3 NYU Paper Staffers Who Didn't Resign Explain Their Decision

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Hours after most of the editorial staff resigned from the Washington Square News, the student newspaper of New York University, three staff members who did not leave released an explanation for their choice to stay — at least for now.

In a statement shared on Matthew Fischetti's Twitter page, a news editor at the paper, he explained why the three staffers chose not to resign with the others.

The statement notes that 43 of 50 editorial staffers resigned Sept. 28, although the statement is only signed by three of the remaining members.

"As news editors and deputy news editors, we cannot overemphasize the importance of continuing WSN's coverage of the university and the city — especially during a pandemic, an election season and civil unrest. For this reason, we didn't want to resign," reads the statement signed by Fischetti and two other staffers. "We refused to resign because the decision to do so was premature; other methods of effecting change, such as contacting WSN's board and the journalism department or striking, weren't considered."

Despite the three staff members' decision to continue, for now, the trio said they had major concerns regarding the behavior of the paper's new adviser, Kenna Griffin. Those included how she "displayed an increasing disrespect to WSN's Black staff members," a complaint that was at the center of most of the staff's decision to resign.

Griffin has not returned Patch's request for comment on the matter.

While the 43 staffers who resigned Monday had a list of 15 demands they said needed to be met for them to return to work, the three who signed the letter listed four:

• That Kenna Griffin be removed effective immediately.
• That resigned staff be welcome to return to WSN without repercussions.
• That a new board be hired in consultation with WSN staff.
• That negotiations be held about the demands listed in their colleagues' resignation letter.

In their statement, the trio "unequivocally" condemned Griffin's "transphobic rhetoric and actions and her disrespect towards, and marginalization of, Black members of WSN's staff."

They also agreed with many other of the grievances brought up by the original group of resigning staff members.

However, the trio made a point to specify they disagreed with the "controversy surrounding the terminology in our Sept. 24 article 'Protests Demanding Justice For Breonna Taylor Sweep New York City.'"

The three staff members mentioned that the newspaper's news desk did not choose to include the word "murder" in the article and that it was inserted in the final editing process.

"And while we condemn journalism's legacy of employing obfuscatory propaganda — for example, 'officer-involved shooting' or 'enhanced interrogation techniques' — we feel it was inappropriate to employ the legal term 'murder' within the context of a hard-news story," their statement read.

The statement by the three staff members said that Washington Square News will not continue production until they have entered negotiations and made an agreement with the NYU journalism department.

The three staffers also said will resign if those negotiations have not started by Wednesday.

You can read the full statement here.

NYU commented to Patch on the matter Monday.

"The announcement today by some members of the Washington Square News editorial staff that they were resigning their positions came as a complete surprise to the University," NYU spokesperson John Beckman told Patch in a statement Monday. "The WSN operates autonomously, for all intents and purposes: while NYU provides office space for the paper and some financial advice and support for their operations, the WSN has complete editorial discretion."

"The WSN has been around for a very long time, and we do think it is important for there to be a journalistic voice at a university. Our expectation is that the students must sort out this internal dispute between themselves, their advisor (who is a person independent of NYU and is paid with WSN revenues), and their publication board, perhaps by enlisting the counsel and assistance of those with journalism or college journalism experience," Beckman added. "If there is a way that the University can help, we would; however, we would want to do so in a manner that ensures that such assistance does not impinge upon or raise any specter of doubt about the paper's editorial independence."

Read More:

• Almost Entire NYU Paper Staff Resigns Amid Anger Over New Adviser