Founding

Gonzaga University was founded in 1887 by Italian-American Joseph Cataldo (1837–1928), who had come in 1865 as a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. In 1880, Cataldo built a schoolhouse about 10 to 12 mi (16 to 19 km) northeast of Spokane on the Peone Prairie, to serve children of the Upper Spokane Indians. Cataldo was concerned about the influence and expansion of Protestant schools on the region's native people, and by 1881 was discussing building a Jesuit college with other Jesuit leaders.

The Jesuits chose a location at Spokane Falls (later Spokane) due to its centrality in the Washington, Idaho and Montana region. The Jesuits purchased 320 acres of prime real estate in the city's central business district north of the Spokane River for $936. The Northern Pacific Railway was holding the land in reserve, but Cataldo was able to convince railroad executive John W. Sprague to allow the sale to build the school.^{[13]: 31–38}

The City of Spokane offered to help pay to build the new college, on the condition that it be a whites only school, in spite of Cataldo's original purpose to educate the local native population.^[8] Cataldo's letters seeking the support of Church leadership in Rome warned that Methodists and other Protestants were building schools and that the city funding could go to them if the school was not built soon enough.^[8]

Inaugural class

Construction was delayed until 1886, and the school opened in 1887 with Father James Rebmann serving as the first Father Superior and seven boys enrolled. They were taught by 17 faculty, made up of Jesuit priests and Jesuits in training, scholastics. By the end of the year, more students enrolled, and two were expelled, ending the year with a student body of 18 boys, all white. Father Joseph Joset, a Jesuit missionary, attempted to enroll two native American boys but was rebuffed due to the whites-only policy.^{[8][13]: 84 [14][15]} Father Rebmann told Joset that the school was only open to "Americans," which he did not consider Indians to be.^[13]: 84 Non-Catholic boys were also rejected, at least in the college's first years.^[13]: 84

Expelled students might have run afoul of rules against offenses like theft, disobedience, impurity, or bans on alcohol and tobacco. The boys were supervised always and not allowed off-campus without a chaperone. They woke at 5:30 AM, and worked until lights out at 8:30 PM. Students attended Mass six days a week, twice on Sundays, and faced often daunting advancement exams. The school was divided into a Preparatory section for elementary school-age boys, an Academic section with Third, Second, and First divisions, and an upper-division like a liberal arts college, for Poetry, Rhetoric and Philosophy. In the second year, enrollment began with 35 boys, 27 of whom were still attending at year's end. By 1890, three of the original 17 faculty members remained. The original Father Superior was followed by Father Charles Mackin, who was replaced in 1891 by Father John Baptist Rene. He served until 1893 and was replaced by Father Leopold Van Gorp.^{[8][13]: 87–90 [16]}

Students were not allowed to advance to higher classes except upon passage of rigorous examinations that were overseen by the Prefect of Studies. Students might become sick from anxiety while preparing and some withdrew rather than face the exams.^[13]: 89

Gonzaga conferred its first Bachelor of Arts degrees to two students. A four-story building was planned in 1897, which opened in 1899 as the New Gonzaga. In 1892, with an enrollment of 50 boys, football, called "college-down", was first played at Gonzaga on Thanksgiving Day. The same year, Gonzaga added a new dormitory, and a wood-framed St. Aloysius Church, and the campus got electric power service for the first time.^[8]

Cardinal Bea House Scandal

In 2018, the Center for Investigative Reporting published evidence that the Cardinal Bea House, owned by the Jesuit order and located next to Gonzaga's campus, was used by the Catholic Church as a retirement home for priests with histories of sexual predation and abuse from across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, from the 1970s through 2016.^[17][18] Sexually abusive priests were quietly kept there, out of contact with vulnerable populations yet shielded from any liability for the abuse they had committed.^[17] The last abusive priest moved out of the Cardinal Bea House in 2016.^[19]

The Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper questioned Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh's statements that he did not know, before or during his time as president, about the abusive priests kept at the Cardinal Bea House.^[20][21]

Presidents

• James Rebmann 1886–1890
• Charles Mackin 1890–1891
• John B. Rene 1891–1893
• Leopold Van Gorp 1893–1894
• Lawrence Palladino 1894–1896
• James Rebmann 1896–1899
• George de la Motte 1899–1901
• Joseph Raphael John Crimont 1901–1904
• Francis Dillon 1904–1905
• Herman Goller 1905–1909
• Louis Taelman 1909–1913
• James Brogan 1913–1920
• John McHugh 1920–1921
• Walter Fitzgerald 1921–1927
• Daniel Reidy 1927–1930
• John Keep 1930–1934
• Leo Robinson 1934–1942
• Francis Altman 1942–1945
• Francis Corkery 1945–1957
• Edmund Morton 1957–1961
• John P. Leary 1961–1969
• Richard E. Twohy 1969–1974
• Bernard J. Coughlin 1974–1996
• Edward Glynn 1996–1997
• Robert J. Spitzer 1998–2009
• Thayne McCulloh 2010–present

Public Transit

The Gonzaga campus has direct access to the following Spokane Transit Authority routes:

Table updated for STA July 2023 service change.

Admissions

Gonzaga's undergraduate admission standards are considered "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.^[29]

For the undergraduate Class of 2021 (enrolling fall 2017), Gonzaga received 7,162 applications, accepted 4,835 (67.5%), and enrolled 1,048.^[30] The freshman enrolled for 2017 had an average GPA of 3.76, an average ACT of 27, an average SAT Critical Reading score of 597, an average Math score of 607, and an average composite score of 1204.^[4]

Rankings

Gonzaga is ranked 79th in the U.S. News & World Report 2020 rankings of national universities.^[35] The School of Engineering and Applied Science is ranked tied for 18th best undergraduate engineering program nationwide at schools where doctorates are not offered.^[35] Forbes ranks Gonzaga the 170th best school in the country, 110th in private colleges, and 31st overall in the West.^[36] Additionally, Gonzaga is listed among The Princeton Review's rankings of the best 382 colleges and in the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which ranks 321 colleges in the United States, Canada, and England.^[37] In 2022, U.S. News ranked Gonzaga's MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship 14th in Entrepreneurship.^[38]

Intramural and club sports

Gonzaga University has intramural and club sports for each season, open to all students, and over 72% of the student population participates at various levels from competitive to recreational. In the fall, Gonzaga has soccer, flag football, volleyball, dodgeball, 3-on-3 basketball, badminton, and various tournaments. In the winter, it has soccer, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, bench press competitions, innertube basketball, and handball tournaments. In the spring there is softball, volleyball, triathlon, soccer, and home run derbies.^[47][48]

Since the mid-1990s, Gonzaga has become known for its men's basketball program. The Zags (as they are popularly known) have participated in every single March Madness tournament since 1999, and were national runners up in 2017 and 2021. (see Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball)

Gonzaga also has an Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team, which has won 15 championships in the last 16 years. It has repeatedly won the Douglas MacArthur Award, given annually to the best Army ROTC program in the Western United States.^[49][50]