If the administration can censor Indiana Daily Student— one of the most prominent student publications in the country — then student journalism everywhere would be at risk.
Pedestrians on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, Indiana.
(Chet Strange/Getty)
Empty newspaper boxes line the street corners of Bloomington, Indiana. Almost two weeks ago, on October 14, Indiana University released an award-winning print version Indiana Daily Student— just hours after the newspaper's consultant was fired — ending 158 years of print journalism two days before the next edition was due to appear.
These decisions were made after several weeks of discussions with IDS consultant and student media director Jim Rodenbush, during which School of Media administrators told him what they expected IDSPrint newspapers refrain from reporting any news.
IDS The editors-in-chief called it censorship. The Student Press Law Center and the Foundation for Institutional Rights and Expression agreed. Mike Hiestand, senior counsel at the Student Press Law Center, said ABC News it was a “bizarre” decision by the university: “This is coming from a place that absolutely should know better,” Hiestand said.
I work in the news department at IDS as a Climate Beat reporter (as a student NationI'm writing this as a freelance reporter, not as a IDSon behalf of). This is not the first time IU has cut the paper's print edition. In 2024, the Media School came up with a plan that they said would address the paper's current financial problems, which have left the paper running a deficit as of 2021. The Media School's plan, published in October 2024 without final input from journalism professors or student editors, eliminated the weekly print publication IDS. Instead, the newspaper will print only its special editions, which typically contain regular content along with a block of articles focusing on campus life and events, such as a university visitor's guide or housing and living guide.
Students continued printing these special issues in the spring. But during the fall semester, Rodenbush said he learned that the university president was upset to see newspapers in the stands. These concerns intensified after that semester. second editionwhich featured a front-page story about local Labor Day protests against Trump and IU.
Rodenbush said administrators told him they wanted IDS publish special editions containing no news, but only features on special topics in university life: for example, the upcoming homecoming guide was to contain information only about the return of the university. The Associate Dean of the School of Media asked at the Sept. 25 meeting, “How do we frame this in a way that isn’t seen as censorship?”
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In meetings that lasted several weeks, Jim Rodenbush said he repeatedly told media school administrators that, in accordance with the First Amendment and IDSAccording to the charter, which established editorial freedom, he could not tell students what to publish in the newspaper. “If I had done that, I would have lost my journalism education, the mentors I had along the way and, as of now, literally thousands of students I have had over the years,” Rodenbush said.
October 14, after Rodenbush and IDS co-editors-in-chief Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz argued that limiting the print edition's content to the topic of student life would amount to censorship, and the Media School immediately fired Rodenbush. They completely eliminated IDSThe print edition, including special editions, will be released in a few hours. IU did not respond to requests for comment.
Chancellor David Reingold said this. NBK that IU is committed to the newspaper's editorial independence. He said he cut it IDSPrint publication was a business decision: IDS has a financial deficit since 2021, and IU has forgiven almost a million debts. The Media School planned to keep the special editions in 2024 due to their “high returns.” But Reingold said cutting print altogether would further solve the newspaper's financial shortfall.
The three print publications earned nearly $11,000 in profit this year, according to the agency. IDSeditors. An online copy An unprinted October 16 newspaper posted on Instagram with the caption “The Newspaper You Shouldn't See” lists lost advertising revenue in large black squares where advertisements should have been.
Rodenbush said the newspaper is already following financial plans developed by the Media School for 2024. “We followed that business decision,” Rodenbush said. “We continued to publish special sections and they continued to generate income, so the business part of it was already taken care of.”
In an interview for Indiana Public Media Midday Edition, IDS Co-editor-in-chief Mia Hilkowitz said the Media School's actions weren't really about print: “They can argue all they want that it's a business decision, but it's really about content,” Hilkowitz said.
According to the message IndyStarIU administrators previously prevented Rodenbush from using more than $400,000 from the paper's endowment fund, which exceeds the paper's current deficit. Much of that money came from Mark Cuban, IU's richest alumnus, who responded to the print cuts on Wednesday. “Not happy,” Cuban X wrote: “Censorship is not the answer“
IU was recently named the third worst college in the country for free speech by the Foundation for Institutional Rights and Expression, and in May a judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking a campus policy restricting “expressive activity” between 11 evening and 6 I amon the grounds that it might violate the First Amendment.
Rodenbush said he doesn't know why the Media School called for the news to be cut from IDSPrint edition, but he wonders if IU felt pressure to keep negative news from campus to avoid attention at the state level.
In November 2024, after IDS published a front page illustration of then-President-elect Donald Trump surrounded by critical quotes from former political allies, Indiana Lieutenant Governor Mickey Beckwith. criticized the cover on X. “This type of elitist leftist propaganda needs to stop, or we'll be happy to stop it for them,” Beckwith wrote.
State and local media have noted that IU management appears to be avoiding interaction with the press. Because the state legislature recently passed laws reducing the role of faculty in major decision-making, closing university programs, and allowing the state governor to fire and replace university trustees, WFYI Indianapolis reported that the IU administration remains silent.
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Meanwhile, WFYI reporters found that the Board of Regents had repeatedly made important votes abruptly and with little transparency, including the decision to re-elect controversial IU President Pamela Whitten. Amid allegations that Whitten plagiarized her dissertation, IU announced it had commissioned an independent review, which found the allegations to be unsubstantiated. But in September That IDS reported that IU refused to disclose additional information or details of this audit, including identifying the law firm that prepared the report.
Former trustee Vivian Winston, who was removed from the board by Gov. Mike Brown in May, has publicly expressed concerns about administrative transparency and accountability. Winston publicly criticized Whitten in the months leading up to her suspension. That IDS reported that she told attendees at a press club meeting in Bloomington that she had seen changes at IU create a “culture of fear.”
IU's solution to eliminate IDSRussia's print publication is in line with a broader trend. Student journalists are increasingly seeing federal policies or attitudes toward a free press reflected at the local level, where they have serious consequences for student newspapers and reporters. Earlier this year, IU's in-state rival Purdue University severed ties with its student newspaper, citing “institutional neutrality.” Similar changes are happening across the country: More than half student news outlets receive funding from their universities, but an increasing number of universities reducing this support.
Rodenbush said that if censorship could occur at the level IDSone of the most prominent student newspapers in the country, which is bad news for student journalism around the world. “This should be a warning that all bets are wrong in terms of abuses and oversight of the university,” Rodenbush said. “I think this is a point that everyone should pay attention to.”
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