University questions responsibility for vandalized gravestones

A tombstone lies tipped over and broken Monday in Dunn Cemetery.
University officials are not sure as to who is responsible for repairs. — Alex Farris | IDS

Early in the morning of Sept. 4[, 2010], five gravestones in Dunn Cemetery were knocked down by vandals. A month later, what University officials are calling the worst damage to the historic site to-date has yet to be fixed.

While a police report was filed and those in charge of campus facility maintenance have begun restoration plans, the University's responsibility for the graveyard is still under review.

"Usually cemeteries have superintendents," said Mia Williams, director of landscape architecture for the University Architect's Office. "I honestly don't know who's in charge. Some have been repaired before. Campus Division has fixed them in the past."

Williams met with Campus Division — the office in charge of ground repair and upkeep — to discuss the restoration. Williams said she has contacted a local stone restoration firm, but no time-table has been set for the completion of repairs, and she is still waiting for the estimated cost.

The firm, she said, must come to campus, assess the damage and begin on-site work.

"It was vandalism of the worst kind," she said. "It was defenseless."

But does the University have a legal obligation to fix the stones?

Between 1855 and 1905, the IU Board of Trustees worked to secure farmland from the local Dunn family in order to create what is now a 1,933 acre campus.

But the family provided provisions regarding the family's burial grounds, which were included in the trustees' purchases.

The private land at both locations are for descendants of Eleanor Dunn, Nancy Alexander and Jane Irwin and is reserved for anyone with whom the descendants intermarry.

The University was required to build around the cemeteries and not change or alter them in any way.

Larry Stephens, director of IU's Office of Risk Management — the office providing Williams with insurance funds to fix the stones — said the deed written by the Dunn family states the property was given and belongs to IU.

The University, he said, has felt an obligation to keep the cemetery well-maintained, and that feeling has continued throughout time.

"We intend to take responsibility," Stephens said. "It's on campus. We're in a different situation than most because of its location."

Stephens said IU has no policy regarding contacting family to inform them of the vandalism or to request payment for the restoration.

However, based on his past legal work with cemeteries, he said in many cases it would not be unusual for families to assume financial responsibility.

"If it was off campus, it may be different," Stephens said. "We could go back, try to contact families, because I'm not sure if we legally have responsibility to repair them. I honestly don't have the answer. It's my intent to pay for it."

Relatives of those buried in the cemetery are difficult to keep track of, Stephens said, and no real list has been maintained.

The most recent Dunn Cemetery burial occurred in 2004, following the death of IU graduate Marilyn Seward Warden.

Her tombstone went untouched last month, but her sister Doris Seward's did not.

"It's sad, really sad," Warden's daughter and Bloomington local Nancy Wroblewski said. "One of the graves knocked over was one of the older ones, over 100 years old. Those are harder to fix. At least my aunt's is not as old."

Wroblewski said she received a call from her cousin, Kevin Kochery, several days after the vandalism and was unsure if the other living decedents eligible for burial in the cemetery were aware.

After the restoration takes place, both Campus Division and Indiana Memorial Union officials said security for the area will also be reviewed.

"I'd like to see cameras installed," Williams said. "It's hard to believe no one heard what happened that Saturday."

By Margaret Ely | Indiana Daily Student
posted at 12:24 AM on Oct. 5, 2010