Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Hoya History From the Twenties to Today

On Jan. 14, 1920, Joseph R. Mickler, Jr. (C ’20) and three fellow students presented the first issue of THE HOYA, a publication they had produced in Mickler’s bathroom, to the Georgetown community – humble beginnings for a newspaper that would eventually come to be known as “Georgetown’s Newspaper of Record.”

Though there were other publications on campus, none provided the comprehensive coverage of university life that Mickler and many others thought Georgetown deserved. In fact, THE HOYA’s predecessor, The Hilltopper, had proven to be nothing more than what Mickler termed a “gossip sheet.”

After a series of meetings and administrative approval, the founders sat down to brainstorm a name for the new publication. “The Hilltopper” could not continue as the “hilltop” was associated with the College of Arts and Sciences. Mickler and the others eventually settled on THE HOYA – a name that was not specific to any single group of people on campus.

As editor in chief of the paper, Mickler called upon students to embrace the infant publication in his first editorial.

“We knew that Georgetown was big enough for THE HOYA. So we have made THE HOYA big enough for Georgetown. THE HOYA is going to prove a howling success. Hence there is a crying need for material,” he wrote.

There would be no shortage of material in the coming decades as student journalists were able to provide, for the first time, in-depth reporting of the stories shaking the campus community. As readers of the first edition of THE HOYA picked up their papers that Wednesday morning, none could have imagined that events in the coming century would shape Georgetown University into an institution almost unrecognizable to a student from the 1920s. Dutifully, an ever-evolving HOYA stood on the sidelines and catalogued every step of that change.

After just 10 years, THE HOYA validated its existence in the journalism community when it was named Collegiate Newspaper of the Year by the Student Press Association in 1930. THE HOYA also moved its production from Old North to new offices in the basement of Copley Hall.

Though Georgetown along with the nation was mired in uncertainty during the wartime years of the 1940s, THE HOYA was the only major extracurricular activity maintained through World War II.

George Cain (CAS ’42) served as University Editor of THE HOYA in 1941. Today he can recall an editorial written in October of 1941 suggesting that students “fill Dahlgren chapel” to pray for peace.

“On the national and international scene, we took, I believe, thoughtful and careful positions on events,” Cain said. “We did not report such happenings, since the commercial press and radio already took care of the reporting. We did comment by way of cartoons, editorials and columnists.”

In the 1950s, THE HOYA established two traditions it still carries on today – the April Fool’s Issue, a special gag edition of the paper that comes out on April Fool’s day, and the Basketball Preview issue.

As the country moved into tumultuous 1960s, THE HOYA was not immune to the forces of social change facing the rest of the nation. Georgetown administrators relaxed the dress code requiring men to wear jackets and ties to class, allowed more interaction between the dorms of women and men and, most importantly, allowed women to enroll in the College in 1969.

According to Ken Atchity (CAS ’65), who served as editor in chief in 1964, one major event in that period was THE HOYA’S decision to resign its seat on the Yard (the student governing body) because Atchity and others on the staff “believed we couldn’t report objectively on a governing body that we were a member of.”

Another landmark in THE HOYA’s history was the conversion of the publication into a university-wide newspaper in 1964 – THE HOYA would now accept editorial candidates outside of the College.

Though Vietnam became an increasingly divisive issue on university campuses nationwide, Don Casper (CAS ’70), editor in chief during the 1968-69 school year, said that in the 1960s, students “did not know end-products, only transition.”

“Our overall mission was to explain the university to itself and to provide a narrative of its transitional years so that Georgetown could better understand itself,” Casper said.

Andy Lang (CAS ’75), news editor from 1972-73 and features editor from 1973-74, said that THE HOYA paid considerable attention to the war as it “constantly impinged on campus life.”

“We were struggling to emerge from the paper’s reputation for conservatism and campus boosterism,” he said. “This affected our choice of coverage – more emphasis on the war and the crisis years of the Nixon Administration – and forced us to be more creative with layout.”

Also, women on THE HOYA had largely been confined to the roles of copy editor or news staff writer. That changed in 1972 when Bernadette Savard (CAS ’73) became the first woman elected editor in chief. And, in 1976, THE HOYA increased its standing among university newspapers when it expanded from a tabloid to its present broadsheet format.

After two decades of political and social turmoil, the Georgetown community seemed ready for an opportunity to unify and heal old wounds – it found it in the men’s basketball team. According to Dennis Roche (CAS ’87), editor in chief from 1986-87, the 1980s provided THE HOYA with exciting sports coverage as the men’s basketball team rose in the rankings and eventually won the title in 1984.

John Reagan (GSB ’84) who served as editor in chief from 1982-83, agreed, saying that students had grown weary of campus politics during his years.

The newspaper also adopted the current HOYA masthead, developed a standard typeface for headlines and copy and established standard advertising rules. And, the publication further expanded its comprehensive news coverage when it announced its move to a twice-weekly publication and moved into new offices in the Leavey Center.

This growth continued into the nineties as the newspaper consolidated its entertainment coverage into a pullout entitled THE GUIDE.

A technological revolution characterized THE HOYA of that decade as the publication digitized its production and developed a website that debuted in 1998.

But the newspaper never lost sight of its fundamental mission – to connect students to the Georgetown community.

“Georgetown students don’t need coverage of Capitol Hill or Beltway gossip from THE

HOYA. They’ve got the Post for that,” said Tim Sullivan (COL ’03) who served as editor in chief from Dec. 2001 to May 2002. “THE HOYA is always at its best when it’s. covering the issues that might not matter outside of Healy Gates but that profoundly impact the life of the university.”

THE HOYA of 2005 seeks to continue its tradition of excellence as the paper continues to represent the cutting edge of college journalism in the new century.

And so, in 85 years of publication, despite social turmoil and an ever-changing student body, hundreds of reporters have continued ickler’s tradition and ensured that THE HOYA holds fast to its credo as “Georgetown’s Newspaper of Record.”

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