Op/Ed: Here's how I fought censorship of student journalists at Indiana University.
Indiana University’s official motto is “Lux e Veritas. In English, that means “Light and Truth.” But you wouldn’t know it by the way it has censored student journalists and skated transparency.
Last year, I was finishing up an investigation regarding a sexual misconduct case at IU’s Jacobs School of Music. I found the university did not follow its word when disciplining a student who violated his suspension he received after being found responsible for sexual assault. He came back on campus, and the terms of his suspension said IU would expel and or criminally charge the student. He never was, and he returned to school.
I had the suspension document from a source, a dozen testimonies and the lack of a police report to prove what I had found. However, I wanted to be thorough and know what university records said regarding the student’s case. Federal law protects student education records, and in most cases, a reporter will strike out requesting any information vaguely within its reach. There is an exception that specific information about students whose universities found them responsible for “crimes of violence” can be requested. I explained the exception, but IU denied my request months later, citing what was the misused clause. That’s when I reported them to the state of Indiana. The public access counselor decided in his opinion that I should have received those records and how some of the university’s reasoning for denial was “absurd.”
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In order for me to receive records I was entitled to, I had to tap into multiple legal support systems, convince myself this battle was one worth pursuing and establish a new precedent for requesting student sexual assault records in Indiana. I shouldn’t have had to do any of that — especially for records regarding student safety.
As bad as IU’s behavior has been, it is not the only offender when it comes to censorship of student media. It may not even be the worst.
Hundreds of high school and college students each year struggle to report critical and crucial stories about their on and off campus communities — and it’s not because they are learning how to do journalism. School boards and universities are overstepping its power and breaking the law through attempts to censor student media.
This rampant and widespread censorship of student journalism is dire. The schools that are supposed to be preparing student journalists for their professional careers cut the cord once they publish something that’s bad PR or rides too close to a topic they don’t like. When this happens, it hurts not just those student journalists but the whole community. When journalism is censored and is not allowed to act as a fourth pillar to democracy, corruption spreads to the detriment of all.
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Especially as many local papers are losing manpower or closing entirely, student newspapers are critical to making sure those areas don’t become news deserts — or places no longer covered by a news organization. Student publications report on crime, student safety and breaking news. They ask where tax and tuition dollars are going and shine a light into the dark corners of democracy. In many cities and counties, those stories would go unreported without student journalists.
The way we fight this is through our own transparency: student newspapers need help. They need you to read their content, subscribe to their newsletters, donate when possible and take them seriously. We need our community to support student journalists as we fight for the right to publish free of school overreach and for our school boards and universities to follow the law, not to mention its own constitution.
Thursday, the Student Press Law Center and students across the United States and Canada will celebrate Student Press Freedom Day — a day established to raise awareness about such issues and train students to fight back. Support the cause by spreading the word, uplifting your local student newspaper and donating to the SPLC.
Cate Charron is a Student Press Law Center student co-chair for Student Press Freedom Day, a recent graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington and a former editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Student journalist fought censorship at Indiana University and won.
