Overview
- Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush was terminated on Oct. 14, with a letter citing a lack of leadership and failure to align with the Student Media Plan.
- Student editors say administrators ordered the Oct. 16 homecoming print edition to exclude all news content, a directive Rodenbush refused to enforce.
- Within about a day of the firing, Indiana University told the Indiana Daily Student to halt all print editions, though the newsroom continues publishing online.
- University leaders say the print shutdown is part of a 2024 Action Plan to shift resources to digital and address a structural deficit, asserting editorial control remains with IDS leadership.
- The Student Press Law Center, PEN America, and FIRE condemned the actions as censorship, alumni and supporters including Mark Cuban criticized the decision, and editors noted roughly $11,000 in profit from three fall print editions after a student-fee funding bid was rejected in June.