The Censorship & Death of the Indiana Daily Student

October 17, 2025 Indiana University, The Media School, and Dean Tolchinsky decided that the best thing for students during fall midterms was to dismantle a beloved 158 year old student-run institution. Why? Because it would be better for the university brand experience if the Indiana Daily Student published nothing but feel-good homecoming content instead of the news.

One more little perfect detail to create an idyllic tourism weekend, and of course — why wouldn’t Indiana University Bloomington want to look perfect during one of the key times in the calendar year when alumni come back to visit with their disposable income ready to make more memories, and fall even more in love with the university? In 2024, per the IU Foundation Annual Giving Report, over 60,000 donors made an annual gift.

We’ve seen it before with student protestors being cleared from historic Dunn Meadow under the eye of a police sniper before graduation, and we’ve seen the strange attention to PR details all over campus. Anything to keep the donor dollars flowing. The Indiana Daily Student is a journalistic institution that creates Pulitzer Prize winners, has endured for over 150 years, and is a primary source of information for not only students but Hoosiers all across south-central Indiana, and it was cancelled for Homecoming PR.

Sure it may still be a website - one of a billion or so websites; but the visibility, the presence, the literal Indiana Daily Student paper and all its stands are gone.

And while we all know the realities of legacy media, Indiana University is a wealthy institution. IU’s net investment in capital assets increased by roughly $121 million last year. As of June 30, 2024 the assets of IU Foundation and the assets of the University managed by the Foundation had a fair value of approximately $4.4 billion. They can afford to keep a crown jewel student paper up and running with full staff.

Still, we can cynically expect that nothing lasts forever. But to kill Hoosier journalism over Homecoming? Honestly, I would have expected my Dean, David Tolchinsky to know better. I was born in Bloomington, grew up and went to high school here, graduated from Indiana University and the School of Telecommunications. I have had a successful industry career for 15 years before I came back home and became an adjunct professor in The Media School at Indiana University Bloomington; and I am shocked, saddened, disappointed, and – quite frankly offended that our Dean did not fight for students, did not fight for journalistic integrity, and did not fight for the legacies and traditions and all the things Bloomingtonians hold dear.

The Ernie Pyle School of Journalism was located here for a reason. The bright light of independent journalism belongs in Bloomington, and now that light is dim because of a short-sighted choice made by a weak leader in service of corporate propaganda. This Dean does not care about The Media School.

For one who is expected to be media trained and savvy, I am stunned that Dean Tolchinsky did not consider the optics of his actions, and did not consider the damage he did not just to free speech and independent journalism, but the anguish and anxiety he has caused to the student journalists on campus. And let’s not forget, Indiana University is also home to WIUX Student Radio, IUSTV, WFIU Public Radio, and WTIU Public Television. It’s only a matter of time before Tolchinsky or President Whitten come after them next. Because apparently we must either become a mouthpiece for the money machine, or face termination and censorship.

This is a problematic issue that limits my ability to be an effective professor and teacher of communication, persuasion, media, and advertising. Resting on the shoulders of every skilled media professional is the capacity to use what we know to cause harm, to tell lies, and to manipulate the emotions of audiences. We demonstrate what responsible stewardship of those skills look like with the choices we make every single day. All of us are role models in this industry whether we like it or not, and the choices role modeled this week undermine every single value I teach.

But it’s not too late. This can still be fixed. It requires leadership. Real leadership to defend responsible media, communication, and the potent powers of persuasion. It requires Dean Tolchinsky to resign, IDS staffing and funding re-instated, and President Whitten to truly enshrine the Indiana Daily Student as the independent, student-run newspaper it is supposed to be. The IDS has been here for over 150 years, and should be here for another 150, no matter the economics of it.

The Media School and Indiana University sustains a wide range of legacy media formats and practices because of their place in American history, their role in educating the next generation, and the honest reality - legacy doesn’t mean “dead”. Journalism and physical goods are still incredibly relevant to Americans, and always will be.

Worthwhile stories speaking truth about our university, city, and country instead of “Disneyland-esque” puffery is what makes core memories at IU. Feeling enriched because you learned about the world through your fellow students. That is the power and connection this paper creates among the largest living alumni network in America. 800,000 IU graduates live around the planet and are paying attention right now. 

It’s a sad day in Hoosier history to see the IDS neutered, muzzled, and shoved in the basement invisible by it’s IUB Media School protector.

Will the university right this wrong? We’re all waiting — all 800,000 of us. Because if these choices sustain, if the censorship and university control of the IDS does not end, then there is no other conclusion to draw: Indiana University has been lying to us all these years, and at the end of the day, they only want our money. Our memories are a myth. It was a manufactured experience to extract even more cash from each and every one of us…and I don’t want that to be true.

I sincerely hope the university and Dean come to their senses and correct this injustice immediately.

The statements made in this piece reflect the author’s personal views and are not made on behalf of their employer or any organization with which they are associated.