Institute of American Indian Arts Can't Ignore the First Amendment

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An arts school should protect free expression — not punish it

David McNicholas in front of a sign for the Institute of American Indian Arts

David McNicholas spoke out. The Institute of American Indian Arts made him homeless.

David believed in the power of student journalism — to give a voice to the unheard, to hold the powerful accountable, and to spotlight injustice. But when he used his campus zine, The Young Warrior, to publish anonymous op-eds criticizing administrators at IAIA, the school responded with brutal retaliation.

IAIA called the criticism “bullying.” Then they suspended David from student housing, forcing him to live out of his van. Next, they put him on probation and took away his work-study job. Now, they’re even stopping him from hanging flyers for a new free speech-themed edition of his publication — an irony you couldn’t make up.

His so-called offense? Publishing concerns that IAIA officials misused food pantry funds — on a campus where many students, including David, face food insecurity.

Let’s be clear: Calling out administrators isn’t bullying. It’s journalism. And at a public college like IAIA, it’s protected by the First Amendment.

�鶹��ýIOS demanded IAIA reverse course. But the school, under its old president, refused to clear David’s record or fix its unconstitutional anti-bullying policy. So now, a national coalition of four civil liberties groups is calling for IAIA’s new president to take action.

President Shelly Lowe, a former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, should know better than to police expression at an arts school. Public colleges don’t get to silence speech just because it hits too close to home. That’s what free speech is for.

David stood up for his fellow students. Now it’s time to stand up for him.

Tell IAIA President Lowe to drop the sanctions, clear David’s record, and restore students’ right to speak out. Because no student should be made homeless for telling the truth.