Indiana University has ordered the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) to cease printing new editions and has fired the student media director who refused to remove certain news stories from the homecoming issue. This decision has caused controversy at the university because students have raised questions about the student journalists’ First Amendment rights and created concerns amongst pupils about censorship. Within the university, the Hoosiers football team celebrates its highest national ranking ever, therefore, it is believed that the university wanted to avoid distractions during homecoming weekend.
Supporters of student media, Indiana Daily Student alumni, and public figures like billionaire Mark Cuban have criticised the university for interfering with the newspaper’s independence. Cuban wrote in a post on X: “Not happy. Censorship isn’t the way.” It is said that the Daily Student receives around $250,000 each year from the university’s media school to help offset declining advertising revenue.
Therefore, it is known to be one of the biggest college newspapers in the States. Now, the Indiana Daily Student said that the university has “fully cut print, including our special editions”. IDS continued to claim that they were not included in the decision to have the print version of the student newspaper cut. “I had to make the decision that was going to allow me to live with myself”, said Jim Rodenbush, the paper’s adviser, who was fired by the university after he rejected a demand to force the student editors to ignore news stories that were related to the homecoming celebration from the print edition. “I don’t have any regrets whatsoever.
In the current environment we are in, somebody has to stand up”. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression named Indiana University the country’s worst public university for free speech. The low rating comes mostly from the university’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests in spring 2024. “Your lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the University’s direction for the Student Media Plan is unacceptable” wrote Dean David Tolchinsky, the IU Media School, in Rodenbush’s termination letter.
Along with this statement, IDS editors Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz said: “Telling us what we can and cannot print is unlawful censorship, established by legal precedent surrounding speech law on public college campuses.” Miller continued to add that Rodenbush “did the right thing by refusing to censor our print edition” and called the termination a “deliberate scare tactic towards journalists and faculty”. Naturally, this story raises concerns for student media everywhere.