It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to something you love, to something that has given you so much.

I will never be able to express how much The Tulane Hullabaloo has done for me or how much love I will always hold in my heart for it. But in the next 600 words, I will do my best.

When I first joined The Hullabaloo as a copy editor, I thought I would find something to do. Something that would occupy my time the way every Tulane student had extracurriculars — a resume builder, a networking connection. I never expected to walk into the basement of the Lavin-Bernick Center and find a home. I met friends that are now more like family. I grew a passion that I thought was just an interest. I built up confidence and strength that I thought I had lost and met people who supported me in that journey to whatever end.

Because of that support, I went on to be the personnel director of The Hullabaloo — kind of like a one-person human resources team. I wanted to foster the love and growth that I had experienced in that office and from our staff, in a time when the world was entering a global pandemic that would change the course of history. I hope I succeeded in doing so. In doing that job, I learned that my love for The Hullabaloo was nowhere near complete. I wanted to create an even greater space for people like me to have a voice. I wanted to give space to those who felt The Hullabaloo had not previously been a space for them. I wanted to create an ocean to hold all of our waves.

So, I ran for Editor-in-Chief — and to my surprise and great joy, I won.

Being the first Black Editor-in-Chief of The Hullabaloo was a shock and a blessing all rolled into one. I felt a responsibility to myself and to our community, and I could not have fulfilled that responsibility without an amazing team.

My amazing staff has fulfilled my wish more than I could have ever imagined. This year, our News staff shone a light on the abusive systems of Campus Health and the hope that that system could be rebuilt into an institution we could be proud of, one that could help our students the way they deserve. We highlighted the stories of sexual assault victims and called out the systems working against them. We reported through hurricanes, tornadoes and the return of New Orleans culture as we knew it before COVID-19. Our Intersections staff worked to expose and dismantle systems that threaten the many marginalized groups on our campus. Our Views staff worked to give voices to opinions and issues that some are too scared to hear. And our Arcade staff kept us in earshot as the world started to return to normal. My Sports staff ventured to returning in-person events and interviewed coaches and players as they took momentous steps and missteps in their career. And my copy team edited and fact checked it all and kept us in line with all the love and knowledge they have. To my wonderful editors and writers — you have shook the world within our Tulane bubble and made it pop. For this, I could never thank you enough.

To my wonderful managing board, Brett Franklin for four years of keeping us afloat, Anna Dixon for doing more HR work than any major company could ever do and my wonderful visual team for stepping up to be a production team any newspaper in the world would be proud of. My wonderful digital director, Apoorva Verghese, you helped us over a transitional hill that we thought we’d never climb, and helped us — helped me — build something amazing. To my Chief Copy, Jada Roth, you kept me afloat when the weight of the ocean I wanted to build threatened to crush me, and I will forever be in your debt. And to my right hand, Lily Mae Lazarus, thank you for everything you’ve done for every editor on our staff and for being by my side when we wanted to shake the world. And to our amazing advisor, Tel Baillet — just thank you. This year would never have happened without you.

And to the students of Tulane — thank you for sharing and loving our paper this year. Thank you for Yik Yaking and commenting and sharing and, well, raising a helluva hullabaloo for our paper. We wouldn’t be here without you.

With love,

Maiya Tate