The Managing Board of the Washington Square News is excited to announce it has elected Dharma Niles as editor-in-chief for the 2025-26 academic year.
Niles, a rising junior from California, was most recently a news editor at WSN and previously served as deputy news editor during the height of on-campus protests. She takes over from Yezen Saadah, whose yearlong tenure was defined by persistent coverage of the Trump administration’s attack on higher education and rigorous student journalism that earned WSN a Pacemaker award — the most prestigious in college journalism — as one of the nation’s top online college news sites. Niles, who led the charge in holding the university accountable, impressed the Board with her ambitious vision to bolster that coverage and use our growing digital presence to expand the paper’s audience.
“Dharma has a clear vision for the future of WSN, and she has demonstrated a sharp and uncompromising approach to news coverage during an extraordinarily challenging time,” said Damon Beres, chair of the Managing Board of the Washington Square News, senior editor at The Atlantic and former WSN editor. “I am confident the paper will achieve great things under her leadership.”
“Over the past two years, I’ve been continuously inspired by the dedication and tenacity demonstrated by WSN’s staff in their commitment to holding leadership accountable and keeping the student body informed,” Niles said. “I could not be more honored to step into this position at an ever-critical time for journalism, for higher education and for institutional integrity.”
“Since I’ve met Dharma, she has impressed me every single day with her journalistic rigor and dedication to WSN’s mission,” Saadah said. “I have no doubt in my mind that she will excel in cementing WSN — and by extension, the student press at large — as the premier location for accountability journalism, and this is made even more promising by her empathetic leadership.”
Niles becomes editor-in-chief at the end of the spring 2025 semester and will begin building the newsroom leadership team ahead of the start of the next school year.
As editor-in-chief, Niles immediately joins 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 Niles, email [email protected].