INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University has ordered the Indiana Daily Student to end all print publication less than 24 hours after the administration fired an adviser for the student newspaper.
"The Media School thinks they can violate the First Amendment if it's under a business decision," said Mia Hilkowitz, co-editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. "That's a really, really dangerous thought process for administrators to have. The fact that they’re trying to frame clear censorship as business is so disrespectful to every party involved."
In recent weeks, university leadership, the student media director, and editors at the Indiana Daily Student have fought over what content gets printed in the student newspaper, with administrators insisting that "special editions" were not to include any news content. The Indiana Daily Student still publishes content on its website.
The situation escalated on Oct. 14 when Indiana University fired Jim Rodenbush, director of student media, as he pushed back against a directive to remove news content from the print edition.
"I was terminated because I was unwilling to censor student media. 100%," Rodenbush said in an interview on Oct. 15. "I have no reason to believe otherwise."
