BLOOMINGTON — Student journalists at Indiana University are looking for a path forward after the university decided to stop printing copies of the student paper, the Indiana Daily Student.
A letter, sent to the university on Monday, claims the actions against the Indiana Daily Student are "ill-advised, unconstitutional, and appear to be aimed at suppressing core press and speech rights," according to the lawyer.
The letter requests a meeting with university leaders to come to a solution that will restore the student journalists' editorial independence.
According to the co-editors-in-chief, Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller, the university decided to stop printing the IDS after the students refused to cut news content from the homecoming edition of the paper. The students said the university also terminated the Director of Student Media, Jim Rodenbush, who was an adviser for the student newspaper before announcing the decision to halt printing of the paper.
The students have called these decisions an act of censorship.
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Kris Cundiff, the Reporters Committee's Local Legal Initiative attorney representing the IDS editors-in-chief, released this statement:
"Student journalists and editors of the Indiana Daily Student play a vital role in bringing news and information to the IU campus and broader Bloomington community. Our letter, sent on behalf of the newspaper's editors-in-chief, raises concerns about Indiana University’s sudden decision to bar the staff of the Indiana Daily Student from publishing print editions of the newspaper. Coupled with the firing of the Indiana Daily Student’s adviser, the university's actions constitute unacceptable and unconstitutional censorship."
