St. Olaf College 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 ...
liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...
in
Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census.
History
Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...
. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor
Bernt Julius Muus
Bernt Julius Muus (March 15, 1832 – May 25, 1900) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran minister and church leader. He helped found St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.
Biography
Early life and education
Mu ...
. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...
and is affiliated with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
. It was visited by
King Olav
Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Nor ...
in 1987 and
King Harald V
Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991.
Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...
and
Queen Sonja of Norway
Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway since 17 January 1991 as the wife of King Harald V.
Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relations ...
in 2011.
Queen Sonja of Norway
Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway since 17 January 1991 as the wife of King Harald V.
Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relations ...
visited the college's campus a second time in 2022 as part of a tour to celebrate the connections between Norway and Minnesota's Norwegian-American community. She participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Special Collections vault at Rølvaag Memorial Library.
As of 2017, the college enrolled 3,035 undergraduate students and 256 faculty.
The campus, including its 325-acre natural lands, lies 2 miles west of the city of
Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census.
History
Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...
; Northfield is also the home of its neighbor and friendly rival
Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
. Between 1995 and 2020, 154 St. Olaf graduates were named
Fulbright Scholars
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 of ...
and 35 received
Goldwater Scholarships. Of the nation's baccalaureate colleges, St. Olaf ranks 12th in the number of graduates who have gone on to earn doctorate degrees.
History
Seal and motto
The seal of the St. Olaf College displays the
Coat of arms of Norway
The coat of arms of Norway is the arms of dominion of king Harald V of Norway, and as such represents both the monarch and the kingdom (nation and the state). It depicts a standing golden lion on a red background, bearing a golden crown and axe w ...
, which includes the axe of
St. Olaf.
The motto ''Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, Krossmenn'', written in
New Norwegian, is adapted from the Old Norse battle cry of King Olaf. It means "Forward! Forward! Men of Christ, Men of the Cross".
Founding
Many
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
immigrants arrived in
Rice County, Minnesota
Rice County is a County (United States), county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 67,097. Its county seat is Faribault, Minnesota, Faribaul ...
, and the surrounding area in the late 19th century. Nearly all were
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, and desired a non-secular
post-secondary
Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...
institution in the Lutheran tradition that offered classes in all subjects in both
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
and English. The catalyst for St. Olaf's founding was the Reverend
Bernt Julius Muus
Bernt Julius Muus (March 15, 1832 – May 25, 1900) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran minister and church leader. He helped found St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.
Biography
Early life and education
Mu ...
; he sought out the help of the Revs. N. A. Quammen and H. Thorson. Together they petitioned their parishes and others to raise money to buy a plot of land on which to build the new institution. The three received around $10,000 in pledges, formed a corporation and bought land and four buildings (old
Northfield Northfield may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland
* Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland
* Northfield, Birmingham, England
* Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England
United States
* Northfield, Connec ...
schoolhouses) for the school. Muus came under scrutiny after a divorce case revealed extensive acts of
domestic abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
. He fell out of favor with many of his predecessors, but the school did not officially denounce his abuses.
St. Olaf's School opened on January 8, 1875, at its first site under the leadership of its first president, Thorbjorn N. Mohn, a graduate of
Luther College.
Herman Amberg Preus
Herman Amberg Preus (June 16, 1825 – July 2, 1894) was an American Lutheran clergyman and church leader. Ordained in 1848, he became a key figure in organizing the Norwegian Synod.
Background
Herman Amberg Preus was born in Kristiansand, Norw ...
, president of the
Norwegian Synod
The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
History
In February 1853, several Lutheran ministers in ...
, laid the foundation stone of the St. Olaf School on July 4, 1877. In 1887 the ''Manitou Messenger'' was founded as a campus magazine and has since evolved into the college's student newspaper, now called the ''Olaf Messenger''. 1887 was also the year that the first female St. Olaf graduate, Agnes Mellby, joined the college. Mellby graduated in 1893. She was the first woman to graduate from a Norwegian Lutheran college in the United States.
In 1932,
Red Wing Lutheran Seminary was merged into St. Olaf and its
Red Wing campus was closed. The Seminary was an independent academic institution from 1879 to 1932.
Financial crisis
In 1893, St. Olaf faced severe economic difficulties. A
national economic depression caused enrollment to drop from a high of 147 in 1892 to 129 in 1893.
Also in 1893 the Norwegian Synod voted to cut ties with the college, greatly reducing its income. By the August 1893 board meeting, the college was $10,000 in debt.
On August 2 the Board of Trustees appointed professor H. T. Ytterboe to travel around the Midwest and collect funds for the college. During this time President Mohn took over Ytterboe's responsibilities managing the college's finances. Over the next six years faculty and staff saw their salaries reduced, and the number of teaching faculty was reduced from eleven to seven. Ytterboe spent six years traveling the Midwest and was highly effective at fundraising, averaging $6,500 per year, mostly in small donations of a dollar or more from farmers and private individuals. By 1897, when the synod reinstated the college, the debt was reduced to less than $4,000. Historians of the college widely regard Ytterboe's and Mohn's efforts as having saved the college from extinction.
Scarlet fever epidemic
Following students’ return from Christmas vacation in 1903, an epidemic of
scarlet fever
Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...
broke out on the campus and quickly spread. Twenty-eight out of St. Olaf's approximately three hundred students came down with the highly infectious disease. With no local hospital, the north wing on the third floor of Ytterboe Hall, the boys dormitory, was used as a makeshift hospital and staffed with two nurses who worked tirelessly to contain the spread of the disease.
1918 Spanish flu pandemic
At the beginning of the spread of the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
to the United States, St. Olaf went into voluntary quarantine in hopes of avoiding the epidemic, allowing students to leave campus only for emergencies once they had obtained a pass. The first cases on St. Olaf's campus occurred on
November 11, 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
, and shortly thereafter the college hospital was filled to capacity. Ytterboe Hall was converted into a hospital for the sick once the temporary beds i
Hoyme Chapelhad filled. St. Olaf officially closed for the year on December 7, due to a rapid rise of influenza cases. Four students died from flu complications.
St. Olaf during the Second World War
At the beginning of
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, St. Olaf was not directly involved with the conflict, with the extent of wartime activities including
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
drives and a “Bundles for Britain” project. But by the fall of 1942, over 400 undergraduates and alumni were serving overseas. The campus was also ordered to house 600
U.S. Naval recruits for flight training, leading to the conversion of Mohn and Ytterboe Halls from women's dormitories to housing for naval servicemen. Students living in Ytterboe and Mohn Halls were required to move to Agnes Mellby Hall to accommodate the naval personnel.
Presidents
St. Olaf has had 11 presidents since its founding:
*
Thorbjorn N. Mohn, 1874–99
*
John N. Kildahl
John Nathan Kildahl (January 4, 1857 – September 25, 1920) was an American Lutheran church minister, author and educator. Background
Kildahl was born in Beitstaden parish (Namdalseid), Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. Kildahl emigrated as a boy from N ...
, 1899–1914
* Lauritz A. Vigness, 1914–18
* Lars W. Boe, 1918–42
* Clemens M. Granskou, 1943–63
* Sidney A. Rand, 1963–80
* Harlan F. Foss, Ph.D., 1980–85
* Melvin D. George, Ph.D., 1985–94
* Mark U. Edwards Jr., Ph.D., 1994–2000
* Christopher M. Thomforde, D.Min., 2001–06
* David R. Anderson, Ph.D., 2006 to
Church affiliations
![1912windowStOlafNorthfieldMN](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/1912windowStOlafNorthfieldMN.jpg)
* 1874–87
Norwegian Synod
The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
History
In February 1853, several Lutheran ministers in ...
* 1887–90
Anti-Missourian Brotherhood
The Anti-Missourian Brotherhood was the name of a group of Lutheran pastors and churches in the United States who left the Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Norwegian Synod).
In 1872, the Norwegian Synod had been a co ...
* 1890–1917
United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America
The United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (UNLC) was the result of the union in 1890 of the Norwegian Augustana Synod (est. 1870), the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (1870), and the Anti-Missourian B ...
* 1917–60
Evangelical Lutheran Church
* 1960–87
The American Lutheran Church
* 1988–present
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
Campus
Known as “The Hill”, St. Olaf College's picturesque campus is home to 17 academic and administrative buildings, 29 student residences and 10 athletic facilities. St. Olaf is a residential college; 96% of St. Olaf students reside in one of the 11 residence halls and 18 academic and special interest group houses. Adjacent to campus are of restored wetlands, woodlands, and native tall grass prairie owned and maintained by St. Olaf, and a utility-grade
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
that supplies up to one-third of the college's electrical needs.
Two buildings on the campus are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
: Old Main, designed by Long and Haglin; and Steensland Library, designed by Omeyer and Thori. In 2011,
Travel+Leisure
''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...
named St. Olaf one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.
Edward Sövik
Edward Anders Sövik, also Sovik, (June 9, 1918 – May 4, 2014) was an American architect and author. His most influential book, ''Architecture for Worship'', covered the modern period in church architecture.
Early life
Sövik was born in 19 ...
, a liturgical architect and St. Olaf professor of art until his death in 2014, designed or assisted in the design of 20 campus buildings.
Notable buildings
Center for Art and Dance
The Center for Art and Dance is a collaborative project with offerings from the art, art history, and dance departments.
[Gonnerman, David 'Renaissance Man' Reidar Dittmann '47 dies https://www.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsDetails&id=5011] It houses the Flaten Art Museum and studio spaces dedicated to painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, wood sculpture, digital media, photography, and a metal foundry, all named after alumni and educators who contributed to the development of each discipline. The Flaten Art Museum was founded as the Steensland Art Gallery in 1976. In 2002, it was moved to the Center for Art and Dance and renamed to honor Arnold Flaten, a past professor of art, and his family.
The museum has a collection of regional, national, and international works and exhibits these as well as faculty and student work.
The building underwent significant remodeling in the early 2000s and was initially dedicated as the Dittmann Complex, honoring Reidar Dittmann. Dittmann was born in Norway in 1922, and spent the better part of his youth working with the
Norwegian resistance
The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:
*Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...
against the rising
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
until his imprisonment in the
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
.
[Flaherty, Colleen Confronting Light and Dark https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/15/how-st-olaf-scrubbed-building-name-revered-professor-accused-sexual-misconduct] After his immigration to the United States, Dittmann joined St. Olaf's faculty as a professor of art and Norwegian in 1947. In 1952 He and Ansgar Sovik co-founded the International Studies program, now known as the Office of International and Off-Campus Studies.
After his death in 2010, serious sexual assault allegations from St. Olaf alumni surfaced under the revisions of
Title IX
Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
Policy concerning Dittmann and other faculty members. The decision to rename the building was made in 2017, following the pattern of campuses around the country questioning the names of buildings dedicated to notable alumni with contentious histories.
Agnes Mellby Hall
Mellby Hall was constructed in 1938 to meet the needs of the growing female student population overflowing from Ladies’ Hall, the first female dormitory competed in 1879, and Mohn Hall, completed in 1912. The building is dedicated to 1893 alumna Agnes Theodora Mellby, the first woman to graduate from St. Olaf. Born in Christiania, Norway in 1870, Mellby immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1871 and settled in New Richland, Minnesota. After finishing her Academy (1891) and College (1893) studies at St. Olaf, she returned as the Dean of Women and an educator that fall, affectionately known as the Preceptress by those she worked with. Mellby taught English, German, geography, U. S. History, civics, and math, firm in her resolve to see to the well-being of St. Olaf's female population regarding education and housing. She held her position from 1893 until 1909, and continued to work with the college after retiring until her death in 1918.
Agnes Kittelsby Hall
In 1956, Agnes Kittelsby Hall was constructed with rooms for 164 women as an adjacent wing to the Gertrude Hilleboe Hall. It was an all-women's dormitory until St. Olaf residence halls became co-ed. The building is named after Agnes Kittelsby, St. Olaf class of 1900. Like many St. Olaf alumnae, Kittelsby taught various subjects at the college after her graduation. In 1914, she moved to China and established American School Kikungshan, a school for the children of American missionaries.
Thorson Hall
Thorson Hall was constructed as a men's dormitory in 1948. It was one of four dormitories constructed in the 1940s and 1950s to address an increase in enrollment after World War II. The building is named after Harald Thorson (1841-1920), an early benefactor of the college. A businessman, Thorson owned farms, sold horses and mules, and established banks. He was instrumental in establishing St. Olaf's School (as it was first named), choosing the initial 30-acre plot of land and authorizing the first payment for it. He later served as a member of the original Board of Trustees. Thorson's will bequeathed most of his estate to St. Olaf under the stipulation that the money be used for the construction of a new building, Thorson Hall.
Academics
Curriculum
Before graduating, St. Olaf students complete 15-18 required courses in general education credits, including courses in writing, a foreign language, society, religion, ethics, mathematical reasoning, race, social science, and natural science.
Many of the courses are interdisciplinary. St. Olaf offers 41 different majors for the bachelor of arts degree, five for the bachelor of music degree, and 20 areas of concentration, which are pursued independently of majors.
As of the 2020–21 academic year, the student-to-faculty ratio is 12.2 to 1.
The Paracollege lasted for 31 years, from 1969 to 2000, and was an individualized, interdisciplinary option for obtaining the Bachelor of Arts degree. The Paracollege program emphasized student-centered education through workshops, colloquia, tutorials, seminars, and senior concentrations. It was replaced by the Center for Integrative Studies, which allows students to design individual majors.
Admissions
According to the St. Olaf College Common Dataset for the class of 2024,
St. Olaf received 5,229 applications, accepted 2,656 (50.8%), and enrolled 727. The middle 50% range of
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
Composite scores for the class of 2024 was 1160–1370, while the
ACT Composite range was 25–32. Of the 37% of enrolled first-year students who submitted high school class rank, 39% were in the top tenth of their high school classes and 69% ranked in the top quarter. The average high school GPA was 3.68.
Rankings
The 2022 annual ranking by ''
U.S. News & World Report'' rates St. Olaf tied for 62nd among 223 "National Liberal Arts Colleges", 29th among 100 "Best Value Schools", and tied at 27th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching" among 75 ranked liberal arts colleges.
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' in 2019 rated St. Olaf 116th overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking of 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges, and 50th among liberal arts colleges.
''
Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
'' ranked St. Olaf 28th in 2022 among 203 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
St. Olaf was ranked 47th for liberal arts colleges on
Payscale.com
Payscale is an American compensation software and data company which helps employers manage employee compensation and employees understand their worth in the job market. The website was launched on January 1, 2002. It was founded by Joe Giordano a ...
's 2016-17 list of highest-paid graduates.
Student life
Student organizations
More than 250 student organizations are registered at St. Olaf, including academic, athletic, awareness, multicultural, political, religious, service (
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a coeducational service fraternity. It is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of over 25,0 ...
) and other special interest groups. Club sports include rowing, men's and women's Ultimate Frisbee, men's and women's rugby, men's and women's lacrosse, badminton, cycling, judo, and fencing. KSTO 93.1 FM is the student-operated radio station and the ''Olaf Messenger'' (formerly known as the ''Manitou Messenger)'' is the student newspaper. The paper changed its name in 2020 in response to concerns of the appropriation of the word "Manitou" from the language of the original inhabitants of the land the college is built on. Other groups include an on-campus organic farm (STOGROW), an improv comedy troupe (Scared Scriptless), and an EMT (emergency medical technician) organization that is the first responder for campus emergencies. St. Olaf students edit and publish several journals each year, including ''The Reed'', the world's only international undergraduate journal for existential philosophy.
Student government
St. Olaf's Student Government Association (SGA) finances many student activities and organizations on campus. It operates through 10 branches, each managed by an elected executive: Diversity Celebrations Committee, Volunteer Network, Music Entertainment Committee, Student Activities Committee, Student Organizations Committee, Board of Regents Student Committee, The Pause, After Dark Committee, and Political Awareness Committee. Besides these committees, students can serve in the Student Senate to vote on issues such as constitutional bylaws changes and dorm capital improvement funds and communicate with college administrators about campus issues. SGA also maintains Oleville.com, a website containing information about student activities.
Student protests
Ytterboe the Dog
Ytterboe, named after former professor H. T. Ytterboe, was a black dog who became a facet of campus life at St. Olaf in 1942.
Fed and cared for by students, the dog became an unofficial mascot. In 1957, Ytterboe the Dog "allegedly" bit the son of a local police officer Peter Morris. In response, Morris sent two officers to St. Olaf's campus to capture the dog. After he evaded capture, police shot Ytterboe on the library hill, in front of students who were studying for finals. In response, St. Olaf and Carleton students protested, gaining local and national coverage. At the protests, an effigy of the officer who shot Ytterboe was hung from a streetlight and burned. The Minnesota highway patrol was called in to control the protest as students continued demonstrating in Northfield. In response to the protests, the chief of police said, "Nobody loves a dog more than I do. We didn't mean to kill him".
St. Olaf President Clemens M. Granskou commented, "As far as I could see, this is one of these tempests in a teacup that usually take place once in a while in the springtime on a college campus".
Initially, the Northfield Police sent Ytterboe's body to a local landfill, but students retrieved it. Afterward, Ytterboe's head was sent to Minneapolis to be tested for rabies; it tested negative. His body was buried on a slope of Manitou Heights the day after he was shot as a crowd of 2,000 students and members of the community gathered to pay their respects.
ROTC
Between 50 and 75 students from St. Olaf, accompanied by some Carleton students, occupied the St. Olaf administration building on April 16, 1970, demanding that the school cut ties with the
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
. Students occupied the building until Friday afternoon, ending their occupation when President Sidney Rand came to an agreement with the leaders of the protest. The school moved forward on votes within the administration and the board of regents in return for the cessation of "obstructive demonstration".
The St. Olaf protests coincided with a similar occupation at
Macalester College
Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...
.
Sexual misconduct
In 2016, students protested the school's policies on sexual harassment through a T-shirt campaign.
Students donned grey shirts reading "Ask me how my college is protecting my rapist" to draw attention to the school's sexual misconduct policies.
Information about the campaign circulated through social media and was soon picked up by local news sources. In response, the
Office of Civil Rights
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...
of the U.S. Education Department launched an investigation into the college's policies. Soon after, the school officially announced an overhaul of its
Title IX
Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
policies.
Racism
In 2017, a series of notes containing threats and racial slurs appeared. In response, students protested for systemic changes within the school on issues like diversity and inclusion, cultural sensitivity, and hate crimes.
As of May 1, 2017, there had been 9 reported acts of hate speech during the school year.
By occupying campus buildings, blocking entrances to the cafeteria, and boycotting classes, demonstrators pushed the administration to act on a number of demands.
While the protests prompted the administration to reevaluate its policies, an investigation revealed that one of the notes was forged. While the forgery undermined the movement for some, others saw it as a rogue action that did not detract from the progress made.
Climate
In 2019, St. Olaf students joined over four million people worldwide who participated in the
September 2019 climate strikes
The September 2019 climate strikes, also known as the Global Week for Future, were a series of international strikes and protests to demand action be taken to address climate change, which took place from 20–27 September 2019. The strikes' k ...
, a continuation of the
school strike for climate
School Strike for Climate ( sv, Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday ...
movement inspired by Swedish climate activist
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
. On September 20, hundreds of St. Olaf students walked out of class and marched into downtown
Northfield Northfield may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland
* Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland
* Northfield, Birmingham, England
* Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England
United States
* Northfield, Connec ...
, where they joined other Northfield citizens to
raise awareness of the growing threat of global climate change. The St. Olaf strike was organized by the college's Climate Justice Collective (CJC), a group dedicated to increasing campus awareness of climate issues and pushing St. Olaf to divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies.
Music program
St. Olaf's music program was founded by
F. Melius Christiansen
Fredrik Melius Christiansen (April 1, 1871 – June 1, 1955) was a Norway, Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition.
Early life
Fredrik Melius Christiansen, the son of a Norwegian factory worker, was born in ...
in 1903. Its
band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
*Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
,
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
and
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
tour the continental United States annually and have made many international tours, typically occurring triennially. The
St. Olaf Band
The St. Olaf Band an ensemble of approximately 90 musicians, is the touring concert band of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, United States. The band was founded in 1891, and holds the honor of being the first music organization establish ...
, currently under the direction of
Timothy Mahr
Timothy Mahr (born March 20, 1956) is a professor of music at St. Olaf College, and an American composer and conductor.
Early life
Mahr was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory and Composition in 1977 a ...
'78, was the first American college musical organization to conduct a concert tour abroad when it traveled to Norway in 1906.
The
St. Olaf Orchestra
The St. Olaf Orchestra, is the touring symphony orchestra of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. In addition to its annual domestic tours, the St. Olaf Orchestra has performed in Scandinavia, central and eastern Europe, China, and, most recen ...
was conducted for 40 years by Steven Amundson. Under his direction, the orchestra performed
Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
’s Symphony No. 2 (''Resurrection''),
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
’s ''
Petrouchka
''Petrushka'' (french: link=no, Pétrouchka; russian: link=no, Петрушка) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1911 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes compan ...
'' and ''
Rite of Spring
''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...
'',
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
’s ''
La valse,'' and tone poems by
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
. As of 2022, the conductor is Chung Park.
The
St. Olaf Choir
The St. Olaf Choir is a premier a cappella choir based in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1912 by Norwegian immigrant F. Melius Christiansen, the choir has been influential to other church and college choirs for its performance of unaccompanied ...
, conducted by
Anton Armstrong
Anton Eugene Armstrong (born April 26, 1956) is the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir as well as the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota, in the United States. Armstrong became the fourth di ...
’78, was founded by Christiansen in 1907 as the St. John's Lutheran Church Choir in Northfield, a collegiate ensemble. It has toured Europe several times, as well as China,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, and Australia, performing before heads of state and producing more than a dozen recordings. The choir performs in the nationally broadcast annual St. Olaf Christmas Festival, along with the St. Olaf Orchestra and four of the college's other choirs. In 2005 the choir was invited to perform at the White House for President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, First Lady
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...
, and guests to commemorate the National Day of Prayer.
The St. Olaf Jazz I ensemble was awarded the ''
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' magazine award for top undergraduate large ensemble in 2011. Led by St. Olaf music faculty member Dave Hagedorn, the ensemble toured Cuba during March 20–25, 2016.
Other student musical ensembles include The St. Olaf Handbell Choir, Chapel Choir, Cantorei, Manitou Singers, Viking Chorus, Collegiate Chorale, Philharmonia, Norseman Band, and many smaller vocal and instrumental ensembles. There are also student-run music ensembles at St. Olaf: Valhalla Band, Naknefeler Orchestra, and the men's and women's a cappella groups: ''The Limestones'', ''Agnes,'' and ''Krossmen''. In addition, the Gospel Choir of St. Olaf is one of few Midwest college gospel choirs. These groups are not a part of the college's music program and operate independently.
In 2005 the St. Olaf Band, St. Olaf Orchestra, and St. Olaf Choir toured Norway to celebrate its independence centennial.
Ensembles that were founded at St. Olaf include the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Copper Street Brass and the a cappella choral groups
Cantus
A cantus (Latin for "singing", derived from ''cantare''), is an activity organised by Belgian, Dutch, French, and Baltic fraternities. A cantus mainly involves singing traditional songs and drinking beer. It is governed by strict traditional ru ...
, Inpulse, and
Magnum Chorum
Magnum Chorum is a choral ensemble based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Magnum Chorum performs sacred choral music in cathedrals and sanctuaries throughout the Midwest. The 65 voice auditioned choir presents concerts, commissions new sacred wo ...
.
St. Olaf is also the location of the sacred choral music radio show ''Sing for Joy''.
Athletics
St. Olaf's athletic teams are called the Oles. Their colors are black and gold. The college is a member of the
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...
level of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
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 an ...
(NCAA), primarily competing in the
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian.
...
(MIAC) in most sports since the 1974–75 academic year (of which it was also a member from 1920–21 to 1949–50), while its Alpine and Nordic skiing teams compete as Independents. The Oles competed in the
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Midwest Conference (MWC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Midwest Conference was ...
(MCAC, known as the Midwest Conference since 1994–95) from 1952–53 to 1973–74.
St. Olaf competes in 26 intercollegiate varsity sports (13 for men and 13 for women). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, hockey, skiing (Nordic and Alpine), soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track & field (indoor and outdoor); women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, skiing (Nordic and Alpine), soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball. Former sports included men's wrestling.
St. Olaf also has many student-coached club and
intramural
Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...
teams that compete within the student body and also inter-college. Notable are the St. Olaf
Ultimate
Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album)
* ''Ultimate'' (Pet Shop Boys album)
*''Ultimate!'', an album by The Yardbirds
*''The Ultimate (Bryan Adams Album)'', a compilatio ...
teams, The Berzerkers and Durga (team name changed to Vortex in 2015), which make an annual trip to a national collegiate tournament (Spring Ultimax) in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. The women's Ultimate teams have been successful at the national level for many years. In 2011, Durga played at the Division III Nationals tournament in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, finishing in seventh place. The team also played in the DIII Nationals tournament in 2014. In 2017, Vortex again qualified for the national tournament in Kentucky and placed seventh. In 2018, Vortex won the DIII national championship in Rockford, Illinois. After that success, Vortex placed third at the DIII National tournament in College Station, Texas. The St. Olaf Dance Team supports St. Olaf athletic teams (football, men's/women's soccer and basketball) with halftime performances and competes in intercollegiate events every year. It has performed in the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse team's halftime show and placed third in its division at the 2011 St. Thomas Invitational.
Rivalry with Carleton College
Football
![090926-Saint-Olaf-vs-Augsburg-American-Football](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/090926-Saint-Olaf-vs-Augsburg-American-Football.jpg)
St. Olaf is a traditional athletic rival of its crosstown neighbor
Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
. The annual
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
game between the
Knights
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
and the Oles was recently dubbed the "Cereal Bowl" in honor of the
Malt-O-Meal production facility in Northfield. The annual winner receives the "Goat Trophy", which was created by Minneapolis dentist Ranthus B. Fouch in 1931.
The rivalry between St. Olaf and Carleton began with a Carleton victory over St. Olaf in 1919. A statue of an eagle in Northfield's
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
Veterans' Memorial (in Bridge Square) is turned to face the college that wins the annual match between the schools.
These football teams are also significant for having played the only
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 an ...
-sanctioned "Liter Bowl" metric football game in history, which St. Olaf won in 1977.
Cross country
The Great Karhu Shoe Race is an annual rivalry between the
cross country teams of Carleton and St. Olaf College. The race was founded in 1972 when Carleton Coach Bill Huyck was in search of a new championship course for the Midwest Conference Meet. St. Olaf coach Bill Thornton agreed to a competition between the runners on each team who were not on the
varsity top 7. The varsity athletes were still racing later in the season. The trophy for the 1972 race was a pair of Karhu Shoes worth $10. These shoes have remained the trophy to this day.
Several traditions exist between the St. Olaf and Carleton runners at the race. As the race typically falls near Halloween, many of the runners will often don costumes.
[.] The runners for the St. Olaf men use safety pins to attach gummy bears to their shorts, which the Carleton runners attempt to rip off.
Kierkegaard Library
The Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library is a research collection dedicated to the work of the 19th-century Danish
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
(1813–1855), housed at St. Olaf College,
Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census.
History
Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...
. Along with the
Søren Kierkegaard Research Center at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, it is one of two internationally significant research facilities devoted to the study of Kierkegaard. The collection began as the private library of Howard V. Hong and
Edna H. Hong, assembled during their complete translation of Kierkegaard's writings into English, the first volume of which received the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
. Subsequent curators of the library were philosophers
C. Stephen Evans
Charles Stephen Evans (born 1948) is an American philosopher. He is one of the United States' leading experts on Søren Kierkegaard and has also published extensively on subjects including philosophy of religion and the relationship of psychology ...
and, from 1995 to 2022, Gordon D. Marino.
The Hongs donated the collection to St. Olaf College in 1976 with the understanding that it be made available as a center for research and publication. The library's current holdings include over 11,000 volumes, 3,500 periodical articles and a partial replication of Kierkegaard's personal library as well as titles Kierkegaard might have had access to during his lifetime. It hosts visiting researchers throughout the year (including an active summer fellows program) and periodic conferences and research seminars. Activities in the summer include Danish courses and an International Conference every fourth year. Yearlong Kierkegaard Fellowships see scholars living in St. Olaf's Kierkegaard House. The library's director is St. Olaf College philosophy faculty member Anna Louise Strelis Söderquist.
St. Olaf students edit and publish ''The Reed'', an undergraduate journal of existential philosophy, from the library. ''The Reed'' began in 1998, and since then has published articles from undergraduates across the globe every year.
Flaten Art Museum
St. Olaf is home to the Flaten Art Museum, in the Center for Art and Dance. The museum holds over 4,000 works on rotating display to the public. The vast majority of the works were received through donations, but a few were purchased. The museum also displays senior studio majors' work at the end of the year to give them experience in having artwork displayed in a professional setting.
Poster collection
In 2015 St. Olaf accepted a collection of 147 rare
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
-era propaganda posters as part of a donation from the estate of Richard N. Tetlie. The posters were created by the Nazi regime and the Vichy French government for display across occupied Europe and were collected by Major Duncan Emrich, historian for General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, during the liberation of Europe. The collection provides insight into how the Nazis and their allies attempted to foster racial ideology, encourage distrust of the Allies, and rally support for their cause by manipulating the fear, anxiety, traditions, and political circumstances of the people in the occupied territories. The museum contacted the Midwest Art Conservation Center for a full assessment of the collection in hopes that the posters can be restored. They could then be used in exhibits and as resources to teach about the dangers of propaganda and extremism.
Notable alumni
Notable St. Olaf alumni include civil rights activist
James Reeb
James Joseph Reeb (January 1, 1927 – March 11, 1965) was an American Unitarian Universalist minister, pastor, and activist during the civil rights movement in Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts. While participating in the Selma to ...
’50,
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
Gold Award-winning architect
Edward Sövik
Edward Anders Sövik, also Sovik, (June 9, 1918 – May 4, 2014) was an American architect and author. His most influential book, ''Architecture for Worship'', covered the modern period in church architecture.
Early life
Sövik was born in 19 ...
’39, Minnesota Governor
Al Quie
Albert Harold Quie ( ; born September 18, 1923) is an American politician and farmer. Quie, who served as member of the United States House of Representatives and Governor of Minnesota, is regarded as a moderate Republican. Quie was strongly c ...
’50, Oscar-winning screenwriter
Barry Morrow
Barry Morrow (born June 12, 1948) is an American screenwriter and producer. He wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay for ''Rain Man''. He is the father of Emmy Award-winning animator, writer, and storyboard artist, Clayton Morrow, and fathe ...
’70, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Gretchen Morgenson
Gretchen C. Morgenson (born January 2, 1956) is an American, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist notable as longtime writer of the ''Market Watch'' column for the Sunday "Money & Business" section of ''The New York Times''. In November, 2017, sh ...
’76, and writers
Ole Rolvaag 1905,
Siri Hustvedt
Siri Hustvedt (born February 19, 1955) is an American novelist and essayist. Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of non-fiction. Her books include ''The Blindfold'' (1992), ''The Ench ...
’77 (winner of the
Princess of Asturias Award
The Princess of Asturias Awards ( es, Premios Princesa de Asturias, links=no, ast, Premios Princesa d'Asturies, links=no), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 ( es, Premios Príncipe de Asturias, links=no), are a series of a ...
in Letters), ornithologist
Margaret Sordahl, and Traci Lambrecht ’89 (of
P.J. Tracy). Game designer
Jonathan Tweet
Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', ''Over the Edge (game), Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dra ...
studied at the college, as did the first female
major league baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
coach,
Justine Siegal
Justine Siegal (born 1975) is an American baseball Coach (baseball), coach, Physical education, sports educator and the founder of Baseball For All. In 2009, she became the first female coach of a professional men's baseball team, when she worked f ...
.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan (born May 3, 1987 in Intibucá, Honduras) is an Honduran American transgender rights activist and the first openly transgender person to work as a White House staffer. She was also the first openly transgender legislative st ...
graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and Norwegian.
Andrew Volstead
Andrew John Volstead () (October 31, 1860 – January 20, 1947) was an American member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota, 1903–1923, and a member of the Republican Party. His name is closely associated with the ...
1881 introduced the
National Prohibition Act
The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress, designed to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established the prohibition of alcoholic d ...
to Congress in 1919.
Cheryl Willman is an American cancer researcher and the executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs.
Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope separation f ...
, recipient of the 1939
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
, studied for a year at St. Olaf.
In popular culture
St. Olaf is mentioned in the works of Minnesota author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
, whose character
Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby (originally named James Gatz) is the titular fictional character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel ''The Great Gatsby''. The character is an enigmatic ''nouveau riche'' millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion on Long Island whe ...
of ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
'' attended the college briefly and worked as a janitor. The college is also frequently mentioned in
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...
's radio program ''
A Prairie Home Companion
''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...
,'' which broadcast its show from St. Olaf on November 17, 2001, and November 19, 2011.
The fictional Minnesota city of St. Olaf was the hometown of
Rose Nylund
Rose Nylund is a character from the sitcom television series ''The Golden Girls'' and its spin-off, '' The Golden Palace''. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years, totalling 204 episodes.
Rose was supposed to be played by Rue McClanahan, ...
in the
TV show ''
The Golden Girls
''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...
.'' In the TV show the fictional city's sister city was St. Gustav, Minnesota, a nod to
Gustavus Adolphus College
Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its nam ...
, in nearby
St. Peter, Minnesota
St. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. It is 10 miles north of the Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area. The population was 12,066 at the 2020 census. St. Peter is the county seat of Nicollet County and home ...
.
Betty White
Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work in the entertainment indust ...
, the actress who played Rose, visited St. Olaf and was given an honorary membership in St. Olaf's chapter of the theater honorary society.
The St. Olaf Choir can be heard performing
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's ''Requiem'' with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Nike's "Jordan XXII-Takeover" commercial. The choir is also on the soundtrack of the 1972 film ''
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
''The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid'' is a 1972 American Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written and directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starring Cliff Robertson. Th ...
''.
In October 2008 the
Coen Brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
shot scenes at St. Olaf for their film ''
A Serious Man
''A Serious Man'' is a 2009 American black comedy-drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1967, the film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesota Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and perso ...
''.
After a long search of many campuses, they chose St. Olaf's old Science Center because it had the late 1960s look of the movie. St. Olaf has since built a new science center and remodeled the old facility into Tomson Hall.
See also
*
List of St. Olaf College people
This list of St. Olaf Alumni contains links to Wikipedia articles about notable alumni and other people connected to St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.
Notable alumni
Composers and conductors
* Kenneth Jenn ...
*
List of colleges and universities in Minnesota
There are nearly 200 post-secondary institutions in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Twin Cities campus of the public University of Minnesota is the largest university in the state with 51,721 enrolled for fall 2010, making it the sixth-largest ...
*
Higher education in Minnesota
There are nearly 200 post-secondary institutions in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Twin Cities campus of the public University of Minnesota is the largest university in the state with 51,721 enrolled for fall 2010, making it the sixth-largest ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Olaf College
Liberal arts colleges in Minnesota
Universities and colleges affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Education in Rice County, Minnesota
Educational institutions established in 1874
University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
Buildings and structures in Rice County, Minnesota
Tourist attractions in Rice County, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
Private universities and colleges in Minnesota
1874 establishments in Minnesota
National Register of Historic Places in Rice County, Minnesota