Dear readers,

This week we launched our campaign to Save the Hullabaloo. As we speak, the very survival of our paper is at stake and we need your help. We are in the middle of a national decline in advertising, which has led to a huge loss of funds for our paper. In speaking to other student publications across the country, including the Yale Daily News and NYU’s Washington Square News, it becomes apparent that this is not an isolated issue and has only been worsened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Here at The Hullabaloo, we mostly fund ourselves. In an effort to provide the most unbiased journalism for our readers, the only assistance that Tulane provides us with is our office space, utilities and our beloved adviser. Which is to say, we do not accept any student organization funding from the university itself.

In recent years, The Hullabaloo has drastically cut costs. No one on our staff is paid aside from our distribution manager, members use their own personal technology, we no longer provide food for our staff and we have greatly reduced attendance at journalism workshops and conferences. 

We have also diversified our streams of revenue through yearbook publication and sales, first-year student guide publication and sales, campus advertising newsracks, and The Hullabaloo Home — our newspaper subscription and delivery service. But, this is still not nearly enough for us to cover printing, equipment, and the plethora of web and service fees that keep us running. 

So, we are asking for your help. If you care about Tulane, about journalism, about students— then supporting The Hullabaloo makes sense. 

The Tulane Hullabaloo is a Tulane institution. We’ve shared 116 years of history with this school, dating back to our earliest days as The Tulane Weekly, founded in 1905 to rival The Olive and Blue, another Tulane publication. In 1920, we renamed ourselves The Hullabaloo after the unforgettable Hullabaloo cheer. In the same year Editor-in-Chief Earl Sparling published a song he wrote entitled “The Rolling Green Wave” in tribute to the Tulane football team, at the time called the Olive and Blue. Sparling is now considered responsible for the much adored name of our athletics teams here at Tulane, the Green Wave.  

Over the years The Hullabaloo has won the national Pacemaker award, the “Pulitzer of college journalism,” many times, along with many other national, regional and local awards. Reporting from The Hullabaloo has also led to important improvements at Tulane, including improved accessibility of facilities on campus and changes in the way that TUPD vets its new hires.

Beyond this, The Hullabaloo has been a launching pad for many successful students. Our members have attended prestigious law schools, been accepted to the highest ranked graduate programs and gone on to fulfilling careers across the professional spectrum. Hullabaloo students have also gone on to work at CNN, CBS sports, Washington Post, The Atlantic and many more.

Most importantly, our members have found a home in The Hullabaloo office, and many have met their lifelong friends, and even partners in our newsroom. Nearly three years ago, I found my home within The Hullabaloo and through my time here have gained some of the most priceless experiences of my life. Our publication is full of some of the most witty, devoted students that Tulane has to offer and I am so lucky to be able to work alongside them day in and day out. There is nothing quite like the camaraderie that comes from spending every Wednesday nestled away in the far corners of the Lavin-Bernick Center basement in the wee hours of the night working tirelessly to provide you all with the news that matters. The Hullabaloo is so much more than a publication, it is a community.  

So, this having been said, there are two ways that you can help us in our mission to save our paper. First, you may consider contributing a one-time or recurring donation to the campaign by clicking here. The second is by helping us spread our message throughout the Tulane community and beyond. 

It goes without saying that we find ourselves in the midst of a very difficult time right now. People are hurting physically, emotionally and financially, and not everyone can help. However, if you can or if you know someone who can, you’ll be making sure The Hullabaloo will be here to welcome and inform many future generations of Tulanians.