We’re shutting down the newsletter in May

Folks, I’m graduating in May, and when that happens, I’m going to shut down Morning, Trojan. I wanted to tell you now so it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Since starting the newsletter four years ago, it has grown from a little-known email list to a must-read news source that delivers a steady stream of scoops about the university.

I’m proud that nearly 12,000 subscribers, from USC’s top executives to incoming freshmen, read our daily aggregation and reporting. I’m also proud that this is a profitable business — and in fact the only USC student news outlet that doesn’t receive funding from the school.

At its core, Morning, Trojan is a one-man reporting operation, driven by my news judgment and the sources I’ve developed. I ultimately decided to shut it down because I can’t feasibly continue it after graduation.

I owe many thanks to a number of people, most notably my long-time proofreader, Anna Hsu, whose behind-the-scenes work has kept this newsletter running.

If it’s any consolation, after graduation, I’ll continue covering USC for L.A. Material, a startup founded by some of the sharpest journalists in Los Angeles tackling investigations across the city. You can expect more explosive scoops about USC, albeit with less granular coverage of day-to-day university life.

After our last newsletter runs on May 1, we’ll publish an archive website so all our links remain on the internet. For posterity, the site will include a page of reader testimonials.

If Morning, Trojan has made you laugh — or broke news that you thought was essential — it would mean a lot to me if you submitted a comment at this link. (I’m sifting through my reams of hate mail and will post the greatest hits on the website, too.)

I’m sure this news will disappoint many of you. Others will, clearly, be absolutely stoked.

To the former: Thank you, that’s very kind. To the latter: You can suck it, because Morning, Trojan isn’t dead yet! We’ve still got time before finals, and I plan to make it our scoopiest, funniest, most irreverent month yet.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected] or tomo.213 on Signal.

— Tomo