A University of Illinois policy requiring NPR member station reporters to disclose information about sources who say they were sexually harassed or assaulted is coming under fire from media organizations and free-speech advocates, who say the rule will have a chilling effect on reporting about sexual misconduct.

An investigation published in August by NPR Illinois and the nonprofit outlet ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network found that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had repeatedly protected the reputations of professors who had been accused of sexual misconduct. Along with the articles, they asked people who had experienced sexual misconduct at Illinois colleges and universities to share their stories via an online form. The form specified that the accounts would not be shared or published without permission.

NPR Illinois reported that after the investigation was published, the university, which owns the license for the station, said that its journalists could not promise confidentiality to students, employees or faculty members in the University of Illinois system who contacted them to report sexual misconduct.

The journalists were considered “responsible employees,” meaning that they were required to pass on the allegations to the institution because of Title IX rules, the university said. Title IX is a 1972 civil rights law that protects people from sex-based discrimination in education programs or other activities that receive federal funds.