The Purdue Exponent recently announced they had received an email from Purdue University’s Office of Legal Counsel, making several demands and ending several long-standing informal commitments between the university and newspaper. The university cited their new institutional neutrality policy in the email, according to The Purdue Exponent. This comes shortly after the university shut down their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and released a statement clarifying that the publication was entirely independent and not recognized as a student organization by the university.
In the email, Purdue University announced several changes, including:
- No longer facilitating distribution of the Exponent on campus.
- Canceling access to paid parking passes for the Northwestern Parking Garage, governed by a mid-1980s
agreement stemming from the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation’s sale of land that allowed the
construction to proceed. This agreement stated it would only terminate “should Purdue University
discontinue the use of the garage for parking purposes, replace the facility with a non-parking structure, or
for any reason dispose of the property altogether.” - Asked that the Exponent no longer use the word “Purdue” for all commercial uses, even though the Purdue
Student Publishing Foundation has a trademark on the name “The Purdue Exponent” until 2029.
“We hope the University will reconsider these actions, given our long history and shared education mission,”
said Kyle Charters, publisher of the Exponent.
This move also comes after Indiana University cut the weekly print edition of the Indiana Daily Student this past semester.
Were politics involved?
This action comes shortly after Purdue University eliminated most of its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The Purdue Exponent has addressed several heavy political topics in the past. Their editorial board recently removed the names of pro-Palestine student protestors from their articles, fearing backlash. They have also ran editorials opposing tariffs put in place by the Trump Administration and ran an endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jessica McCormick.
The latter editorial may have risked violating the Internal Revenue Code, due to the Exponent being classified as a nonprofit.
Charters, at the time, said that “Courts have repeatedly ruled that student newspapers can make political endorsements.”
It is unclear whether that is settled law, or if The Purdue Exponent would be classified as a student newspaper based on its lack of recognition by Purdue University.
“The Exponent is an entity that is independent of and unaffiliated with Purdue University. Owned by an independent foundation, it does not receive funding from Purdue University and is not recognized as a student organization,” a statement from Purdue said back in February.
The Exponent is led by the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation board of 13 members – students, Purdue
faculty and / or staff, alumni and community members. The staff is comprised of non-student and student
staff. Six non-student staff work full- or part-time, including a publisher/general manager; a business
development manager; a production director; a bookkeeper and pressroom staff.
Did the Purdue Exponent’s editorial content play a role in the decision?
It is unclear if the publication’s editorial content played a role in the university’s decision to sever ties. The Indiana Commons requested a copy of the email sent by the Purdue University Office of Legal Counsel from the Purdue Exponent, and has also filed an Access to Public Records Act request for a copy of the email in addition to other documents relating to the decision. The Indiana Commons has not received a response as of publication, but did receive a press release from The Purdue Exponent claiming that the university cited the new institutional neutrality policy in their email.
That policy prohibits the “university [from] taking collective action or expressing opinions on the political and social issues of the day, or modifying its corporate activities to foster social or political values.”
UPDATE: WISH-TV received a copy of the communication between Purdue’s Office of Legal Counsel and The Purdue Exponent, which can be found here.
This article is part of an ongoing investigation by The Indiana Commons and will be updated accordingly.