Despite the newspaper's apparent success under then Editor-in-Chief Albert Silvestri, Pasqualina and the editors of The Torch felt the need to execute drastic design changes for the upcoming academic year.

In April of the same year, The Torch featured a cover story concerning the University's decision to invite rapper Ludacris to perform on campus.

The Ludacris controversy again garnered major media attention, as several local community newspapers, the New York Post, and XXL featured stories on the University's "rap flap.

The Association also awarded the paper "Best Overall Photography" for their 2006 Courtside edition, an annual Torch publication exclusively covering men's and women's basketball at the University.

[5] On July 3, 2006, The Torch debuted its new masthead, which features a "T" written in Hoefler text font with two flames located in the top right corner of a red box.

Leporati, a Senior English major at St. John's, began his career at The Torch during the second semester of his freshman year (2005–2006), during which he became a staff writer.

The Torch reported that according to court transcripts, Harrington testified that he met with Chang two or three times a year and "wasn't real comfortable" with gifts that he received while on trips to Asia from potential donors.