The story
Early years
The university was chartered by the State of Washington as the Pacific Lutheran Academy on December 11, 1890. In naming the university, the Norwegian immigrants who founded it recognized the role that a Lutheran educational institution on the Western frontier could play in the region. They wanted the institution to help immigrants adjust to their new land and find jobs, but they also wanted it to produce graduates who would serve church and community. Education—and educating for service—was a venerated part of the Scandinavian traditions from which these pioneers came.
Classes first began in 1894 with the student body consisting of 30 students. Tuition at the time cost $1 per week. Bjug Harstad was the school's first president. The entire university was housed in one building from 1894 to 1912. This building was formerly known as Old Main but has since been renamed Harstad Hall in honor of the school's founding president.
In 1898, the university's name was changed to Pacific Lutheran Academy and Business College. Attempting to eliminate the debt plaguing the school, Bjug Harstad left for Alaska to search for gold. He spent one and a half years there but was unable to discover any gold. In 1902, the PLA athletic club celebrated its first victory in men's basketball with a 15–12 win over the University of Washington. Five years later women would be allowed to play basketball.
In 1912, a second building, a gymnasium, was constructed on the university campus. It included a track, a stage, and a science laboratory in the basement. Two years later students built a tennis court in what is now Red Square. By 1914, PLA received full accreditation meaning students could transfer to universities and retain their credits.
Although founded as a university, the institution functioned primarily as an academy until 1918, when it suspended instruction for two years. It reopened as the two-year Pacific Lutheran College, after merging with Columbia Lutheran College, previously located in Everett. Further consolidations occurred when Spokane College merged with PLC in 1929. Four-year baccalaureate degrees were first offered in education in 1939 and in the liberal arts in 1942. The institution was reorganized as a university in 1960, reclaiming its original name.
Pacific Lutheran College
In 1920, the school merged with Columbia College in Everett, Washington, and reopened as Pacific Lutheran College. With the reopening of the school, came the construction of the chapel. Classes were held in the chapel until 1967. The chapel was also the home of Trinity Lutheran Church until the congregation built its own church in 1937. The school's first football team was launched in 1926. They were originally known as the "Greyhounds", then the "Gladiators" (although they are unofficially referred to as the "Lutes"). Also in 1926, Polly Langlow, a member of PLC's women's basketball team, scored 270 points in 12 games setting a national record. In 1927, the college's great musical tradition, the Choir of the West, was founded. The Choir acquired its name on a trip to the Great Lakes region.
Another merger occurred in 1929 when Spokane College, another Northwest Norwegian Lutheran school, closed. Its academic records were merged with PLC's, and several of its faculty members came to PLC. In 1937 the university acquired the golf course through a generous donation. In 1937, the cornerstone was also laid for the library. The first of several visits by Norwegian royalty happened in 1939, when Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha came to PLC's campus.
During the early 1940s, PLC's student body was almost all female as most men were fighting in World War II. People returning to college post-war, specifically veterans using the G.I. Bill, caused a boom in enrollment. The student body at that time was half veteran and no longer mostly female. A number of buildings were completed in the following years including Ramstad Hall, Memorial Gymnasium, and the Student Union Building (now renamed as Anderson University Center). In 1952 the new Chapel-Music-Speech Building was constructed and later named Eastvold Chapel (renamed in 2013 as the Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts). Chapel became mandatory for the first time with attendance being taken and seats being assigned. Two years later North and South Halls, the first dormitories, were built (later renamed Hong Hall and Hinderlie Hall, respectively.) Until that time students had lived in Old Main or boarded with Parkland families.
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University status
Reclaiming the original name, Pacific Lutheran College became known as Pacific Lutheran University in 1960. Along with the name of the school being changed the PLU mascot was also changed from the Gladiators to the Knights. In the 1960s a decade-long construction boom began and 10 buildings were built by 1970, almost as many as had been built in the previous 70 years. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of great change on PLU's campus when restrictions on student life began to loosen. Chapel was no longer required and two dormitories became coed. Girls' dormitories' restrictive hours were replaced with a card-key system, and opposite-sex visitation was allowed 3 times a week instead of 2 times a year. Dancing was allowed for the first time on campus in 1963. Several well-known entertainers performed at PLU including Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, The Steve Miller Band, The Righteous Brothers, B.B. King, Ike & Tina Turner, and Bob Hope.
Throughout its history PLU has remained close to its Scandinavian roots. In 1975 the school played host to King Olav V of Norway. Three years later in 1978, 14 members of Stortinget, the Norwegian Parliament, visited PLU. In 1982 King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden visited PLU and in 1983, Princess Astrid of Norway paid a visit to the university. Also in 1983, a monument was erected in Valle Municipality in Norway, to honor the Rev. Bjug Harstad, founder of PLU. By 1989 a Scandinavian Cultural Center would be completed on the lower floor of the University Center. King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway came to PLU in 1995 with Queen Sonja receiving an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway visited PLU in 1999. King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway visited PLU once again in the summer of 2015. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, PLU awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to King Harald V of Norway.
Presidents
The first President of the Pacific Lutheran University was Rev. Bjug Harstad. The entire university was housed in one building from 1894 to 1912. The building was formerly known as Old Main but has since been renamed Harstad Hall in honor of the founding president.
The 14th president of the Pacific Lutheran University is L. Allan Belton, appointed in April 2019 after serving in the role as acting president for the past two years.
AAUP censure
In June 2020, PLU was added to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) list of censured administrations. An AAUP report found that a long-serving PLU faculty member had been dismissed in violation of the AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure allegedly in retaliation for engaging in labor union organizing activities.
Reductions and reallocations
In April 2021, the board of regents at PLU announced its approval for cuts to 36 full-time faculty equivalent (FTE) positions, which included some tenured faculty members losing their positions. The university planned to discontinue two majors (German, Nordic Studies), four minors (Classical Studies, Norwegian, German), and one master's program (Master of Science in Finance). The cuts also affected various programs in other ways. For example, some departments, including anthropology, lost so many faculty that they had to give up their majors. All cuts were planned to be implemented beginning with the fall 2022 semester. That was expected to save between $2.5 million and $4 million.
The cuts announced in April 2021 followed cuts of about 31 FTE faculty announced during the 2017–2018 academic year, with savings of around $2.8 million. Cuts announced in 2018 also affected some majors and minors. PLU had 376 faculty members in September 2017. More than 1 in 6 FTE faculty positions (67 positions) will have been eliminated as a result of the cuts announced in 2017-2018 and April 2021. The faculty cuts announced in 2017-2018 were made largely through attrition or enticing professors close to retirement to retire early, whereas the cuts announced in April 2021 involved more involuntary cuts, with some tenured and tenure-track and most contingent professors involuntarily losing their jobs.
From Wikipedia’s article on Pacific Lutheran University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5