On Sept. 28, the New York University Washington Square News published an editorial announcing the collective resignation of 43 staff editors after the forced appointment of Editorial Advisor Dr. Kenna Griffin. The editorial mentioned 22 specific complaints, including firing the editor-in-chief without explanation and creating a hostile work environment by belittling staff, engaging in racial insensitivity and transphobic rhetoric and enforcing problematic journalistic standards.

The Gazelle spoke to several students who resigned to hear their personal experiences, but it was quickly revealed that issues of insensitivity and dubious journalistic practices were already deeply ingrained, not only in WSN’s newsroom, but in other college and professional newsrooms across the United States.

In early September, the WSN advisory board, half of which is composed of NYU Journalism professors, unilaterally pushed forward Griffin’s appointment. “I suppose the main problem was that we weren’t involved in the process in any way, shape, or form, and we’re the ones who have to work with this person day in and day out,” explained Finley Muratova, NYU Class of 2022, and the former Managing Editor for WSN’s affiliate magazine Under the Arch.

Under Griffin’s editorial advisorship, Muratova described their experience as feeling constantly belittled and scolded and emphasized that the environment was not conducive to mentoring the next generation of student journalists.

“Dr. Griffin didn’t really know much about how WSN was run,” Muratova further added. “I wish she took time to familiarize herself with how we operate and who we are.” This unfamiliarity, paired with the distinct challenges of working remotely over Slack rather than in the traditional bustling newsroom, were a lethal combination for WSN.

WSN is currently labeled as an independent student publication. However, one of the resigning staff’s demands was that this label be removed, as NYU has influence over the paper’s editorial decisions, operations and staffing.

“We either want to change the label or we want to ensure that our process is as independent as possible,” Muratova said. “We feel dishonest calling ourselves an independent student newspaper while being so heavily affiliated with the university.”

One day after the WSN editorial was published, Mina Mohammadi, NYU Class of 2023 and former deputy news editor for WSN, penned a personal essay about her WSN experience as a Black, indigenous and person of color and her decision to resign before Griffin came on the team.

“I saw how articles on issues that hit close to home, like activist groups or students of color, were mismanaged,” wrote Mohammadi. “This maybe isn’t a problem with WSN, but the journalism industry overall that sits upon white comfort and white stories.”

The journalism industry in the U.S., in recent months, has seen widespread upheaval over racial injustice and how it manifests within newsrooms. Editors at Bon Appétit and Refinery29 stepped down after intense scrutiny and many other publications are reevaluating their practices and contributions, positive or negative, to the ongoing fight for racial equality.

Mohammadi highlighted WSN’s very tense relationship with several student activist groups after articles covering topics on Israel, Palestine and Islamophobia were published with insensitive language. She also detailed her experience as a BIPOC in an environment with a dire lack of diversity; she would be asked to approve articles as being “up to standard” which were related to races that were not her own.

“You often find people, like myself, reporting on Black housing, for example, here at the university,” explained Mohammadi. “These are not my stories to be written.”

Mohamaddi expressed her belief that the issues with Griffin, while serious allegations, are being used as a scapegoat for race issues that have always been present at WSN and within NYU as a higher education institution. “I don’t think anything’s going to change until the actual management looks inward and really thinks about how the entire thing was upheld for so long,” added Mohammadi.

The reckoning that took place at WSN is not unique — rather it is reflective of the problems and subsequent unmasking in newsrooms across the country. “Journalism has changed before. Why can’t it change now?” pondered Kimberly Rice, NYU Class of 2022 and former copy chief for WSN. “I think that it’s something that is noticeable even on national levels. Journalism is kind of old. Society is progressing and journalism seems to not be at the same pace.”

WSN wasn’t the only U.S. American student publication to face mass staff resignation this year due to racial issues. Last month, Emerson College’s The Berkeley Beacon published an article about a white female student whose father cut her off financially after she expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to Kayla Buck, Emerson Class of 2023 and former assistant sports editor, the article was criticized greatly for its white savior nature and it was quickly pulled from the print edition. A BIPOC advocacy group on campus wrote a response letter over the article’s racial insensitivity. Shortly after it was published, two emergency town halls were held for students to air their grievances with the editorial staff and within the next few days, around 75 percent of the publication staff resigned.

“You cannot go on practicing the things that you’re trying to reform,” explained Buck. “It’s not going to change unless you start changing it … that starts in your students, in these newsrooms, who will then take it to wherever they’re employed in the future.”

First generation Colombian-American student Emily Cardona, Emerson Class of 2022 and Melanie Curry, Emerson Class of 2021, both recounted identity-based microaggressions during their time at The Berkeley Beacon. Cardona recalled the editors’ tendencies to only talk to BIPOC students when they needed approval on potentially biased content. And as the only Black person on staff, Curry created a People of Color column, but never received credit for this initiative.

“The Beacon has a very racist reputation among the intercultural organizations [on campus]” Curry lamented. “It was very very cliquish and very, very white.”

Shruti Rajkumar, Emerson Class of 2022 and former assistant lifestyle editor, is a disabled woman of color who edited the controversial article as one of her first assignments on the job. She expressed her discomfort, but stayed silent because she was assured by others that the article was acceptable and because she didn’t feel qualified as a non-Black student to speak as an authority.

Rajkumar also recalled instances of ableism, specifically when an article written about the Special Olympics used outdated, ableist language and failed to interview any of the athletes.

Curry, along with a few of the other Berkeley Beacon members who resigned, have created a new publication called The Intersectionalist, an initiative focused on the intersectionality of cultural identities and equitable, unbiased reporting. Objectivity is one of the core values of Emerson’s journalism curriculum, but Curry critiques that unquestioned objectivity can ignore oppression: “In a perfect world, objectivity would exist, but we don’t live in a perfect world.”

The turmoil at WSN and The Berkeley Beacon presents a parallel case to what occurred in 1971 at UC Berkeley. The Daily Californian first became independent from the institution after the university attempted to fire the editors-in-chief as punishment for an editorial that instigated student protests. The publication now has no editorial advisor, but works with a board of directors, primarily composed of alumni, who assist with financial concerns but have no editorial influence.

“I’ve heard talks of turnover issues in the past, and in the past three or four years we’ve put more efforts toward increasing diversity and having a more friendly newsroom,” said Sarah Harris, UC Berkeley Class of 2020 and current editor-in-chief of The Daily Californian.

UC Berkeley’s campus has always been a hotspot for activism, from the Free Speech movement to the Third World Liberation Front’s creation of an ethnic studies college.

“I would say Berkeley champions itself as being super progressive and very activism driven because of its history, but that’s not always the case in terms of its policies,” explained Harris.

The Daily Californian has made huge strides in terms of diversity. They have a specialized News section on Diversity, Arts section on LGBTQ+ Media and the Opinion Desk has a recurring column that highlights a BIPOC student’s experience at UC Berkeley. The publication boasts a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which meets weekly and is open to all who wish to join.

As of Spring 2020, 60 percent of The Daily Califorian’s applicants identified as Asian, 23 percent identified as white and about six percent identified with two or more races or as Hispanic or Latinx, respectively.

“Every single paper is struggling right now, but that doesn’t mean that diversity can be put on the back burner,” Harris added, recognizing the costs of effectively seeking diversity.

The issues seen in student newsrooms can, in many ways, be attributed to a trickle-down effect from the professional journalism industry. By teaching young journalists that objectivity is the gold standard, advisors and employers delude students about the realities of personal biases.

Ironically, Griffin from WSN, who is being accused of horrible insensitivities, serves as the current president of the College Media Association, whose mission is to support and educate student journalists. Student newsrooms are learning environments, but when the resources derived from professional journalists reinforce structures of inequity and bias, these learning environments can foster problematic practices in the next generation of journalists.