Pacific University

Claire Argow was a leader in social work and prison reform long before she began teaching at Pacific University in 1960. Today, the Pacific University social work program and social work scholarships are named in her honor.

A 1942 headline in The Campus, the undergraduate newspaper of City College of New York, set the tone: “First Female Invades Tech School Faculty,” it blared. Cecilie Froehlich led Pacific's math department until 1970 and was an outspoken advocate for recruiting women into the fields of math and engineering.

Back in the late 19th century, when Pacific University was an outpost of higher education in the Pacific Northwest, the school took part in an ignoble American experiment. With Pacific’s support, the Forest Grove Indian Training School brought Native American children to a nearby campus, where they were forced to abandon tribal culture in favor of learning the skills and religion of the dominant white society. Some didn't survive the transition.

Pacific University's Black Student Union was formed in 1967 to give African American students a center of social and political gravity. It later went dormant, but has rebounded again to provide African American students with a sense of community.

This Women's History Month we have been highlighting important Pacific women in our history. This week, we look back to Ladies Hall, later named Herrick Hall, and how it provided more women with the opportunity to attend Pacific. 

Before Boxer was Badger. In the 1960s, when students voted to change the mascot, they said goodbye to their longtime representative.

The Nov. 15, 1905, issue of The Pacific Index reported that both men and women were gearing up for a season of the relatively new-fangled game of basketball. Women had participated in athletics at Pacific before. They were members of the archery team, and they played on the tennis squad with the men.

Generous donations in hard times led to the matching gift that made Marsh Hall possible.

Don Metzger '66, O.D. '67 returned the tail of the original Boxer statue to Pacific University this summer. Watch him recount how he got the tail and why he returned it 40 years later.

Manche Langley was one of the matriarchs of women lawyers in the Portland area in the 1900s. The 13th woman admitted to practice in Oregon and a founder of the Queen’s Bench — a professional organization of women in law — Langley got her start at Tualatin Academy, the predecessor of Pacific University.

The clouds in the sky only make the smiles on the football field brighter.

Four years ago, Pacific University football was reinstated with a team of freshmen. Those freshmen took a brand new team from start-up to a winning season in 2013. As the founding players prepare to graduate, they look back at four years of perseverance, growth and success.