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Articles

From The Alumni Director What Christmas is All About By Robby Larson, Director of Alumni Relations

My absolute favorite is one that I hope will never be shelved: A Charlie Brown Christmas. This classic, which first aired in 1965, is as true today as it ever was. More...

Campus Connection Making Movies and Promoting Our History By Emily Rastovich '09, President, Bruin Heritage Society

News

Winter Serve Trips
Thirty-four George Fox University students and employees will spend the first week of January on volunteer service trips in Oregon. Two teams will go out as part of the university’s 17th annual Winter Serve program. Faculty, staff, and alumni will lead student teams to Portland, the Oregon Coast, and Bellingham, Wash.

Participating students pay part of the trip costs, and the remainder is subsidized by the student government. A student committee plans, organizes, and implements both the university’s winter and spring serve trips.

The following are brief descriptions of the upcoming Winter Serve trips:

• A 12-member team will go to Portland and work with several shelters and ministries serving food and working in a ministry-based thrift store. The group will also install cabinets, paint, and help finish a new shelter that will house 30 families.
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• A 20-member team will travel to Twin Rocks Friends Camp in Rockaway, Ore. The group will help the camp prepare for the upcoming year and participate in worship, reflection, prayer, Bible study, and dialogue together.

Announcements


Virtual Women’s Center Seeks Alumni Involvement

Have you been looking for an opportunity to influence the lives of our female students? Alumni women are invited to write an alumna journal entry for the George Fox Virtual Women's Center,

Writing and submitting your entry: Go to www.vwc.georgefox.edu and click on the “Alumni Journal” link. You will find a number of alumni journal entries for you to view. Your entry should be brief, addressing the following:

• Your basic George Fox info; major, graduation date
• What you are currently doing
• Facts about your career or personal journeys
• Words of wisdom you want to share

Students have requested pictures of the alumna authors to make it more personal. Your entry will be put into a schedule to be posted for six months, then archived. For security reasons, only first names will be published and a “release to publish” form will be provided. If you are interested in submitting a journal entry, please e-mail Bonnie Jerke at bjerke@georgefox.edu.

When alumni receive a new issue of the George Fox Journal magazine, many head straight to the “Alumni

Tuition Free Course Auditing
Alumni who have graduated from George Fox have the opportunity to audit one undergraduate or graduate course per year – tuition free. This program provides graduated George Fox alumni the opportunity to investigate courses on a limited basis and to continue lifelong learning at their alma mater. As the spring semester approaches, now is the time to review the course schedule and determine which class is right for you. For more details on this program, and to get an application form, click here.

Highlighting Our History

No piece of George Fox University’s campus has had as storied a history as the university’s Victory Bell. This seemingly uncomplicated object has been the subject of numerous student and faculty pranks and a fierce college rivalry. It is also one of the oldest items on the Newberg campus. For nearly 70 years, starting in 1885 at Pacific Academy, the Victory Bell hung in the tower of the original Hoover Hall. The bell was used to call students to class, and to celebrate athletic victories, academic triumphs, and financial campaign successes. When Hoover Hall was moved to the current campus location in 1892, the bell moved with it. 

There it hung in faithful service until the 1950s, when a group of students, including future George Fox vice president Sam Farmer (’56), along with classmates Pete Snow (’56), and Roger Smith (’56), dismantled the bell and lowered it by rope. “Unfortunately, the rope broke,” Farmer lamented. “It made a terrible BONG when it hit the side of Hoover, then buried itself in the ground below. The next day, the junior class dug it up, hauled it off, and eventually mounted it on wheels in the gym.” Shortly after this incident, Hoover Hall was razed by the school.

Several years later, the bell was stolen by a group of students from Reed College in Portland. Many believe this was done in retaliation for the large “GFC” that was burned into the Reed campus lawn by some George Fox students. Shortly thereafter at a basketball game at Reed, the beloved Victory Bell was displayed at halftime by the Reed students, nearly setting off a riot. George Fox students chased the Reed students from the campus, eventually catching up to them on the Hawthorne Bridge. During this confrontation, the bell slipped from the Reed students’ grasp and disappeared with a splash into the Willamette River. George Fox President Milo Ross issued a stern letter to his counterpart at Reed demanding the bell’s hasty return. In the end, Reed paid to have a diver recover the bell.   

To celebrate the school’s centennial in 1991, the university built the Centennial Tower (a gift from longtime friend and benefactor Esther Klages) on the site of the original Hoover Hall. At that time, the decision was made to hang the Victory Bell in the tower, returning it to nearly the same location that it had hung from 1892 until the early 1950s. It was also decided that the bell’s clapper should be permanently welded to the side of the bell. The prevailing thought was that if the bell could still ring, students would try to find ways to make it ring, as they had for generations before. Ironically, Sam Farmer was involved in this decision.

Today, the Victory Bell silently hangs at the very top of the Centennial Tower. It now serves as a poignant reminder of the rich history and tradition of George Fox: both our past victories and those yet to come.

Do you have a story, or memory, of the George Fox Victory Bell? If so, email it to us at bruinheritage@georgefox.edu