"The announcement Monday by members of the Washington Square News editorial staff that they were resigning their positions came as a complete surprise to the University. 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 student 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. 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."
-- NYU Spokesman John