UPDATE: The videos appear to have been taken down. The CI confirms they existed, were viewed, contained the statements in this article, and has directly obtained the videos.
MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State University's Dean of College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM), Dr. Kristen McCauliff, instructed local organizer Joseph Souza to leave the Arts and Journalism Building (AJ) this afternoon.
Souza had been informing students about today's protest scheduled at the Peace Plaza, following the firing of Suzanne Swierc.
Two videos of the encounter, originally posted by the Muncie Liberation Studio on Instagram and obtained by The CI, show part of the exchange between McCauliff and Souza. In the footage, McCauliff is seen standing in front of Souza while on the phone.
Souza told The CI the encounter took place in a hallway on the second floor of AJ.
In the first video, Souza says, "I don't know why you think you could come here and harass me."
McCauliff says, "I'm not harassing you, I'm just letting you know."
Souza responds, "This is totally ludicrous. This woman is harassing me. This is the dean of the college harassing me for talking to people in a hallway. This is white privilege if I've ever seen it. Holy crap, I can't talk to people in a hallway, ma'am?"
In the second video, McCauliff tells Souza, "You gotta have 50 feet from the building. So, can you move this outside?"
The rule about being 50 feet away is part of the university's Non-Commercial Expressive Activity and Assembly on University Property policy. However, subsection 3.4 of the policy specifically outlines "assemblies, protests, or other demonstrations," raising questions about whether the policy applied in this context.
Souza replied, "Move this? I'm confused, I'm not allowed to talk to people in a hallway?"
McCauliff answers, "You definitely are."
Souza continues, "That's what I think you're trying to criminalize, all I am doing is talking to people."
McCauliff responds, "I'm not criminalizing it."
McCauliff tells Souza he is violating the university's expressive activity policy.
Souza asks, "So, how am I violating that when I'm talking to people in a hallway?"
McCauliff replies, "It's not that you're talking to people, it's that you're disrupting the flow of traffic."
McCauliff told Souza that someone filed a complaint with her office. While disrupting traffic is a violation of subsection 3.1 of the policy, Souza told The CI that there was no traffic in the hallway and no one had complained to him prior to McCauliff instructing him to leave.
According to Souza and eyewitnesses, the University Police Department (UPD) arrived after Souza went to McCauliff's office to speak about the incident.
The CI visited McCauliff's office around 1:50 p.m. to ask about the incident.
While McCauliff declined to make a statement, she said she reminded Souza of university policy.
When The CI asked McCauliff if Souza violated policy, McCauliff declined to answer.
The CI has not independently confirmed whether UPD was called, and McCauliff has not issued any further comment regarding the incident.
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