To our readers,

We are excited and honored to inaugurate volume 42 of the Nassau Weekly. Since 1979, the publication has been distributed on campus every week as one of Princeton’s primary print publications. It has marked the passage of time on campus at once in the tradition of the local American print newspaper and simultaneously as a product of its particular time and place. 

As we put together an issue to celebrate our fortieth anniversary last year, we came to appreciate the degree to which it is not only a local newspaper in the traditional sense but a campus weekly, not overly concerned with news as it is current, but much more concerned with the impulse and ability to reflect and to create. When founders Robert Faggen ’82, Marc Fisher ’80, and David Remnick ’81 began the publication nearly forty-one years ago, they did so with a vision: The Nass would be a place where Princeton’s aspiring writers, designers, and creators could find a home for their work–and where readers could find a place to read it.

Every week, the Nass tries to be thoughtful, to grapple with what is happening around us on campus; locally, nationally, and globally in order to vitalize our campus, spark discussions, and share perspectives. We believe that self-reflection is invaluable to a campus community. In its best moments, the Nass publishes articles in which authors take on their own assumptions, standing their ground while maintaining humility and leaving the reader with the ability to ask the right questions.

For more than a decade, the Nass has had the privilege of remaining in print, even as fellow travelers in print journalism have continued their march into archives. We are deeply grateful to WPRB and its trustees for their belief in our project and their continued support. The radio station, a fellow bastion of alternative media on campus, has been the generous benefactor of the publication as we have maintained our independence from the University. 

As the Nass moves forward into the next decade, we will continue our modernization, working with audio-visual journalism and sharing material online. Still, we maintain that our stories are best shared in print, that crosswords should be done in pen, with smudges, that Nass lists should be cut out, covers hung up, words read in the context of design, verbatims shared over brunch. As the piles in our archives age, the thin paper yellows into the satisfying tincture of past news. So will this issue, one day. And when future students open volume 42, number 1 in another forty-one years, they will understand how we shared it and share it with us.

With gratitude and anticipation,

Faith Emba ’21, Editor-in-Chief

Tess Solomon ’21, Editor-in-Chief