Former Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush is suing Indiana University, alleging it violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Rodenbush was fired by Media School Dean David Tolchinsky on Oct. 14 after he refused administrators’ orders to interfere in the Indiana Daily Student’s content by restricting the Oct. 16 paper to just Homecoming content. Hours later, Tolchinsky cut the print edition entirely — a move IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold walked back Thursday in a letter to IDS editors.
The complaint alleges Rodenbush’s termination violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process by not providing him any notice or opportunity to be heard, as well as article one, section nine of the Indiana Constitution dealing with freedom of speech. The complaint seeks judgment that IU violated the law by attempting to direct the content of the IDS paper, later cutting the print edition and firing Rodenbush.
An IU spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rodenbush is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, for IU to restore his position and for the university to clear his disciplinary action record.
The complaint states in the months before Rodenbush’s termination, Media School Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Galen Clavio told him administrators had expressed frustration at news appearing in the special publications.
The Media School’s IU student media action plan, released Oct. 8, 2024, outlined a reduction in the weekly print newspaper to less frequent special editions during the academic year. Before the reduction, special publications had been included as themed inserts inside the weekly paper on subjects like Homecoming or Little 500. After the reduction took effect, the IDS continued including special publications as part of a larger paper covering news.
At a Sept. 25 meeting, the complaint alleges, Clavio asked Rodenbush why there was still news in the paper. Rodenbush said in the meeting that the directive to restrict news from the paper was the “definition of censorship” and in violation of the Student Media Charter that guarantees the IDS editors’ editorial independence.
Rodenbush later met with Media School Dean David Tolchinsky on Oct. 9 to discuss a formal grievance, the complaint states. He told Tolchinsky The Media School’s order violated the First Amendment. Tolchinsky said if Rodenbush would not act as a publisher who could determine content, student media would need to be reevaluated.
In an Oct. 7 email to IDS Co-Editors-in-Chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller, Rodenbush relayed the Media School directive, writing the paper should include “nothing but information about homecoming — no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front page news coverage.”
Rodenbush refused to enforce the directive and was fired two days before the Oct. 16 publication date.
Hilkowitz and Miller decried the moves as censorship in two letters from the editors. Reingold, in a statement Oct. 15, said the decision dealt with the method of distribution, not editorial content. An attorney representing the co-editors-in-chief sent a letter to IU and Media School administrators Oct. 20 demanding they reverse course.
Following Rodenbush’s termination and the print cut, Tolchinsky announced plans for a task force Oct. 20 that will make recommendations on ensuring the editorial independence and financial sustainability of IU student media.
Rodenbush’s complaint also connects his firing to other recent state and university actions, including Gov. Mike Braun’s removal and subsequent replacement of three elected IU trustees in June and IU’s third-to-last spot in the latest Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression college free speech rankings released Sept. 9.
“James Rodenbush was fired because he refused to toe the party line, and because he refused to force the student journalists he supervised to kowtow to the edicts of the Governor Braun-installed University Trustees,” the complaint reads.
