This Week in Tower History

By Alannah Murphy

In October, Catholic University’s student-run newspaper, The Tower, celebrates its 100th year since being founded in 1922. To celebrate this milestone, we will be looking back at what was happening at CUA this week throughout the years. 

100 years ago; October 27, 1922; Vol. 1, Issue 1

The first issue of The Tower was published on October 27th and cost 10 cents. One of the front page headlines is “The Purpose and Aims of The Tower.” This article explains that The Tower was created after “the popular demand for a student weekly.” The Tower’s intention was to connect people on campus and make students and staff more aware of the “work and activities” of other people. As a newspaper, The Tower served as a more reliable way to get information to students and an easier way for people at CUA to find out more about what is happening at the school. In the1920’s, schools were more limited in the way they were able to communicate with the rest of campus; bulletins and verbal communication were not efficient or good ways to inform people, and that is where the need for a school newspaper originated. As stated in the article, “(The Tower) shall serve no individual, no group, no class; it is a publication in the interests of all students.” There is another article on the second page that clarifies rumors that The Tower was created to replace The Symposium which was a magazine on campus during this time. This article explains that there is room for two publications on campus and that The Tower’s purpose is different from The Symposium’s  which focuses more on entertainment and “provide for the expression of the attitude of the University towards important problems of the day.” 

This issue included several ads from businesses that no longer exist today. Some of these businesses included: two barber shops, one was a university barber shop and the other was called Brookland Barber Shop. There are also several advertisements promoting shoe cleaning and dry cleaning. 

50 years ago; October 20, 1972; Vol. 51, Issue 6

An important article posted in this issue of The Tower had the headline “Three-year B.A. program approved.” The article reports that this program was scheduled to start in the Spring of 1973. One of the reasons this program was created was to allow students to attend graduate and professional school earlier. The dean of the college is quoted in this article as hopeful that this program will benefit many students. 

 One article that seems relevant to CUA today is the story entitled “Campus groups will foot bill for doubled cafeteria rental.” Just as Catholic University’s new dining hall, “The Garvey Center,” is being finished, the students who were here in 1972 had to deal with limited space to hold club events in the university’s dining hall. Previously the fee to rent out the dining hall had been $50 but by the time this article was written, the fee had risen to $104. This fee covered utilities, depreciation, and clean-up time. 

25 years ago; October 24, 1997; Vol. 76, Issue 7

This issue of The Tower had a section celebrating its 75th anniversary. The article reports that The Tower got its name from the center tower of Gibbons Hall. This article says that the format of The Tower has changed considerably since its inception due to the advancement of computers and other technology. At the end of this paper, the editors included all four pages of the first issue of The Tower from 1922. 

There is an information section for the class of 2001’s “Freshmen Commencement,” which took place on October 29th in the Basilica. Today this event is referred to as Freshmen Convocation and many of the details of this tradition have stayed the same since 97’, such as the distribution of Freshman pins, the location, the Keynote speaker address, and the reception meal afterward. The advertisement reports that 570 students are expected to attend this event which is close to the number of first-year undergraduate students we have this year. 
There is a fun graphic section in this issue dedicated to horoscopes. Rana Silver writes about weekly astrology and gives every astrological sign some advice and predictions for their future. Horoscopes had a surge in popularity in the 1970’s and have been a trend that has carried over through the decades.