Jessy Hart

Tyler Morrissey
Collin Priest
Cassidy Terry
Introduction
From the 1900s through the 1920s a Duhawk was a strong, athletic, well-mannered,
educated Catholic man of God who was willing to pray for peace in the world. While the college
kept many of its values throughout the years, the name of the college changed dramatically
during this time period. Starting with St. Josephs College established in 1873, the name changed
in 1914 to Dubuque College but later changed in 1920 to Columbia College. The name Loras
College did not occur until 1939. What is today known as Keane hall also went through several
name changes such as St. Josephs Hall and Loras Hall in the 1900s-1920s time period. Main
themes prevalent on campus were rules within the military lifestyle, the Christian prevalence on
campus, and masculinity within sports.
Rules Within The Military Lifestyle
In 1903 the students at St. Josephs College, created an annual publication called, The
College Spokesman. This publication was a student-run effort to report the news and themes
that were important to College at the time. One writer said in an article, we aim to make it
thoroughly representative of our life here at St. Josephs. Our ideal college paper is one that
mirrors the thought and the work, the joys and the griefs, the aspirations and the inspirations of
the average college student, (College Spokesman I, page 22). The college was structured similar
to a military lifestyle incorporated with many rules and strict daily schedules for students. For
example, visitors were only welcome on Wednesday afternoons (Columbia College Bulletin,
June 1925). Parents could come see their child on any occasion however they had to make an
appointment and the student was not allowed to skip class for these visits. They believed that
frequent visits were detrimental to the improvement of the students. Tobacco use of any kind was
prohibited unless you were 18 and had a parents approval and you could only smoke at a certain
time and place. Loras is still a tobacco free campus, but the restrictions are not as in depth. If the
students wanted to bring a book to the college, they had to send it to the Prefect of Studies for
approval. And you had to apply for a single room if that is what you preferred. These are just
examples of general rules listed in the College Bulletin. The student handbook describes several
other rules in greater detail:
The daily schedule for a college student on a normal school week as determined by Dubuque
College Student Handbook page 4:

The cases of expulsion from the college as determined by Dubuque College Student Handbook
page 14:

The student handbooks go into very thorough and great detail on rules that pertain to nearly
every aspect of the college. There is little variation in rules from the 1900s to 1929, the major
differences in the student handbooks were the changes in the colleges name depending on the
year. The rules of dress for a student at the college included certain articles of clothing that are
considered uniform clothing, as stated in Dubuque College Student Handbook pages 9 and 10 as
uniform, service cap, service coat, service breeches, russet leather shoes, leggings, white collar,
white or wool gloves when prescribed (optional when not on duty), olive drab shirt (cotton or
wool) when prescribed. This was the standard attire for all college men until after the 1920s
featuring the military lifestyle through the use of uniforms by the students. They not only
followed a military life style with rules and uniform they also had respect for it. In the newspaper
the Lorain it states Columbia college is 100 per cent perfect on forget me not day (The Lorain
Vol 1 November 14 1924). Forget me not day was a holiday on campus where the students wear
blue ribbons in honor of the wounded soldiers. The students even had a donation fund
contributed to them, and flowers were given to girls so that they could sell them later in town.
The military basic of life helped not only define Duhawks but it help build them into the
hardworking respectful people they are today.
Christian Prevalence on Campus
In an article titled Diocesan Apostolates one author talked highly of the sacrifice that
priests made in order to build the college (The College Spokesman I, page 15). He described
priests who helped build the college as, ...Those sturdy heroes of Catholicity, those zealous
champions of truth; we can see here from the description given about priests from this writer
that there is a positive outlook on Catholicism. Indeed, throughout the first publication of The
Spokesman there are many bright and uplifting words offered to Catholicism, priests and to
serving God and preaching the Gospel. At this point in time, around 1903, the idea of
masculinity and being a Christian seem to be intertwined, which goes along with the rest of the
American culture in this era. One author of The Spokesman said that it was important for the men
of the time to assist priests in the order of the salvation of souls (The College Spokesman I, page
17). This is more evidence that a Duhawk at the time was someone involved in their Catholic
faith and were active in reaching out to others about the Gospel. To get a glimpse on the spiritual
life of the students there is a quote by a writer about a recent death: Mrs. Ellen Gorman, the
beloved and saintly mother of Father Gorman, was called away to a better world. As is
evident in this passage, the outlook on death is a positive remembrance of Heaven. The author
speaks of a beloved mother going to a better world which alludes to Heaven as the goal of these
men.
In 1904 World War I started in the summer, in the December installment of The College
Spokesman XII an article titled, Is Universal Peace A Dream? discussed the current mindset
the students have on the war and their prayer for peace and for an end to it. Opening the article is
a quote offered from the prophet Isaias from the Bible: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together,
and a little child shall lead them. The obvious conclusion of starting the article off with this
quote is an expressed desire to end the war and make peace a reality through the entire world. No
negative emotions of anger or hatred and the oft quoted eye for an eye passage is not used
either. The author states that even in the midst of a terrible war beginning that the ideal of peace
is slowly raising. He writes One effect of the present European conflict shall surely be to
strengthen the desire for universal peace both in the nations that feel the pangs of suffering and
in other nations who view with horror the ravages of war, (The College Spokesman XII, page 8).
He continues on speaking of how the world powers move slowly but that he believes the end
result shall be one step closer to world peace. From this article one can see that a Duhawk in
1914 was a man of peace.
The Student Handbooks from the different years always incorporates the Christian
lifestyle into the daily expectations of the students at the college. The Christian expectations that
a student would be expected to maintain from the Saint Josephs College Student Handbook A
from page 2:


The Saint Josephs Student Handbook B pages 1-8 focus on the importance of praying,
confessions, and rosary in the life of St. Joseph students. The Columbia College Student
Handbook est. 1918 stated that, Students are expected to use language becoming Christian
Gentlemen. They must never listen to or use vile and vulgar language, (page 7). It was
expectations that the students be Christian Gentlemen at all times and never denounce
themselves to be any less of a gentleman.
Masculinity Within Sports
Loras started as an all-male college and stayed that way until the 1970s. In the early
1900s to 1920s athleticism was highly encouraged and required. For example a requirement for
graduation was a certain number of credits for physical training (Columbia College Bulletin,
June 1925). While physical education credits were required for every student many students were
involved in other physical activities such as sports. The athletics available to students consisted
of handball, tennis, baseball, track, basketball, and football. Daily physical activity was very
important in the life of a Duhawk.
Football was a major subject found in the Lorain the newspaper at the time. Depending
on the season a majority of the articles either were about football or basketball with a few on
other clubs and events. An article founded in volume 1 in the Lorain had the title Columbia
wallops Coe in State Championship Contest. The article written in big bold letters told the tale
of Columbias glorious victory as they beat their rival Coe College for the state championship.
(The Lorain Vol. 1 October 11 1924) This particular game was the largest football game in
Dubuque. Fans gathered on both sides shouting and cheering on their teams. It was a hard fought
battle for both sides as neither team showed any give or will to give up. In the first quarter Coe
scored a touchdown but did this destroy the morale of Columbia? No, like true Duhawks they
pulled themselves together and fought back refusing to lose now not after coming so far. No
matter the pain that they were going through since the only protection were the thin leather caps
on their head and a few pads. Columbia pulled themselves together and worked as a team scoring
the winning play. The game was such a spectacle of masculinity fans considered it a classic and
one of the best football games they have ever witnessed. It was a clash of the will of men for
each team. To them it was more than just a game it was a chance to prove themselves and strive
for something more. When the game was over they showed their sportsmanship like gentleman
honoring and respecting their foe for a good game. It was not out of a distorted machismo or an
overemphasis on physicality though. One writer speaks of the importance to, develop the
physical manOur theory is, all forms of athletics, but no excess or deficiency, (The College
Spokesman I, page 24). Here it can be seen that a healthy outlook on athletics is a crucial part in
the life of a Duhawk. It is not to exercise brute force but instead to develop the person and to
keep them active and strong. Daily exercises were encouraged in the life of a Duhawk, one writer
states, Athletics is not the most important element of college life, but it is an essential feature,
(The College Spokesman I, page 24-25). Here is seen the controlled outlook on athletics, it is
important and essential to the Duhawk but it is not the end-all-be-all of his life. Another section
in the Student Handbook states:

What might be an important thing to note is that St. Josephs College was virtually
undefeated in nearly every athletic arena (The College Spokesman I, page 23). The newspapers
during this era were littered with many articles stating the many victories obtained by the college
through a plethora of sports. Not only was it expected for the college students to be well rounded
with sports but it was expected that he would be a gentleman above all.
A Duhawk in the early 1900s was a sophisticated, well-educated and well-mannered man.
For instance, throughout all the copies of The College Spokesman publications in this era, poetry
is offered from the students. No single subject or theme is common among them but there is a
wide variety of topics written by Duhawks, this speaks to their level of education. The narrators
of the articles have well-ordered grammatical sentences, which shows that grammar was
important to the educators at Loras.
Conclusion
Comparing the 1900s-1920s to present day, we notice several significant differences in
the lifestyle of the college but some things stayed with us throughout the years-The biggest
change was the values or goals of the college and student body. They were very much focused on
discipline and athleticism, while now Loras is less focused on discipline but more on
involvement, leadership, and education. From the words of the men themselves one can see an
emerging picture of a well-ordered man who was devoted to his Faith and to education. These
aspects of a Duhawk were not intended to be kept to the self, but instead the goal of the Duhawk
was to make a positive impact on the world, something we can still agree with today in our time.

References
The College Spokesman I. (1903). Students of Saint Josephs College. Dubuque, Iowa. 1903
The College Spokesman XII (1914). Students of Saint Josephs College. Dubuque, Iowa. 1914
Columbia College Bulletin. (June 1925).
Columbia College Student Handbook. Est. 1918
Dubuque College Student Handbook. Est. 1914-1916 or 1916-1920
St. Josephs College Student Handbook. Est. 1873-1914 A
St. Josephs College Student Handbook. Est. 1873-1914 B
Columbia wallops Coe in State Championship Contest The Lorain volume 1 October 11 1924
Dubuque, Iowa. Print.
Columbia college is 100 per cent perfect on forget me not day The Lorain volume 1 November
14 1924 Dubuque, Iowa. Print.