Editor’s note: The Daily’s editorial department acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest. This article is a special feature for Commencement 2026 that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.
Graduating senior Arghya Thallapragada sits comfortably on a couch in the Daily office for her senior profile interview — a place that has become a second home for her. She is nostalgic about the late nights spent there copy editing and producing Daily content over the last four years — of course, interspersed with Bananagram games, measurements on the height wall and late-night snacking.
After joining the copy section in her first semester, Thallapragada spent countless hours copy editing in the Daily office, where she began to understand the inner workings of the student paper. She quickly rose up the ranks, from serving on the editorial board to becoming executive copy editor and eventually editor in chief in spring 2025. Thallapragada leaned into each role required of her, and her dedication to the Daily leaves behind a poignant legacy.
After spending countless hours in the Daily office, Thallapragada became an integral part of the Daily’s leadership. In fall 2024, despite coming from a more production-oriented background, Daily members encouraged Thallapragada to run for editor in chief.
After being chosen for the role, Thallapragada approached the position with excitement and intense planning. She entered with goals of boosting the multimedia sections, celebrating the Daily’s 45th birthday and bringing more cohesion across departments.
The editor in chief essentially lives at the Daily office during their semester, often spending late nights there as they coordinate across different sections. Thallapragada joked that, unlike many other juniors, she didn’t study abroad in the spring and instead “went abroad in the Daily office.”
“I didn’t expect how much it would consume my entire life [and] how much I’d be thinking about it all the time,” Thallapragada said. “In general, I like to take my time and think about decisions really thoroughly … and that’s an asset in some cases … but also because it’s a newspaper, so timeliness is important.”
Throughout her time as editor in chief, Thallapragada emphasized a focus on the work at hand and the individuals who relied on her. She emphasized that the decisions she made as editor in chief extended beyond herself.
“I learned [that] it’s not really about me, it’s about everyone else at the Daily,” Thallapragada said. “The work that writers and editors and artists are doing for the Daily is really important. … It’s not about the editor in chief or the managing board. It’s about all of these people who are giving their everything for the organization.”
This philosophy became incredibly important when the Daily was faced with a crisis: In March 2025, during Thallapragada’s tenure as editor in chief, Rümeysa Öztürk, a then-Tufts graduate student, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after co-authoring an op-ed published in the Daily.
Suddenly, Thallapragada was thrown into legal discussions as the Daily became a national focal point of an unprecedented and unconstitutional event. She expressed the fear she felt upon “seeing a spike” of website activity coming from Washington, D.C.
The Daily’s coverage of the detainment and its aftermath spanned multiple months, including breaking news stories and op-eds. The abundance of content aligned with the statement made by Thallapragada and her managing board in the wake of the event, which reaffirmed the Daily’s commitment to freedom of the press.
“It’s important to preserve independent journalism. … I’m really grateful and proud of the students who kept writing,” Thallapragada said. “The way that everyone at the Daily came together is really impressive. … I think it showed [that] the foundation of the Daily is [based on] the First Amendment.”
Thallapragada’s time commitment to the Daily “increased exponentially” after the events. She described a period of 48 hours when she was in the office more than she wasn’t. She recalled one moment shortly after the detainment, when the production team had not planned to produce a print edition but made a last-minute decision at midnight to begin production.
“Production usually starts at 6 p.m. for a paper, but it started at midnight [and] we pulled together a paper for the next morning,” Thallapragada said.
The support from the managing board and the alumni council during the aftermath was integral for the Daily’s success. Thallapragada explained how she learned about “giving others grace” and trusting people’s best intentions with the paper.
The high stakes of the moment and the pressure that came with it were impossible to ignore. Still, Thallapragada felt it was important to maintain a calm facade.
“Someone said … ‘You’re just staying so stoic under this crisis.’ I don’t think that was because I was unemotional. I just think it felt like it was important to go about it in a logical manner,” Thallapragada said. “I’m really proud of the work that the Daily did during that time.”
Looking into the future, Thallapragada will be using her human factors engineering degree to work at a nuclear engineering company in the fall. However, she expressed plans to go to law school in a few years — a choice inspired by her time as editor in chief.
“The Daily has been integral in [the decision to pursue law school]. … When I was editor in chief, looking at the legal side of things, looking at the documents for the case and talking to legal experts — it made me really feel like this work is important,” Thallapragada said.
Thallapragada also reminisced on the numerous funny and delirious moments during her late nights in the office. In one instance, she recalled her mark on the height wall in the office being purposefully made lower. Another time, she went onto former Production Director Claire Wood’s shoulders to measure their joint height. Despite the office being painted over the summer, the height wall remains — and her mark on it serves as a physical symbol of Thallapragada’s legacy within the organization.
While also being involved with a human factors engineering lab and the Chi Omega sorority, Thallapragada’s dedication to the Daily remains one of her proudest accomplishments at Tufts.
To end her time at the Daily on a lighthearted note, Thallapragada and associate editor Emily O’Hearn brought an inside joke to life this semester with their column “Get Souped Up,” where they documented their journey making and reviewing different soup recipes. Thallapragada’s favorite of their adventures was the potato leek soup.
Before graduating, Thallapragada left some final words of wisdom for future Daily editors in chief and staff members. She emphasized passion, leaning in and taking on every task with stride and fearlessness.
“Just be unafraid. … The Daily is so unique because it’s an educational tool [and] you don’t need to apply to get in,” Thallapragada said. “Everyone who writes for the Daily is doing this out of sheer love and passion, because this isn’t required of anyone. … [I want to pass on] the importance of leaning into this community, because the more you give to this community, the more you’ll get. [Be] really unafraid to just do whatever you want.”
