Our Story
Welcome to The Purple Wire
We’re a team of dogged student reporters at Northwestern University who started this newsletter to inject something different into the news scene on campus.
We’ve spent most of our college years reporting almost everything imaginable on campus, from the effects of the Trump administration’s $790 million federal funding freeze on Northwestern to student pro-Palestinian activism and contentious policy changes from the president’s office. That said, it’s fair to say we know our university well!
The Purple Wire is our vision of bringing the latest news and the biggest scoops about campus right to your inbox. We are looking to become one of Northwestern’s premier news sources as our campus continues to grapple with an unprecedented time in higher-education.
Every week, we will bring you an edition of this newsletter to keep you informed on the events around campus. Our inbox is always open for you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.
Jerry Wu
Jerry Wu is the co-founder of The Purple Wire and a senior at Northwestern University studying journalism, international studies and business. An award-winning journalist, he has reported for several major news outlets across the country, including the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, POLITICO and The San Diego Union-Tribune. He also served as the managing editor for his school’s newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, where he covered the university president’s office for a year.
Signal: jerrwu20.88
Melody Xu
Melody Xu is the news editor at The Purple Wire, and a senior at Northwestern University studying journalism and psychology. A California native, she’s reported and copy edited for the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. She most recently served as managing editor for The Daily Northwestern.
Ruby Dowling
Ruby Dowling is the product strategist for The Purple Wire and is a junior at Northwestern University studying journalism, linguistics and French. She spent the past summer as the Special Projects intern at ABC News. She has previously worked as an assistant editor for the San Francisco Classical Voice, and served as the multimedia managing editor and audio editor for The Daily Northwestern.
Dov Elul
Dov Elul is the head of audience engagement at the Purple Wire and a junior at Northwestern University studying journalism, cognitive science, and Spanish. Focusing on a range of mediums, his photography, written prose, and video and audio work has received recognition from competitions and publications including the ACP, ICPA, Sports Illustrated, and the Chicago Sun Times. He has also worked as assistant audio, photo, and features editor for The Daily Northwestern.
Lily Ogburn
Lily Ogburn co-founded The Purple Wire with Jerry Wu. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2026, studying journalism, history and legal studies. She previously worked for Forbes’ Money in Politics team, investigating the financial portfolios of Trump’s Cabinet. Her work also appears in Foreign Policy, UPI, Cincinnati CityBeat and other news outlets. Ogburn served as The Daily Northwestern’s editor in chief amid the Trump administration’s initial assault on Northwestern’s federal funding in 2025.