Dear readers and friends of The Argus,

We can’t believe that the end of the semester is already here. It really feels like time has flown, and it doesn’t feel quite real that finals and winter break are right around the corner. When our predecessors Rachel Wachman ’24 and Andrew Lu ’23 handed us the editor-in-chief baton last spring, we couldn’t predict what kind of semester this would be. And now standing here in December, looking back on the last several months, we can’t express how grateful we are to have been your editors-in-chief this fall.

Next semester, the editors-in-chief of The Argus will be…(drumroll please)…current Head Copy Editor Anne Kiely ’24 and current Opinion Editor, Head Archivist, and Assistant Head Copy Editor Sam Hilton ’25! We are so excited for them and can’t wait to see what they do come January!

One of the most intensive parts of being editor-in-chief is editing every article that gets published in The Argus, but it’s also an incredible opportunity to get to know everyone on the paper, from contributing writers to senior editors. Learning the variety of writing, interviewing, and editing styles of the staff has shown us how hard everyone on The Argus works. It’s been a privilege to get to know each person’s style individually.

The Argus has covered so much this semester, and none of it could have happened without so many incredible people. We won’t highlight any articles in particular because that list would be too long, but we encourage everyone to look back on our website for any articles they may have missed! Our coverage will continue to expand next semester, and we’re thrilled to announce that we’re resurrecting a section from The Argus’ past: the Ampersand, a satirical and humor section that will be run by current Features Editor Eugenia Shakhnovskaya ’24 and current Staff Writer Lily Ahluwalia ’27! We’ve heard that other humor publications are also starting up on campus, and we’re excited to collaborate and engage with them.

The work we’ve done this semester—as always, in collaboration with so many people—has ranged from the financial to the ethical. We’ve worked with the Wesleyan Student Assembly’s Student Budget Committee to reevaluate The Argus’ budget and rethink how we can preserve journalistic independence. We’ve gotten the ball rolling on reevaluating The Argus’ pay structure to better reflect the entire staff’s priorities and values. In collaboration with Executive Editor Rachel Wachman ’24 and Financial Managers Caleb Henning ’25 and Lily Faith-Goldfine ’25, we’ve looked into alternative sources of funding to increase the number of staff members we can pay. Newspapers require a lot of time and effort, and that can be a major barrier to pursuing journalism as a student.

One of our goals for this semester has been to reshape and reinvent the Anti-Racist Newsroom Committee, which was established in the aftermath of an anti-Black Lives Matter opinion piece published in The Argus in 2015. However, the committee slowly lost momentum and members, until only the editors-in-chief and Sabrina were running it. Through discussions with the rest of masthead, we’ve expanded its scope and accordingly renamed it as the Ethics & Equity Committee. Starting next semester, Ethics & Equity chairs will be in charge of ensuring that the committee meets regularly to discuss what ethical and equitable journalism looks like, at The Argus and elsewhere.

Before we close out this letter, we have to say a big thank you to everyone on masthead! This paper would not be possible without all of the dedication, thought, and care you put into each article and every other facet of The Argus. We’d like to give an extra special thank you to Managing Editor Kat Struhar ’25! Words can’t describe how grateful we are for all of Kat’s passion and incredible work this semester, from organizing five Speaker Series events to helping make editorial decisions!

And finally, we’d like to thank you, our readers. Thank you for supporting us and sharing your stories. It has truly been a privilege, and it means a lot that we’ve been able to engage with so many members of the Wesleyan community this semester.

With so much love and gratitude,

Sabrina and Elias, 

Editors-in-Chief.

Sabrina Ladiwala can be reached at sladiwala@wesleyan.edu. 

Elias Mansell can be reached at emansell@wesleyan.edu.