Jim Banks’ dangerous call for police and National Guard at IU protests

In a recent editorial, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks called on Indiana State Police and the Indiana National Guard to clear student protesters from the Indiana University Bloomington campus. As students and their families gather on campus for graduation ceremonies, defusing this tense situation is critical for everyone’s safety. Instead, Banks’ inflammatory rhetoric has led to a dangerous escalation.

The presence of heavily armed police or National Guardsmen in a crowded and unpredictable situation can pose a danger to everyone in the area. At Kent State University in 1970, two of the four students killed by the National Guard were bystanders, not participants in the demonstrations. Although unlikely, today at IU a single misjudgment — mistaking a phone for a gun, feeling threatened by approaching students or faculty — can lead police or security guards to make potentially fatal mistakes.

Banks’ words also increase the likelihood that other people unaffiliated with IU will come to campus and become embroiled in conflict. This also poses a risk to the safety of everyone on campus. Regardless of whether external activists are on the political right or the political left, they significantly increase the level of danger.