Partial Victory for Freedom of the Press at Indiana U

"The decision by Indiana University administrators to allow the Indiana Daily Student newspaper to resume occasional publication is a victory for the advocates of free expression on campus. The Student Press Law Center, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the American Association of University Professors, along with student newspapers across the country, spoke out loudly in defense of Indiana student journalists."

"It combined three of the most terrible types of censorship of the press: 1) imposing massive content restrictions by attempting to ban the newspaper from printing any news, 2) banning the newspaper completely from being printed when the editors refused to obey these unlawful demands and 3) firing the professor who served as newspaper adviser, student media director Jim Rodenbush, for defending freedom of the press."

Indiana University administrators permitted the Indiana Daily Student to resume occasional publication after widespread protests and support from student-press advocates and national free-expression organizations. Student newspapers nationwide and groups including the Student Press Law Center, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the American Association of University Professors rallied in defense, and the Purdue Exponent printed and distributed the censored issue in solidarity. The administration initially imposed sweeping content bans, a full printing ban, and terminated the student media director who defended press freedom. Although publication restraints were temporarily eased, the adviser remains fired and significant budget and support cuts persist, sustaining censorship concerns.

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