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In spring 2024, the Institute of American Indian Arts disciplined student David McNicholas for alleged bullying because, as senior editor of the Young Warrior student magazine, he published anonymous student editorials critical of two IAIA administrators. On January 2, ������ýapp�ٷ� wrote IAIA, a public college, asking it to rescind any remaining sanctions on McNicholas because the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press to publish vehement criticism of government officials. FIREalso urged IAIA to revise its overbroad and vague anti-bullying policy because it barred a substantial amount of constitutionally protected expression. IAIA responded on January 31, arguing that McNicholas was punished not for criticizing administrators, but because the criticism was “harmful, hurtful, unsubstantiated and damaging” to the administrators’ reputations. 

FIRE wrote IAIA again on April 9, reiterating that “harmful, hurtful, unsubstantiated and damaging” speech is protected unless it rises to the level of unprotected defamation or discriminatory harassment—which the publication of the student editorials certainly did not. On September 25, ������ýapp�ٷ�, together with the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), wrote IAIA’s new president, urging her to reverse the unconstitutional course of her predecessor.