An attorney from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press representing IDS co-Editors-in-Chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller demanded Media School administrators reverse course in their “unconstitutional” censorship of the Indiana Daily Student in a letter sent Monday.
The letter, penned by RCFP attorney Kristopher Cundiff, was sent to Indiana University President Pamela Whitten, Chancellor David Reingold, Media School Dean David Tolchinsky and other Media School leadership. It addresses IU’s firing of Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush and the immediate cut to the IDS print editions hours after his termination.
In a meeting Sept. 25, Rodenbush pushed back on The Media School’s order to constrain the upcoming print edition to strictly Homecoming stories, citing free speech laws. Tolchinsky fired Rodenbush on Oct. 14.
Cundiff wrote IU “took several retaliatory steps” when the IDS staff raised concerns about the order.
Hilkowitz and Miller sent an appeal to Media School administrators Oct. 13 about the order to exclude news from the paper. Tolchinsky replied to their email a day later with the announcement of the immediate cut to all print editions, hours after Rodenbush’s termination. The paper was scheduled to hit newsstands two days later.
Cundiff's letter said these actions were “ill-advised, unconstitutional, and appear to be aimed at suppressing core press and speech rights.”
He stated the public university is bound by the First Amendment and the Student Media Charter, which has been in place since 1969. The charter outlines the IDS’ editorial independence and IU’s relationship to the organization.
“Telling student journalists what they can and cannot include in a newspaper is censorship of 'editorial content' by any definition,” Cundiff said in the letter.
The letter did not mention specific legal action, and Hilkowitz and Miller said in an editorial they would rather look for solutions outside of court.
“We will continue to resist as long as the university disregards the law,” they wrote in the editorial. “Any other means than court would be preferred.”
Cundiff requested a meeting with administrators “to discuss a path forward.” An IU spokesperson did not respond to a request from the IDS for comment about the letter by publication.
In response to an email to administrators from Miller requesting more information about the print cut, Reingold issued a statement Oct. 15 stating the university had not and would not restrict the IDS’ editorial independence.
“Indiana University Bloomington is firmly committed to the free expression and editorial independence of student media,” Reingold said in the statement.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a copy of the letter sent to IU administrators.
