Indiana University Parents to Lead Mass Protest

Bloomington, IN - On May 21, Indiana University announced that it will require all students, faculty and staff to get the COVID vaccine, saying it’s the only way the university can return to having in-person classes.

Exemptions, IU said, will be "strictly limited" to a "very narrow set of criteria" to include medical exemptions and "documented and significant religious exemptions."

The mandate came with a requirement that students, faculty and staff upload a photo or a scan showing proof of vaccination.

It also came with a heavy threat: those who do not get the vaccine will see their classes canceled, have their email accounts and pay cards (Crimson Cards) cut off, and, for staff, will be immediately fired.

The announcement shocked thousands of IU students, parents and long-time employees of the university who quickly organized, became The IU Family for Choice, not Mandates, Inc. and hired an attorney to represent them – famed First Amendment lawyer Jim Bopp, an IU graduate.

While IU was forced to soften the mandate somewhat after the enormous outcry, the policy remains what rally organizers say is a completely unacceptable abridgement of freedom that cannot be justified, at this point, by any risk presented by the COVID-19 virus. And the university’s raffling off of Apple Watches, AirPods, free tuition, speakers and Colts tickets to students and staff who agree to show proof of vaccination is an obvious and manipulative ploy to get people to give up their right to choose,while possibly risking their long-term health.

On Thursday, June 10 at 1 p.m. Eastern, during the IU Board of Trustees meeting, IU students, parents and staff will hold a large protest and “Rally for Medical Freedom” at the Sample Gates on the IU-Bloomington campus to insist that the university immediately retract the mandate and drop all mask requirements and mitigation testing for Covid-19.

Kari Bundy of Children’s Health Defense will be one of the featured speakers, along with former Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate Lucy Brenton; president of The IU Family for Choice Not Mandates Ann Dorris; candidate for the IU Board of Trustees Margaret Menge; and former nursing home employee Shawn (Skelton) Vidiella of Southern Indiana, whose convulsions following vaccination in January went viral in online videos.

For more information, visit the IU Family for Choice, not Mandates website.

Children’s Health Defense, chaired by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will livestream the rally starting at approximately 12:45 p.m.

Children’s Health Defense is devoted to the health of people and our planet. Our mission is to end the childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures, hold those responsible accountable, and establish safeguards to prevent future harm.