Purdue Student Paper Shows Solidarity With Rival

After the Indiana University Media School fired its director of student media and banned print publication of a homecoming edition of the Indiana Daily Student, students at IU’s rival, Purdue, distributed a special free speech edition of their paper, The Exponent, in its place. They first offered to print a replica of the banned publication, but the IDS declined, according to reporting by WFYI. “It understandably decided to turn us down,” Kyle Charters, publisher of The Exponent said. “I think out of fear … that there would be some further retribution from the school.”

The resulting paper “includes editorials and letters that emphasize the importance of preserving editorial independence on college campuses—written by the editors-in-chief of both student papers, other student journalists and an IU alumna,” WFYI reported..

Indiana shut down regular weekly print publication (but not special editions) last year, ostensibly over cost concerns—though the university continues to produce and distribute print public relation materials. The homecoming edition was clearly spared by that earlier decision, so the last-minute decision to ban it was obviously content-based censorship, regardless of any claims to the contrary.