Dear readers,
Welcome to a new semester of The Argus! As the incoming Editors-in-Chief (EICs) this fall, we couldn’t be more excited to get started on Volume CLXXIII!
We both got involved with The Argus during our first year at the University, when Sabrina Ladiwala ’24 was remote and Elias Mansell ’24 was trapped in his dorm in Butterfield A. It’s crazy to think that it’s been three years since then. Sabrina started attending Argus Sunday meetings as a curious first-year and ended up falling in love with the Arts & Culture Section and the community she found. Elias was drawn to the newspaper by his passion for editing and, later, the chaotic community. Sabrina is a former arts & culture editor who also previously worked on the anti-racism committee, and Elias was a copy editor and news editor. Coming from different sections, we’re looking forward to working together and bringing our different experiences and strengths to the paper.
Like many of our predecessors, we want to emphasize quality over quantity. We know that this isn’t possible without our staff, which is why our main goal for this semester is to build community and improve recruitment and retention. With over 40 students on masthead, numerous staff writers, and many more students interested in student journalism, The Argus should be a positive experience for everyone involved. We love that The Argus is a space for anyone to make their voices heard and share their opinions with the Wesleyan community. We want to emphasize that this is not just for Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff, but the Middletown community as well. If you have a story that you’d like to share, please submit a tip on our website or reach out to either of us at sladiwala@wesleyan.edu and emansell@wesleyan.edu.
We know The Argus necessitates unpaid labor from almost everyone who works on it, and not everyone can afford to dedicate their time to volunteer work. Although we believe that everyone deserves to be paid for the work they do, The Argus is not financially supported by the administration—an agreement that allows us to maintain journalistic independence—and we rely on donations and advertising revenue to pay our student workers. We are working with Financial Managers Lily Faith-Goldfine ’25 and Caleb Henning ’25 and Executive Editor Rachel Wachman ’24 to ramp up our fundraising efforts in the hopes that we can eventually move toward a need-based pay structure. Please consider donating via the donation page on our website, and we thank everyone who has already donated for their support.
An integral part of our motivation for focusing on The Argus’ finances is our goal of amplifying voices that aren’t always given a turn to speak. We’re hoping to raise funds to eventually expand the Argus Voices Fund, which pays low-income students of color for their work on The Argus regardless of their prior journalism experience. The application is currently open until Monday, Sept. 25, and interested students can reach out to us for more information.
We’re actively working to bring back and reshape the anti-racism committee that was active when we were first-years. We hope that this can be a way for new students to get involved with The Argus as well as to bring new ideas to the table on how to discuss anti-racism. We’re humoring other resurrections from The Argus’ past, so keep an eye out!
There were so many great additions to the paper that we can’t wait to see again. Make sure to check out Argus Apps in the Opinion section, From the Argives in Features, and the return of the Cinefiles column in Arts & Culture. We’re also excited to announce that our Opinion section will now be publishing twice a week this semester! Beyond our six writing sections, we’re looking forward to expanding the Argus Podcast as well as our social media presence. We hope to connect across several platforms with both current and previous members of our community. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!
As we start this semester, we want to thank everyone who has helped and supported us throughout the summer, during pre-semester staff training, and this first production. First, we have to thank our amazing Managing Editor Kat Struhar ’25! This paper would not be possible without her working behind the scenes, checking in with us, and bringing her all to this paper. Second, we’d like to acknowledge all the previous EICs that have stood in our shoes. Without them and their guidance, we wouldn’t be here running this paper today. We’d like to give an extra special thank you to our Executive Editor Rachel Wachman. From her helpful tips to answering our last-minute questions, Rachel has been our greatest cheerleader, and we actually have no idea what we’d do without her. Most importantly, we want to thank you all, our dedicated readers. Thank you for supporting The Argus and sharing your stories with us.
That’s all from us for now! Here’s to the start of a great semester!
Sincerely,
Sabrina Ladiwala ’24 and Elias Mansell ’24, Editors-in-Chief
Sabrina Ladiwala can be reached at sladiwala@wesleyan.edu.
Elias Mansell can be reached at emansell@wesleyan.edu.