by Gabriella DePinho, News Editor

The Quadrangle is Manhattan College’s oldest longstanding club and publication. The Quadrangle started in 1924, it was preceded by The Green Horn in 1923. In the Editor’s note of the first edition, The Quadrangle was described as being “strictly a college paper” and promised that “our news wll be yours, and yours ours.” The tradition has continued until today, with short breaks during the spring of 1925 and the second World War, where the paper dropped off but was maintained as “Campus Notes.”

The Quadrangle has survived through several wars, the creation of computers and cell phones, fashion trends from drop-waist dresses to ripped jeans, all-male education to co-education, the civil rights movement, the legalization of same-sex marriage and more, seeing the country and the world through a very particular lens.

The first issue of The Quadrangle was published Monday, Oct. 27, 1924, which included reports on the swimming pool opening on Nov. 1, sports teams’ outcomes, seniors starting a literary society and the return of the Manhattan College Engineering club, which was coming back with the goal of forming a national chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineering.

For two issues in January of 1925, The Quadrangle was renamed The News. The name was returned to The Quadrangle and has not been changed since, with the exception of the period of time it was “Campus Notes.”

All editions of The Quadrangle have been saved and are kept either bound in a book or folded neatly in a box in Manhattan College’s archives. The Quadrangle set on a mission to find out just what stories we’ve been telling over the years and how The Quadrangle has reported on the world around them.

Senior Class Plans Yearbook

On Jan. 22, 1926, The Quadrangle reported on plans and efforts to bring back the “Manhattanite,” Manhattan College’s yearbook. According to the article this name “has not been used in its true sense since 1917.” Manhattan College’s yearbook has ceased publication but it was “the aim and fond desire of the class of ‘26 to found the Year-Book as a firm institution in the New Manhattan, and, one to be perpetuated by the classes to come.”

Athletics Name Contest Revives Old “Jaspers”

In the May 14, 1926 edition of The Quadrangle, the largest headline boasted about the revival of “Jaspers” with several subheadings including “OLD NAME HAS FAME” and “Green and White Teams to Be Known in Future by Cognomen of Venerable Progenitors.” Through Athletics, the college held a Name Contest which was prematurely ended when the committee decided to revive the name of “Jaspers” because of “petitions and private pleas.” Alumni and an interview with a brother at the school, the committee decided to adopt the name “Jaspers,” which “indicates Manhattan ideals in athletics” and is a name Manhattan College has kept to today. The name came from the Manhattan baseball team who opened the season with the N.Y. Giants, whose manager, Jim Mutrie, called the team Brother Jasper’s boys. The name deciding committee decided to not give out a prize because of the unanimity of the decision.

Mussolini Is Not Dead, He Ain’t Even Sick

Under the title of The Quadrangle, this headline filled up the front page along. Other funny headlines such as “Gymnasium To Be Torn Down,” “Telephone Booth On Wheels,” “Seniors Refuse Degrees; Frosh To Graduate” and “Sons of Rest, Tramp Fraternity, to Establish Chapter at Manhattan” filled the pages. This was the May 20, 1927 edition of The Quadrangle, which in the editorial board’s note was referred to as “The Squabrangle.” While the tradition of The Triangle didn’t start until much later, The Quadrangle has always been made up of writers who know how to laugh.

Sept. 23, 1944 Issue

The Quadrangle printed its first edition “after an absence of more than a year and a half from the college campus” reestablishing it “among Manhattan’s traditional publications.” The tradition of the paper had been to publish in all first editions the “policies” the paper adopted and this edition’s statement of policy announced the return of The Quadrangle. Another article in the paper stated that the “folding of the “Quadrangle” in May of 1943 marked the end, the very end, of active extracurricular organizations on the campus.” This dip in activity was a result of the war. Despite the gap in publishing, The Quadrangle was kept alive in spirit through the publication of “Campus Notes,” which was created by Brother Charles Ambrose, until the paper properly returned to campus. This edition of the paper even notes that student government disappeared from Manhattan’s campus and was considered to be “one of the greater war-time losses of extracurricular nature suffered by the college.”

…Jasper Jottings…

A column started by Dan Gallagher in the May 15, 1946 edition of The Quadrangle has the same name that a modern blog about Jaspers’ lives boasts. This first edition of “Jasper Jottings” discussed the baseball team, track, and the Chesterfield sports quiz contest. The story included that The Quadrangle’s “versatile sports editor, Bill Did-You-Finish-Your-Story-Yet Miller” had to actually step into the baseball game and play for the team.

April 26, 1968 – Editorials

In this April edition of The Quadrangle, the editorials the publication published featured two on Martin Luther King Jr. and one on the Vietnam War. One piece “Free At Last” argues that ‘[MLK Jr.’s] end is perhaps only the beginning.” The piece identified that “A nation whose cornerstone of existence is the equality of one man with another has once again marred itself with the stigma of hatred – a hatred so deep and so well founded that it threatens to obliterate the society we call “free”.” The piece “In Memoriam” expressed the editors’ “heartfelt sorrow over the death of Dr. Martin Luther King” and their “dissatisfaction with the [College] Administration for their extremely slow reaction to the national day of mourning for Dr. King.” The piece stated that “A college that is dedicated to a “Catholic profession of faith” should react mucher quicker to such a national tragedy to a man who was a paragon of Christian virtue.” A third piece titled “Concern Day” stated that “During this semester the Quadrangle’s endeavored to feature various articles on the Vietnam War.” The college planned to host an educational forum about the various aspects of the Vietnam War and “The editors urge students to forego class for this one day and to attend” the forum.

Jane Fonda Speaks to Overflow Crowd at Smith Auditorium

The Sept. 27, 1972 issue of The Quadrangle reported that Fonda came to campus for The Indo China Peace Campaign. The event included speakers, movies, songs and a lot of “anti-war” sentiment. This event gathered a crowd of over 1,000 attendees. Some of Fonda’s remarks “were devoted to a discussion of the supposed atrocities committed against the people of SOuth Vietnam by the guerillas.” Fonda urged everyone to “… involve yourself in individual action, to avail yourself of information, and above all to organize.”

Trustees Approve Co-Ed

On Sept. 20, 1972, The Quadrangle reported that “the Board of Trustees of Manhattan College has voted to approve the College Senate resolution concerning coeducation.” The college community was still waiting for an official statement from Brother Gregory before any information regarding the proceedings of the meeting could be released. According to the article, the resolution passed “overwhelmingly” in the Senate. This story was not yet confirmed by a variety of important sources but an anonymous reliable source in the Administration had confirmed this information with The Quadrangle.

Senate to Discuss Co-Ed

The Feb. 14, 1973 edition of The Quadrangle reported that the Senate will be re-discussing the co-educational issue because of rumours that only the schools of Business and Engineering would be going coeducational. The Quadrangle reported that to have “the coed policy undercut would certainly leave the Senate in a weak position as a legislative body since the coed policy was the first major piece of legislation to come out of the Senate.”

Jaspers Win NCAA

The first national title Manhattan College ever won, the distance medley relay in the Indoor Track and Field Championship was in March 1973. The Quadrangle reported on this and the fact that the college set a record in that event in the March 13, 1973 issue.

MC Reacts In Wake of Terrorism

Jumping ahead to 2001, the first issue of the fall semester was published on Sept. 25, 2001. The paper’s first headline was “MC Reacts In Wake of Terrorism,” an article documenting Manhattan College’s reaction to the terrorist attacks that occurred two weeks prior on September 11. The Editor-in-Chief, Tim Maddux, explained in his “From the Editor…” that The Quadrangle was publishing its first issue a week late due to trouble with accessing their office and waterlogged ceiling tiles but he noted, “But it worked out for the better. If we had printed a week ago, it would have been very difficult to report on what happened September 11.” The issue also featured a centerfold comprised of submission pieces about the events of Sept. 11.

The Masiello Series

After the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA tournament in March of 2014, Masiello was considering a move to the University of South Florida but all chances at a move came to a crashing halt. In a series of articles, The Quadrangle reported on the rise of the men’s basketball team, Masiello’s uncertain future, his past with his unfinished degree, and the college’s decision to reinstate him. These articles spanned a few weeks from the end of March to the beginning and middle of April and are the most exciting recent scandal The Quadrangle has had the chance to report on.