BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- Indiana University reinstated the print version of the Indiana Daily Student after backlash over its initial suspension due to financial issues, authorizing its budget until June 2026.
- Chancellor David Reingold acknowledged mishandling of communication during the controversy and emphasized that the decision to suspend publication was not related to censorship of the newspaper's editorial content.
- The newspaper's editors welcomed the reinstatement but expressed lingering distrust, highlighting a lack of apology and continued concerns over censorship and exclusion from decision-making processes.
- The former student media director alleges he was fired for refusing to restrict the newspaper's content, claiming his rights were violated, and has filed a lawsuit against the university.
Indiana University reversed its decision to end print publication of its student newspaper, Indiana Daily Student, after two weeks of intense backlash.
In a letter published by the newspaper Thursday, IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold announced the school has “authorized the financial office to allow the IDS, under the supervision of The Media School, to use their established budget through June 30, 2026, as the editors see fit — so long as they remain true to their budgetary parameters.”
Moving forward, the Task Force on the Editorial Independence and Financial Sustainability of the IDS/Student Media will work to alleviate the “decades-long financial challenges” of the publication, he stated.
The publication’s $300,000 annual deficit factored into the initial decision to suspend the newspaper.
He also stated that IU will “continue to uphold a free and open press while responsibly stewarding public funds and families’ tuition dollars and further strengthening the learning experience for our students.”
In the letter, Reingold acknowledged that recent decisions were mishandled, as “Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.”
He also clarified his decision to end the publication “had nothing to do with editorial content of the IDS.”
“And contrary to what has been posted on social media and published, Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period. The IDS is, and remains, editorially independent,” he said.
In a response letter, the IDS editors welcomed the reinstatement of print, but stressed that trust has not been restored.
“After weeks of negative publicity for the university, of fears in our newsroom and on campus, of confusion, of pushback, we’re now on a solid trajectory toward real solutions for student media,” the editors wrote.
However, they accused Reingold of stopping “short of a full apology to the students and faculty whose lives he’s disrupted.”
They also raised concern that the university still denies the original directive was censorship and that the newspaper’s leadership was excluded from earlier oversight committees.
“…if it was such an important business decision to cut print two days before we were set to publish, why reverse course now?” they wrote.
Last month, the university fired the student media director, suspended print publication, and reportedly directed the paper to drop news content from a homecoming edition, which editors and press‑freedom advocates viewed as censorship.
Director Jim Rodenbush alleges he was dismissed for refusing to instruct student editors to limit the paper to themed content and exclude news coverage, according to The Indiana Citizen.
“I saw it as censorship from the beginning,” he told the outlet on Oct. 22.
“The university is allowed to make business decisions … but those decisions have to be content-neutral,” he said.
Rodenbush has filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that his free speech and due process rights under both federal and state constitutions were violated.
MORE: UC San Diego scrubs prof’s faculty page, anti-Israel course syllabus
