Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1920-12-22
LUTHER COLLEGE
in HER BEST YEAR
Has More Students Now Than at
Any Time in Her History, and
College is Making Rapid
Strides
LUTHER HAS A
WIDESPREAD CONSTITUENCY
of the l53 Men in the College De-
partment Minnesota Contributes
56, Iowa Second With 43
and North Dakota Third
With 20

Professor Tinglestad has just COM
pleted second survey of the sources
of the college students. The first
survey classifying the students ac-
cording to the school at which they
had received their secondary educa-
ton, showed that the Luther College
Preparatory Department had fur
nished most of the students, that
Park Region Luther College of Fer
gus Falls, Minnesota was second and
that Luther Academy was third.
Among the High Schools, Decorah
High School took first place.
The second survey classifes them
according to states from which they
come. Of the 153 men in the College
department, Minnesota contributes
56. Iowa is second with 43, and
North Dakota third with 20. % have
their homes east of the Mississippi
river, in South Dakota, and
in the other states of the Union.
The inclusion of the Preparatory de-
partment in the figures changes
their appearance somewhat. In the
total 234 men enrolled as students
at present, Iowa sends so, Mime
sofa has II, North Dakota has %,
South Dakota 10, the district east of
the Mississippi 81, the Pacific Coast
5, the Rocky Mountain district 1,
Colorado /, Nebraska /, and South
Africa 2. These last 2 are sons Of
Missionary II. Otte, graduatsA Of
the college ~a's'~ has dedicated his
life to work among the Zulu people
and has sent his sons back to his
Alma Mater for their secondary and
college training.
The most apparent thing about
the above figures is that Luther has
a widespread constituency. The
Northern half of Minnesota and the
state of North Dakota together con-
tribute two more students to the
college department than the state
of Iowa. These 45 men from this
district travel at least 800 miles
each to come to school, and all of
those from North Dakota, and there
are 20 of them, come at least 400
miles and several over 500. EXami-
nation of like surveys from other
schools show decidedly different
tendency on the part of students.
The home state of the college is re-
presented by about three-fourths of
the students in majority of the
cases and all the other states by the
remaining one-fourth. Luther's wide
spread constituency is, of course, due
to the fact that such large number
of the, Alumni have settled in these
removed districts. However, the val
ue of this widespread constituency
to the, city of Decorah ought to be
minimized. The fact that over half
of the men at College are going to
their homes over a hundred miles
from Decorah is bound to spread
Deoorah's name to many places
where, if it were not for the college,
it would be as little known as are
most of the small towns surrounding
Decorah now. And when a person
comes to the last analysis, adver-
tising is nothing more than "talk-
ing it up" Luther men are good at
talking it up and most Of them
have been made to like Decorah we'll
enough to do some real talking for
the city. 1t is probably safe to say
that. as an unintentional advertiser,
Luther College annually calls the ars
tention of more people to the name
I"Decorah' than any other advertiser
which, the city has. Luther is at
present making more strenuous eff
forts to enlarge itself than ever be-
fore and now has more students than
lat any time in its history. The Col7
Ilege is thoroughly grateful for all
the support the city has given it.
: Without this support such things as
} intercollegiate athletics would be
out of the question since the student
body alone could not begin to sup
port athletic teams, without unreas-
onably high athletic fee. In her
campaign for more students and
more equipment Luther needs the
continuation of that support more
than ever and hopes that she is at
least in part giving some returns for
what She receives, though they may