The story
Racial integration
In 1895, Marcellus Neal was the first African American to graduate and earn a degree (mathematics).
In 1908, Clarence Augustus Lucas became the first African American to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
In 1915, Lillian Haydon Childress Hall became the first African-American graduate of the Indiana Public Library Commission Summer School for Librarians (later the Indiana University School of Library and Information Science) and the earliest known formally trained African American librarian in Indiana.
In 1919, Frances Marshall was the first African-American woman to graduate from Indiana University (Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree in English).
Thirty-two years later, in 1951, Richard Davis Johnson became the first African American faculty member when he was hired as a percussion instructor.
In 1975, Deborah Lynne McCullough and Beverly J. Perkins became the first two African-American women to earn a doctor of medicine degree from Indiana University School of Medicine.
21st century
In April 2002, thousands of IU students and staff, along with Bloomington residents, rioted across the university campus before merging into adjacent city blocks after the IU men's basketball team lost the NCAA basketball championship game to the University of Maryland Terrapins. Rioters caused extensive damage to university buildings and city businesses, and at least 45 people were arrested during the riot.
Sexual harassment and assault investigations
In March 2014, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights initiated a federal investigation of Indiana University's Title IX compliance, encompassing more than 450 sexual harassment and violence complaints filed with the university between 2011 and 2015. The complaints involved both students and university staff or faculty. The investigation revealed concerns with timeliness of response, lack of documentation, not preventing retaliation, and the creation of sexually hostile environments at the campus. The investigation further criticized the lack of mandatory sexual harassment, misconduct, and awareness training for staff, as well as the lack of institutional support for its Title IX Coordinator to oversee compliance by the university.
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In February 2016, the university's Associate Dean of Students, Director of Student Ethics, and Title IX Deputy Director, Jason Casares, abruptly resigned his position after sexual assault allegations were made against him by Association for Student Conduct Administration president-elect, and New York University Assistant Director of Global Community Standards, Jill Creighton, during a conference in Fort Worth, Texas, in December 2015. The Fort Worth Police Department declined to press charges.
In May 2016, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights initiated another Title IX investigation into Indiana University for failing to hold a university student accountable for an off-campus rape of another student and failing to follow proper Title IX procedures subsequent to the reporting of the incident. The university also charged the victim a dorm-relocation fee after the suspected rapist continued to harass the victim around her dormitory, which also went without intervention by the university. The victim's case was also handled by former Title IX Director, Jason Casares, prior to his resignation amidst sexual harassment and misconduct allegations as the university's student ethics director and Title IX deputy director.
Gaza war protests
In 2023, IU's Palestine Solidarity Committee held several protests against the Gaza war. IU's Student Government treasurer and co-director of DEI resigned after accusing other student government leadership members of antisemitism and failure to represent the whole student body. The accused student body president responded by reaffirming the student government's commitment to fighting antisemitism and islamophobia and called the resignations part of "a historical pattern of undue criticism faced by Black women in positions of power." After learning of the controversy, U.S. Representative Jim Banks sent a letter to university president Pamela Whitten demanding information about pro-Palestinian protests and alleged antisemitism on campus, identifying it as a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Banks threatened the continued federal funding for the university if the conduct was tolerated by the university administration.
Also in November 2023 the university barred a faculty member from teaching after alleging that he improperly assisted the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a student group, by reserving a room for them on campus. Shortly thereafter, the university's administrators also cancelled a planned art exhibition by Samia Halaby, a Palestinian-American artist. Critics viewed these actions as unjust attempts to deliver results in response to congressional scrutiny. In the spring of 2024, the university's faculty voted no confidence in the Indiana University system president, the Bloomington campus's provost and vice provost, saying that they were "encroaching on both academic freedom and shared governance." Over 50 people were arrested while protesting in Dunn Meadow, the designated free speech area on campus.
In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights again initiated a federal investigation of the university in response to a complaint of the violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The complaint alleged lack of response and complacency by the university administration to an increasing number of anti-Semitic incidents at the campus. The ACLU of Indiana also sued IU, alleging that it had violated the First Amendment rights of people banned from campus after taking part in pro-Palestinian protests.
In April 2024, IU students and faculty joined other campuses across the US in protesting against the Gaza war and the accused genocide of Palestinians. IU president Pamela Whitten made allegations of 'antisemitic episodes'. National Guard and police in riot gear broke up the student encampment and multiple arrests were made. The following academic year, after the administration brought in new policies to stop protests and limit "expressive activities", students and faculty held vigils for free speech and the Palestinian cause.
In April 2025, an IU professor was investigated under Indiana's "intellectual diversity" law after an anonymous complaint that he had discussed his arrest during a civil disobedience action at the Israeli consulate. His tenure was threatened after an administrator escalated the complaint.
From Wikipedia’s article on Indiana University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5