Indiana University alumnus Mark Wert has consistently given back to his alma mater since 1985. graduated with a full scholarship. But when he read about the university’s decisions restricting the rights of his student publication, he had had enough.
Wert took a letter he received from the IU Foundation asking for donations at the end of the year, wrote “Remove me from the mailing list” and sent it back.
Wert, a retired reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, is among alumni questioning the value of donating to IU after officials made several controversial decisions about the student-run Indiana Daily Student.
The university sparked a national outcry after it fired student media director Jim Rodenbush and ordered the 158-year-old publication to stop printing newspapers. That came after administrators pressured Rodenbush to ditch traditional news content from print editions. University administrators cite a new business plan and the newspaper’s ongoing deficit as reasons behind their decision to downsize.
Alumni also fielded more questions about donations they make to a fund specifically for IDS after the IndyStar reported that the university had slowed spending on those contributions.
Some are finding other ways to support IDS, while others are urging administrators to learn more about how their dollars are being used.
“(University administrators) make decisions that aren’t always so good, and you don’t want to hurt the school or hurt the students,” Wert said. “But if the fund is there to help pay student salaries and stuff, and then they can’t spend the money, why am I giving money?”
When asked how people can support IDS through donations and other ways, student editors-in-chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said they encourage supporters to read their posts and send kind messages about their work. The IDS website is also still seeking donations for the IDS Legacy Fund.
“At this troubling time, we cannot thank our supporters enough for our newspaper,” Hilkowitz and Miller said in a statement. “Each of our staff can use these words of encouragement now as we continue our mission of great journalism.”
A $1.5 million bequest to IU has been revoked
Patricia Esgate, a 1973 IU journalism graduate, told the IndyStar that the university angered her enough to cancel her $1.5 million scholarship. Whitaker was murdered in his home in 2014.
She said her contribution will be divided into several pots, including music and liberal arts scholarships and a lecture series for lesbians.
But recent decisions by the university, including regarding IDS and the recent cancellation of an LGBTQ speaker series, made Esgate realize that her friend would not agree with the university’s decision-making, she said.
“There is no way that Mary — who she was, who she was to me, who she was to the world — would ever have supported this university in what they’re doing,” she said. Esgate said she would encourage other alumni to consider similar donation cancellations.
Toby Cole, a fourth-generation graduate and third-generation IU football player, told the IndyStar via email that his family is cutting off its monthly contributions and working to cancel a planned $300,000 gift to support scholarships.
“If IU can pay our FB coach close to $100 million, we can fund our IDS,” he said in an email. “The problem is that ‘they’ don’t want an independent free-speech print newspaper because the students actually have the power with it.”
“We had to send some kind of message”
Alumnus Ryan Gunterman and his wife met at IDS and have been dating since 2002. graduation donates to the news department and the university. Gunterman is immersed in local student journalism as executive director of the Indiana High School Press Association and advisor to Franklin College’s student newspaper.
in 2021 they increased their recurring IDS contribution to $50 per month and made several larger contributions through donation drives. Despite having contributed thousands over the years, he said they decided to cancel all future contributions due to the recent news.
When Gunterman announced his decision on Facebook, at least six others commented that they were also withholding future contributions. Many said the IDS situation, along with other controversial university decisions, led them to withdraw their financial support.
“We had to send some kind of message to IU that they should be punished for violating any trust that we have,” Gunterman said. “We had to inform the university that this was unacceptable on a personal level.”
Gunterman said getting financial support was one of the only steps left for them to show their disapproval. Instead of recurring donations to IDS, he said they will find other ways to support the newsroom, such as buying them pizzas each month and spending on advertising.
“We were confident that we would still be able to support the students and their activities even if we collected our donations,” he said. – The university sees that we do not support them.
Media School controls an IDS-focused foundation
Many alumni of IU’s renowned journalism program have contributed to the IDS Legacy Fund, which “ensures the financial viability of our editorial operations.” According to the donation page, the fund was used for expenses such as student salaries, conference fees and other operating expenses.
But reports of how the university controlled the use of that money are troubling some alumni.
According to Rodenbush, the foundation has north of $400,000, but he said he is struggling to use those funds for operations. The administrator told him to think more strategically and about “better utilization,” he said.
All donations to the Legacy Fund are directed through the IU Foundation, the university’s philanthropic arm. And the media school must approve all expenditures from that fund, Rodenbush said. IDS, although editorially independent by statute, is an auxiliary of the university and is housed in the School of Media.
IU spokeswoman Teresa Mackin referred IndyStar questions about the fund’s use to its landing page. It did not address questions about the amount of money in the fund or the overall deficit of IDS.
Alumni want more transparency
Alumni told IndyStar that transparency is a way to restore their trust.
An independent audit could answer many questions about the fund’s use, such as how the money was spent and whether spending records are kept, Hannah Alani said in an email. Alani organized a letter signed by more than 300 former IDS employees asking that the IU Student Publications Alumni Council be included in conversations about the future of IDS.
Wert and Gunterman said they want to see students held accountable for how they spend their money and clarity that their donations are being spent the way the university said they would.
“I need to hear not only from the professional staff, but also from the students that they feel good about it,” Gunterman said. “They’re the ones dealing with it and the consequences. If they say, yes, it’s credible, then fine, I’ll take it.”
Editor’s note: IndyStar First Amendment reporter Cate Charron is the former editor-in-chief of Indiana University Bloomington’s student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student.
IndyStar’s Sadia Khatri contributed reporting.
USA TODAY Network – Indiana’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by a partnership between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Do you have a story to tell? Contact Cate Charron at mail address ccharron@indystar.comat X o’clock @CateCharron or signal at @cate.charron.28.
This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: IU alumni draw donations over IDS student newspaper censorship claims