Gonzaga University

Gonzaga University was founded in 1887 by Italian-American Joseph Cataldo (1837–1928), who had come in 1865 as a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. In 1880, Cataldo built a schoolhouse about 10 to 12 mi (16 to 19 km) northeast of Spokane on the Peone Prairie, to serve children of the Upper Spokane Indians. Cataldo was concerned about the influence and expansion of Protestant schools on the region's native people, and by 1881 was discussing building a Jesuit college with other Jesuit leaders.

The Jesuits chose a location at Spokane Falls (later Spokane) due to its centrality in the Washington, Idaho and Montana region. The Jesuits purchased 320 acres of prime real estate in the city's central business district north of the Spokane River for $936. The Northern Pacific Railway was holding the land in reserve, but Cataldo was able to convince railroad executive John W. Sprague to allow the sale to build the school.[10]^:31–38

The City of Spokane offered to help pay to build the new college, on the condition that it be a whites only school, in spite of Cataldo's original purpose to educate the local native population.[5] Cataldo's letters seeking the support of Church leadership in Rome warned that Methodists and other Protestants were building schools and that the city funding could go to them if the Catholic school was not built soon enough.[5]

Construction was delayed until 1886, and the school opened in 1887 with Father James Rebmann the school's first Father Superior and seven boys enrolled. They were taught by 17 faculty made up of Jesuit priests and Jesuits in training, scholastics. By the end of the year, more students enrolled, and two were expelled, ending the year with a student body of 18 boys, all white. Father Joseph Joset, a Jesuit missionary, attempted to enroll two native American boys but was rebuffed due to the whites-only policy.[5][10]^:84[11][12] Father Rebmann told Joset that the school was only open to "Americans," which he did not consider Indians to be.[10]^:84 Non-Catholic boys were also rejected, at least in the college's first years.[10]^:84

The students who had been expelled might have run afoul of rules against offense like theft, disobedience, or impurity, and were forbidden to have alcohol or tobacco. The boys were supervised at all times, and not allowed off-campus without a chaperone present. They woke at 5:30 am, and worked continuously until the 8:30 pm lights out. Students attended Mass six days a week, and twice on Sundays, and faced often daunting advancement exams. The school was divided into a Preparatory section for elementary school-age boys, an Academic section with Third, Second, and First divisions, and an upper-division like a liberal arts college, for Poetry, Rhetoric and Philosophy. In the second year, enrollment began the year with 35 boys, 27 of whom still attended at years end. By 1890, 3 of the original 17 faculty remained. The original Father Superior was followed by Father Charles Mackin who was replaced in 1891 by Father John Baptist Rene. He served until 1893 and was replaced by Father Leopold Van Gorp.[5][10]^:87–90[13]

Students were not allowed to advance to higher forms except upon passage of rigorous examinations. Examinations were rigorous and overseen by the Prefect of Studies. The examinations were so difficult that students would sometimes become very ill from anxiety while preparing for them and some students withdrew rather than face them.[10]^:89

In 1884, Gonzaga conferred its first Bachelor of Arts degrees, to two students. A four-story building was planned in 1897, and opened in 1899, as the New Gonzaga In 1892, with an enrollment of 50 boys, football, called "college-down", was first played at Gonzaga on Thanksgiving Day. The same year Gonzaga added a new dormitory, and a wood-framed St. Aloysius Church, and the campus had electric power service for the first time.[5]

In 2018, the Center for Investigative Reporting published evidence that the Cardinal Bea House, owned by the Jesuit order and located on Gonzaga's campus, was used by the Catholic Church as a retirement home for priests with histories of sexual predation and abuse from across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, from the 1970s through 2016.[14][15] Sexually abusive priests were quietly kept there and out of contact with vulnerable populations, while at the same time protecting the priests from any liability for the abuses they had committed.[14] The last abusive priest moved out of the Cardinal Bea House in 2016.[16]

The Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper questioned Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh's statements that he did not know, before and during his time as president, about the abusive priests kept on campus.[17][18]

Gonzaga's admission standards are considered "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.[26]

For the Class of 2021 (enrolling fall 2017), Gonzaga received 7,162 applications, accepted 4,835 (67.5%), and enrolled 1,048.[27] The freshman enrolled for 2017 had an average GPA of 3.76, an average ACT of 27, an average SAT Critical Reading score of 597, an average Math score of 607, and an average composite score of 1204.[2]

Gonzaga is ranked 79th in the U.S. News & World Report 2020 rankings of national universities.[32] The School of Engineering and Applied Science is ranked tied for 18th best undergraduate engineering program nationwide at schools where doctorates are not offered.[32] Forbes ranks Gonzaga the 154th best school in the country, 110th in private colleges, and 31st overall in the West.[33] Additionally, Gonzaga is listed among The Princeton Review's rankings of the best 382 colleges and in the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which ranks 321 colleges in the United States, Canada, and England.[34]

Gonzaga University has intramural and club sports for each season, open to all students, and over 72% of the student population participates at various levels from competitive to recreational. In the fall Gonzaga has soccer, flag football, volleyball, dodgeball, 3-on-3 basketball, badminton, and various tournaments. In the winter there are soccer, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, bench press competition, innertube basketball, and handball tournaments. In the spring there are softball, volleyball, triathlon, soccer, and home run derbies.[43][44]

Gonzaga also has an Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team, which has won 15 championships in the last 16 years. It has repeated as winner of the Douglas MacArthur Award, given annually to the best Army ROTC program in the Western United States.[45][46]