On Tuesday, Oct. 14, Indiana University (IU) indefinitely cut the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) print newspaper after firing its adviser, Student Media Director Jim Rodenbush.
The conflict between the IU administration and the IDS began with IU Media School Dean David Tolchinsky directing Rodenbush to have the IDS print no news in the paper set to release on Oct. 16, instead only information about homecoming.
“Nothing but information about homecoming — no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front page news coverage,” read Rodenbush’s Oct. 7 email to the IDS co-editors-in-chief, relaying the IU Media School’s directive.
Rodenbush refused this directive, claiming it was censorship, and was subsequently fired in a meeting with IU administrators.
“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,” said staff attorney Jonathan Gaston-Falk in a Student Press Law Center (SPLC) newsletter.
The incident at IU is censorship and a clear breach of administrative power. It shows that censorship is no longer only affecting major news publications, like the Washington Post, or late night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel. It is now reaching college campuses and student journalists, too.
IU has argued that the reasoning behind this was due to financial concerns with the production of the print newspaper, as it had run a deficit for over three years.
“I do not think it’s just business,” said Mia Hilkowitz, co-editor-in-chief of the IDS. “IU has really tried to peddle this idea that all of these decisions were made because of financial sustainability and that they were business decisions. That’s simply not true.”
Hilkowitz believes that the university’s initial directive, of “no traditional front page news coverage,” is the most clear version of the truth.
“Their reasoning at the core of this was that they didn’t want us to print news. Everything that’s come after that has been reactionary. And so I think if people really want us to understand what’s behind that, they need to look at that initial directive they gave us on Oct. 7 saying that ‘you cannot print news,’” Hilkowitz said.
The reason behind IU’s censorship is unclear, but it is not hard to see how it reflects the larger trend in our country under the Trump administration. In March, IU was included in a list released by the United States Department of Education (DOE) of 60 universities under investigation by their Office of Civil Rights for “antisemetic discrimination and harassment.” In February, IU was one of many institutions that received a letter demanding the end of any “race-based” programming in schools.
The best way to stand up against censorship is to make sure people hear about what is happening. This is exactly what is happening at IU. The Purdue Exponent, the student publication at IU’s rival school Purdue University, published a student press themed print publication. It featured an editorial from Hilkowitz and her co-editor-in-chief Andrew Miller, and Purdue students brought the issue to IU to be distributed to students.
“If it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” Hilkowitz said. “What’s been one of the most inspiring parts out of all of this is seeing the outpouring of support from college and high school publications across the entire country, weighing in and saying, ‘this is not right.’”
Regardless of the reasoning behind the university’s censorship of the IDS, Americans should be concerned. Censorship is not an issue that only happens on a large scale or affects late night hosts; it’s silencing student journalists.
“When I committed to IU, I came here under the assumption that this school is going to do everything it can to support this really good journalism program. And to see it completely switch, it’s super, super discouraging because, I mean, this was not the school I signed up to go to,” Hilkowitz said.
The only way to solve these problems is to speak out against them. Though scandals involving celebrities may be more dramatic than those about a school newspaper, both involve the silencing of voices that are simply trying to keep the public informed. As censorship comes closer to the everyday American, we all must be willing to stand up against it.
