The Complex World of Student Journalism

Unique among the wide variety of American media formats and platforms is the student-run college newspaper. Often hovering somewhere between professional publication and glorified newsletter, student newspapers must constantly navigate the challenges of covering the very institutions that support—or fund—their existence.

Recent conflicts between student newspapers and the colleges and universities they are associated with demonstrate the tensions that often arise when a publication designed as a training ground is misunderstood by both its staff and school administrators. Ideally, student-run newspapers should be editorially independent but operate in a responsible way, knowing they do so at the pleasure of the college or university funding or housing them.

Student newspapers must constantly navigate the challenges of covering the very institutions that support their existence. Student newspapers at public universities have, in general, more freedom than those at private colleges, as public universities are more explicitly subject to freedom-of-speech laws, and their papers are often mostly or entirely independently funded. Student publications at private colleges are much more limited in their freedom. According to the Student Press Law Center, because the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law” prohibiting free speech, government- or taxpayer-funded public universities may fall under this category. Private universities, which are not state-run organizations, arguably have more control over student groups and publications. In some cases, this leads to clear overreach by administrators, but many private-school newspapers publish good, independent journalism regardless of who is footing the bill or allowing the publication to exist.

Ideally, student-run newspapers should be editorially independent but operate in a responsible way. At many private colleges, student newspapers are considered “clubs” and are therefore subject to any rules and regulations the school has established for clubs on campus. This can get tricky. For instance, imagine that a school states that all student clubs must support and follow the mission of the college, whatever it may be. It’s possible that some news or opinion coverage in the student paper, to an administrator’s eye, may stray from or even attack the college’s mission. Does the college have the right to shut down that newspaper if it doesn’t like what is printed? Probably, though case law on the topic is complicated.

In October, the media school at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington said it would stop printing the Indiana Daily Student (IDS), the school’s student-run newspaper. According to several reports, the newspaper had established an action plan with the university during the previous spring semester, limiting its print capabilities after the paper had accrued a nearly $1-million debt, which the college forgave in July 2024.

The action plan emphasized a re-engineering of student media at IU in general, due, largely, to the IDS’s deficit spending. No one can blame the university for stepping in when the paper was so far in debt and continuing to spend, even if that meant demanding concessions about how often the paper could print.

Part of the action plan states:

There will be a strategic reduction in the IDS print edition beginning in the spring semester of 2025. While the weekly edition will be suspended, we will maintain plans for existing special editions regularly published during the academic year. Preserving these high-revenue issues will yield a net savings … and will enable student media to continue to provide numerous and substantial opportunities for students to learn and practice essential design and other skills associated with the print operation.

According to coverage by the IDS, the situation came to a head in October, when the paper published a Homecoming-themed issue that included regular news coverage, which the school argued was not part of the action plan. Students and the paper’s adviser, student-media director Jim Rodenbush, responded by claiming the school was censoring the outlet and argued that it had followed the action plan by including in the issue both special Homecoming information and regular news coverage. Shortly thereafter, the school fired Rodenbush and ceased all print operations of the newspaper. About a month later, the school said the IDS could in fact continue “normal operations” using the budget it had already established, which will run through June 2026. Student editors reported that they planned to begin printing issues again and would include regular news coverage.

IU’s chancellor, David Reingold, said in a statement published by the IDS that the “personnel matter” regarding Rodenbush and the paper’s financial instability had led to the decision to cease print publication and that it had not been an attempt to stifle the editorial independence of the IDS:

Let me be clear: my decision 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.

But perception, even when it is not grounded in fact, can carry the weight of reality. I recognize and accept that the campus has not handled recent decisions as well as we should have. Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.

At the same time, my examination of the IDS’s history makes clear that the challenges we face today are not new. There has not been a sustainable model for decades, and the long-term financial viability of the IDS cannot be dismissed as trivial, especially in this resource-constrained environment. Put simply, the IDS is not immune to the financial realities of this campus and higher education more generally.

It seems, to the non-legal or non-business-trained eye, that while IU’s administration clearly went about handling this situation in a sloppy way, its actions were grounded in one cold, hard fact: The paper is out of money, and printing newspapers costs money. Should we blame the school for seeking cost-cutting measures? Notably, the aforementioned action plan specified that no student staff positions at the IDS would be cut and that several new graduate-level positions would be created to support all three of IU’s student-media outlets (the newspaper as well as radio and TV stations).

Students and administration are partners who share mutual respect for each other and responsibility for what is published. As a teacher of journalism at Hillsdale College and the faculty adviser to a weekly student newspaper, I am often pulled in two directions when it comes to what the newspaper covers and how it does so. What makes Hillsdale and other schools able to publish respectful, complete, quality journalism on a regular basis, I think, is the fundamental understanding that students and administration are partners who share mutual respect for each other and responsibility for what is published.

If both parties respect each other’s roles and interests, student journalism can flourish. As I’m sure is the case at many private colleges, all journalism students at Hillsdale understand that, because the college is private and the paper’s operating budget comes from student fees, the student publication is not an independent newspaper, free to publish anything and everything. But they also understand that the goal of their journalism studies and work opportunities on campus is to learn how to do journalism well, which means learning both in the classroom and in the newsroom.

Colleges that respect student news outlets and let them function independently will earn the respect of students, who in turn will respect the institution paying their bills, while still focusing on publishing accurate, important news about campus life.

That balance takes work, but if both parties respect each other’s roles and interests, student journalism can flourish. As the Student Press Law Center notes, “A private school that actively seeks to stifle the expression of its students is not only violating fundamental democratic concepts, it is also retarding one of the basic necessities of the learning process—the unfettered free flow of ideas. Minds need new ideas and means of expression to grow.”

Schools that recognize the importance of allowing students to seek and report news freely will hopefully see a flourishing of good student journalism. If students feel free to report well, they will be more likely to work with the institution if and when a problem arises (such as fixing deficit spending). Unfortunately, many student newspapers and the administrations overseeing them have an antagonistic and defensive relationship, which many times leads to overreach on the college’s part and recklessness on the newspaper’s.

As in many situations, a measured, middle-of-the-road approach to student-newspaper-vs.-college-administrator conflicts is often best. Administrators should understand and respect the desires of student journalists to seek and report the truth, even if that means they are reporting on the institution that supports them. Likewise, student reporters must respect and understand that college administrators are tasked with operating a business that has both a mission and a budget. They must accept when their idea of the free press may need to adjust. An all-or-nothing approach—from either party—will only exacerbate an already complicated situation.

Maria Servold is the assistant director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College.