The Managing Board of the Washington Square News is excited to announce it has elected Yezen Saadah as editor-in-chief for the 2024-25 school year.

Yezen Saadah, a 19-year-old from Texas, was most recently a deputy managing editor at WSN and previously served as news editor. He takes over from Manasa Gudavalli, whose impressive term culminated in coverage of recent student protests that earned notice in publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times and AMNY. Saadah, who played an integral role in driving that coverage forward, impressed the Board with his plans for bold and independent student journalism that leverages every opportunity to expand its audience. 

“Yezen has an obvious commitment to principled journalism and an exciting vision for bringing it to life,” said Damon Beres, chair of the Managing Board of the Washington Square News, senior editor at The Atlantic and former WSN editor. “It is clearer than ever that student work plays on the national stage, and I am excited to see WSN’s profile grow under his leadership.” 

In 2022, WSN was awarded a Pacemaker award — the most prestigious in college journalism — as one of the nation’s top online college news sites.

“WSN has played such a crucial role in my college career, and I am so honored to have been selected as the paper’s next editor-in-chief,” Saadah said. “After having the opportunity to help lead the publication’s news desk over the past year, I am excited to preserve WSN’s essential journalistic and ethical responsibility to serve and inform the NYU and Greenwich Village communities.”

“Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege to see Yezen grow as a leader and journalist in the newsroom,” Gudavalli said. “Yezen’s work ethic and commitment to thorough and inclusive journalism make him an ideal candidate to steer our publication to even greater heights.”

Saadah becomes editor-in-chief at the end of the spring 2024 semester and will begin building the newsroom leadership team ahead of the start of the next school year. He will work closely with Cameron Patel, whom the Board has selected as the paper’s next business manager. 

Patel most recently served as the director of sales and was hired after pitching the Board on their vision for a nimble business team fueled by community outreach efforts. They take over from Julia García.

As editor-in-chief, Saadah immediately joins Gudavalli, Patel, and García on the independent Board of the Washington Square News, which comprises four alumni, the editor-in-chief, a second editorial staffer, the business manager, a second business staffer, the outgoing editor-in-chief and outgoing business manager.

For students interested in joining the WSN staff:

Students interested in joining WSN’s staff should reach out to [email protected]  to be notified when new opportunities are posted in the coming weeks. WSN seeks students interested in reporting, editing, commentary, feature-length writing, web design, video, photography, and more.

To contact the Board, email [email protected].

To contact Saadah, email [email protected].