HOYA History:
Twenty Memorable Issues

With over eighty years of coverage, it can be difficult to discuss some prominent issues of The HOYA's history. Here are twenty of note.

1. January 14, 1920: A first issue is always memorable, but certainly in The HOYA's case. For a University that had separate facilities, classes, faculties, and even separate fraternities for the College, professional, and law schools, the arrival of a University-wide paper was a culture shock for its day. "We knew Georgetown was big enough for The HOYA," wrote the new paper, "so we made The HOYA big enough for Georgetown."
2. February 3, 1921: With its Thursday issue about to go to the press, a fire damaged the historic [Old] North building. The HOYA pulled its issue back to add full coverage of the event, which was picked up by the Associated Press. Its coverage mixed hard news with contemporary humor: "Nero and his fiddling while Rome burned didn't have a thing on some wild junior, who set up his Victrola on the roof of North Porch, and while...the flames were bursting from the third story, put on that record "Keep the Home Fires Burning". In fact, the issue arrived on campus just as the fire was being put out.
3. February 2, 1922: The HOYA carried a far more serious story a year later. Five students were killed and four injured when the roof if the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed during a record 26 inch snowstorm. The students were among 98 killed and 136 injured in the tragedy.
4. Oct. 28, 1936: The HOYA provided extensive coverage of the arrival of Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, to campus. Pacelli received an honorary degree and spoke to the senior class at Gaston Hall. At the conclusion of the speech, the class responded with applause and the traditional cheer ("Hoya, Hoya Saxa!"), which at the time was reserved for athletic teams or visiting dignitaries.
5. March 2, 1945: The HOYA had the sad task of reporting to the campus community that Al Blozis (C'42), NFL All-Pro and Georgetown's greatest athlete, had been reported missing in action following a battle in France. Blozis was listed as dead a few weeks later.
6. February 28, 1947: The second major campus fire in a generation was covered in depth by the paper. A fire which damaged the Mulledy building in the Jesuit residence. A photo of a dramatic rescue fills the entire front page of the paper.
7. April 11, 1951: One of the HOYA's most memorable issues had two banner headlines: "Students' Deaths Stun Georgetown; Georgetown Drops Football". In the first story, four students, including the Yard President and a former HOYA Editor-In-Chief, were killed in a plane crash outside Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Below this story was news that Georgetown had dropped major college football, citing "an uncertain outlook for student enrollment" and losses from the rental of off-campus facilities such as Griffith Stadium.
8. February 13, 1964: While the lead story covered the announcement of the new "luxury" residence halls of Harbin and Darnall, the HOYA underwent an important change. In the first issue following editorial board elections, Editor-in-Chief Ken Atchity (C'65) announced that the HOYA would expand its coverage to all University schools. The HOYA editorial board, a College-only group for decades, would now be open to students from all schools. (It would be another five years before a students from outside the College would be elected as its editor-in-chief.) In addition, The HOYA resigned its permanent seat on the College Student Council.
9. September 14, 1968: Students arrived to campus in the fall of 1968 and would leave it a much different place. The Sept. 14 HOYA welcomed the first class of women in the College. In an unrelated news story, elected members of the College freshman class walked out of the Student Council, paving the way for the dissolution of the Yard and the creation of a new student government combining representatives from the College, Nursing School, and "East Campus" (Foreign Service, Languages & Linguistics, and Business)
10. March 20, 1969: This was an issue where the HOYA was the news: as a response to the creeping radicalism of the time, HOYA Editor in Chief Don Casper (C '70, L'77) invited San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto to campus for a Gaston Hall speech. Before Alioto could speak, members of the Students for Democratic Society (SDS) rushed the stage and refused to let Alioto speak. At that point, power was cut to the hall and a panic ensued. Casper and Alioto retreated to Old North for safety, while the campus expressed its outrage at the undemocratic stand of the SDS, who failed to establish a campus foothold thereafter.
11. April 18, 1974: The HOYA had extensive coverage of the increasing public feud between 64 year old university president Robert Henle, S.J. and 44 year old vice president Edmund Ryan, S.J. Ryan was a popular campus figure, and proposed a scholarship for middle class students who committed to a year of community service. Henle, who the HOYA reported had feared the Board of Directors would replace him with Ryan, fired him on Holy Thursday, with much of the campus out of town. The HOYA rushed an extra the following week, which led to widespread University protests of Ryan's dismissal. A year later , the Board of Directors replaced Henle with Timothy Healy, S.J.
12. April 7, 1978: After nearly a decade of University squabbles with the management of WGTB-FM, university president Timothy Healy, S.J. closed the station, calling it "a great animal which does not belong in this zoo". WGTB, which had evolved from a student-run to mostly outside staff, pursued a radical, "alternative" edge in programming that often ignored University directives. Healy sold the multi-million dollar frequency to the University of DC for one dollar.
13. September 11, 1981: Following a tumultuous summer which saw the paper sink deep into debt and the abrupt resignation of its incoming editor-in-chief, the HOYA missed its opening issue date for the first time in 30 years. The next week, with a staff comprised largely of freshmen and sophomores, The HOYA returned in a big way, breaking news of a University plan to cancel Commencement ceremonies and discussed the basketball team's move to the Capital Centre for home games. With stricter business procedures in place, The HOYA turned a profit in 1982 and has done so ever since.
14. May 2, 1984: Three days after the men's basketball team captured the NCAA title, Friday's HOYA provided a paper full of coverage. "The basketball team deserves all the praise it has been getting - and that of The HOYA, too", the paper wrote. "They overcame not only the Twin Towers [of Kentucky]and the Phi Slamma Jammers [of Houston], but also a demanding and often hostile media. They fought their way to the top of college basketball with unmatched determination - and style."
15. September 20, 1987: While the stories of this issue are not altogether historic, the timing was--after 67 years, this was the beginning of twice-weekly coverage by The HOYA: adding Tuesday issues to its Friday coverage. To accommodate the change the Georgetown Voice promptly moved its weekly coverage to Thursdays.
16. November 13, 1989: After a University official had threatened to close The HOYA if it published an ad for a pro-choice rally sponsored by the National Organization for Women, editorial staffs of the HOYA and Voice joined together for a special joint issue to bring awareness to the issue. The news broke the same day as the American Association of University Professors were holding a conference at Georgetown, leading to an academic firestorm at the University administration. The two sides came to agreement the following week and the HOYA (and Voice) went forward with their publication schedules.
17. April 28, 1992: Much of the 1991-92 year featured stories about a pro-choice group on the campus, "GU Choice". After considerable controversy, University president Leo O'Donovan approved the group, then after three months, the group was terminated after it violated an agreement that saw it advocate abortion planning rather than discussing pro-choice issues.
18. November 6, 1992: The HOYA provided full coverage on the election of Bill Clinton (SFS '68) as president calling him "unquestionably, Georgetown's finest son." Clinton appeared on campus for three speeches during the 1992 election and held an elaborate speech to the Washington diplomatic corps on the steps of Old North just before his first inauguration.
19. January 19, 1999: The HOYA provided extensive coverage to the resignation of men's basketball head coach John Thompson, announced over the school's Christmas holiday. The HOYA carried reactions from former players and coaches, and featured an extensive Q&A with new coach Craig Esherick (B'78, L'82). "I want the people that watch us play, that have kids that are of age to go to college, I want them to think that they would like to send their kids to come play for me," Esherick told The HOYA. "I want them to be able to represent Georgetown as well as Coach Thompson’s players did."
20. September 14, 2001: The HOYA's September 11 issue was hitting the campus newsstands when an airliner crashed into the Pentagon, an hour after two other planes destroyed the World Trade Center and a fourth plane was crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside. In its next issue, The HOYA covered it all--from eyewitness accounts in Washington (as seen from photographer Charles Nailen, right) to the latest reports of alumni missing in New York. "We did not have to sit in front of the television to see the Pentagon smolder, we only had to climb the steps of Village A," wrote The HOYA in an editorial. "In previous generations a declaration of war was a call to arms of all the able bodied. We will be called upon in different ways than were our parents and grandparents, in ways that remain to be defined."