We, the undersigned, are emeriti faculty members of the IU School of Journalism (now the Media School). Some of us hold degrees from IU. Some of us were student reporters at IU or elsewhere in our day. Some of us chose to join the faculty here because of IU’s reputation as a fine university and one with an accredited journalism program ranked among the best in the country. Some of us spent our entire academic careers at IU; others came later, following professional and academic careers elsewhere. Some of us represent a mix of the above.
All of us, it is fair to say, share the emotions of our school’s current faculty and students: shock, frustration, anger, disbelief that the IU administration has taken the steps it has to stifle, to censor, the IDS. The local, national — now even international — attention the campus’s actions have drawn cast an ominous light on this university and its disregard for free expression.
We write this note not to try to deal with the details of what has occurred on the campus this past week or to recount past issues. We expect to learn more in the coming days. Instead, our message here is one of strong support for our journalism faculty colleagues on the ground and in the classroom today. Their statement of Oct. 17, signed by Journalism’s 19 faculty members, calls for specific action to demonstrate the administration’s “commitment to journalism’s future.”
We support our colleagues’ courage to speak out and their dedication to uphold the values and reputation of journalism at IU. We applaud their unfailing support of the IDS and particularly of the current courageous student editors and their staff.
We call on the dean of the Media School and university administrators to take to heart the messages they are reading, hearing and seeing from colleagues on campus, in town, across the country and beyond. We call on them to engage in good faith with the Media School faculty and students to resolve the current issues and to begin to restore the reputation tattered by last week’s actions. If Dean Tolchinsky, Associate Dean Clavio and Assistant Dean McFall do not accept and support the independence of the IDS that the Indiana University Board of Trustees protected in the 1969 charter, they should make way for leaders who do.
Signed:
Trevor Brown
Bonnie Brownlee
Mike Conway
Claude Cookman
Dennis Elliott
Jim Kelly
Dave Nord
Chris Ogan
Carol Polsgrove
Steve Raymer
Holly Stocking
Dave Weaver
Cleve Wilhoit
Craig Wood
