Former Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush refiled his lawsuit against Indiana University on Aug. 4. The lawsuit alleges that the university violated his First and 14th Amendment rights after his October 2025 firing.
The lawsuit, filed in the Monroe County Circuit Court, names the Indiana University Board of Trustees, IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold and Media School Dean David Tolchinsky as defendants with Rodenbush as the suit’s plaintiff.
Last week's refiling comes after Rodenbush dismissed the original lawsuit in April due to jurisdictional issues.
Tolchinsky fired Rodenbush on Oct. 14, 2025, after Rodenbush refused administrator requests that he instruct the Indiana Daily Student not to publish any news content in its Oct. 16 Homecoming edition.
In the hours immediately following Rodenbush's firing, Tolchinsky cut print editions of the IDS entirely, before IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold reversed the decision on Oct. 30. Reingold wrote that the decision to fire Rodenbush at the same time the university cut print didn’t have anything to do with editorial content and stated that Indiana Daily Student editors were authorized to use finances at their discretion through June 30, 2026.
The lawsuit alleges that Rodenbush was fired without due process — a 14th Amendment right guaranteeing the right to a fair legal process. The lawsuit additionally alleges Rodenbush’s First Amendment rights were violated because he was fired after refusing to "censor student work in the campus newspaper."
In Rodenbush's termination letter, Tolchinsky wrote that his inability to comply with the university's goals for the Student Media Plan was "unacceptable." The new lawsuit clarifies that Rodenbush's job offer and contract calls for the student media director to ensure the IDS remains financially and editorially independent.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that amidst ongoing litigation, IU removed the Student Media Plan from its website in March 2026. The media school website currently has a page with a student media action plan established in 2024.
When asked about the alleged absence of a Student Media Plan webpage, IU spokesperson Mark Bode wrote in an email to the IDS that the university “does not comment on litigation."
The 2024 action plan outlined goals to reduce IDS print editions from weekly to special editions but specifically stated a goal of preserving "IU's distinct student media brands" and explicitly lists the IDS' print products as a part of that goal, in addition to expanding revenue opportunities for WIUX and IUSTV.
Following Rodenbush's firing and the controversy surrounding cuts to the IDS print edition, the media school established a task force to create a "roadmap" for student media. The task force released its findings May 1, recommending a shared governance structure for student media and an advisory board that would include the dean of the Media School.
"I know that they have that committee, and they've got some steps moving forward, and that's all wonderful," Rodenbush said in a phone interview with the IDS. "But it's one of these cases where here's this thing that happened and it's still unresolved."
Rodenbush told the IDS he started a new job at Western Kentucky University this week as an associate professor.
The lawsuit’s defendants were sent summonses notifying them of the lawsuit on Aug. 6, and have until Aug. 26 or Aug. 29 to respond, depending on whether the summons were received by mail or not.
