''Washington Square News (WSN)'' is the weekly

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(NYU). It has a circulation of 10,000 and an estimated 55,000 online readers. It is published in print on Monday, in addition to online publication Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters, with additional issues published in the summer. It serves the NYU,

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, and East Village communities in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

The newspaper was born in 1973 as the result of NYU's merging of their two campus weeklies: the University Heights campus in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

had published ''The Heights Daily News,'' while the Washington Square campus in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

originally published ''The Washington Square Journal.'' Between 2003 and 2004, ''WSN'' debuted the "

Bobst Boy Bobst Boy is the nickname of Steven Stanzak (born January 25, 1984), a New York University student who spent eight months living in the basement of one of the school's libraries, Bobst Library from September 2003 to April 2004. Before living in th ...

" story, which went on to become an overnight national sensation. In 2000, WSN launched its websit
nyunews.com
In 2017, WSN launched its podcast, "Newsflash", and then rebranded the following year as "Washington Square Noise". In 2018, ''WSN'' launched its digital weekly magazine, ''Under the Arch''. In late September 2020, the entire staff of ''WSN''

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

after disagreements with the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

over their faculty advisor. The resignation lasted until the mid March, 2021, when the staff returned after the hiring of a new editor.

Staff

WSN is run solely by NYU students, with the paper's senior staff mostly composed of

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

. Its offices are located at 75 Third Avenue. It serves the student population by helping with opportunities for reporting, writing, editing, coding, photography, video production, design, illustration and business. The paper is editorially and financially independent from the university and is solely responsible in selling advertisements to fund its production, with an average cost of US$350,000 annually. The term for the positions of

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

is one academic year, beginning in the summer semester and ending after the spring semester.

Awards

In 2009, reporters Marc Beja and Adam Playford (Editor-in-Chief, 2008) won first place in the category of "Best News Story" from the New York State Press Association and National Winner in the category of "In-depth reporting" from the Society of Professional Journalists. At the same time Alvin Chang (Editor-in-Chief, 2007) won best columnist. ''Washington Square News'' won an

Associated Collegiate Press The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association. It awards the newspaper, mag ...

Pacemaker award The National Pacemaker Awards are awards for excellence in American student journalism, given annually since 1927. The awards are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field, and are unofficially known as the "Pulitzer ...

in 2004, that same year it was awarded the title of ''Overall Best Newspaper''. It won the Pacemaker Award again in 2019. In 2003, the paper won seven first-place awards in the Division 1 "Better College Newspaper Contest" of the New York State Press Association.

Notable former staff

Shaun Assael Shaun Assael (born February 4, 1962) is an American author and award-winning investigative journalist. He is the author of four books that deal with sports, crime and culture. Journalist After graduating from New York University with a degree i ...

, author, staff writer at ESPN The Magazine * Bill Bastone, editor, ''

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'' *Cindy Behrman, advertising editor, Suddler & Hennesey; writer, ''Village Voice'' and New York Press (deceased July 22, 2008) * Marc H. Bell, CEO of Penthouse Media Group; board of trustees, New York University *Russell Berman, reporter, '' The Hill'' *Matt Buchanan, executive editor,

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*Alvin Chang, head of visuals and data, ''

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'' *Fred Clarke, Democratic Party communications strategist; IBM communications manager *

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, television reporter, ''

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''
Charles Dharapak
photojournalist *

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, author and writer at Feministe *Bradley Hope, reporter, ''

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'' *Eileen "E.P." Gunn, 'Eco-Nomics' columnist,

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, freelance writer/editor/lecturer
Gary He
freelance photojournalist *Annette Heist, senior producer,

Gimlet Media Gimlet Media LLC is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CEO ...

*Tim Herrera, founding editor, ''

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'' Smarter Living *Eric Kohn, senior editor and chief film critic,

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*Jessica Letkemann, former editor,

billboard.com ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

*Mark Mueller, former staff writer, ''

Newark Star-Ledger Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

'' (shares 2005

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) *Jon Mummolo,

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politics professor *Lindsay Noonan, Writer/Producer at

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

*Andrew Nusca, executive editor, '' Morning Brew'' *Amy Odell, author and former editor, ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' *Brian O'Keefe, deputy editor, ''

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'' *

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, author
The Unholy Grail
*Adam Playford, editor, ''

'' *David E. Rovella, managing editor at ''

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'', Attorney *

Joel Sherman Joel Sherman (born 1962), nicknamed "GI Joel", is a top American Scrabble expert and former world champion. He is chronicled in Stefan Fatsis's book ''Word Freak'', in Eric Chaikin's film ''Word Wars'', and in Scott Petersen's film ''Scrabylon ...

, sportswriter/columnist, New York Post *Rachel Holliday Smith, reporter, '' The City'' *

Gene Weingarten Gene Norman Weingarten (born October 2, 1951) is an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist for ''The Washington Post.'' He is the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Weingarten is known for both ...

, Washington Post columnist; 2008, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner *Scott Wenger, former managing editor/money & business, ''New York Daily News,'' and former editorial director, Barron's

References

External links