Indiana University accused of censorship after canceling student paper’s print issue

Indiana University Bloomington ordered its student-run newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, to stop printing new editions in what the editors behind it are calling an act of censorship.

According to a letter published on the newspaper's website, written by its co-editors-in-chief, Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller, the school abruptly cut its latest print edition set to hit newsstands on campus Thursday.

The co-editors-in-chief said the move came after they pushed back on an administrative directive to cut all news content from the paper — instead wanting it to solely include information about the university's homecoming for the Oct. 16 print edition.

The students said Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush, who was an adviser for the student newspaper, was terminated right before the school said it would not print its next edition.

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According to The Indianapolis Star, administrators with the Media School at IU Bloomington had "casually" mentioned to Rodenbush earlier in the semester the possibility of excluding news content from future print editions.

Rodenbush told The Indianapolis Star that it wasn't until after the newspaper's Sept. 4 and Sept. 10 print editions — which included some critical articles about the university — that administrators asked to formally speak with him about the newspaper's content moving forward.

The Indianapolis Star, citing a recording of a Sept. 25 meeting between Rodenbush and administrators, reported that Galen Clavio, the Media School's associate dean for undergraduate education, said the directive was not censorship since all of the newspaper's content — news stories included — are posted to its website. Clavio reportedly claimed it was a business decision.

"This blatant misunderstanding or disregard of what constitutes 'content' and 'editorial independence' — foundational concepts students learn during the journalism program’s required media law course — is cause for alarm," the co-editors-in-chief wrote on Tuesday.

Rodenbush reportedly pushed back, telling administrators that what they were asking the student newspaper to do was the definition of censorship, and he would not enforce the demands because it was illegal, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Following the meeting, Rodenbush told the Indiana Daily Student staff that the administrators wanted its Oct. 16 edition to focus on the school's homecoming with "no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front page news coverage."

When he passed along the instructions to the Indiana Daily Student staff on Oct. 7, they said they emailed several Media School administrators on Monday, asking them for more clarity behind the order and to request that they rescind their directive.

The next day, they fired Rodenbush.

His termination letter, which was published online by the Indiana Daily Student staff, stated in part, "Your lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the University’s direction for the Student Media Plan is unacceptable."

Hours later, the Indiana Daily Student staff was told the Media School would not print its Oct. 16 edition at all.

“Indiana University Bloomington is firmly committed to the free expression and editorial independence of student media,” IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold said in a statement to IndyStar and other outlets. “The university has not and will not interfere with their editorial judgment.”

The student media plan referenced in the termination letter was a strategy adopted last year to address the student newspaper's budget deficit by cutting the number of print editions the paper would publish during the school year, among other action items.

The Indiana Daily Student was once a daily printed newspaper at the institution, but it had dwindled down to special editions that were to be printed only seven times per semester.

According to the Indiana Daily Student, the university rejected a student board’s vote to fund the Indiana Daily Student with mandatory student fees back in June, which would've helped its financial situation.

The co-editors-in-chief said their three print editions thus far this semester have already generated $11,000.

Billionaire businessman and IU alum Mark Cuban posted on X, "I gave money to IU general fund for the IDS last year, so they could pay everyone and not run a deficit. I gave more than they asked for. I told them I’m happy to help because the IDS is important to kids at IU."

The Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to supporting student journalists in the U.S., condemned the school's decisions in a statement on its website.

"The Media School’s order limiting the Indiana Daily Student’s print edition to homecoming coverage isn’t a 'business decision' — it’s censorship," said Jonathan Gaston-Falk, staff attorney at the Student Press Law Center. "This disregards strong First Amendment protections and a long-standing tradition of student editorial independence at Indiana University. If the abrupt ousting of the student media director was related to his refusal to participate in such censorship, the message is clear: IU no longer welcomes a free student press. The Media School must reverse course immediately, before more damage is done to its reputation and to its students’ rights."

A former student editor-in-chief for the Indiana Daily Student, Annie Aguiar, said it is not the first time IU has exerted control over the student publication.

"The IU Media School has boasted for years about the work of the Indiana Daily Student. It’s always been quick to brag about the paper’s accolades and alumni as evidence of its influence on the American press," Aguiar wrote in an opinion piece for Poynter. "But it seems IU, and the Media School specifically, are hesitant to support the conditions that make for good journalism. They can feel free to prove me wrong by reinstating Rodenbush immediately."