The ACLU of Indiana has filed two federal lawsuits against Ball State University over how the school regulates protests.
The plaintiffs are students who have protested against Ball State, mainly asking it to divest from any financial ties to Israel. The ACLU says university policies violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Read the lawsuits here and here.
Specifically, the students entered the Ball State Administration Building in November 2025, wanting to talk to the university president.
According to video shot by the students, the president’s office was locked and they were asked to leave multiple times by school officials. They were allowed to write a note to the president, stayed until the building closed at 5 p.m. and left.
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Ball State prohibits protests and demonstrations within 50 feet of most campus buildings. According to the lawsuit filings, “virtually every building on Campus” falls into the prohibited categories.
Ball State also issued disciplinary action against the students, including a suspension for one. The university sited a rule that students must comply with all directives from university officials, which the ACLU says “punish[es] students for protected expression.”
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The lawsuits mainly ask for the court to block the 50-foot rule and expunge the students’ disciplinary records.
As a policy, Ball State does not comment on pending litigation.
Stephanie Wiechmann is Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host at Indiana Public Radio in Muncie . Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu
