Dear wonderful readers of The Argus,
What a semester it has been! When we last wrote to you, we shared how excited we were to be taking on the mantle of Editors-in-Chief. The Argus is an organization that has meant a lot to both of us during our time at Wesleyan, and getting to lead our incredible team through the fall has been a true honor. We hope that we have lived up to our goals of making The Argus a welcoming, transparent news organization that reflects the diversity of the campus community it covers, and we are immensely thankful to our staff for their dedication and enthusiasm, continuously putting out impressive work while balancing the pressures of student life.
This semester, The Argus highlighted a wide range of stories as the campus continued to emerge from pandemic restrictions. One long-running thread has been the departure of staff members, and the reactions which those departures have elicited on campus, including former Catholic Chaplain Father Bill Wallace and former Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Alison Williams ’81. Another was a number of new resources for FGLI (First-Generation, Low-Income) students that were unveiled, from storage to laptops to FGLI Appreciation Week.
The Public Health Subcommittee and FGLI Advisory Board joined the WSA, along with eight new first-year members. Labor organizing increased its presence on campus, from continued advocacy by WesUSE to the relaunch of the Wesleyan chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Across campus, international students reacted to events in their home countries. A Ukrainian student reflected on the ongoing war in Ukraine, and Chinese students organized in response to rising protest movements in China.
The Argus also caught up with a number of accomplished alumni, from “financial pop star” Haley Sacks ’13 to Visiting Instructor of History Anna Bisikalo ’17 to rapper and musician Kyle Shin ’20. In the world of arts, a number of exciting exhibitions graced the Zilkha gallery. The campus theater scene saw a triumphant return, from the staging of “Assassins,” the first musical since 2019, to the organization of the Students Performing Arts Resources Committee (SPARC) to coordinate student-run theater.
The Sports section also saw an excellent array of coverage this semester, showcasing the student athlete community as athletics got back into full swing. Many Wesleyan teams, including soccer, crew, and football, had exemplary fall seasons, boxing club provided a more casual entryway to athletics, and swim coach Peter Solomon retired after nearly a decade at the University.
Over in Opinion, students shared a thoughtful range of voices, with everything from moving personal essays to commentary on national hot-button issues. Our writers also launched a number of exciting recurring columns which have enriched The Argus this semester, such as From The Argives, Banging Eats With Feats, Play(er) of the Week, Pillow Talk, WesChess, Argus Overseas, and Astrology with Nico. We are immensely proud of our coverage this semester, and thank everyone who helped it happen, from longtime staff to first-time contributors.
We continued and launched a number of exciting initiatives within The Argus. The Argus Speaker Series had three wonderful installments, hosting conversations with Pushkin Industries executive producer Mia Lobel ’97, Rolling Stone staff writer Ethan Millman, and PBS NewsHour special correspondent John Yang ’80 which allowed students to connect with professional journalism and expand their knowledge of the field.
Our incredible Social Media Editors Lauren Cho ’23 and Sulan Bailey ’24 stepped up our presence across platforms, expanding our TikTok account, launching a regular Meet the Staff feature, and engaging the student community on Instagram Stories. We also have been able to continue the Argus Voices Fund, providing paid positions to two low-income students of color on The Argus. In the future, we hope to be able to expand this program to benefit even more people. We look forward to seeing new fundraising initiatives in the near future, but we are always accepting, and thoroughly appreciate, donations if you would like to contribute to support our student workers and continue to make journalism more accessible.
Lastly, we would like to congratulate our incoming Editors-in-Chief: Andrew Lu ’23 and Rachel Wachman ’24. We could not be more proud to welcome these two devoted members of The Argus masthead to the ranks of EIC, and have total confidence in their capacity to lead this paper through the spring semester, enabling the continued growth and improvement of our coverage. We look forward to seeing everything they will accomplish in the spring.
Good luck to everyone on finals, and thanks for reading,
Hallie and Oscar
Hallie Sternberg can be reached at hsternberg@wesleyan.edu
Oscar Kim Bauman can be reached at obauman@wesleyan.edu