A Wider World

Besides what the faculty presented in the classroom, they and their students were part of a wider world that could not be ignored. Although it is impossible to know exactly how various segments of the Saint Joseph’s community saw the world beyond the campus, it seems evident that student publications gave voice to what might be called a community view, at a time when students writing for these publications had to submit their work for review by Jesuit faculty moderators. During the 1930s and early 1940s campus publications were full of articles about the Great Depression, the rise of Fascism, the continuing threats of communism, and the beginnings of World War II. The war in particular would have a devastating impact on enrollment after the United States entered the conflict and emptied an all-male Saint Joseph’s College of nearly all its students.

At least twice during the 1930s, The Hawk advocated close institutional supervision of the student press at Saint Joseph’s. In 1932 The Hawk declared, "No sensible authority permits absolute freedom of speech in his subjects… The conclusion to be drawn from this experience is that college [news]papers should be supervised…by the faculty."¹ Four years later the editors proclaimed a similar message: "Certainly the school has a right to protect itself by supervising the publication of a newspaper that carries its name."² In December 1941, when the provincial office in Baltimore objected to "certain matter printed in The Hawk," namely a regular contribution called "Listening In," the college administration banned further publication of the column....

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