Credit: Ponic Photography
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) signed on to a coalition letter led by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), alongside the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). We urge newly appointed Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) President Shelly Lowe to reverse sanctions placed on student journalist David McNicholas and reform IAIA’s speech policies to meet First Amendment standards.
The dispute traces back to March 2024, when McNicholas, editor of the independent zine Young Warrior, published anonymous submissions critical of IAIA administrators. McNicholas’ articles alleged bullying of a student advisor and mismanagement of grant funds. Instead of defending student press freedom, IAIA disciplined McNicholas under its Anti-Bullying Policy, placing him on disciplinary probation and briefly suspending him from student housing.
IAIA’s actions are unconstitutional and amount to viewpoint discrimination. Specifically, the Anti-Bullying Policy is overly broad, vague, and easily weaponized to silence dissent. Moreover, IAIA selectively barred Young Warrior from using campus bulletin boards, despite no written rule limiting postings to school-funded publications.
NCAC stands with FIRE and our partners in calling out the broader danger of censorship on campus: punishing one journalist can chill expression for the entire student body. We urge President Lowe to take decisive action—rescind sanctions against McNicholas, erase the incident from his record, and revise IAIA’s unconstitutional policies.
Read the full letter to IAIA here: Click here for a full-screen view: