Staff Editorial: Looking Back on 95 Years

From the Tower Staff

As The Tower celebrates its 95th birthday today, the editorial board looks back fondly on hundreds of old issues and articles. We strive to carry on the same mission of informing the student body at Catholic University as we are reminded of the legacy and tradition of The Tower, especially with hundreds of alumni descending upon campus for Homecoming Weekend.

95 years ago, the world was drastically changing for better and for worse during the early 20th century. From inventions of the radio and the telegraph to the internet and social media at our fingertips, vast changes in information and communication has affected the way our world works. Many administrative, academic, and structural changes have been made on the CUA campus as well.

The world has changed and CUA has changed, but for 95 years, The Tower has remained a constant and reliable source of information.  Countless student writers, editors, business managers, and more have brought power to truth and have always been there to cover the stories people need to know. The Tower has stood up for those with a quiet voice and challenged those who try to silence them.

Of course, while staying true to its original mission, The Tower has aimed to stay current with the times. The “Week By Week” commentary column from the first half of the twentieth-century was replaced by Top Tweets, the location of the office was changed from the tower of Gibbons Hall to the Pryzbyla Center, and the masthead was changed a total of thirty-eight times. The Tower has adapted like any other journalistic enterprise to better serve the people it represents: a meager group of D.C. kids trying to make it in the world.

A front-page article in the first ever edition of The Tower, published 95 years ago today, was titled “The Purpose and Aims of The Tower” and cited the demand among students for a weekly newspaper written by and for students. “The Tower is born of a desire to serve a useful purpose in this University… It must prove an influence for the good of all. It shall serve no individual, no group, no class; it is a publication in the interests of all students… Every student can be a reporter… The Tower is now a living being on the campus, and will be kept as such only thru the whole hearted cooperation of all the students.”

Cardinals, our desire to serve a useful purpose in this University has only deepened with time.  The Tower staff of Year 95 is proud to serve the current students, honored to carry on the legacy of our past writers, and hopeful that our mission will live on for many more milestones like this.