The COVID-19 pandemic is far from the first outbreak that Lafayette has faced throughout its history. How the College and the Lehigh Valley handled this pandemic and all pandemics past has been recorded and archived by both the College Archivist, Elaine Stomber, and the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, headquartered on Northampton Street. From […]
Before the college’s downtown campus dedicated multiple buildings to provide a central hub for the arts, there was Williams Center for the Arts. It was the first primary location for the campus’ art endeavors and continues to serve as the home of the arts up the hill. The need for students to have a central […]
Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and protests and marches to show solidarity among women occurred around the world. At Lafayette, achieving diversity has been a struggle for women and other minorities. Breaking the barriers meant taking the heat, according to the Oral History Project (OHP) sponsored by the college. Though Lafayette has nearly the same […]
Lafayette is not known for its diversity, but sparingly, students of color are dipped in the college’s history. This does not mean, however, that Lafayette is a model of inclusiveness and diversity, according to some students of color on campus. While Lafayette’s record may be lacking students of color, black history is complex and engrained […]
The Zeta Psi House is 107 years old. It was built to be a home for a fraternity, but it has become a source of history for the college and the Easton community. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2001, a designation given to buildings across the country that are “worthy of preservation,” according to […]
As the college expands, the future of Newman House remains up in the air, but the history it contains stretches back longer than its current home. The house, located at 119 McCartney St., serves as a communal space for the college’s chapter of the Newman Association, an organization providing for a network of Catholic students. The association […]
The Portlock Black Cultural Center (PBCC), now located at 101 McCartney Street on College Hill, was not always where it stands today. Before the PBCC, students used a converted classroom in Watson Hall as a Black Activities Lounge, according to a statement released by Lafayette’s Office of Public Information on April 13, 1970. In the […]
In addition to several new buildings and 400 more students, the college announced over the summer that the ground under the Hillel House may be transformed. Part of the plans may include tearing down the Hillel House, Portlock Black Culture Center and Newman House to build new dorm buildings and a parking lot. The Hillel House was founded […]
Today, South College is known to Lafayette students as one of the many dorms on campus, one of the many options a student might end up with after the annual housing lottery. Yet, in 1833, South College was the only building you could live in as a student; in fact, it was the only building on […]
Editor’s note: With expansion plans to put more buildings in the college’s future, The Lafayette is also taking a step back and looking at how buildings at Lafayette have changed through the years. This is the first of a series of articles focused on that history. When looking at Hogg Hall from the Quad, one […]
Lafayette College is celebrating its 190th birthday this year. With a history that includes some well-known alumni and a future that includes plans of expansion, it is also time to look back at its founding. In 1824, an accomplished community member, James Madison Porter, met with citizens of Easton who wished to found a college. […]
Questions of race and diversity continue to be debated on college campuses across the country. In celebration of Black History Month, The Lafayette dug through the college archives to examine the long history of black students on campus to highlight their struggles and triumphs throughout the years, starting from Lafayette’s very first class. Lafayette College […]
Tracing the 35-year legacy of the college’s biggest party Seniors, grab your best bow-ties and polish your leather pumps, because the 100 Nights dance is back for its 34th year this weekend at the Steelstacks in Bethlehem. This weekend will celebrate the remaining 100 days and nights before commencement in May.The dance is a tradition […]
Plaque commemorates Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry When walking by Kirby House, students may notice the recent addition to the Quad, an aluminum pole and plaque commemorating the 150th Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry game, which took place at Yankee Stadium last November. Installed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), and paid for by the college, the plaque is […]
