Beyond the Dome: Free speech in college news rooms

By: Hannah Wiley, Features Editor

In the Sept. 26 edition of The Griffin, we covered the suspension of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and the backlash that followed regarding concern over the limitation of free speech. On a smaller scale, last Wednesday, Oct. 15, Indiana University’s newspaper advisor, Jim Rodenbush, was fired following a refusal to censor the newspaper’s publication during homecoming week. Rodenbush was also the director of student media at the university. 

The editors of the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) resisted censorship and also asked the media school for clarification, which resulted in Rodenbush’s immediate termination. Following that, they accused the institution of firing Rodenbush after the administration told him that the edition should only contain information relating to homecoming and couldn’t include any front-page news coverage. 

The termination letter, signed by David Tolchinsky – dean of the media school – was shared with Inside Higher Ed and stated, “Your lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the University’s direction for the Student Media Plan is unacceptable. As a result, leadership has lost trust in your ability to lead and communicate appropriately.” 

The administration then cancelled the homecoming publication as a whole and released a plan to move the newspaper from print to completely online. The university claimed that the decision was purely to stay aligned with industry trends and move into the age of digital media careers. They also denied censorship and claimed the editorial board of the newspaper still has full control. 

Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller, the Co-Editors-In-Chief, also released a statement claiming that the cancellation of the edition and any print editions in the future was clearly censorship. “That was a deliberate scare tactic toward student journalists and faculty,” Hilkowitz and Miller claimed. Purdue University’s student newspaper The Exponent printed and delivered the homecoming edition of IDS to Bloomington the following Friday, Oct. 17. The CEO and publisher of The Exponent posted on X, “‘Operation Clandestine Delivery’ was a success! We delivered special edition Exponents to the IU campus after the university admin canceled @IDSnews print editions. Student journalism solidarity.” 

This isn’t the first time this has happened on college campuses, as earlier this year Purdue University “ended this partnership” with the student newspaper, according to Inside Higher Ed. In spite of this, The Exponent is still ranked second on the 2026 College Free Speech ranking by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). 

In 2022, Texas A&M made the decision to end the print editions of their student newspaper. According to FIRE, in 2017 the Rutgers University conservative union called for the defunding of The Daily Targum, one of the oldest student newspapers in the country, over unfair coverage. The newspaper was fully funded by annual referendums and when they failed to meet the vote threshold in 2019 they lost approximately $540,000. 

Free speech continues to be up for debate across the country. Journalism matters now more than ever, especially student journalism. 

Protesters hold up a banner reading, "Why axe the IDS Homecoming issue??" with a link to the IDS' digital paper during their Homecoming parade on Oct. 17, 2025. Photo by Emerson Elledge (Arts Editor) / The Indiana Daily Student.