''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 rep ...

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, th ...

(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 t ...

" 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 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 Stat ...

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- ...

. 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 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, 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, ''

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'' *Matt Buchanan, executive editor,

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*Alvin Chang, head of visuals and data, '' Guardian US'' *Fred Clarke, Democratic Party communications strategist; IBM communications manager * Katherine Creag, television reporter, ''

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Bianca Peters. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Co ...

''
Charles Dharapak
photojournalist *

Jill Filipovic Jill Nicole Filipovic (born August 3, 1983) is an American author and lawyer. Education Originally from the Seattle area, Filipovic attended Shorewood High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and politics and a minor in gender a ...

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

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' *Eileen "E.P." Gunn, 'Eco-Nomics' columnist, TheStreet.com, freelance writer/editor/lecturer
Gary He
freelance photojournalist *Annette Heist, senior producer, Gimlet Media *Tim Herrera, founding editor, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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

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*Jessica Letkemann, former editor, billboard.com *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-th ...

'' (shares 2005

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

) *Jon Mummolo,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

politics professor *Lindsay Noonan, Writer/Producer at CNN *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, ''

Fortune Magazine ''Fortune'' is an American multinational business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The ...

'' *

Kira Peikoff Kira Lily Peikoff (; born May 21, 1985) is a journalist and novelist, based in New York City."About the Author"< ...

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

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

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

'', 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