La Salle University () is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
,
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
university in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The university was founded in 1863 by the
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for
St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.
History
La Salle College was founded in March 1863 as an all-male college by Brother Teliow and Archbishop
James Wood of the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well ...
. It was first located at St. Michael's Parish on N. 2nd Street in the
Olde Kensington section of Philadelphia. La Salle soon moved to the building vacated by
St. Joseph's College at 1234 Filbert Street in
Center City, Philadelphia
Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...
. In 1886, due to the development of the Center City district, La Salle moved to a third location, the former mansion of Michael Bouvier, the great-great-grandfather of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, at 1240
North Broad Street. Due to space constraints, in 1930 La Salle moved to its current campus at the intersection of 20th Street and Olney Avenue in the Logan neighborhood of the city. The new location had a suburban feel with ample land, but was linked to the city by trolleys and the newly constructed
Broad Street Subway
The Broad Street Line (BSL), also known as the Broad Street subway (BSS), Orange Line, or Broad Line, is a subway line owned by the city of Philadelphia and operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The line ru ...
.
The 1930s proved to be a tumultuous decade for La Salle, which was nearly bankrupt after being unable to sell the 1240 North Broad Street property. The main academic building on campus,
College Hall was unable to be finished due to a lack of funds, and the college nearly closed in the late 1930s. The college's closing was prevented by a 75th Anniversary Fund Drive in 1938, spearheaded by Philadelphia businessman John McCarthy. Funds raised from this drive also enabled La Salle to purchase a tract of land to the east of 19th Street, where Philadelphia had intended to build a city college.
La Salle nearly closed again due to a lack of students during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and the
football team was disbanded due to a lack of players, but the college experienced a period of growth in the late 1940s. Several new buildings were constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, including a new library,
student union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social ...
, and a science building. It was also during this time that the first student residence halls were constructed at La Salle, mostly on land purchased from the former Belfield Country Club. Additional student housing was provided by purchasing or renting local homes, such as the house known as "The Mansion", on David and Logan Blain's
Belfield Estate
Belfield, also known as the Charles Willson Peale House, was the home of Charles Willson Peale from 1810 to 1826, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. and
The Belfield Estate was a area of land in the Logan section of ...
. During the 1960s, the
high school section moved out due to the lack of space after many years of sharing the same campus with the College.
La Salle admitted women to its regular classes in 1970, becoming a fully co-educational institution. A year later, La Salle opened Olney Hall, its main academic building. It also continued to expand its property throughout the 1970s and 1980s, buying land along Chew Avenue in the Germantown section of the city, along with the Belfield Estate in 1984, and to the south of main-campus, the orphanage run by the Sisters of St. Basil the Great. It was also during this era, in 1984, that La Salle was granted University status. In 2007, La Salle acquired the former Germantown Hospital, now West Campus, and constructed The Shoppes at La Salle shopping center across the street in 2008. The construction of the Shoppes at La Salle and addition of
The Fresh Grocer ended a decades-long
food desert in Germantown.
In October 2015, La Salle inaugurated its first
lay person
In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother.
In both religious and wider secular usage, a laype ...
and first woman president,
Colleen Hanycz, former president of
Brescia University College. In 2015, Hanycz led consolidation and prioritization efforts, ultimately firing a couple dozen prominent staff members and administrators. The university even cut six undergraduate majors, which were mostly in the foreign language department. However, just a year after her arrival, the school stated that it would decrease tuition by 29 percent. The reasoning for the significant tuition cut was to make La Salle more attractive and accessible for students from more diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Governance
The university is led by its
board of trustees headed by a president and chair. The president serves one or more 5–year terms.
, there have been
29 Presidents. Students are represented through a democratically elected
student government
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to so ...
. The La Salle Students' Government Association sits on numerous committees led by staff and administrators, including some board meetings. La Salle's student government is a founding member of the
American Student Government Association. The president's office, formerly located in the historic Peale House, is now in College Hall, the former business school building.
Academics
Within La Salle is the College of Professional and Continuing Studies and its three Schools: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, and Nursing & Health Sciences. Communication, Nursing, and Education are the largest majors at La Salle. Courses in the programs may be offered in traditional, online, or hybrid formats.
Tuition and financial aid
In the Fall 2017 semester, La Salle University decreased its tuition by 29%, citing affordability for all students and a "renaissance" at the school.
Even prior to the tuition reduction, La Salle was recognized for its value.
Admissions
Undergraduate fall enrollment declined from more than 4,500 in 2012 to 3,900 in 2018.
The average GPA for an admitted student at La Salle is a 3.35 on a 4.0 scale. Its acceptance rate is labeled as "moderately difficult" and admits about 75 percent of students who apply. La Salle requires
SAT or
ACT scores and an essay for admission. La Salle also uses the common application for prospective students in the United States.
According to
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, the median family
income of a student from La Salle is about $91,000 per year. 40 percent of La Salle students come from families in the top 20 percent of income. 37.1 percent come from families in the bottom 60 percent of income (<$65,000 per year). Less than 1 percent come from families in the top 1 percent of income ($650k+).
Academic rankings
Athletics
La Salle University's 20
varsity sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
teams, known as the
Explorers, compete in the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
's
Division I. La Salle is a member of the
Atlantic 10 Conference and the historic
Philadelphia Big 5
The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.
The Big 5 ...
, an informal association of Philadelphia sports programs. As a member of the Big 5, the Explorers play against
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...
,
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
,
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pennsy ...
and
Saint Joseph's University at least once a year at the
Palestra. They have won eleven titles. La Salle has sent 16 athletes to the Olympic a total of 22 times. La Salle athletes have won a total of six Olympic medals (four gold, and two bronze) and have appeared in eleven
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
.
La Salle's teams have won two national
championships: The
1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1954 NCAA basketball tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8 and ended with the championship game on March 20 in K ...
and the 1980 Division II
AIAW
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Inte ...
Field Hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
Championship. The school also won the
1952 National Invitation Tournament. La Salle's major historic
rival has been the
Hawks
Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...
of
Saint Joseph's University, especially in men's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. Not only are both universities situated in Philadelphia, but they are also both Catholic, private institutions.
The name "Explorer" derives from a 1931 mistake made by a
sportswriter. The writer thought the university was named after the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
explorer Sieur de La Salle, when in fact it is named after
St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle and was officially chosen in a student contest during the spring of 1932.
In 2016, La Salle University changed its tagline from "Never Stop Exploring" to "Explorers are Never Lost".
Men's basketball
The program has been rated the 53rd "Greatest College Basketball Program of All-Time" by
Street & Smith's magazine and 71st by the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia.
La Salle has won one National Championship, one
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York Cit ...
Championship, and advanced to two
Final Fours. The Explorers have also made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, won eight
Philadelphia Big 5
The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.
The Big 5 ...
city championships, and four
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and ...
Championships. The program is one of only two schools (with Houston) to have two players in the top 25 in all-time NCAA scoring -
Lionel Simmons
Lionel James "L-Train" Simmons (born November 14, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player.
High school career
Simmons led South Philadelphia High School to a Philadelphia Public League boys' championship in 1986, getting an MVP ...
and
Michael Brooks. It's also had three National Players of the Year - only
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...
and
Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
have had more.
La Salle's last successful run in the NCAA Tournament a surprising run in 2013 when La Salle went to the Sweet Sixteen as an
underdog. The Explorers pulled off surprise upsets, beating ranked
Kansas State and
Butler University.
La Salle also has an extensive history of players who played professional basketball, including Michael Brooks, (1980 College Player of the Year),
Joe Bryant (father of
Kobe Bryant),
Rasual Butler
Rasual Butler (born Felix Rasual Cheeseborough; May 23, 1979 – January 31, 2018) was an American professional basketball player. In his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career, he played for the Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Los ...
(formerly with the
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...
),
Larry Cannon,
Ken Durrett,
Tom Gola, (
NBA Hall of Fame inductee and 1955 College Player of the Year), and
Tim Legler
Timothy Eugene Legler (born December 26, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently an ESPN basketball analyst and co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
Col ...
(current basketball analyst for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and 4th all-time in
NBA three-point shooting percentage).
The Explorers play in
Tom Gola Arena as their main home stadium and The Palestra for Philadelphia Big 5 games.
Women's basketball
Campus
La Salle moved to its fourth and present location in 1931. The campus is located in part on
Belfield, the estate of
Charles Willson Peale, the
Revolutionary War patriot and painter famous for his portraits of the
founding fathers, most notably,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
. The first to occupy the land of the Belfield after the passing of the famously known painter, Charles Wilson Peale, was William Logan Fisher. Fisher was born to the family of Thomas Fisher and
Sarah Logan; Sarah had inherited the northeastern portion of Stenton. Fisher's roots lay deeply in La Salle's history as he owned the land that is now South Campus. After living there, Fisher gave this land to his daughter Sarah Logan Fisher and her husband William Wister. The home belonged to the Wisters until 1984 when La Salle University purchased the land. What once was the home of a famous artist, and later affluent family'','' is the current office of the University president.
La Salle's campus is located in the
Logan, Philadelphia-Ogontz/Belfield neighborhood of Philadelphia. In May 2007, La Salle created their West Campus after buying a portion of Germantown Hospital in the Germantown neighborhood of the city. La Salle's campus is divided into 3 parts: North, South, and West campus. Both the North and South parts of campus are located in the
Logan, Philadelphia-Belfield area of Philadelphia, and the western portion of campus (west of Wister Street) is located in the
Germantown, Philadelphia
Germantown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Deitscheschteddel'') is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is a ...
neighborhood of the city.
File:College Hall (La Salle University) 2010.png, College Hall
File:WTP B22 Audrey 1.jpg, Connelly Library
File:WTP B23 Audrey 2.jpg, Roland Holroyd Science Center
File:LaSalleUniversityQuad.jpg, Hansen Quad
File:Wister Hall.JPG, Wister Hall
File:LaSalle Comm Center.JPG, Communications Center
File:North Halls La Salle.JPG, North Residence Halls Complex at 20th & Olney Ave.
File:Lasalle with John.JPG, St. John Baptiste De La Salle with a student.
La Salle University Art Museum
The La Salle Art Museum is located in the basement of Olney Hall and houses a collection of European and American art from the Renaissance to the present. The museum also owns a number of special collections including Japanese prints. The art museum is also home to the ''Walking Madonna'', one of four by the British artist
Dame Elisabeth Frink. Frink created the sculpture in 1981, the other ''Walking Madonna'' sculptures remain in England, with one in Salisbury and the other in Frink's garden at her home. In early 2018, the university announced plans to sell forty-six artworks from the La Salle University Art Museum to "help fund teaching and learning initiatives in its new strategic plan".
Selling art to fund the university is controversial in the art community and the plan was criticized by artists and museum groups.
Student housing
In 2011, St. Basil's Court was considered by DormSplash.com as the best dorm in the country. St. Basil's Court is mostly home to honors students, athletes, and upperclassmen.
Living styles vary by location. In North Residence Halls and St. Neumann, men and women live in the same building but on different floors. In St. Basil's, men and women live on the same floors but on different sides of the hall. In the St. Miguel Townhouses and Apartments, men and women live with the same gender in their own living space with a kitchen and bathrooms. In 2016, students voted to have
gender-neutral
Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions ( social structures or gender roles) should avoid disting ...
housing in the St. Miguel Townhouses, which would make La Salle the only Catholic university in the country to facilitate co-ed living. This issue caused controversy in Catholic circles across the United States since it is traditional for Catholic school residence halls to be completely separated by gender. La Salle also has individual unit
gender-neutral bathrooms in some of their residence halls.
Expansion
La Salle has spent about $75 million in renovations going back to 2005. In the Fall of 2005, the $26 million first phase of this master plan was completed with the construction of Tree Tops Cafe (dining hall) and St. Basil Court (Residence Hall).
St. Basil's houses approximately 430 students. Three of the building's wings feature "suites", in which four students share two bedrooms and one bathroom. The fourth wing's rooms have the traditional one-room for housing two students with communal bathrooms. The facilities have lounges, study rooms, and special purpose rooms.
A $2.5 million athletic field renovation was completed in the Fall of 2006.
In May 2007, the university purchased adjacent Germantown Hospital for $10 million. The acquired has become "West Campus", and increased the campus size by 25 percent.
A $15 million shopping center and supermarket complex opened in Fall 2008 across from the Germantown Hospital.
The Shoppes at La Salle was formerly home to the university's softball field and other recreational areas. The renovated Holroyd Science Center was completed in Fall 2009 and a new business school opened in West Campus in January 2016.
In the summer of 2016, McShain Hall in the middle of campus was torn down and replaced with more green space. The new quad was named after its donor, the Hansen family.
A
satellite campus and Conference Center in
Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Newtown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,248 at the 2010 census. It is located just west of the Trenton, New Jersey metropolitan area, and is part of the larger Philadelphia metropolitan area. It ...
, the La Salle University Bucks County Center, offers graduate courses in various disciplines, undergraduate courses in nursing, and continuing education courses. The Conference Center comprises fifteen instructional rooms with seating capacities ranging from 20 to 40, along with four computer laboratories with 100 workstations. La Salle offers
M.B.A. and Clinical-Counseling Psychology
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
classes at the
Plymouth Meeting Metroplex Corporate Center in
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
In the fall of 2016, La Salle changed its motto from "Never Stop Exploring" to "Explorers are Never Lost".
The change reflected a new brand campaign, coinciding with the announcement that La Salle would decrease tuition by more than 29 percent.
Student life
Students at La Salle are offered many opportunities to participate at different degrees and in many different ways. There are several organizations and a student programming center whose mission is primarily to plan activities (games, movie nights, bus trips, etc.) for the students of La Salle University. The Communication Department operates
La Salle 56, a
cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
educational-access television station available to 300,000 subscribers. The university also has a student-run radio station,
WEXP and a student-run weekly newspaper,
''The Collegian'', along with over 100 other intramurals, clubs, and
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
sports offered. La Salle University offers a number of student services, including non-remedial tutoring, a women's center, career advising and placement services, health services, and health insurance. La Salle also offers campus safety and security services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport/escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways/sidewalks, controlled dormitory access (key, security card, etc.). Alcohol is permitted for students of legal age, making La Salle one of the few Catholic
wet campuses. La Salle is also an
LGBTQ-friendly Catholic university.
Demographics
About 55 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing and 45 percent of students live off campus near the university or commute from home. The gender distribution is about 37 percent male students and 63 percent female students. Of La Salle students, about 35 percent have cars on campus. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of about 3,947, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 133 acres.
Student media
La Salle TV
La Salle TV is a student run,
public, educational, and government access
Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...
(PEG) cable television station that offers an Educational-access television channel run by La Salle and carried within Philadelphia's city limits on the
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
cable system. The station reaches over 300,000 homes and serves La Salle students and its neighbors with educational and entertaining programs. The station also serves as a hands-on teaching facility for students interested in the communication field. In 2009, La Salle 56 officially changed their name to La Salle TV due to a recent agreement with
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
to carry the
student television station
A student television station is a television station run by university, high or middle school students that primarily airs school/university news and in many cases, student-produced soap operas, entertainment shows, and other programming.
At the ...
. La Salle University gained the cable channel in 1991 as part of the franchise agreements between cable providers and the city of Philadelphia. The student television station is a main component of the Communication Department, which uses the department's technical facility and allows use students majoring in communication. Notable station alumni include
Meredith Marakovits
Meredith Marakovits (born July 22, 1983) is an American sports reporter. She is the clubhouse reporter for the YES Network, where she reports on the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball for the network’s Yankees game telecasts, pre-game a ...
.
La Salle TV features a variety of student-produced programs, including collegiate sports,
entertainment, and social issues. Original student films are broadcast in addition to interviews with local and national authors, actors, musicians, athletes, and television personalities. During the academic year when the majority of new programming is produced, each show is assigned a specific timeslot. Two-hour station masters containing non-dated material fill the remaining time. The hours between 8:00pm and 12:00am are used mainly for new La Salle-produced programs.
''The Collegian''
''The Collegian'' published its first issue on March 16, 1931. It is the only on-campus newspaper for La Salle. It is published weekly every Thursday throughout the school year. The newspaper is written, edited, and produced by La Salle students underneath a faculty adviser. The newspaper is ''not'' independent, meaning that it has restrictions placed by the University on what it can publish. Restrictions are placed by the Division of Student Affairs and sometimes the President's Office.
WEXP
WEXP is a
college radio station with a
freeform radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...
. It previously broadcast on 1600 and 530
AM in the Philadelphia-area before becoming an
Internet radio-only station.
WEXP opened its studio in 1972. Initially, the radio station could only be heard inside the Student Union building. However, with the advent of computers in every dorm, where AM radios became scarcer to find, the station chose to embark on an Internet-only focus, setting up a partnership with live365 beginning in the fourth quarter of 2002. The shift in focus re-energized the station by recruiting more members and boosting listenership both on campus and across the country.
[Grabenstein, Brother Joseph. La Salle University Archives. WEXP File: La Salle University, October 2005]
Greek life
One of the aspects of La Salle's social scene are its fraternities and sororities. In total, La Salle has fourteen
Greek life organizations: Ten traditional fraternities and sororities, two
Divine Nine (historically black) organizations, and two co-educational fraternities.
Fraternities
La Salle has six chartered fraternities, five of which are nationally recognized. Sigma Phi Lambda—not to be confused with
Sigma Phi Lambda, the nationally recognized sorority founded in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
—is the only unrecognized national fraternity on La Salle's campus. Sigma Phi Lambda, however, was La Salle University's first and oldest fraternity. It was founded in 1935 by La Salle President Brother Leonard. The fraternity dissolved with La Salle's drop in enrollment during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, but reemerged in 1960 under the leadership of Dr. John Guischard. Brother Gerald (Gerry) Molyneaux became the moderator of the Sigma Phi Lambda fraternity in 1976, where he remains as moderator as of 2017. Science professor Roland Holroyd was also an active member and advisor for the fraternity. Holroyd would soon become the namesake of the science center, Holroyd Hall, on La Salle's main campus. Sigma Phi Lambda and Alpha Theta Alpha, the two sororities and fraternities founded at La Salle, would remain exclusive to the university.
Sororities
La Salle's Greek life community consists of six sororities. Sororities were incorporated at La Salle after 1970, once the school started admitting women. Five La Salle sororities are nationally recognized: Alpha Sigma Tau, Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Mu, and Zeta Phi Beta. Alpha Theta Alpha's only charter is at La Salle University, where the sorority originally began. Alpha Theta Alpha was La Salle University's first sorority.
Co-educational fraternities
In addition, La Salle also offers two co-educational fraternities: a business fraternity,
Delta Sigma Pi
Delta Sigma Pi () (officially the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Inc.) is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational Professional fraternities and sororities, professional business Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and one of the l ...
, and a community service fraternity,
Epsilon Sigma Alpha
Epsilon Sigma Alpha International () is a community and collegiate service organization for anyone ages 18 and older. The organization states that its purpose "is to inspire leadership and service by bringing good people together to pursue progr ...
.
University ministry and service
La Salle's religiously-affiliated University Ministry and Service (UMAS) program offers student ministry and community service opportunities for students. Regardless of religious affiliation, La Salle students can participate in more than a dozen weekly service and volunteer projects in Philadelphia including working at
food banks,
homeless shelters, the
Special Olympics, and more. La Salle holds mass once a day, every week. Their Sunday liturgy has high student involvement through student ministers.
Students can also participate in service trips, known as Lasallian Immersion and Volunteer Experiences (LIVE). Service trips occur domestically and internationally. Domestic service trips include going to
Habitat for Humanity programs, working in
Harlan, Kentucky in
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...
, and even going to local locations like
Camden, New Jersey. International service trip volunteers go to
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, and more. Each student's trip is subsidized by the school and by their own
fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
initiatives.
Orientation
The first day of a student's time at La Salle occurred at a
student orientation program called Day ONE, which stood for Orienting New Explorers. The day consisted of giving essential information to new students and their families, but its primary objective is to build relationships: relationships between the new students and other new students, between the new students and their upper division student hosts, between new students and administration and faculty, and between the students' families and the university. The Class of 2020 was the last incoming class to participate in Day ONE. Since August 2017 for their New Student Orientation program, La Salle hosts students for a full week before classes begin in a week titled, Explorientation, and have no formal day during the summer for orientation.
Notable alumni
La Salle alumni have earned numerous accolades, scholarships, and titles including an
Emmy award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
, a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
, six
Olympic gold medal
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...
s, a
Marshall scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...
, about one-hundred
Fulbright scholarship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
s, and more. La Salle has three alumni currently serving in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
along with about a dozen representatives in the
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...
and one on the
Philadelphia City Council
The Philadelphia City Council, the legislative body of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consists of ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large. The council president is elected by the members from among their number. Each ...
.
File:CIA Director Burns.jpg, William J. Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
File:Jim Kenney (2019) (cropped).jpg, Jim Kenney
James Francis Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who is the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., ...
, Mayor of Philadelphia
File:Tom Gola 1953.JPG, Tom Gola, former basketball player, who is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
File:Brian Fitzpatrick official congressional photo.jpg, Brian Fitzpatrick, U.S. Representative
File:Peter Boyle (cropped).jpg, Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof '' Young ...
, actor
File:Jessica Barth poolside.jpg, Jessica Barth, actress
File:Bill Raftery in 2009.jpg, Bill Raftery, college basketball analyst and former coach
File:Madeleine Dean, official portrait, 116th Congress.jpg, Madeleine Dean, U.S. Representative
File:Joe Bryant 2010.jpg, Joe Bryant, basketball coach and father of Kobe Bryant
File:MatthewQuick.jpg, Matthew Quick, author of Silver Linings Playbook
File:Fran Dunphy.jpg, Fran Dunphy, college basketball coach
File:Dwight Evans official photo (cropped).jpg, Dwight Evans, U.S. Representative
File:Meredith Marakovits - YES Network - September 10, 2013.jpg, Meredith Marakovits
Meredith Marakovits (born July 22, 1983) is an American sports reporter. She is the clubhouse reporter for the YES Network, where she reports on the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball for the network’s Yankees game telecasts, pre-game a ...
, New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
clubhouse reporter for the YES Network
File:Liet. Gov. Michael Stack.jpg, Michael J. Stack III, former Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently ...
See also
*
List of colleges and universities in Philadelphia
*
Lasallian educational institutions
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Salle University
Lasallian colleges and universities
Catholic universities and colleges in Pennsylvania
Universities and colleges in Philadelphia
Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
Philadelphia Main Line
Educational institutions established in 1863
Wister, Philadelphia
1863 establishments in Pennsylvania