Campus Flashback: A Glimpse into the Stylus Newspaper
By: Rose Seppala
Recently, while doing research on the history of Glidden Hall, I came upon old issues of The Stylus, the Sioux Falls College student newspaper. Glidden Hall, which was built to be a women’s dormitory, seemed to be a good Vessel magazine story choice, given that March is Women’s History Month. But the more research I did into how Glidden was built and who funded it, the more I was distracted by the personal student stories in the Stylus, which trained journalism students back then, like the Vessel magazine does today. Viewing all of the work that previous students had done, female and male students alike, inspired me to change my topic to a brief remembrance of the Stylus.
Looking at the online archives that hold many editions of the University of Sioux Falls school newspapers, which can be found through the Norman B. Mears Library website, the Stylus ran for 65 years from 1912 to 1979. The Stylus included works of literature, sports, editorials, and information about the clubs on campus, or “societies” as it would have been called in the beginning.
Although the ads are interesting, they weren’t the things that caught my attention. It was the additions made by students. For instance, in the Stylus’s “Feature Edition 1926-1927,” there were a few senior quotes that stuck out. From student Helen M. Gibbs, which is perfect for women’s history month, “I’ll have my rights if the whole world goes to smash.” Another, who was the Stylus’s Editor-in-Chief during 1926, Paul A. Krueger said, “All great men are dying; I don’t feel well myself.” Keep in mind, those college students had been through the 1918 Flu Epidemic, World War I, Prohibition, women getting the right to vote in 1920, and were about to experience the Great Depression in 1929. But Americans were also experiencing many achievements: Charles Lindbergh flying The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic, Ford Motor Company creating the Model A, and work beginning on Mt. Rushmore.
Another interesting piece of the Stylus was the literature submissions. In the June 1936 edition, there are many short stories and poems from students. In this edition (**NOTE have a screenshot of that issue right by this sentence) it is evident that the students are seeing the world around them and the possibility of a second World War, which would become true within three short years. An article by Ernest Van Gerpen titled, “An Intelligent Endeavor to Prevent the Next War,” was actively trying to persuade students to peacefully prevent another war. It outlines how student bodies can be listened to by the government regarding prevention through the help of The International Relations Club. Toward the end, he wrote, “May no college graduate be ignorant of the causes and prevention of wars.”
In the same edition, an editor of the Stylus, Charles Dougherty was also obviously seeing the possibility of war. He wrote his own short story called, “Would Laugh at War.” He talks of two hypothetical nations going to war with each other and then having to be drafted due to something happening in the United States. Throughout the piece, there is a sense of urgency and fear. The last two lines read, “I would laugh at myself for having foolishly spent my years preparing for a future. And finally, I would laugh at life as I marched to death.”
I highly encourage University of Sioux Falls students to access the library’s online archive to read past editions of the Stylus. While it is important to honor those who came before us, it may help some students feel they are not alone with what is happening in the current modern world. While the issues the past students faced were slightly different, the students themselves were not much different from current students.
