Indiana University’s director of student media has been fired amid a dispute between university leaders and Indiana Daily Student editors over what content is printed in the student newspaper.
As director of student media, Jim Rodenbush did not directly oversee or have any say over the content published on the IDS, according to a statute between the IDS and the university. But he told IndyStar that his firing comes after a series of meetings with IU Media School leaders in which it became increasingly clear that they expected him to officially ban students from publishing news.
“We are alarmed, but not surprised, by this Media School’s administration’s decision to fire Jim based on his commitment to defending our First Amendment rights,” student editors-in-chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said in a statement. “All Media School and IU students, faculty and staff should be scared by this blatant attack on someone who stands up for what is right.”
IU spokesman Mark Bode said in a statement that the campus is shifting resources to prioritize digital media over print while also addressing the publication’s financial shortfall. The university will not comment on personnel matters, he said.
“Editorial control remains entirely in the hands of IDS leadership, and the university will continue to work closely with them to ensure the strength, sustainability and independence of student media at IU,” the statement read.
Rodenbush received his termination letter during a meeting with School of Media Dean David Tolchinsky on October 14. In the letter, Tolchinsky said the university’s leadership lost confidence in his ability to communicate on behalf of the university. He noted that he is not eligible to be rehired by IU.
“Your lack of leadership and ability to work consistent with the University’s direction for the Student Media Plan is unacceptable,” Tolchinsky said in the letter. “Therefore, we are moving forward with its separation from the University, effective immediately.”
Rodenbush joined IDS in May 2018 after the university pushed for the resignation of its former student media leader. The newspaper’s student management described the situation at the time as “major overreaching decisions that threaten the independence of the IDS.” Then-dean of the School of Media, James Shanahan, refuted the claim and said the school had never tried to influence the newspaper’s content.
The content of the IDS newspapers at the center of the dispute
Rodenbush’s departure comes as the university is pressuring student leaders to remove news content from its upcoming Oct. 16 print newspaper. Citing financial difficulties and a new business action plan, IDS reduced its print production last January to seven times a semester.
The business action plan was developed by IU leadership using proposals, but not direct input, from an ad hoc committee of students, alumni and professional staff within student media. The IDS had experienced a steady decline in print advertising revenue over the past two decades. The IDS effectively ran out of money in 2021 and the Media School allowed it to operate at a deficit for three years starting in the 2021-22 fiscal year. By 2024, the IDS had accumulated a deficit of more than $500,000.
Among other things, the action plan effectively merged the staff and resources of the IDS, the student radio station WIUX, and the student television program IUSTV into a single “umbrella organization” and reduced the IDS print program from weekly publications to a few “special editions” throughout the semester.
IDS has long published “special editions,” such as the Homecoming and Little 500 editions, as newspapers with regular news and special inserts. But in recent months, Rodenbush said, the School of Media leadership had argued with the IDS about what “special editions” meant.
According to an Oct. 7 email obtained by IndyStar, Rodenbush conveyed guidance from the School of Media administration that the IDS print publication should focus solely on a special topic, such as homecoming or fall sports, and contain “no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front-page news coverage.”
Termination letter from IU student media director Jim Rodenbush
Legal expert denounces “flagrant censorship”
Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel for the Student Press Law Center, said the university’s attempt to control what goes into the newspaper is affecting editorial content and therefore constitutes “blatant censorship.”
“The suggestion that students have to publish a homecoming edition that is devoid of anything that might seem like news or anything other than talk about homecoming activities,” he said, “I mean, that’s ridiculous and absolutely illegal.”
In their statement, journalism students Hilkowitz and Miller said the administration is attempting to stifle both their ability to publish news and conversations about the publication’s future “that could conflict with (the administrators’) decisions.”
“Dean David Tolckinsky and Associate Dean Galen Calvio have a clear misunderstanding that the Indiana Daily Student and the Media School are intended to benefit students, not their own interests,” the statement read. “The Indiana Daily Student will continue to fight for our right to publish and report difficult stories, even if administrators want to stop us.”
IndyStar First Amendment Reporter Cate Charron is the former editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student, the student newspaper at Indiana University Bloomington.
USA TODAY Network: Indiana’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Do you have a story to tell? Contact Cate Charron by email at ccharron@indystar.com, on X at @CateCharron, or Signal at @cate.charron.28.
Contact Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com. Follow him on X/Twitter at @brianwritesnews.
This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: IU fires student newspaper adviser amid dispute over IDS content