Copyright yahoo
Indiana University alum Mark Wert has given steadily to his alma mater since he graduated in 1985 on a full-ride scholarship. However, when he read about university decisions restricting the rights of its student publication, he had had enough. Wert took a letter he received from the IU Foundation soliciting year-end donations, wrote "Remove me from the mailing list" and mailed it back. Wert, a retired Cincinnati Enquirer journalist, is among alumni who are questioning whether it is worth donating to IU after officials there made several controversial decisions about the student-run Indiana Daily Student. The university sparked national outrage after it fired student media director Jim Rodenbush and ordered the 158-year-old publication to cease printing its newspapers. This was after administrators pressured Rodenbush to drop traditional news content from print editions. University administrators point to a new business plan and the paper's running deficit as the reasons behind their decision to cut print. Alumni have also asked more questions about the donations they make to a fund specifically for the IDS following a report from IndyStar that the university was slowing down the paper's spending of those contributions. Some are finding other ways to support the IDS, and others are pushing administrators for details on how their dollars are being used. "(University administrators) make decisions that aren't always so good, and you don't want to damage the school or damage the students," Wert said. "But if the fund is there to help pay student salaries and other things, and then they can't spend the money, why am I giving the money?" When asked how people can support the IDS with donations and otherwise, Student Editors-In-Chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said they encourage supporters to read their coverage and send kind messages about their work. The IDS website also still seeks donations to the IDS Legacy Fund. "We can’t thank our supporters enough at this troubling time for our newspaper," Hilkowitz and Miller said in a statement. "Everyone on our staff can use those words of encouragement now as we continue our mission of excellent journalism." $1.5 million bequest to IU canceled Patricia Esgate, who graduated from IU with a journalism degree in 1973, told IndyStar that the university angered her enough to cancel $1.5 million in bequests she was planning to leave in honor of one of her former classmates, Mary Whitaker. Whitaker was murdered in her home in 2014. Her contribution was going to be split among several pots, including for music and liberal arts scholarships and a lesbian-focused lecture series, she said. But the university's recent decisions, including on the IDS and the recent cancellation of a LGBTQ speaker series, made Esgate realize that her friend would not agree with the university's decision-making, she said. "There is no way in h--- 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 IndyStar over email that his family was ceasing their monthly contributions and working to cancel a $300,000 planned gift to support scholarships. "If IU can pay our FB coach almost $100mm we can fund our IDS," he said in an email. "Problem is ‘they’ don’t want an independent free speaking print newspaper because students actually wield power with it." 'We had to send some kind of message' Alum Ryan Gunterman and his wife met at the IDS and have donated to the newsroom and the university since they graduated in 2002. Gunterman is immersed in local student journalism as the executive director of the Indiana High School Press Association and the faculty adviser of Franklin College's student newspaper. They upped their recurring IDS contribution to $50 a month in 2021 and made several larger contributions during donation campaigns. Despite contributing thousands over the years, he said they decided to cancel all future contributions due to the recent news. When Gunterman posted about his decision on Facebook, at least six others commented that they were also withholding future contributions. Many said the IDS situation, coupled with other controversial university decisions, pushed them to drop their financial support. "We had to send some kind of message to IU that they should be punished for violating every amount of trust that we have," Gunterman said. "We needed to let the university know that, on a personal level, this is unacceptable." Gunterman said pulling financial support was one of the only moves they had left to show their disapproval. Instead of their recurring IDS donations, he said they are going to find other ways to support the newsroom, such as buying them pizza each month and spending on advertising. "We were confident that we could still support the students and what they do, even if we pulled our donations," he said. "The university sees that we don't support them." Media School controls IDS-focused fund Many alumni of IU's prominent journalism program have contributed to the IDS Legacy Fund, which "ensures the financial viability of our editorial operations." The fund has been used for costs like student pay, conference fees and other operation costs, according to the donation page. However, reports about how the university has controlled the use of that money has worried some alumni. The fund has north of $400,000, according to Rodenbush, but he said he was hamstrung from using those funds for operations. An administrator told him to think more strategically and of "better uses," he said. All donations to the Legacy Fund are routed through the IU Foundation, the university’s philanthropic arm. And, the Media School must approve all spending from that fund, Rodenbush said. The IDS, though editorially independent under a charter, is an auxiliary of the university and is housed within the Media School. IU spokesperson Teresa Mackin directed IndyStar's questions about the fund's use to its landing page. She did not address questions about the amount of money in the fund or the total deficit of the IDS. Alumni want more transparency Alums told IndyStar that transparency is the way to rebuild their trust. An independent audit could answer a lot of questions about the fund's use, such as how the money has been spent and if there are written protocols for spending, Hannah Alani said in an email. Alani organized a letter signed by more than 300 former IDS staffers asking for the IU Student Publications Alumni Board to be included in conversations about the IDS's future. Wert and Gunterman said they want to see the students in charge of how they are spending their money and clarity that their donations are spent in the way the university said they would be spent. "I need to hear from people in the newsroom, not just professional staff, but students as well, that they feel good about this," Gunterman said. "They're the ones who are dealing with this, and the consequences of this. If they say, yes, this is trustworthy, then OK, I'll buy into that." Editor's note: IndyStar First Amendment reporter Cate Charron is a former editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student, the student newspaper at Indiana University in Bloomington. IndyStar's Sadia Khatri contributed reporting. The USA TODAY Network - Indiana's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Have a story to tell? Reach Cate Charron by email at ccharron@indystar.com, on X at @CateCharron or Signal at @cate.charron.28. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU alumni pull donations over IDS student newspaper censorship claims
