IDS Thursday, April 10, 2025
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MILES TELLER VISITS BLOOMINGTON
‘Small’ ‘Do you understand this is a crisis?’ number IU students simulate global chaos during a student-directed national security crisis simulation of visas canceled By Maddie Hensley henslemm@iu.edu
The provost did not say how many IU students’ visas had been canceled By Mia Hilkowitz, Marissa Meador, Andrew Miller and Deshna Venkatachalam news@idsnews.com
Several IU students have had their student visas canceled, IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav said April 8 at the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting. The discussion came after an attendee at the meeting referenced the actions of other universities in regard to revoking student visas. “I can confirm that is happening here,” Shrivastav said at the meeting. “It is ongoing. It is no different than what’s happening in other institutions.” Shrivastav said the number of IU students this has affected is “small relative to some other institutions.” The university is responding on a case-by-case basis and working to help students to the extent the institution can while complying with federal legislation, he said. “No institution actually controls visa issues,” Shrivastav said. “Those are federal regulations and federal jurisdiction. With what is within our ability, we are trying to help as best we can.” Shrivastav said the students that have been involved in student visa cancellations have gotten “exceptional” support from their academic units and faculty. The revocations at IU come as dozens of colleges across the country say their students have had their visas canceled. The New York Times reported April 7 nearly 300 international students have had their visas revoked at both public and private institutions. In March, federal immigration authorities arrested Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a leader at the university’s pro-Palestinian protests and encampments. Khalil’s detention was the first publicly known student arrest as part of the Trump administration's executive order to combat antisemitism on college campuses. In a fact sheet about the order, the administration wrote it would revoke visas for and deport students who participated in “pro-jihadist protests” — though not all the students who have had their visas revoked have participated in protests and encampments. In other cases, students and lawyers said immigration officials gave no reason behind the visa revocations. Student visas can be revoked if students violate the rules that govern them, such as by not keeping a full class load or getting an off-campus job without permission. They can also be revoked if students commit a crime. Students who get their visas revoked can have them reinstated if they meet special requirements, but it’s historically rare for students to have their visas terminated from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, an online state department database that keeps records on international students. Many of the revocations have also included terminated records, though it’s unclear if this is the case at IU. The state department did not provide the exact number of IU students who have had their visas canceled.
SEE VISA, PAGE 4
Editor’s note: This story uses a first-person point-ofview at certain points to help tell the story and create an immersive experience for the reader.
Over the course of several high-stakes hours April 5, IU students navigated diplomatic minefields, military escalations and intelligence breakdowns, all within the walls of the Indiana Memorial Union. They were part of the seventh O’Neill National Security Crisis Simulation, organized by the Alexander Hamilton Society and John Karaagac, senior lecturer and director at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The faculty-coordinated, studentdirected event is intended to help students apply their technical skills in a highpressure environment. When I arrived at 9:30 a.m., students were already darting between rooms with name placards hanging from their necks, identifying their roles as presidents, ambassadors, secretaries and intelligence officers from countries across the world. Karaagac quickly introduced me to the “President of the United States,” junior Macey Montgomery, and the “U.S. National Security Adviser,”
MADDIE HENSLEY | IDS
Revisionist powers meet at the seventh O'Neill National Security Crisis Simulation on April 5, 2025, at the Indiana Memorial Union. The revisionist powers included Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran.
sophomore Simon Cian. They were positioned at the head of a long table in the IMU’s Distinguished Alumni Room. That would be the American headquarters. After brief introductions, students dispersed into their separate alliances. In the “UN room,” UN members, representatives of European Union states and NATO allies met together. In a second room, the “revisionists,” powers including Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran, convened.
While state representatives had to ask permission before traveling between rooms or meeting with their foreign counterparts, I was granted diplomatic immunity as a reporter. In the American room, the U.S. delegation was hit by the first crisis. “0753 GMT: A Bullet, Bit,” the top of the page read. The confidential memo informed officials that a routine Indian military exercise ended in tragedy. Twentythree Pakistani civilians had died, with substantial damage to residences and civil infrastructure across the Pakistani border. U.S. Signals Intelligence indicated that GPS jamming was involved, but the jamming’s perpetrator remained unknown. Indian social media amplified claims of a Pakistani false flag, meaning they attempted to make it appear that the crime was carried out by another actor. Simultaneously, reports surfaced of a terrorist attack on the Maji dam in southern Tibet, which supplied 48% of the world’s population with water. The terrorists threat-
ened to seize the dam if China did not release the region for their control. The U.S. immediately split into its governmental agencies to assess the crises. As tension mounted in the U.S. headquarters, a U.S. ambassador discreetly slipped out. In a shadowy hallway exchange, the ambassador assured the President of Pakistan, law student James Romano, that the U.S. condemned the situation and were investigating origins of the weapon. But not all was well at home. Representatives ran between groups, speaking loudly and sometimes talking over one another. Adding to the chaos, a congress member learned they could leave the room and did so without informing the president. The senate majority leader was unsure of the congress member’s whereabouts. “Do you understand this is a crisis?” The national security adviser snapped at the Senate majority leader, sophomore Joshua Burt. “We are trying to analyze everything, and Congress just leaves the
room in the middle of trying to make a decision.” The president’s frustration was equally apparent. Elsewhere, diplomatic chess continued. In contrast to the American headquarters, the revisionist room had a calm, even cheerful atmosphere. “India has asked permission to enter the room,” a courier informed the group. “Agree or deny?” “Deny!” Everyone sitting around the small conference table said in unison. One president leaned back in his chair while the Russian delegation cracked jokes. Then the second crisis struck. U.S. social networks were claiming Bolingbroke, an owner of Department of Defense contracted companies, had been fraudulently reporting their assets for years to continue garnering competitive contracts. While U.S. defense-industrial markets plummeted, separatist attacks in Tibet escalated to killing Chinese officials.
SEE CRISIS, PAGE 4
Residents support change to vote center system By Jack Forrest
jhforres@iu.edu | @byjackforrest
Over 20 people spoke April 7 in favor of a plan to change Monroe County’s voting system to one where any registered voter could vote at any county polling place. This discussion took place during public comment at a Monroe County Election Board hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse. The next hearing on vote centers — the name for polling places where any voter can cast a ballot — will be 5:30 p.m. May 19 at the Monroe County Courthouse, when the Election Board will vote on the plan. Currently, voters must go to a specific polling place determined by the precinct they live in. The Monroe County Election Board formed the Vote Center Study Committee in 2023. The committee held public input sessions in Bloomington, Ellettsville and Unionville, reviewed election data and technology needs and looked at information from other Indiana counties, including those with vote centers. Based on emails, interviews and websites from eight other counties with vote centers, they did not have a great impact on voter participation, according to the plan. The committee’s recommendation was to convert all 29 Monroe County polling places to vote centers before the next elections in 2026. They also recommended opening three more early voting locations at the Ellettsville Town Hall, the Monroe County Public Library Southwest Branch and the IU Center on Representative Government or
another place near campus. There’s currently one early voting location in Bloomington on Walnut Street. The estimated cost to convert to vote centers is $601,763, according to the committee’s plan. That’s for additional ballot printers, label printers and scanners, among other equipment. Assuming costs stay the same, that represents a 5% increase in overall election costs. As of 2024, 65 of Indiana’s 92 counties have vote center voting, according to the plan.
“I think because we’re seeing suppression from the state level, it’s more important than ever to make sure at the county level that we do what we can." Anushka Pandey, IU College Democrats president
Among the supporters April 7 were Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, Bloomington City Councilmembers Hopi Stosberg and Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Monroe County Councilor Trent Deckard, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce President Eric Spoonmore and Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant. Matt Caldie, who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for an atlarge County Council seat last year, said he went to multiple polling places on the primary election day as a candidate, including at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church. “I’m pretty confident that
more people went in and came out and said, ‘I’m in the wrong place,’ than came out with a sticker,” Caldie said. He said he knew at least one person who gave up on voting entirely after going to the wrong place. Vote centers would solve that problem, Caldie said. Nancy Goswami echoed a similar sentiment. She said she’s worked as a poll worker for early voting and Election Day several times. She called it “disheartening” to see voters come in with only a few minutes left to vote and tell them they’re at the wrong location. There’ve been times where she’s had to turn away voters with mobility challenges, she said. One member of the public, who said she’d been a poll worker during early voting since 2020, supported vote centers. However, she said she questioned if the three added early voting centers were necessary for every election because some have lower turnout. “There are some elections where I’m being paid to read a book,” she said, “because maybe it’s primary, maybe there’s not a lot on the ballot.” Another person expressed concern about the distance that elderly voters in rural areas have to travel to vote, like in Gosport. Ilana Stonebraker, Vote Center Study Committee chair, said the Gosport polling place would remain the same, but the vote center plan can be amended yearly by the Election Board. Browne said voters can request assistance with the traveling board, which brings the ballots to eligible voters. One specific example some speakers brought up was student voter confu-
FILE PHOTO | IDS
Two signs directing voters toward the polling center inside Alumni Hall are pictured Nov. 5, 2024, outside the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington. Over 20 people supported a plan Monday to change Monroe County’s voting system to one where any registered voter could vote at any county polling place.
sion at the Indiana Memorial Union last November. Many voters — including those registered out of state — falsely believed they were able to vote at the IMU, even though it only covered certain precincts. Nicole Browne, county clerk and Election Board secretary, said April 7 that her office believes a thirdparty organization led students to believe, mistakenly, they could vote where they couldn’t. Many IMU voters filled out provisional ballots, which allow voters to cast a vote if their eligibility is in question. The Election Board later reviews the provisional ballots to decide if that voter is eligible and their vote should be counted. According to Election Supervisor Kylie Farris, there were 390 provisional ballots cast in the county this past election, with 300 coming from the IMU. Of the IMU provisional ballots, 280 came from voters at the wrong location within the county, and 20 weren’t registered in Monroe County or Indiana.
Anushka Pandey, IU College Democrats president, said at the meeting vote centers would remove barriers to voting, like getting to a specific polling place. She told the Indiana Daily Student she doesn’t believe it’s a partisan issue. “I’d rather you go vote than not, regardless of what party you support,” Pandey said. “I think that is a sentiment that rings true for a lot of people, because at the end of the day Election Day is about making your voice heard.” Pandey said vote centers are especially important in response to Senate Bill 10, which would remove school-issued IDs, including IU’s CrimsonCard, as a valid form of identification to vote. “I think because we’re seeing suppression from the state level, it’s more important than ever to make sure at the county level that we do what we can,” she said. Monroe County residents can provide feedback on vote centers via an online form before the board’s May 19 meeting.