, PAGE 5
IU alum arrested during pro-Palestinian protest on eclipse day By Marissa Meador
marnmead@iu.edu | @marissa_meador
IU Police Department detained and took one person away in a golf cart during a pro-Palestinian demonstration April 8 afternoon. The arrested individual, Tom Sweeney, is a former IU Wells Scholar and current senior research specialist at Princeton. Multiple other protestors were temporarily detained and were informed that prosecutors may soon reach out about potential misdemeanor charges. The event began at the Cox Arboretum around twenty minutes before solar eclipse totality, with one protester using a megaphone to announce the protest to the crowd of eclipse-viewers in the arboretum. “Do not look away from what’s happening in Gaza,” the person with the megaphone said. According to an Instagram post, the event involved community members from multiple local groups including IU Alumni for Palestine, the IU Palestine Solidarity Committee, Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America, Indiana Resiste, IU Students for a New Green World, Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition and Shattering the Silence Bloomington. The rally brought together a host of progres-
sive causes to call for a permanent ceasefire and demands institutions “divest from genocide.” It also called to protect academic institutions from “MAGA reactionary extremism,” citing a perceived attempt to suppress pro-Palestinian speech and attacks on education from the Indiana General Assembly in the form of Senate Bill 202. Vicka Bell-Robinson, associate vice provost for involvement and belonging, told the protesters to stop using amplified sound multiple times. They briefly continued but eventually stopped. When the moon completely obscured the sun, the protesters, police and IU staff alike paused and stared through eclipse glasses as the air cooled, the sky darkened and the horizon burned orange. When the light returned, the protesters marched around the arboretum and chanted. Once they had made a full loop, IUPD officers gestured for three demonstrators in neon vests to step away, the demonstrators told the IDS later. The demonstrators said police told them they could not protest in the arboretum and that they were engaging in disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail. The demonstrators said the officers took their identification cards and told
JACOB SPUDICH | IDS
IUPD detains a pro-Palestine protester during eclipse festivities April 8, 2024, in Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. The demonstrators moved to Dunn Meadow from the Cox Arboretum.
them prosecutors may be reaching out soon. They also said the police told them to move to Dunn Meadow, which is a designated assembly ground according to IU policy. Demonstrations, tabling and other types of expressive activity are not allowed at the arboretum because it is designated as a space for “reflection and quiet respite from the sounds of the rest of campus,” according
to a page on the IU Office of Student Life website. The protesters then moved to Dunn Meadow, where a large crowd of people was already gathered to view the eclipse. The demonstrator who had stopped using the megaphone in the arboretum resumed use of the device in Dunn Meadow before being grabbed by police and taken up the hill to Seventh Street. Police put him in the back seat of
a golf cart while protesters swarmed the area and shouted “Shame” and “Let him go.” After a few moments, IUPD officers took the protester away in the golf cart as the protester turned back to the crowd and urged them to continue. “They told us to come here,” one protester complained as the cart sped away. Sweeney told the IDS lat-
Bloomington's 7-Day Forecast
er that IUPD officers drove him to a different street where they then handcuffed him and put him in a squad car. He spent an hour in jail and was formally charged with disorderly conduct at a hearing Tuesday, though he can get the charges dropped by paying a fine and doing community service through pretrial diversion, he said. SEE DETAINED, PAGE 5
SOURCE: XANDER LOWRY | XLOWRY@IU.EDU GRAPHICS BY: THE WEATHER CHANNEL
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