Collegian 01.30.2025

Suspect arrested in school threat case

By Michaela Estruth Senior Editor

Police arrested Kevin Noah Minder in Lucas County, Ohio, Wednesday, for recent threats against Hillsdale Community Schools, Hillsdale County Prosecuting Attorney Jamie Wisniewski announced in a press release Wednesday afternoon.

“On Jan. 28, the Hillsdale County prosecuting attorney’s office issued charges for threat of terrorism, malicious use of a telecommunications device, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm against Kevin Minder,” Wisniewski said in the press release. “On Jan. 29, law enforcement advised that the suspect had been apprehended in Lucas County, Ohio.”

Lucas County includes Toledo. It does not share a border with Hillsdale County.

Hillsdale Community Schools received a threatening voicemail against a staff member at Gier Elementary Monday, according to Ted Davis, superintendent of Hillsdale Community Schools.

“The message not only indicated the caller knew the staff member’s home address, but also included a series of threats to come to the school with a weapon and cause harm to

The school district immediately contacted the City of Hillsdale Police, who then included Michigan State Police in the investigation.

“Any time we receive any type of threat or threatening communication, we implement our response protocol and contact city police,” Davis said. Davis said after meeting with the police and school board, the district decided to cancel Tuesday classes for safety measures.

The school communicated this cancellation to parents via text, call, email, and the Hillsdale School District website. Schools remained closed Wednesday.

In her press release, Wisniewski said Minder will return to Michigan to face charges and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The Hillsdale Community Schools announced on its website thanking law enforcement and said school will resume Thursday and have police presence and counselors available.

“The Hillsdale Police Department will have an increased and visible presence on campus to provide additional supervision and help maintain a safe and comfortable school environment for all students and staff,” the announcement

Students march for life in DC

Attendees heard JD Vance and Donald Trump speak at rally

By Michaela Estruth and Tayte Christensen Senior Editor and Assistant Editor

Nearly 90 Hillsdale College students heard President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance speak at the 52nd March for Life in Washington, D.C., Friday, Jan. 24.

“There were some big names speaking this year, which was exciting,” Vice President of Hillsdale College for Life and senior Maddie Hornell said.

She said she most appreciated the speakers who boldly proclaimed their Christian faith to thousands of people. Hornell specifically mentioned OBGYN Catherine Wheeler and abortion survivor Josiah Presley.

“They were so unabashedly Christian — of course, that’s where we get the value of life,” Hornell said. “Hearing someone speak to thousands of people, not only about life, but about why we care about it — as rooted in our faith — was so encouraging. To be in the capital city and hear God’s name resounding through the streets was so profound.”

Hornell said it was encouraging to see solidarity nationwide after the overturn of Roe v. Wade — the supreme court decision that legalized abortion

said the fight to defend life is as important as ever.

“The local and statewide ‘boots on the ground’ work is so important,” Hornell said.

Freshman Maddie Hanson said she has been involved in pro-life work in her hometown but this was her first time attending the National March for Life. She said one of her favorite speakers was Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer who lost her left arm from a shark attack at 13 years old but continued to compete.

“She talked about how hard it is to have kids for anyone, and how important it is in crisis pregnancies to consider the mom and encourage her and help her in caring for her new child,” Hanson said.

Hanson said she was surprised by how many young students and college groups were present at the march.

The students traveled to D.C. overnight Thursday and spent Friday night in a hotel, The Collegian reported last week. With this schedule, students had free time Friday evening and Saturday to explore D.C.

Hanson said she visited the National Gallery of Art and connected with some friends currently living in D.C. for the Washington Hillsdale Internship Program.

alumni and friends while in the area. Afterward, she said she visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Senior Hannah Arends, who lived in D.C. on WHIP in spring of 2024, said it was fun to return to the area and meet up with friends and co-workers. After spending Friday in the city, Arends said she visited the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute on Saturday. The zoo had reopened the panda exhibit the day prior.

“A ton of people flocked to the zoo to see them,” Arends said. “I love being a part of events where everyone comes together and is excited about the same thing. D.C. is the best place to find random fun experiences like welcoming pandas back to the U.S.”

At the march, Arends said she met President of Live Action Lila Rose.

Arends said she has been to the march a number of times and was encouraged to see all the people and the speakers who came.

“The energy of young people excited about the pro-life movement and excited about seeing their role models in the movement gives me great hope for the continued success of the pro-life cause,” Arends said.

Junior and HCFL Social Media and Graphic Design chair Meredith Vanderweide said this year was her third time attending the march and she appreciated the presence of pro-life political and religious leaders at the rally.

“As a Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod Lutheran, I was super excited to see Reverend Matthew Harrison, the president of the synod, speaking and leading the opening prayer,” she said. “Seeing my church and state leaders standing up for life was a great comfort.”

Vanderweide said she enjoyed having Associate Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers lead chants and cadences during the march.

“Spirits were high,” Vanderweide said. “Though there are so many lives to mourn and abortion is nowhere near abolished, there is still hope and faith that the pro-life movement will not stop fighting until abortion is unthinkable.”

for Faith and Freedom this month.

Crippen previously served as rector of Holy Trinity Anglican Parish in Hillsdale from September 2021 until Jan. 15 of this year. In his new role at the Blake Center, Crippen said he will work with External Affairs, Institutional Advancement, and Marketing to plan and program events at the center.

The Blake Center for Faith and Freedom, located in Somers, Connecticut, is a satellite campus of Hillsdale College. The center, which the college opened in 2020, is named

stitution like Hillsdale and the Blake Center to help recover an understanding of the relationship between faith and freedom,” Crippen said.

The 100-acre property is home to a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and according to the Blake Center’s website, hosts invite-only lectures and seminars focused on “Christianity, Western Civilization, and America,” featuring Hillsdale faculty and other speakers.

Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said the center enables the college to reach

said. “Regional access and over 30,000 square feet of facilities allows the college to host a variety of in-person programs designed to educate friends of the college about the core principles of American civilization and its heritage.”

The center can hold as many as 150 people for events, and Péwé said several thousand people attend programs each year. He said the center’s most popular events are dinner-lecture programs with Hillsdale professors and other Hillsdale-affiliated lecturers.

“Hillsdale reaches its na -

nected with some Hillsdale

“While marching, I got to meet Lila Rose, which was so exciting for me as someone who has looked up to her as a role model of a strong but compassionate woman leading the prolife movement,” Arends said. “But what was more special than meeting her myself was seeing three young girls filled with joy because they saw Lila, and then they ran up to her to meet her smiling ear to ear.”

ally and through in-person instruction,” Péwé said. “As a teaching institution, Hillsdale struction are effective, and in combination more effective. The potential exists for Hills dale to reach and teach many more people by strategically distributing its teaching ca pacity.”

Crippen said the center’s location in Connecticut helps to reach friends of the college on the East Coast and further promotes the college’s mission, but the center’s distance from Hillsdale can make it difficult to stay synchronized with the main campus.

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

The Blake Center hosts Hillsdale College events in Connecticut.

Courtesy | Scott Galvin

Historian discusses weapons in history

By Alessia Sandala Assistant Editor

Historians ignore the role of weapons when studying war, leading to misconceptions, Paul Lockhart, a professor of history at Wright State University, said in a lecture sponsored by the Center for Military History and Strategy Jan. 23.

“Within the realm of military history, I would argue that historians don’t often pay attention to the details of firearms or the difference between theoretical and impractical performance and the difference that they make,” Lockhart said. “Not just in terms of tactics or in the art of war, but also in terms of social and political considerations when we look at war on a much broader scale.”

Lockhart said he came to this conclusion after a conversation with a colleague about a Gadsden flag that had the image of a gun on it in Lockhart’s office.

“It got me reflecting on why it is that historians, and scholars in general, feel uncomfortable, not just thinking about guns in a modern sense, but also incorporating them into their research and into their teaching,” Lockhart said.

While historians often study difficult topics, Lockhart said guns have become one of the most avoided topics in recent years.

“Historians deal with the unpleasant all the time and historians deal with things they don’t necessarily agree on or advocate for,” Lockhart said. “If we have felt we were for everything we talked about, nobody would, hopefully, talk about the Holocaust or the Third Reich. It doesn’t mean embracing gun culture, for example, to talk about them.”

According to Lockhart, the stigma surrounding weapons in the academic community

has led to misrepresentations of historical events and the way they are taught in the classroom.

“When we misconstrue or misunderstand the abilities of weapons and the way that weapons work with tactics, are involved with the industrial economy, and the ability of individual states to marshall the resources necessary to manufacture weapons,” Lockhart said. “If we misconstrue those, we can assemble a grand narrative that’s at least wrong in major ways.”

Lockhart also discussed some of the misconceptions that a lack of understanding about weapons has created. He said high casualty numbers are often blamed on new, advanced technology and officers, especially during the Civil War and World War I.

“There is no revolution in technology that causes greater lethality,” Lockhart said. “Why do more men die in the Civil War? Because more men fought in the American Civil War; the battles are bigger.”

Sophomore Leonard Fritz said the lecture covered an area of military history he is interested in.

“I thought it was very insightful, especially his defense of general officers in the First World War, and his discussion about the effect the scale of war has on casualty numbers,” Fritz said.

Sophomore Grace Canlas said Lockhart’s take on firepower is helpful for everyone to avoid misconceptions about history.

“Lessons concerning warfare, such as the evolution of firepower, are not just important and applicable for those studying military history, but any discipline,” Canlas said. “As Dr. Lockhart discussed, weapons have not only shaped the history of warfare, but the history of mankind.”

CCA III to cover artificial intelligence

By Malia Thibado Collegian reporter

Hillsdale’s third 2024-2025 Center for Constructive Alternatives will cover artificial intelligence.

The event will run from Feb. 2-5 and will include speeches from Erik Larson, journalist and author of “The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do”; Erik Prince ’92, founder of the private military company Blackwater Worldwide; and Aaron Kheriaty, fellow and director of the Program in Bioethics and American Democracy at the Ethics and Public Policy Center

Nathan Herring, assistant professor of physics, said he

believes most of the talks will focus on the relationships between humans and AI on both the individual and societal level.

“Think of the ramifications of artificial intelligence on the experience of being a human,” Herring said. “How does what it means to be human in our various foibles and deficiencies — the things that make us human — interact with the notion of a virtual utopia that you may be able to make with AI?”

Qianying “Jennie” Zhang, associate professor of finance and economics, said she is looking forward to hearing Prince’s lecture about AI on the battlefield.

“I teach quantitative machinery, so I find this very

interesting,” Zhang said. “It’s fascinating to see how we’ll apply the algorithms in the army and on the battlefield.”

Kheriaty’s speech will focus on the relationship between transhumanism — the belief that human condition can be enhanced through technology — and AI.

Junior Nathan Dilliner said he is looking forward to learning more about this topic.

“The interaction between artificial intelligence and the philosophy that I’ve studied here at Hillsdale is really peculiar because it brings into question what a human being is,” Dilliner said. “After all these years of hypothesizing about what it is, finally with this technology, rubber meets the road.”

Herring will sit on the faculty roundtable at the end of the CCA and said he wants to clarify both the consequences and benefits of AI as well as clarify the definition of the term itself.

“In my comments, I want to make sure we understand the full picture of both the positives and negatives of this technology so that we don’t overreact,” Herring said. “What are the positive things that can come from artificial intelligence technologies while also acknowledging the risks and recognizing that they come from many different kinds.”

Speaker discusses spirituality of body

By Daniel Johnson Collegian Reporter

The body has spiritual significance, guest speaker Monica Ashour said in a talk hosted by Hillsdale College’s Career Services and the Student Ministry Board Jan. 28.

In her speech titled “The Body as Enemy to Freedom or as a Gospel,” Ashour said the body teaches us about the nature of God and our purpose by revealing supernatural realities through natural ends.

President and founder of Theology of the Body Evangelization Team, Ashour is an international Catholic speaker and author of more than 20 books, according to the organization’s website. Before founding TOBET, Ashour spent 25 years teaching middle school and high school theology and literature. She is currently working on a video-based program called “My Body, My Identity: Discovering God’s Design.”

Ashour emphasized the urgency of understanding the meaning of our bodies in our current culture.

“In this day and age, we have to focus on the fact that the body does matter,” Ashour said. “It matters so much, and my generation has told your generation that it doesn’t matter.”

The mission of restoring the incarnational view of the body is derived from Pope John Paul II’s compiled series of lectures on the theology of the body, Ashour noted.

“In the ‘Theology of the Body,’ he used the word ‘detachment’ as the problem of our culture, that we forgot that the body has deep meaning,” Ashour said. “This is his thesis: the body, and only the body, is capable of making visible the invisible realities, the spiritual and the divine.”

According to Ashour, sexual differences and marriage have supernatural ends.

“The male body says gift of self by giving, the female body says gift of self by receiving,” Ashour said. “Our bodies are directed toward each other.”

This reciprocal relationship tangibly demonstrates what love is, Ashour said. Accord-

ingly, marriage serves as a picture of the Christian life and who God is by exemplifying love in relationship.

“We can say that this blueprint of the entire universe is giving, receiving, and being open to others, and therefore all of us are created in God’s image and likeness,” Ashour said, referring to marriage. “We’re more made in God’s image and likeness when we’re in a community of persons.”

Ashour compared this view with that of modern culture.

“Things like abortion, in vitro fertilization, sterilization, contraception, etc. — each of these says that there are no teleological ends, as opposed to what we might call an incarnational view of the body, that there’s meaning behind bodily actions,” Ashour said.

The Christian view of the incarnational body should be seen as a gospel, centered on the risen body of Christ, Ashour said.

“Pope John Paul II says that the theology of the body is not merely a theory, but

rather a specific evangelical pedagogy of the body,” Ashour said. “The answer is the body, and especially Jesus Christ’s risen body.”

Junior Tully Mitchell said the talk brought a meaningful theological perspective to many topics that concerned her and left her with a lot to think about.

“All of these hot-button cultural issues that entail the body — those are the things that I’ve been really fascinated with from a Christian perspective,” Mitchell said. “I think the one that I’ll be thinking about the most going home is the further implications of what it means to view the body sacramentally.”

Senior Colin Joyce said it was interesting to view the purpose of the human body in terms of the love of Christ, an idea he said was further enhanced by his knowledge of biochemistry.

“It just goes to show that we’re beautifully and wonderfully made,” he said.

Radio station moves Hugh Hewitt to afternoon

By Alessia Sandala Assistant Editor

Radio Free Hillsdale WRFH 101.7 FM adjusted its daily lineup after Hugh Hewitt’s show moved to the afternoon.

The first hour of the show will now air on WRFH weekdays at 5 p.m., and the full show will air the next morning from 7-10 a.m. Previously, Hewitt’s show aired from 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays.

Hewitt is an attorney, author, and host of “The Hugh Hewitt

“It is the first truly significant schedule change since the station lineup was solidified,” said Scot Bertram, lecturer in journalism and general manager of WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

“The challenge is the opportunity to develop the center, to fully maximize its use for the purposes of the college, to support the mission and vision of the college and to do it in a remote location,” Crippen said.

Crippen said like Hillsdale’s other remote campus, the Allan P. Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., the Blake Center promotes the mission and vision of the college through education.

“It’s the newest of a satellite campus. So the opportunity is to build out and to fully utilize this wonderful place for the mission,” Crippen said. “But that, of course, has many challenges — the challenges of designing and implementing programs, the challenges of operating such a large campus with economy — and this is not an inexpensive property to maintain.”

While the Kirby Center focuses on the education of

students with its Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program and Van Andel Graduate School, Crippen said the Blake Center provides educational opportunities for friends of the college with its continuing education seminars.

Crippen said the center is still evolving in its mission and programming, and will continue to do so under his leadership, but said he hopes to implement new educational programs that involve undergraduate students in addition to the friends of the college the center already hosts.

“We want them to personally experience the Blake Center and its beauty, but also expose people in that region to the high quality of faculty that Hillsdale College has through wonderful events,” Crippen said. “It is such a beautiful place, and we want to share its beauty with the entire Hillsdale community, but also with the neighborhood.”

Crippen is a graduate of Cairn University and Westmin-

Show” where he covers national politics and interviews a variety of guests.

Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees William Brodbeck said it was important WRFH find a way to keep Hewitt on the air.

“The Hewitt schedule change put WRFH in a difficult situation,” Brodbeck said. “I believe

ster Theological Seminary and served in the Army Reserves on active duty, according to his Blake Center website biography.

Crippen worked for the Family Research Council’s Witherspoon Fellowship for nine years and is the founder and former president of the John Jay Institute, a Christian foundation devoted to equipping students for a career in public service. He was the executive director of the American Bible Society’s Faith and Liberty Initiative, a project dedicated to presenting the bible as a foundational text of American freedom.

“Faith, liberty, and freedom have been my entire professional career,” Crippen said.

Crippen moved to Hillsdale in 2021 and married his wife Leonor the same year, after his first wife, Michelle, died of cancer in 2020.

Crippen said during a visit to the Blake Center for a conference last summer, then-Executive Director of the Blake Center Labin Duke mentioned

that Scot and his crew have made the best of that situation.

While the approach is imperfect, I cannot imagine a better outcome with which they could have arrived.”

As a result of the shift, Dennis Prager’s show will run from 7-9 p.m. and morning student content from 10 a.m. to noon. Prager’s show has been hosted

the center’s upcoming need for an executive director. Duke, who now serves as the vice president of National Donor Outreach for Institutional Advancement, began as the center’s first executive director in 2021.

Crippen said the other event attendees, including Bishop Julian Dobbs, diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, knew he “was the guy,” but Crippen, along with his wife, were not sold.

“Leonor and I were so attached and committed to the parish,” Crippen said. “It was hard for me to think ‘really, I mean, I have this background, and yes, this feels very comfortable and familiar to me, but where am I supposed to be?’”

But Crippen said on a 12hour drive from Hillsdale to the Blake Center for another visit, he had time to think it over.

“I remember calling the Bishop Julian Dobbs, and I said, ‘Look, if you think I’m supposed to be there, I’ll pray

by Carl Jackson since Prager was injured after a fall in November.

“Student content has the same total hours each week — the time is just being moved,” Bertram said. “If we have so much student content that we need to open additional hours for programming, we can do that without a problem.”

about it, but I’m not going to apply for this job because a lot of other people need to convince me that God wants me out there,’” Crippen said.

Crippen announced his new position with the center in December and served his final Sunday with Holy Trinity Jan. 15.

Crippen’s move to the Blake Center leaves Holy Trinity Parish in Hillsdale tasked with finding a new rector.

Hillsdale College Chaplain Rev. Adam Rick said he held the role as pastor of Holy Trinity for six years before Crippen began as rector in 2021. Rick said during Crippen’s tenure at Holy Trinity, he occasionally served the church by preaching or serving as celebrant when needed. With Crippen’s move, Rick said he will serve the church in those ways more frequently but he will not play a role in searching for a new pastor.

“My hope is that the church finds, above all, a man who

Bertram said despite the small changes, he hopes listeners will continue to tune in to WRFH.

“Changes like this are common in the radio business, and it’s not unusual for stations to adjust in the wake of a host moving time slots,” Bertram said. “We’re really happy to have figured out a way to keep Hugh Hewitt’s very popular show on WRFH.”

loves Jesus and will minister the gospel with clarity and boldness,” Rick said. “I have every confidence in Bishop Dobbs and the congregation’s vestry that they can discern, in the Spirit, who God is already preparing to bring to us.”

Executive Director of Online Learning Jeremiah Regan is the chair of Holy Trinity’s lay board and will assist with the church’s search for a new pastor.

“Holy Trinity will follow diocesan policy and trust in God’s providence during our rector search,” Regan said. Crippen said he and his wife moved to Connecticut last week.

“God was in this and he had a reassignment for me at the Blake Center, so I’m quite humbled about it,” Crippen said. “We’re ready to follow the call of God and the call of the college to help advance the work of the Blake Center for Faith and Freedom.”

Blake from A1

Junior varsity team wins second place in debate tournament

By Megan Li Assistant Editor

Freshmen Kate Klein and Ewan McNamara finished second last weekend in the junior varsity league of Weber State University’s Mukai Debate Tournament.

Klein and McNamara competed online against nine other teams from four schools, while Hillsdale’s varsity team, composed of junior and team manager Ben Brown and sophomores Alex Mooney and Ryan Rodell, competed against 17 teams from eight different schools. They debated the resolution determined for spring 2025 by Collegiate Advocacy Research and Debate: “Resolved: The United States federal government should adopt one of the following: a carbon tax, an emissions trading scheme, or removal of fossil fuel subsidies.”

Klein and McNamara won the first four preliminary rounds, lost the fifth, and lost 2-1 in the final round to Gonzaga University.

“We won all six rounds last debate tournament, and four rounds this time, so we had a 10 out of 10 undefeated streak,” Klein said.

Klein said the final round tested the pair when the affirmative team brought up the argument of degrowth as the positive consequences of their suggested policy, one the duo had not prepared for.

“Quickly preparing for a completely new idea, a new advantage that we had to defend against, understanding the entire concept of degrowth within 15 minutes and then coming up with a rebuttal to that was the most I learned from that round,” Klein said.

McNamara said the cross-examination during the final round was particularly intense.

“Our opponent was trying to essentially ask questions to make me say something that they were going to then use in their argument. They were leading questions,” McNamara said. “I just sat there and said, ‘I don’t have to prove that. That’s outside the scope of this debate.’”

Klein said the opponent was not amused with McNamara’s response, but Klein was impressed.

“He was a diplomat. He answered the questions without actually answering questions,” Klein said.

McNamara said the second round also proved difficult when the opposing team used a fossil fuel subsidies argument.

“We didn’t have an actual document outlining what we should say. So we built that in five minutes before the round started, and we won our second round,” McNamara said. “Sometimes forces outside of your control can really mess you up, and you just got to go with it. Just keep moving forward.” Brown, Mooney, and Rodell debated five rounds and lost their second round to Oregon University, and although they didn’t make it into the final rounds, the team scored a personal victory.

“One of the rounds that we won was against Gonzaga, which was a huge win, because they’re far and away the best school in the league, and we’ve lost to them several times in the past, consecutively, and so just being able to win that was really huge,” Brown said.

Brown said the team won on two arguments, one of which

they didn’t see as particularly significant at first, and the other of which was not even on their minds until halfway through the round.

“Just being able to see that that was the best strategic decision mid-rounds — it was a bit of a gamble. It’s certainly an unorthodox strategy, but it wound up working out,” Brown said.

The team’s faculty advisor and teacher, Professor of Rhetoric and Public Address Kirstin Kiledal, said another goal of the team for their future tournament is to win more speaker awards.

“Our real goals are to up the game with regard to giving really good, sound speeches, so that we end up winning argument and analysis and evidence awards,” Kiledal said.

Brown said the tournament helped to focus the team’s research and development of certain anti-capitalist and Marxist arguments. He added that much of the evidence the teams had used in the fall hinged on the Paris Climate Agreement, which Donald Trump, upon election, had withdrawn from the United States.

“Teams are going to have to pivot to different strategies,” Brown said.

Kiledal said the team hopes to attend more tournaments in-person, but it is difficult when those tournaments are projected to take place in Minnesota, Arizona, and Wyoming.

“Sometimes the benefits, if you already have a strong team with plenty of bonding and that works well together, can be offset in terms of some of the other features, such as winter travel and budgetary expenses when almost all of our tournaments are West Coast,” Kiledal said.

Kiledal said she plans to do on-campus scrimmages between all the debate teams.

“We’ve picked up five to six new debaters this semester, and we need to give them some experience before we fly them 1,000 miles across the country,” Kiledal said.

Klein and McNamara are both two of those new debaters, and their strengths, according to Klein, lie in impact weighing and economics, respectively. Kiledal said Klein, who had a completely different debate style background, and McNamara, who had never debated before coming to Hillsdale, work really well together.

“They listen to one another,” Kiledal said. “Their styles work well together, and they’ve worked hard to build their own affirmative case and the arguments that come from it.”

According to Brown, the team had checked off many of the goals they made at the beginning of the year, including a ballot taken from Gonzaga University, a JV team win, speaker awards, and finals rounds.

“Funnily enough, the goal might be to set more goals, because on a lot of fronts, we’re doing really well,” Brown said. “It’s been a really great season. I’m grateful for that.”

By Ty Ruddy Assistant Editor

When Neal Brady stepped down as the Hillsdale County Prosecutor, he wasn’t sure what his professional future looked like. On Jan. 13, Brady began work as deputy counsel of Hillsdale College.

Brady had served as Hillsdale County Prosecutor for 28 years, winning seven elections, but he said he felt it was time to move on from public office. That decision, however, left him momentarily without a plan. He said he began to consider possible opportunities for work when Bob Norton, vice president and general counsel of Hillsdale College, came calling.

“We talked and he said that with some changes down here in legal, they could use another person,” Brady said. “We talked a bit more and I agreed to come on.”

The legal counsel department onboarded Brady to build relationships with departments across campus.

According to Brady, he already has connections in the Security and Emergency Management Department. In his previous role, Brady said he

Local prosecutor joins legal counsel Tower Light unveils spring theme

By Megan Li Assistant Editor

The Tower Light’s spring edition will take a new approach in showcasing student work, with the added theme of “rhythm” and a never-before-seen faculty submissions, according to senior Sophie King, the publication’s editor-in-chief this semester.

“My goal is to see the diversity of different works that could be related to the theme, so it’s an aesthetically coherent whole with very diverse takes,” King said.

The Tower Light, Hillsdale’s official student literary magazine, accepts works of poetry and prose, such as short fiction, accompanied by all mediums of visual art, including drawings, oil paintings, photography, and digital art. It receive upwards of 4050 submissions per edition, according to King.

“I really wanted to stimulate a new interest in The Tower Light; I think it is an extremely important part of campus,” King said. “Conversation of creative work is open to everyone. You as a Hillsdale College student who has read great books, artists or studied great paintings in art history, are especially equipped to join into that conversation.”

According to King, The Tower Light provides both a creative outlet and a learning environment for Hillsdale students through active

partnered with John Wilmer, now the Director of Security for Hillsdale College, who had worked for the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office.

“I am excited to be working with Brady again,” Wilmer said.

Brady said he also expects to work closely with Institutional Advancement.

“As I’m sure the students can see, things are growing very fast around here — donations, charities. Some people even leave Hillsdale in their will — which means legal counsel needs more help managing the workload,” Brady said. “My goal is to serve as a liaison between departments that should have good relations with the legal department.”

Brady’s connection to the Hillsdale community began in 1996 when he was first elected as county prosecutor and grew in the years that followed.

Brady hails from Saginaw, Michigan and attended Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, about seventy miles north of Hillsdale. Upon graduation, he took a job in the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office under Joseph Filip. But Brady left in 1993 when Filip

engagement between editors and authors. When work is submitted to the publication, the editorial board works with students, giving feedback and assistance to form the final draft.

“That creates this really cool conversation around the work and creates more of a cultural community around creative writing,” King said. King said there can be a tendency to regard the great works as a static body with the best having already been accomplished, but The Tower Light puts forth a different perspective.

“The Tower Light really encourages students to actually contribute something of their own and to recognize you don’t have to be Shakespeare to write something worthwhile,” King said. “It can be tempting, as an artist, to keep your work private because it’s so vulnerable — to try to seek publication, to have your work out in the open — but I think ultimately, if you never show anyone your works, it’s not going to come to its fullest potential. When you do step into that position of vulnerability, and it turns out people really like your work, and there’s something really valuable there that’s very affirming.”

Senior Sofie Kellar, a member of the editorial board and former editor-in-chief, said The Tower Light was the most similar publication to

lost a reelection campaign. In 1996, he won the election for County Prosecutor of Hillsdale County.

In 2000, he was hired as the coach of the Hillsdale Academy soccer team. Brady said his daughter Elizabeth graduated from Hillsdale in 2014. His daughter Emily also attended the college for two years, and all six of his children went to Hillsdale Academy. There, he coached his three sons in soccer.

“Brady coached for a little bit before I got here, but we partnered and now we’ve been working together for 23 years,” Mike Roberts, headmaster at Hillsdale Academy, said.

Roberts said while he and Brady are technically colleagues, they are great friends outside of their professional roles at the academy.

“We used to joke that Neal was on a season-to-season contract. Every year before things got rolling, I’d take him out for a drink, and we’d solve the world’s problems, talk soccer, and try to reach an agreement,” Roberts said. “He never got let go.”

Roberts said he was not involved in Brady’s hiring, but has enjoyed watching his

where she wanted to submit her work professionally.

“I wanted to write poems and short stories and novels, and I wanted to be able to put it out there,” Kellar said. “We try to do our best to bring the fine arts out of our students. People submit good stuff. It’s pretty impressive.” King said she hopes the newly added faculty submission will provide inspiration for students.

“It would help contribute to the purpose of the Tower Light by also reminding the students that our professors, who are incredible scholars and study these great works, also like creating creative work,” King said. The Tower Light’s faculty adviser, Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program Maria Servold, said she hopes the theme will increase the amount of submissions.

“It’ll give writers something to aim for,” Servold said. “Even if someone didn’t have anything written that they’re ready to submit, if they see that there’s a theme, they may think, ‘I could try to do something for that.’”

Servold said The Tower Light has grown over the past five to 10 years as a consistent, professional literary magazine, run by students.

“There were a few years where it felt like a club, and that’s not the goal, because The Tower Light is the best place for students to do cre-

friend navigate professional life outside of his elected office.

“He has so much to offer,” Roberts said. “Of course, I was rooting for him to settle down at the college.”

After 28 years, Brady did not run for County Prosecutor during the last election cycle. In November, voters elected Jamie Wisniewski as his successor.

“I figured it was time for new blood in that role,” Brady said. “Likewise, I figured it was time I take on a new role.” But there will be no new blood leading the Hillsdale Academy varsity soccer team. Brady said he looks forward to serving on the legal counsel for the college and continuing to coach at the Academy.

“We’re district champs five years running now,” Brady said. “There’s not much more you could ask for, other than a regional championship.”

Brady said he is happy with his station right now.

“After a lot of years in and around Hillsdale, I’m glad to finally land at the college,” Brady said. “The mission is good, the people are good.”

ative writing on campus since we don’t have a full-blown creative writing program,” Servold said.

King said the publication seeks work that is genuine to the contributor.

“We really want to see work that is sincere. Don’t write something that is what you might think we want to see or in imitation of a poetic style that isn’t necessarily your style,” King said. “We really want to see everything.”

Senior Rachel Moeller, former head of the magazine’s visual art board, called The Tower Light a microcosm of Hillsdale’s pursuit of the good, true, and beautiful.

“The craft and beauty that can be found in the written word when strung together in a very precise and intentional sort of way, and that beauty is emphasized when paired with a beautiful artistic piece as well,” Moeller said. “The Tower Light makes an emphasis of that by considering how art and craft can reveal the greater truth of humanity.”

The Tower Light is accepting submissions for feedback until Feb. 14 and final submissions until Feb. 20. Email submissions to towerlight@ hillsdale.edu.

“If you are an artist who hasn’t submitted your work before, we would love to see it,” King said. “I would encourage you to just take a stab at it because you can only learn. There’s no downside.”

Sixth Curate to seek new ‘Horizons’

By Christina Lewis Assistant Editor

Curate will host its sixth annual women’s summit this Saturday at the Searle Center, and women are encouraged to register for a day of activities, book giveaways, and seminars, according to Director of Student Programming Rachel Marinko ’20.

Check-in will start at 9 a.m. and Dean of Women Rebekah Bollen will kick off the summit at 10 a.m. with a talk on this year’s theme, Horizons.

“The whole theme of the summit, ‘Horizons,’ is designed to equip the young women of the campus so that they can go out with confi -

dence,” Assistant Director of Student Activities Emma Widmer ’24 said.

Breakout sessions at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. will feature speakers on topics such as dating, women’s health, and friendship, Marinko said. Activities will include dried flower arranging, leather stamping, and raffles. Local business Hillsdalian Goods will sell T-shirts, stickers, keychains, mugs, and other items at a discounted price at the event. Curate will provide breakfast and lunch at the event. The summit will end at 3 p.m., although women are not required to attend the whole event.

“There’s so many great talks. It’s fun to come to the whole

thing, but you can kind of pop in and out,” Marinko said.

According to Marinko, Curate was founded in 2020 as a way to mentor women at Hillsdale.

“There’s so many amazing women at Hillsdale, and this is our one time of year where a lot of them are coming back and intentionally taking a lot of time to craft these talks very specifically for the students of Hillsdale,” Marinko said.

“There’s not a lot of other opportunities where you can see all these amazing women in one spot.”

Most speakers are Hillsdale alumnae, Widmer said.

“They’ve been exactly where you are and have done

it and have gone out into the world, and are now coming back to share what they’ve learned and are able to share to enrich your experience even more,” Widmer said. “You really can’t put a price on it. It’s just a really fun day.”

Junior Eden Ryan said she will attend this year’s Curate summit for the first time.

“I think conferences are a really good thing to go to because it’s slow-paced learning instead of the busyness of classes,” Ryan said. “It reminds you that you’re not just a student, you’re also a person that’s going to live in the world one day.”

Opinions

The Collegian Weekly

The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff

Culture isn’t always pretty

Editor-in-Chief | Jillian Parks

Managing Editor | Isaac Green

Senior Editor | Michaela Estruth

Outreach Director | Olivia Pero

Design Editor | Ally Hall

News Editor | Catherine Maxwell

Opinions Editor | Caroline Kurt

City News Editor | Thomas McKenna

Sports Editor | Jacob Beckwith

Culture Editor | Colman Rowan

Features Editor | Kamden Mulder

Social Media Assistant | Sam Otting

Circulation Manager | Lauren Bixler

Assistant Editors | Megan Li | Tayte Christensen | Christina Lewis | Alessia Sandala | Zachary Chen | Eleanor Whitaker | Anna Broussard | Ellie Fromm | Ty Ruddy

Ad Manager | Nathan Stanish

Puzzle Editor | Matthew Tolbert

Illustrator | Maggie O’Connor

Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold

Against tradwives

By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor

Don’t let a meme be your measure of virtue.

The tradwife meme dominated 2024: Nara Smith dazzled with cooking videos, Estee Williams preached to her followers about Biblical submission, and Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farms starred in a viral Times article.

Although viral “trad wives” like Nara Smith have explicitly rejected the label, many conservatives have lauded the meme and its real-life adherents, seeing it as a sign that real womanhood is back in vogue.

Memes are funny and enjoyable because they distill reality, simplifying it into a one-line joke, hilarious image, or in the case of the tradwife, a two-dimensional picture of womanhood. Yet as all of us ought to know, womanhood, family life, and spousal relations are wonderfully complex and vary incredibly from person to person. We can enjoy “tradwife” as a meme, but must exercise caution when applying it to our three-dimensional reality.

I ought to be an example: I bake and cook weekly. I wear dresses. I’d love to have a big family. Though many of my interests scream “tradwife,” I also hope to make a career outside the home, something Instagramming tradwives deride. My personality, interests, and plans could never be encapsulated by a mere internet trend. A better measure of virtue and femininity — my faith — governs my life.

Conservatives love to point out examples of left-wing virtue-signalling, be it masking, changing logos to rainbows for June, or preaching about tolerance while practicing the opposite. But we too can give in to the same desire to boil down the demanding, lifelong battle for virtue into a simple checklist of externals (sourdough starter in the fridge? Only dresses and skirts in the closet? Ten children running around your farm?). Obviously, there’s nothing inherently wrong with living a traditional lifestyle. We err when we do so for the wrong intentions and judge other people for not

Last week’s edition of The Collegian contained a review of A24’s film “Babygirl” in the Culture section. Some readers were upset by the article, arguing that The Collegian’s coverage undermined the college’s responsibility to avoid “sponsoring pornographic or otherwise dehumanizing films,” as stated in the Hillsdale Student Handbook.

But The Collegian did not sponsor a viewing party for “Babygirl,” nor did the author

tell viewers to go watch the film. The author didn’t even like it.

The Collegian owes the student body of Hillsdale College both a well-reported weekly account of its beloved community as well as a glimpse into the world beyond our ivory tower.

If “true education of the mind and heart teaches and requires self-government,” then we should boldly engage with the world beyond our tightly-knit community. Culture at

large does not have community guidelines — Collegian readers who take issue with this may simply flip the page.

Much of the Western canon hosts messy, ugly stories, full of sex, debauchery, and sin. Think of works like Plato’s “The Symposium,” Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” William Byrd’s “The Secret Diary,” even Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian.” Different authors, different time periods, different moral undertones and asser-

tions separate these works from each other, but they all possess deeper messages beyond their surface provocations.

“Babygirl” isn’t in the canon and it never will be. To write about culture well is to wrestle with it, however, and to practice the defense of self-governance Hillsdale College seeks to instill within us. If we hope to critique or change culture, we must first engage.

War on Big Tobacco misses the point

Colman Rowan Culture Editor

following in step. For example, deeper reasons ought to underlie one’s openness to children than the mere imitation of curated tradwife content. If not, you risk using your children as tiny props in your aesthetic “trad life,” rather than recognizing them as the incredible gifts they are.

Don’t allow tradwife aesthetics to limit your idea of femininity. Long dresses and flowing hair are lovely, but they can never be ends in themselves, nor substitutes for the beauty of a selfless heart. If you enjoy the aesthetics of popular “tradwife” influencers, wonderful — just realize that’s not the only acceptable brand of feminine beauty. Likewise, refrain from judging the people around you on the basis of a meme. Something’s gone wrong if we feel threatened by the lives of virtuous people who don’t meet the narrow definition of “trad.” It’s even worse if we — even inadvertently — deter people from lives of generosity and selflessness just because they don’t feel naturally inclined to the right-wing aesthetic of family life. We all know men and women living radically virtuous lives whose “day in the life” looks nothing like that of Estee Williams or Hannah Neeleman. We ought to make more effort to imitate their lives than the shallow glimpses we get of “trad” lives online.

Perhaps the saddest effect of adopting “tradwife” as your Ten Commandments is assuming your life cannot be beautiful or fulfilling before you buy a farm or birth children. Quite the opposite — we are all called to act as if there may be no tomorrow, while recognizing this period in our lives prepares us in crucial ways for future seasons of our vocations.

If you feel called to raise chickens, have a dozen children, or wear dresses in lieu of pants, more power to you. Just remember to evaluate your own life, and those of others, on the basis of virtue, not a meme.

In the last days of his administration, former President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and urged President Donald Trump to take up the effort. This plan, while likely well-intended, misses the real tobacco problem in America. Occasionally smoking a cigarette with higher nicotine concentration is not bad — it can even be good social bonding. Our leaders should aim the cannon away from this good old-fashioned enjoyment made of America’s

very own tobacco, and point their guns at the real specter haunting our youth now more than ever — addiction.

For the young nicotine addict, smoking cigarettes is more of a luxury or a rare indulgence among other nicotine products. Users have found more effective means ingesting nicotine, forgoing the signature stink and meager 1.5 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette for more powerful nicotine delivery systems like vapes and nicotine pouches.

In 2024, the Food and Drug Administration found that 10.1% of high school students reported nicotine use, but only 2.8% of those reported combustible nicotine use. If these trends continue into their adulthood, smoking will hardly be a threat compared to the 7.3% of high schoolers who are addicted to nicotine through other means.

Smokers have lost. Since the 1990s, the campaign against smoking has succeeded: The rate of those who answered yes to “have you smoked in the past week” has gone from a peak of 55% in 1955 to a low of about 12% in 2023, according to a Gallup poll.

Though it has moved away from smoking, Big Tobacco still moves product. Truth Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to ending nicotine addiction, reported that in 2017 the share of vapes sold with a 5% nicotine concentration only made up 5% of sales, but sales of these kinds of vapes made up 81% of the market share by 2022.

At the genesis of the vape in 2003, a Chinese company invented vapes as an alterna-

tive to smoking, something to help smokers quit. Initially, that may have been a common use, but a crucial shift happened in that time frame: Vapes became not a way to stop smoking, but a more discrete and efficient method of nicotine consumption.

With such high nicotine concentrations, the sensation of taking a hit of a vape compares to smoking a cigarette like taking a shot does to drinking a sip of beer. The addiction will begin much quicker and latch on much stronger with such devices. With these alternatives flooding the market, smoking is left as an antiquated indulgence Big Tobacco still sells out of respect for their roots.

While it supports Biden’s plan, the FDA does not seem too concerned about nicotine addiction. Though it claims “No nicotine product is safe” and offers help for quitting, it re-affirms the benefit of switching to alternatives.

“This toxic mix of chemicals — not nicotine — causes serious health effects among those who use tobacco products,” the FDA’s “What is nicotine?” page says. With all its medical jargon and exclusively physical-health-based language, it seems the FDA would not have a problem with nicotine addiction if it were not for the physical health drawbacks.

This is the heart of the problem: Officials speak the language of financial strain on the medical community and harm to health, but don’t worry about addiction apart from its side effects. They legislate morally, but only half-heartedly. If true health is a concern, then the FDA should consider citizens holistically rather than just based on immediate physical health threats. If the FDA really wants to help Americans, it should ensure alternative tobacco products are paths away from smoking rather than avenues to addiction. Without regulations lowering nicotine concentration, Big Tobacco will be able to keep making more powerful products that both whet and fail to satisfy the unquenchable desire for more.

Colman Rowan is a senior studying English.

Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor.

Kennedy unites through nutrition

By Elaine Kutas Collegian Reporter

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose confirmation hearings began Jan. 29, promises to unite our country in pursuit of a healthier society through his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

Kennedy has been a controversial political figure this election season, first running against Donald Trump before dropping out of the race to endorse him. In turn, President Trump nominated Kennedy as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social in November. “The HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.”

Despite the past controversy around him, Kennedy’s health goals and MAHA campaign make him the perfect pick for Secretary of the Department of

Health and Human Services under Trump’s second term. One of his many promises is to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration to remove the unqualified appointments from the past administration, something Trump planned for most, if not all, major government departments.

The goals outlined by Trump for Kennedy and the HHS will be the primary objectives of Kennedy’s time in office. His goals are ambitious: He has committed to end the epidemic of chronic diseases in America and to slow the continuing trend of diagnosed disorders, including depression, ADHA, and anxiety. He has also promised to remove chemicals and additives from American diets — a tall order, but one already underway.

This is great news for the country: Americans are not happy with the current state of our food. California, a state notorious for its many food warning labels, banned six food dyes from school foods in September 2024, including Red 40. This overwhelmingly liberal state is already beginning the process that Kennedy is spearheading.

The FDA’s early January ban on Red Dye 3 in food is a sign the nation is realizing too many of

our children are clinically obese and unable to focus.

The country’s two rival parties may have finally found common ground concerning our nation’s health. Kennedy could prove an unlikely peacemaker by uniting left and right over nutrition.

Kennedy has called out WK Kellogg for including artificial dyes in cereals made in America but not in the same cereal made in other countries with stricter food dye restrictions. McDonald’s faced Kennedy’s scorn for using seed oils while frying french fries, packing meals with overprocessed ingredients, and advertising giant serving sizes. The same meal served at a McDonald’s in the UK has fewer unnecessary ingredients, fewer chemicals, and smaller serving sizes, especially regarding drinks. Even here at Hillsdale, the dining hall now displays signs that food is made without seed oils. Kennedy’s new position enables him to be a voice for American citizens’ concerns regarding the dangers of these ingredients.

The tide is shifting when it comes to health in America.

As evidenced by Kennedy’s expressed concerns and promises

to bring health back to America, more people on both sides of the aisle are questioning our reliance on prescriptions for everything from eczema to depression and wondering what can be done naturally to fix these problems. In 2024, homesteading chicken owners and sourdough bakers brought the benefits of a more natural diet and lifestyle into the cultural spotlight. Even now, TikTok girls are ditching skincare products and opting for beef tallow, touting its chemical-free effectiveness. Although Kennedy was not in office at the beginning of these trends, his promise for his time at the HHS echoes what is already happening in American culture. Kennedy’s goals of overhauling the FDA and removing all manufactured chemicals from American diets may be too lofty to achieve in full during his time in office, but his determination regarding the failing state of our nation’s food will stay in the minds of Americans for generations to come. A natural America is coming, and it’s all a part of Kennedy’s plan.

Elaine Kutas is a sophomore studying English.

Caroline Kurt is a junior studying English.

Vance offers hope to pro-lifers. It’s time to deliver

By Moira Gleason D.C. Correspondent

Vice President J.D. Vance could be the best politician for the pro-life movement in recent political history.

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance told the thousands who gathered on the National Mall for the 52nd annual March for Life last week. The vice president joined Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune in the lineup of rally speakers for his first public speech since the inauguration. The president also spoke to rally attendees through a pre-recorded message.

“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages,” Vance said, “one that recognizes and truly believes that

the benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country.”

Now the new administration should deliver on those promises.

Vance aligned himself with the pro-life movement in his speech, calling it “our movement” and promising to stand up for life in America. In doing so, he reclaimed the language of the sanctity of human life and promoted not just a pro-life but a holistically pro-family agenda for the second Trump administration.

“We march to proclaim and live out the sacred truth that every single child is a miracle and a gift from God,” Vance said.

His words demonstrated an understanding of the cultural problems causing demand for abortion in our nation as well as the political and economic changes necessary to promote a pro-life and pro-family culture

“We failed a generation not only by permitting a culture of abortion on demand but also by neglecting to help young parents achieve the ingredients they need to live a happy and meaningful life,” Vance said. “A culture of radical individualism took root, one where the responsibilities and joys of family life were seen as obstacles to overcome, not as personal fulfillment or personal blessings.”

That culture is on its way out, according to Vance. Turning to the new administration, he called Trump

“the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes,” citing the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the appointment of pro-life judges, and the doubling of the child tax credit under his first administration.

Vance did not give a list of concrete actions the new administration will take, but praised the work of the prolife movement and pledged to stand with the movement going forward.

“Every single day that you guys do what you do, from supporting young moms and dads to fighting for the unborn, to working with our legislatures at the state and federal level, you make it possible for us to stand here and say that America is fundamentally a pro-baby, a pro-life, and a pro-family country,” he said.

President Donald Trump made similar promises in his first appearance at the March for Life in 2020, but his most recent campaign for president saw the removal of the language of the sanctity of human life from the Republican Party platform and a campaign promise of federally funded in vitro fertilization, both slights to his prolife base.

Despite wavering on the issue on the campaign trail, Trump has signaled support for the pro-life movement during his first weeks in office, issuing an endorsement of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and pardoning pro-life activists arrested under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE act.

“I want to be clear that this administration stands by you, we stand with you, and most importantly, we stand with the most vulnerable and the basic principle that people exercising the right to protest on behalf of the most vulnerable should never have the government go after them ever again,” Trump said regarding those arrested under the FACE act.

While Trump has up to this point changed his tune on life issues as a political tactic, Vance is giving pro-lifers reason to be optimistic toward the future of the pro-life movement in America under the new administration.

studying English.

Contact sports are not safe. That’s a good thing

By Lewis Thune Collegian Reporter

Nearly 5,000 former players sued the National Football League in 2011 for covering up head injuries associated with the sport. The next year, the New Orleans Saints were busted for “Bountygate” — offering bonuses to their players for injuring opponents. Young standouts like Austin Collie, Johnny Knox, and Ryan Shazier were forced into premature retirement from jarring head and spinal injuries. In 2017, Aaron Hernandez became the poster boy for football-related head trauma, as a post-suicide autopsy revealed what fans had long suspected: The NFLstar-turned-convicted-murder had been suffering from the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy for years. It’s an easy era to remember. Football became a microcosm of all contact sports. Every level of competition began ruthlessly revitalizing efforts for player safety. Rules changed, equipment changed, executives changed, and still parents yanked their kids out of contact sports, my parents among them, much to my dismay. But after a down decade for contact sports, it seems the tide of safetyism no longer holds sway. NFL fans like myself are fed up with the game

being over-penalized. Rugby is the fastest growing collegiate sport in the country, recently overtaking another contact sport, lacrosse. Mixed martial arts, particularly the Ultimate Fighting Championship, are seeing an unprecedented boom in popularity.

The revitalization of these activities is an encouraging sign. We should be excited, not alarmed, at the rising popularity of contact sports.

In the first place, the sports evolved to accommodate safety concerns. All levels of contact sports, professional to peewee, are now hyper-aware of the head injury issue. Even discounting the myriad of changes football has made, rugby alone can demonstrate the scope of change. The scrum — that 16-man monstrosity synonymous with the sport — now requires the two teams to bind to one another before engaging, eliminating centuries of head, neck, and shoulder injuries caused by the old scrum. It’s illegal to tackle a player by pure force. Instead, the ball carrier must be

wrapped with the arms. Tackles above the chest are illegal, as are any tackles deemed “unnecessarily dangerous” during gameplay. Players can even be ejected for dropping an opponent on their head or neck.

Contact sports still offer a controlled, calculated outlet for aggression. The rage and will required to play them still demands critical thinking and problem solving to subject and channel them toward success. The entire game is a test of each player’s ability to understand their own and their opponents’ limits. As evidence of this, look no further than football and the offensive line, which among the sport’s position groups has the simplest job requiring the most raw strength, and yet routinely boasts the smartest

players on the field — as NFL quarterbacks often insist and the NFL Combine Quiz consistently proves.

Most importantly, contact sports still forge unreplicatable uniformity and discipline. Sports in general offer an easily available physical and mental gauntlet in the collective pursuit of a common objective. But contact sports are unique: They teach individuals not merely to sacrifice and endure pain for the good of their team, but to endure an opponent inflicting that pain upon them. The competitive humility is so intense that players even consider it a personal offense when the blow intended for them falls to someone else. In hockey, fights will break out as a matter of principle if the goalie takes a hit meant for

another player. The same phenomenon exists, to a lesser extent, with football’s quarterback and rugby’s scrum half.

My parents pulled me out of football in 2012, but I was able to convince them to let me play my senior year of high school. I got to experience an offensive line’s one-of-a-kind bond as an undersized right guard starting for the worst high school football team in Nebraska.

The lessons I learned there in humility and teamwork carried on to the Hillsdale Club Rugby team, where I got to experience the literal bond of the scrum as a starting lock for the Midwest Champions of National Collegiate Rugby. In the end, it was a spine injury from summer employment, not the ordinary tolls of football or rugby, that ended my contact sports career.

Contact sports will never, at any level, be nearly as safe as their non-contact counterparts — not even the NFL will pretend otherwise. But today, the risks associated with them are far less grave than in previ-

ous times, and they remain the greatest and most accessible teacher of grit and selflessness. The fact that more and more young people desire that kind of sport is worth celebrating.

Trump makes executive orders great again

The president uses executive orders to check the overgrowth of federal government

By Joshua Mistry Collegian Freelancer

“We’re not gonna put up with that crap anymore.”

Addressing a packed Capital One arena in Washington, D.C., the newly inaugurated 47th president delivered his prepared remarks Jan. 20 with plenty of quips and jabs as Donald Trump announced “the Golden Age of America begins.” His tool of choice? Executive orders.

Executive orders are a presidential power not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution but are derived from Article II, Section I which states, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” In practice, they have become de facto laws which sidestep the legislative branch, providing the president with powers bounded only by the myriad of agencies that enforce federal regulations.

Conservatives have often

lamented executive orders as examples of the growth of bureaucratic federal governance since President Teddy Roosevelt. When Roosevelt took office in 1901, he followed a McKinley administration that had issued fewer than 200 executive orders. By the time he left office eight years later, Roosevelt had issued a staggering 1,081 executive orders.

Other progressive presidents such as Wilson and FDR followed the trend, issuing more than 4,800 executive orders during their combined 20 years in office. President Biden issued 161 executive orders while in office.

Presidents Bush and Reagan used executive orders to advance conservative policy through restrictions on immigration and budget. Through executive action, Trump revoked more than 80 executive orders from the Biden administration on his first day in office, showing that conservatives can govern

as the party of normalcy and use executive power to strike down bad policies.

The cancer of bureaucratic experts, specialized federal departments, and commissions that has been metastasizing since the early 20th century won’t be removed by boosting GDP or strengthening the military. It will be defeated by leaders who can stand up and say things like:

“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” per Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order to “Restore biological truth to the federal government.”

His executive orders align with conservative values by cutting government Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices and rolling back federal departments’ reach rather than implementing new programs. While previous

presidents used executive orders to dodge passing policy through legislation, Trump is using them to target and revoke those bureaucratic directives. Even the big picture directives Trump has implemented in the past week are focused on removing burdens on the American people: reducing the inflation crisis, addressing the housing market, and freezing new federal hires.

While Trump’s first term often felt hamstrung by poor cabinet picks and an agenda which got caught in the bureaucratic morass, his second term is starting off unapologetically on the offensive. Rather than spending time complaining about overreaches in the federal government, Trump is using his executive power to remove offices and departments in his attempt to redefine the executive branch within its constitutional bounds.

Trump’s use of executive

orders should not be cheered on by conservative because they force conservative policies on America. Trump should be supported because in practice, he is using executive action to remove power from the federal government, defending our constitutional order. His actions advance the conservative principle of returning power to elected officials and away from unelected bureaucrats.

Trump has dragged conservatives out of hedging their policy positions while in power.

Even more importantly, Trump’s executive orders reject the previous trend of adopting semi-legislative power. His executive orders target the power and scope of the federal government, especially as implemented by the Biden administration.

Trump’s creation of the Department of Government Efficiency demonstrates his vision of executive power: a

tool to reduce the burden of the federal government on the American people. As Trump confines the federal government to its proper bounds, he can better act on his promises to flex American strength abroad. It’s still just the start — the first couple weeks of the second Trump administration are not even over. But if Trump continues realigning the executive branch with its Constitutional design, he really might make America great again.

Moira Gleason is a junior

Lewis Thune is a junior studying politics.

Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor.

Joshua Mistry is a junior studying politics.

City News

Dante-inspired fine liquor store opens

By Elaine Kutas Collegian Reporter

A Dante-themed store for wine and fine liquor opened earlier this month as the first of a three-part transformation of 55 N. Broad Street.

Dante’s Purgatorio Fine Wine and Spirits Shop is the first of three stores to open, while Paradiso — the wine pub — and Inferno — the cigar lounge — are still under construction, according to John Biscaro ’22. The “Divine Comedy”-inspired liquor store is the first of a threepart transformation of the Broad Street Market that Biscaro and general manager Joel Shull are leading under the direction of Luke Robson’s ’17 Hillsdale Renaissance LLC.

“We’re trying to transform the store from a convenience

store to a more specialty shop, aesthetically at least,” Shull said. “Downstairs was a nightclub, which culturally was just an afterthought place, but it will become a cigar lounge with a full bar and a humidor for cigar sales, and the bar next door will be the wine pub. The idea with the wine pub is that it becomes a place where couples can come and have appetizers and share a bottle of wine.”

atmosphere perfect for a romantic outing, private conversations, or a destination for people from surrounding areas, according to Shull.

“Luke and his team are really trying to make Hillsdale a

“We’re trying to transform the store from a convenience store to a more specialty shop.”

amenities: places to go for a date night on a Friday night, a spot to have a cigar with some buddies, things like that.”

Each of the three parts will work together to create a social

place that’s very move-in-ready for families that either want to move back if they went to Hillsdale College or want a nice small town,” Biscaro said. “We have the necessities with Meijer, Walmart, and Kroger, and then we want to be able to offer the

Purgatorio offers a wide range of fine liquor, craft beer, and wine, including 120 new labels. They are also working with David Bruce Winery, an estate vineyard and winery owned by Hillsdale College in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, to become a primary retailer. Shull and Biscaro said they hope to strengthen their relationship with the college by curating event wine lists, including the Parents Weekend wine tasting.

“We would love to partner with the college and design wine lists for different events, do more tastings, and do things like that,” Biscaro said. “They have wine at their events, and we’d love to help make that more curated

By Jillian Parks Editor-in-Chief

The city council approved a $105,000 repair to the Hillsdale Municipal Airport’s T-hangars in an 7-1 vote on Jan. 21, with Councilman Matt Bentley opposing the measure. The money will be taken out of an airport improvement fund that has been saved up from fuel sales and hangar rent instead of the original proposal to withdraw money from the city’s general fund. The move comes as Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino aims to wean the airport off city tax money in the future, making

it self-funded by revenue.

The hangars, or enclosed structures that house small aircraft, have not been repaired since they were built in the 1960s. Repairs will include replacing rotted wood on the exterior, rebuilding the doors, and repainting the structures.

“The T-hangars are in poor shape, and we need to fix them,” Hillsdale Municipal Airport Manager Ginger Moore said. “The reason why we could even get it at the price that we did is because [Hillsdale Municipal Airport Line Manager] Steve Boyd and his assistant [Ashley Kinsley] are going to do it themselves, which

is a lot of work.”

All of the airport’s T-hangars are currently being rented with a consistent waiting list of about five to six people. Moore saud the money will cover the materials needed to repair the main building with three T-hangars and a maintenance T-hangar attached, the stand-alone corporate T-hangar, and three other buildings housing five Thangars each.

“We actually had contractors come in here and quote just the main building and corporate Thangar. I think it was $113,000 for them just to do the two buildings, not touching the other

and more specialty.”

As a wider part of the Hillsdale Renaissance project, hospitality is where Shull hopes to shine.

“I love that I have the ability to provide an opportunity for people just to enjoy themselves and to be able to do that in town,” Shull said.

Another local small business owner downtown, Wayne Babcock, said he sees Hillsdale’s revitalization as much needed.

According to Babcock, when he and his four business partners began brainstorming what would become Ethan’s Donut Factory, they saw a need in the community that had to be filled.

“We got together two or three years ago when we noticed a lot

of empty buildings in the downtown area,” Babcock said. “We all grew up here. We’re Hillsdale people, so we decided to do something downtown that’s unique and different, that people will appreciate, and that will give back to the community. Ethan’s Donut Factory is that place we decided to open.”

Although Ethan’s Donut Factory is not owned by Robson, Babcock said he finds Robson’s mission admirable. According to Babcock, the town’s culture is conducive to small businesses.

“All the businesses downtown, from Dante’s to Big Pine Brewery to Ethan’s, we all become one,” Babcock said. “We get to know each other and our customers.”

three,” Boyd said. “So we’ve got the price down.” Boyd said he plans to have the new doors built by spring, so he can work on replacing the wood, painting the building, and rehanging the new doors come summertime.

“We’re hoping to have our grand opening on Sept. 14, which is the same day as our big fly-in day,” Moore said.

Over the past eight years, the airport has taken an average of $160,000 in property tax revenue a year from the general fund, according to Paladino. Moore said this goes toward wages, maintenance on the equip-

ment, contract services, and utilities, among other things.

The airport brings in an average yearly revenue of about $250,000, which goes into an airport improvement fund that is saved to pay for a portion of projects, such as adding terminals and taxiways, that is needed to get grants.

Paladino said his ideal would be for revenue neutrality to sustain the airport to function on its revenue alone in the future, as the city should budget money for other priorities first.

“My expectation is that [city money] goes to things that serve the common good of the people,” Paladino said. “The folks at the airport, the city manager, the majority of council, make the argument that the airport serves a common good. I think there’s an argument for that, but it’s not anywhere close to the argument that roads or water quality or public safety serve a public good.”

Executive Director of the Hillsdale County Economic Development Partnership Sue Smith said she is skeptical that revenue neutrality would be possible for the airport.

“There are some things that are excellent assets, but are not necessarily ever gonna make a big profit,” Smith said. “We don’t have a community college, but most community colleges are an asset in a community, and they will never be self supporting because they are funded by

millage, and then they have administrative costs that they get funding for.”

According to Aviation Specialist Hilary Hoose from the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Hillsdale Municipal Airport generates $3.9 million in local labor income and more than $12 million in local output, just as direct effects.

“I’d say 99.9% of the airports are not self sufficient, but it’s about the return to the community, what the community gets out of the airport, as far as money being invested back in,” Boyd said. “We have people flying here, investors, just to look at buying companies, buying this, buying that, here locally. That’s big bucks.” Paladino said he understands that argument, but revenue neutrality would still be something he hopes to see the airport working toward over time.

“My point is if they can’t generate revenue to pay for their costs, then they’re not economically viable,” Paladino said. “I’m willing to work with it. Give it time. If it draws $30,000 from the general fund in one year because of a slow year, OK. It is what it is. But when it’s this consistent budget item that is preventing us from building the roads without special assessments, I think that’s a huge problem.”

Dante’s sells a wide range of fine liquor, craft beer, and wine.

Christina Lewis | Collegian

Dante’s opened earlier this month. Elaine Kutas | Collegian

Hillsdale Municipal Airport T-hangars house 5 T-hangars per building.

Jillian Parks | Collegian

New cage-free law, bird flu spike egg prices at local stores

By Carly Moran Senior Reporter

For many Michigan residents, the new cage-free eggs law isn’t going to fly.

Since Jan. 1, all eggs from Michigan farms with 3,000 or more chickens must be raised cage-free. The cost of a dozen eggs has increased in tandem with the bird flu, leading some locals to wonder when prices will improve.

“Today’s costs are quadruple what they were five years ago. But, yes, we’ve seen eggs jump one to two dollars a dozen since the cagefree mandate went into effect,” said Brett Boyd, owner of Hillsdale Market House.

“It started on Jan. 1, but rapid inflation started in early December.”

Two weeks ago, Boyd reported a dozen large eggs cost $4.08 for wholesale, and Market House sold them at $4.99 retail. As of last week, the Hillsdale Meijer also sold their store brand dozen eggs for $4.99.

week, but retailers will make retail changes almost every day based on what they have in inventory.”

One local politician, State Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, RColdwater, said he is looking into solutions to the egg crisis.

not to extend the delay.

“It could have been [delayed], had the legislature wanted to bring up a bill to delay it, but that would have had to take effect before the end of last year, and even before then our stores and producers had started to prepare for the new rules,” Wortz said. “Now, our shortage of eggs can no longer be sourced from other states that don’t have this law.”

Wortz, who owns a small family farm in Branch County, says she would not have supported the bill. She cited that 6.5 million hens were euthanized in Michigan in 2024 alone to combat bird flu.

Hillsdale County farmers have felt the effects of the new policy, according to Wortz.

“Egg producers knew this change was coming, so they’ve worked for the past several years to make changes within their barns to be prepared for the new law,” she said. “Unfortunately, in retail, there are some issues with wholesalers in my district who distribute eggs to both Ohio and Indiana, who do not have the cagefree requirement.”

The new law mandates all Michigan restaurants and stores sell cage-free eggs, leaving the responsibility to not only farmers but retailers. Boyd said many of his customers are expressing concerns over rising costs.

“We’ve seen eggs jump one to two dollars a dozen since the cage-free mandate went into effect.”

By Jake Waldvogel Collegian Freelancer

“The market has really been fluctuating,” Boyd said. “We were $3.99 a dozen last week but with the increase in costs to over $4 a dozen, we had to move up. The egg market ‘cost’ changes happen once a

“I am currently drafting legislation to address the unnecessary regulations that drive up the price of eggs and look forward to sharing more soon,” Lindsey said. “If consumers want cage-free eggs they should always be free to buy them, but it is inappropriate for the government to dictate that those are the only eggs that can be produced and sold in Michigan.”

According to Hillsdale State Rep. Jennifer Wortz, R-

Quincy, the Animal Industry Act was originally passed in 2009 as a space requirement for caged chickens. The bill expanded in 2019 to mandate cage-free eggs, but the Republican legislature delayed its implementation until 2025. The Michigan House chose

“I believe people should have the freedom to choose which eggs they want to purchase in the store,” Wortz said. “There is actually an increased risk of disease in a cage-free facility, and it’s quite possible that the avian flu is spreading more easily because the chickens are in larger groups than if they were in cages. There is also no data to suggest that a bird in a confinement barn is less stressed in cages versus no cages.”

“I feel bad for the consumer,” Boyd said. “Things have settled some, but $4-5 a dozen is frustrating for almost everyone. This increase in the cost of eggs has impacted customers in our stores and in Sharon’s House of Pancakes as well. Customers repeatedly say they just want their farm fresh eggs back around $1 a dozen.”

Pub & Grub unveils new bourbon bar Homeless shelter stays open all day during cold week

Here’s to You Pub & Grub opened a new bourbon bar on its top floor Jan. 9.

Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8 p.m. the new bar will serve whiskey to its patrons from a selection of more than 30 different bottles. Kevin Conant, owner of Pub & Grub, said he will run the bar, hoping to make the most of a recent rise in bourbon demand.

“Spirits are really taking up popularity,” Conant said. “I watched it explode from hobby stuff to huge in the past eight years, so I figured it’s really smart to stay ahead of the market.”

The bar will serve as an upgrade to Conant’s previous “Bourbon Nights,” which he put on every other Tuesday night last summer and fall.

Bourbon is a particular kind of whiskey made exclusively in the United States. Its mash must

contain at least 51% corn, and it is aged in white oak barrels.

Conant said his interest in bourbon follows a class he took which granted him the title “Executive Bourbon Steward,” a recognition of professionalism and quality by the bourbon industry.

“I’ve worked over the past year to really train my palette and pick out flavors so that I can get some nuances out of bourbon,” he said.

Though the bourbon bar’s

use of space grants Pub & Grub’s upper level a more open and inviting atmosphere, the bar’s biggest appeals are these craft flavors that Conant invents for his customers. According to his staff, Conant always makes his own simple syrups to use in his whiskey cocktails.

“He always tests them out on me,” said Nikki Cowles, Pub & Grub’s longest serving staff member. “He makes the sample one, and I try it.”

Conant’s craft concoctions give the bar a unique attraction to customers looking for new flavors, and he rotates a signature cocktail into the menu every week.

“This week, I made a cinnamon clove simple syrup,” Conant said. “Then I paired it with a cocoa bitter and then a weeded bourbon. I kind of tie it all together.”

Specific flavors may be served for only a limited time, but Joel Shull, patron of the bourbon bar and manager of Dante’s Purgatorio Fine Wine and Spirits Shop, said each rotation is worth the taste.

“My favorite really depends on my mood,” said Shull, “but they’re always good.”

Having an acquired or refined taste is not required to appreciate the bar, according to Conant. He said he hopes to introduce more open hours and even some bourbon tasting sessions in the future. This would allow new bourbon enjoyers to slowly develop their whiskey palettes.

“We’re probably going to be pulling in some Fridays soon, and then I’m going to be doing some bourbon tasting,” Conant said. “It’s like small class stuff. So people who have never been around bourbon can ask questions, and we can discuss the different types of bourbon. They can try it and see what they like.”

By Sydney Green Collegian Reporter

When temperatures dipped to minus 9 degrees last week, Share the Warmth of Hillsdale County stayed open to the homeless day and night.

“We are usually a night only emergency warming center,” Executive Director Penny Myers said. “But because of this really cold weather, we decided that we should stay open as a 24-hour facility until the weather warms up.”

The warming center is in its seventh year of supporting the homeless. The shelter lengthened its hours Jan. 19-22.

“The community has really willingly stepped up and asked how they can help,” Myers said.

The volunteers take shifts and help with laundry, food service, facility oversight, and any other tasks that need to be done, according to Myers.

Former Mayor Adam Stockford said he used to volunteer at the shelter and has supported its work since. Stockford said he likes to see the community supporting the shelter.

“Things like these have to be a constant to work, they can’t just be open off and on,” Stockford said. “Penny has been able to build a center that is sustained by volunteers and that is a hard thing to do in our city.”

The shelter is located at Sozo Church on 7 S. Manning St. Lead pastor at the church, Rev. Ed Spreeman, said he wants the building to be community focused and has been happy to house the center.

“Our philosophy is that this building is a community building that the church uses, and not the other way around,” Spreeman said. “It was a no-brainer to open it then to the homeless and we consider it an issue of hospitality and love.”

Myers encouraged anyone interested in the shelter to volunteer and take a shift.

“We would love to see more people get involved and we could use the help,” Myers said. “This is a project God has wanted us to do and we want to do it with excellence.”

Eggs line the shelves at Market House, where owner Brett Boyd said prices have quadrupled in the past five years.

Christina Lewis | Collegian

Eggs prices have risen as much as two dollars a dozen, according to Brett Boyd. Christina Lewis | Collegian

Pub & Grub’s new bourbon bar will serve special concoctions Tuesday and Thursday 5-8 p.m. Jake Waldvogel | Collegian

Share the Warmth stayed open all day last week. Sydney Green | Collegian

Sports Opinion

The Chiefs will win third-straight Super Bowl

By Joshua Mistry Collegian Reporter

Mahomes' magic will give the Kansas City Chiefs just enough on Feb. 9 to become the first National Football League team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

While nine other teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls, the 2024-25 Chiefs are the only team to make it back to the Super Bowl immedi ately following their second consecutive victory.

Looking at most of the offensive statistics for the Chiefs would not seem to show a Super Bowl-bound team, but the magic formula head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Ma homes have developed never seems to fail when it counts.

The Chiefs were viewed as having an extremely weak offense, and as a team that mainly made the playoffs on the backs of an exceptionally strong defense which ranks top five in most categories. To beat the stampeding Bills would take a miracle. But all it took was the same thing that always gets the job done for the Chiefs: efficiency on key third and fourth downs,

Games

a turnover right when it mattered, and just enough Ma-

led by their MVP-candidate running back Saquon Bar-

the Super Bowl are the high flying Philadelphia Eagles,

Battleship

Difficulty:

There are four ships of length

1(• ), three ships of length 2

(◀ ▶), two ships of length 3 (◀ ■ ▶), and one ship of length

4 (◀ ■ ■ ▶). Each ship is surrounded by empty water on all sides, including diagonally; no two ships touch or intersect. The numbers along the border indicate how many ship pieces appear in that row or column.

ABCD

Difficulty:

Each row and column contains 1 each of A, B, C, and D, as well as two blanks. The letters around the border indicate the first letter to appear on that end of the corresponding row or column.

coach Nick Sirianni, is even stronger this year

with a bolstered secondary, beefy interior defensive line, and quick, hard-hitting middle linebackers.

Unlike the Chiefs, who only beat the Buffalo Bills by a field goal in the American Football Conference Championship game, the Eagles blew out the Washington Commanders in the National Football Conference Championship game by four touchdowns.

Despite all this, the Chiefs will win Super Bowl LIX.

The Chiefs will not win the Super Bowl by dominating the Eagles on the ground, or by passing over their heads. They will win by getting seven-yard runs on first down, by stopping a tush push on a fourth down late in the third quarter, and by some Mahomes scramble late in the game that will put them in field goal range.

Many fans are quick to blame the referees and cry out that Mahomes gets preferential treatment. But Mahomes' magic is not getting bailed out by the refs. It is overcoming broken plays and executing schemes to perfection at exactly that moment that matters most.

Men's Basketball

Chargers fall short at home against conference leader

By Kirsten Lopez Collegian Freelancer

The No. 24 men’s basketball team fell to rivals No. 5 Findlay University Oilers in a hardfought 76-71 game at home on Jan. 25. Findlay challenged the Chargers early, running a tight full-court press and making it difficult to move the ball effectively and find good shot opportunities.

Junior Ashton Janowski, who scored 12 for the Chargers, mentioned the team did their best to prepare for the Findlay press and fiveman substitution strategy, and while they felt sped up at times, they did their best keeping turnovers to a minimum.

“I think there are a lot of both positives and negatives that we can learn from this game so when we play them again in February we can be ready to correct our mistakes from Saturday,” Janowski said. “I don’t think we’ll shoot that poorly again.”

Redshirt freshman Logan Beaston put up 11 points for the Chargers, including nine from three-point range.

“We got a lot of good looks we just didn’t convert. Most nights we hit those shots, Saturday we didn’t,” Beaston said. “Credit to Findlay for playing well and making shots, but now we have to bounce back and make plays this week, and get back in the win column.”

The Chargers were unable to find their rhythm, trailing 34-27 at the end of the first half, and struggled to find success from the three, shooting 41.3% from the field and 5-23 from deep.

Senior Joe Reuter led the team in scoring with 14 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and had two assists.

“We can only control how we play and respond to the environment we are playing in, and we have to do a better job of focusing on ourselves and playing within our capabilities,” Reuter said. “As far as going forward, we still have all our goals and what we set out to achieve at the beginning of the year in front of us.”

The Chargers will play the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets in Cedarville, Ohio Jan. 30 and the Kentucky Wesleyan University Panthers at home Feb. 1.

Club Sports

Hillsdale adds volleyball as new men's club sport

By Lewis Thune Collegian Reporter

The newly-established Hillsdale men’s club volleyball team hosted its first ever practice on January 24.

“We had 17 guys turn out for our first ‘practice’ of sorts — a court time to play some pickup games,” sophomore club president Joe Vankat said.

With their inaugural practice in the books, men’s club volleyball joins the women’s club volleyball team, the two Campus Rec intramural volleyball leagues, and Hillsdale’s dominant volleyball program as the newest form of volleyball on campus.

The idea for the club comes from a certain circle of Simpson residents for which volleyball became a serious hobby, one that the intramural sand and indoor Campus Rec leagues didn’t satisfy.

“It was brought up a lot around the dorm early on in the fall semester, and the people who we talked about

it with were all on board to try for something more,” senior Jadon Camero, club treasurer and Simpson head resident assistant, said.

So a group of Simpson resident assistants and upperclassmen set to work getting a men’s club volleyball team started.

“We noticed volleyball was becoming more popular among the men of campus,” Vankat said. “We saw enough talent and desire for a more competitive brand of volleyball, so we decided to give it a shot.”

Men’s club volleyball officially secured the student federation’s approval to become a club in the closing days of the 2024 fall semester, entering the probationary period. This semester they’ll be working to generate interest in the club, which hasn’t been hard to do, according to Vankat.

“We had about 30 people express interest at the Re-Source, the majority of whom showed up to our first

court time. Starting next semester, we’re going to assemble a travel team and hold actual practices,” he said. “Then in the spring of 2026, we plan to join the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.”

Junior Marc Ayers, club secretary and Simpson resident assistant, said he looks forward to league play.

“We can’t wait to finally get on a regulation-height net,” Ayers said. Camero, the only senior in the club’s leadership, said he hopes to set the team up for success in his final semester.

“There’s already a real commitment to this idea among the guys. I want to see that continue to the point where this club achieves the kind of success that a lot of the other club sports here at the college have had,” Camero said. “Volleyball is something I’ve enjoyed in my time here, and I want to share that with the students who come after me.”

Photo of the Week

Joseph Servold crawls to his mom, Maria Servold, to win the crawlers baby race during halftime of the men's basketball game on Saturday. COURTESY | EMMA PURDY

Reuter named to top 100 watchlist

By Vasiliki Paplomata Collegian Freelancer

Senior Joe Reuter was named to the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List on Jan. 15 by Small College Basketball and the NCAA National Awards Committee.

Among the thousands of student athletes who compete at the NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA, and NCCAA levels, only 100 are distinguished for their individual achievements on the court and in the classroom, as well as their character and team success.

“The biggest thing that stood out to me about the Bevo Francis Award was that it’s not just an individual award, it’s about the top teams,” Reuter said. “It’s about us being recognized as a team that is prominent in Division II, and that’s the most important thing.”

The award is named after basketball legend Bevo Francis, who played at the University of Rio Grande in Ohio from 1952 to 1954. Before Francis’ first season, Rio Grande

had a record of 4-19, and the school was on the verge of bankruptcy. During his first year with the team, Francis led the Redmen, now the Red Storm, to a perfect 39-0 record, a win streak that has yet to be surpassed by a collegiate basketball team. In just two years, the Rio Grande legend broke six NAIA individual records — four of which he broke while scoring 113 points against Hillsdale — and saved his school from closing.

Hillsdale men’s basketball coach Keven Bradley said Joe Reuter stands out much like Bevo Francis did.

“There are a lot of well-deserving people nominated for the award, but what Joe does in addition to the basketball stuff is what separates him from everybody else; his work ethic and his leadership, the way he’s brought the younger guys to the program by lifting with them and shooting with them,” Bradley said. “He is such a high-character kid and a great student. He eats well, sleeps well, and takes care of

Women's Basketball

himself. I admire his approach to everything in life.”

Bradley said he is grateful that an athlete like Joe is being recognized.

“He is everything you want from a coaching perspective. He’s about the right things, he’s all about the team, and he never wants the limelight. His being acknowledged is a great testament that you don’t have to be the person that scores thirty points every game and beats his chest to be self-promotive,” Bradley said. “He's been a pleasure to work with for the past four years”.

Reuter’s success at Hillsdale began early in his collegiate career. He earned Great Midwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year honors and contributed significantly to the team’s 2021-22 run to the Elite Eight, the first in the program's history.

“I know I have a certain number of minutes to prove myself on the court, so I try to make the most of the few opportunities that I get.” Reuter said. “Throughout my

time here, though, my role has shifted to include a leader who’s there to help everyone.”

Senior CJ Yarian described his teammate as a hard worker, a leader, and a great teammate.

“Joe has done a great job being a vocal leader, especially the past two years, and he is good at holding us accountable every day. He leads by example by showing consistency time and time again, guarding the best players and scoring the ball,” Yarian said. “We are all better when he plays better. He is also a role model off the court by working hard in the classroom and representing our program.”

Both Bradley and Reuter highlighted the culture that makes the Chargers basketball team unique. The team is one of the few in the NCAA Division II that has no transfers, which means the coaches are working with high school kids and guiding them through a mentality of trust and unity.

“My players are committing to being part of something bigger than themselves,” Brad-

Chargers knock off rival Findlay at home

By Cassandra DeVries Collegian Reporter

Hillsdale Women's basketball beat rival University of Findlay 59-57 Jan. 25 at home after losing to No. 12 Ashland University 70-59 Jan. 23.

The loss marked the end of the Charger’s eight-game winning streak.

“Ashland is a very tough team. They play a super aggressive defense, and it just makes it very hard to score against them because of their length and athleticism,” head coach Brianna Brennan said. “And so I'm really proud of our girls for how they handled it, and we kept a very low turnover rate.”

but I think we can get them in the playoffs.”

The Charger’s second game was against the University of Findlay.

“Findlay was a huge win for us because they are our

was a super competitive game and very physical,” Brennan said. “They're a really good defensive team, but we definitely held our own.”

Senior Carly Callahan’s twin sister plays post for

tie the game with 7:36 left on the clock.

With 2:25 minutes to go, McDonald scored seven more points for Hillsdale and won the game despite one last 3-point shot from the Oilers.

On defense, Hillsdale forced 18 turnovers and held Ashland below its scoring average.

Senior Lauren McDonald led the Chargers and scored 23 points.

“Ashland hasn't lost yet, but it was a close game,” McDonald said. “Their post players beat us on the boards,

biggest rivals,” senior Kendall McCormick said. “We’ve gone back and forth for years.”

Before the game, the Chargers were tied for third place with Findlay in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference standings.

“Since it was Findlay, it

Findlay.

“She's a shooter and did pretty well. It's always fun playing against her. Tensions are high,” McDonald said.

The Chargers trailed Findlay for most of the game, but Senior Caitlin Splain and junior Emma Ruhlman scored back-to-back 3-pointers to

“Lauren and Splain were hitting everything,” McCormick said.

Hillsdale capitalized on 16 Findlay turnovers, scoring 15 points.

McDonald finished the game with 17 points, Splain scored 13 points, and sophomore Annalise Pietrzyk added nine points.

“We locked it down defensively in the fourth quarter,” McCormick said.

McDonald said Pietrzyk played well defending one of Findlay’s top players all night and that the post players also battled well under the basket.

Hillsdale’s record is now 12-6 overall and 9-2 in the conference.

The Chargers’s next game will be home against Cedarville University on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m.

ley said. “They are die-hard basketball guys, but they work equally hard in the classroom.”

Reuter said his story is a combination of teamwork and hard work.

“My favorite player of all time is Kobe Bryant. He is known for his legendary work ethic, and I took that as my way to be the best version of myself,” Reuter said. “I put in

Swimming

the time to be the best basketball player I can be and that’s where my motivation and drive come from.”

On Feb. 15, the Bevo Francis watchlist will be narrowed down to 50 players. On March 15, it will be reduced to 25, and on April 7, the winner of this year’s award will be announced.

Chargers split meets

By Ty Ruddy Assistant Editor

Charger swimming split a double dual meet in its final outing before the Great Midwest Athletic Conference finals, beating Aquinas College 146-90 but falling to Davenport University 126-104.

Coach Kirner said the loss against Davenport was still promising in its own way.

“We do not compete in diving and we consistently lose those points,” he said. “However in the match up without diving included, which helps us understand respectively how we are doing, we came out winning the swim battle in a very close point total.”

Senior Megan Clifford continued her season-long dominance in the 200-yard freestyle, taking the event in 1:55.85. She also won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:03.92. Clifford, sophomore Inez McNichols, freshman Ella Shafer, and senior Lucia Rutchi also placed second in the 400 yard freestyle relay.

“I noticed people swimming with a lot more confidence than they did at the beginning of the season,” McNichols said. “All we have

to do now is trust the physical and mental training that has brought us through the season.”

Senior Elise Mason’s time of 5:17.06 in the 500-yard freestyle was good for first, as was her time of 17:44.68 in the 1650-yard freestyle. Other Chargers followed her in each event. Sophomore Isabel Ondracek placed second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:29.26 and junior Jamie Parsons was second in the 1650yard freestyle in 18:51.09.

“The last dual meet was bittersweet because I am excited for G-MACs but I am sad the season is coming to an end,” Parsons said. “I am just planning on working hard and having fun with my teammates.”

Junior Joanna Burnham won the 200-yard breaststroke for the Chargers in 2:31.22. Mason, Burnham, Rutchi, and freshman Ella Malone also placed second in the 400-yard medley relay. The Chargers will spend the next three weeks preparing for the G-MAC championships, which will begin on Feb. 12 in Canton, OH at the C.T. Branin Natatorium.

Charger chatter

Charlie Beldon, Golf

If you could become a Hollywood star, who would you choose to become?

Compiled by Tayte Christensen

Henry Cavill. I like Superman. Are oatmeal raisin cookies an acceptable kind of cookie? No. Cookies need chocolate in them.

Of states you’ve visited, which is your least favorite?

Texas. It’s too hot.

When you ride a rollercoaster, do you prefer the front, middle or back?

Back — as far from the danger as possible.

Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department

Senior Joe Reuter against Saginaw Valley State University on Nov. 8. Courtesy | Austin Thomason

Women's basketball celebrates their win against Findlay. COURTESY | Kenneth Gaudet

Charger Sports

Chargers hit conference marks over the weekend

By Joshua Mistry Collegian Reporter

Senior Cass Dobrowolski earned a NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark in the high jump in the Bill Clinger Classic at Grand Valley State University where some Charger athletes competed Friday before the home Wide Track Classic on Saturday.

Dobrowolski placed fourth in the high jump with a mark of 2.09 meters in a field that included five of the top 10 high jumpers at the NCAA DII level.

"Traveling to Grand Valley was a good building block off Indianapolis last week," Dobrowolski said. "There was high level competition, which is similar to what we will see during our conference championship, that helps to push each of us that little bit more."

On the track at Grand Valley State, junior Lucy Minning took third in the 60-meter dash and second in the 200-meter dash with personal best times of 7.70 and 24.79 seconds respectively. Junior Francesca Federici, sophomore Zoe Burke and seniors Reese Dragovich and Josee Behling took first in the 4 x 400-meter relay with a DII top 20 and provisional qualifying mark time of 3:50.55. Dragovich also placed third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.43 seconds. Burke followed behind, placing fourth with a time of 58.88 seconds.

At the meet on Friday, freshman Sarah Chappelle placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 8.92 seconds.

"These last few weeks of training have been about max-

imizing top speed and being explosive. The team had a very supportive, positive, and encouraging atmosphere," Chappelle said.

On the track at home, freshmen Zach Self and Zealand Tarrant placed third and fourth in the 800-meter run with times of 1:59.89 and 2:00.21, respectively. Freshman Daniel Johnson placed fifth in the mile with a time of 4:28.75. Senior Jamahl Burke won the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.66 seconds.

"The race was smooth and felt strong, we're just finishing a hard training block and we also competed the previous day, so yesterday was more about getting accustomed to competing on back to back days and treating it as a training day," Burke said.

For the women, Chappelle

placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.08. Minning won the 60-meter and 200-meter dash with times of 7.77 and 25.24 seconds respectively. Junior Anna Lamoreaux placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.61 seconds. Zoe Burke also placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.45 seconds.

"Doubling up meets was tough, and we're all very exhausted going into this week, but we all gave top performances," Chappelle said.

Junior Anna Roberts won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:23.50. Freshmen Evyn Humphrey and Allison Kuzma placed first and third in the mile with times of 4:59.04 and 5:08.83 respectively. Sophomore Anna Stirton placed second in the 3,000-meter race

with a time of 11:05.77 followed closely by sophomore Eleanor Clark who placed third with a personal best time of 11:06.41.

In the field at home, junior Ben Haas won the shot put with a mark of 17.54 meters, better than his provisional qualifying mark. Haas also placed second in the weight throw with a provisional qualifying mark of 19.35 meters. Senior Connor McCormick placed fourth in the pole vault with a mark of 4.66 meters.

For the women, senior Grace Chen took first in the triple jump with a mark of 10.75 meters. Freshman Olivia Newsome placed second in the weight throw with a provisional qualifying mark of 17.60 meters. Senior Mackenzie Morrison placed fifth in the shot put with a personal best mark of 12.60 meters. Junior Tara

Townsend placed third in the pole vault with a mark of 3.90 meters that exceeded the provisional qualifying mark.

"The team on a whole definitely saw a lot of bright glimpses and a lot of my teammates have hit marks already that they didn’t hit until later in the season last year. So all in all, I think we’re in a really positive position and we have a lot of momentum which we can carry forward into the rest of indoors and into outdoors," Jamahl Burke said.

The Chargers will compete next weekend at two meets again, sending some athletes to the Akron Invitational at the University of Akron on Jan. 31 while most are headed to the Jet's Pizza Invite at Saginaw Valley State University Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.

Freshman Sarah Chappelle (middle)

C U L T U R E

‘Story Beautiful’ opens at Sage’s Daughtrey Gallery

By Grace Brennan Collegian Reporter

Walking into the Daughtrey Art Gallery the first painting — “Mother Goose” a painting by Olga Guzhbina of a woman and her goose — strikes the

Jan. 24 and will be open until March 23. Everything in the exhibit is owned by Nathaniel Stewart ’95. The collection contains works by modern artists, such as Anthony Baus, Colleen Barry, and Will St. John, following in the tradi -

According to Suarez, some of the best artists in their genre of art are showcased in “Story Beautiful.”

“This exhibit showcases work from some of the best classically trained contemporary artists,” Suarez said.

viewer with its vivacity and joy. The woman smiles with rosy cheeks, matching her red headdress and jewels, as she holds her goose to her lap.

The most recent gallery, “Story Beautiful,” opened on

By Ally Hall Design Editor

tion of the old masters.

“The influence of the italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo can clearly be seen in the ink drawings of Anothony Baus,” said Julio Suarez, chairman of the art department.

According to Stewart, the gallery features 50 works from the 20th century as every piece is created by living artists.

“Everything in my collection is by a living artist,” Stewart said. “I don’t collect work from ages past. So these are folks that are currently working, and they are working in the old masters tradition.”

Junior Abi Palubinskas, vice president of Alpha Rho Tau art honorary said the gallery showcases the process behind the works of art.

“The exhibit is a perfect combination of the most masterful pieces of art that one can see, and also, the process,”

Palubinskas said.

Anthony Baus, one of the many artists showcased in the exhibit, said the process behind the product is often easier to see in drawings, than in paintings.

“If I’m looking at an old master painting, it’s hard to access the painting because it’s done,” Baus said. “Sometimes a drawing is largely unfinished. So you can see how the artist is working.”

Baus said classical tradition inspired these artists.

artists today in this genre.”

Barry’s oil on canvas, titled “Cain,” draws the viewer in with curiosity as to why the figure’s back is turned away with his head laying low.

These classically trained artists are using their skill to present real life stories.

“The art resonates with us because it is true,” freshman

viewers know what they’re looking at,” Stewart said. Stewart said that beauty doesn’t necessarily mean pretty, but refers to the human condition.

“This exhibit showcases work from some of the best classically trained contemporary artists”

“This group of artists is trying to reclaim this old-timey type of art and the type of skills that old artists used to have,” Baus said.

According to Baus, these artists are not simply copying the old masters, but using the same traditional skills to create something that is new, lively, and more sincere.

“There’s such a momentum and so many artists in small schools that are popping up, it’s a real movement,” Baus said. “I think this exhibit really displays some of the finest art that’s happening by living

Fara Newell said. “It shows more than a surface level aesthetic of beauty, which speaks to the intrinsic nature of humanity.”

Stewart said part of his interest in collecting new art is being able to support living artists who are trying to make a living in the art world, as well as getting a chance to personally know them and the story they have to share.

“I think that the artists are trying to communicate something of an idea, which is why they’ve chosen realism, naturalism — something that the

“It has to be conveyed in a beautiful way, or I don’t find it very appealing. That doesn’t mean that the subject matter is always pretty,” Stewart said. “Other themes that run through my collection, at least more recently, have been part of the human condition, the human story.” Stewart said he hopes when students and faculty go to see the exhibit they have a new appreciation for modern artists, and they choose to support the artists they enjoy.

“This gives us all some sort of confidence that there is a desire for our work in the world, and people want to see what other people have to create, and they are more than willing to purchase that and have it shown for other people to appreciate,” Palubinskas said. “I think it’s cultivating the love of beauty.”

Underthe glow of pixels: The Eagles rocktheSphere

Like many sensorysensitive individuals, I’m easily unsettled by a cool-toned overhead light or a bad perfume. The idea of an “immersive experience” is about as undesirable as getting flossed at the dentist or attending a morning lecture. For me, the best aspect of live music is not the shared experience with others, the talented musicians, or hearing my favorite songs live. It’s the fact that shows often occur in cool, dark spaces. Needless to say, I was almost more anxious than excited to see The Eagles during their last show of 2024 at the Sphere, a 580,000 square foot LED-fortified dome east of the Las Vegas Strip.

To a pretentious music fan, the Sphere initially seemed like the pinnacle of tacky: the crown jewel of corporate entertainment culture and another example of “just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” The Eagles announced their

final tour, “The Long Goodbye” in 2023 with Steely Dan. This tour leg led into their summer 2024 residency announcement at the Sphere, a stretch which initially was supposed to be eight shows last fall. Now, the Eagles have extended their stay well into April of this year — a whopping 32 shows rounding out their so-called final hoorah.

After the death of a founding member and co-lead singer and songwriter (“Hotel California,” “Take it to the Limit,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” etc.) Glenn Frey in 2016, the surviving members restructured the group. Original members Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit still maintain the structure of the band. Henley recruited bluegrass savant Vince Gill to play with the Eagles in 2017. Glenn Frey’s son Deacon Frey rounds out the group and stands out — he’s the youngest on stage by a couple decades. With only an hour until showtime, the Sphere was surprisingly easy to navigate. Short entry lines, multiple spots to buy vintage-inspired merchandise, and accessible, clean bathrooms: a routine concert-goer’s dream. The show opened with a dig-

itally projected junkyard of the band’s history: a digitized collection of their old logos and brand styles, iconic buildings

and

screen with

of their labels like Capitol Records, and key

stories, complete with both CGI and real human actors. Some of the visuals followed a more traditional music video scheme while others took spectators down backroads of nondescript roads with beautiful greenery.

Alongside their numerous hits like “Witchy Woman,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and “Life in the Fast Lane,” the Eagles also played a number of solo tracks like Walsh’s “In the City” and Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” Frey led the encore with “Take it Easy,” shortly followed by songs like “Desperado” and “Heartache Tonight.”

Each track on the setlist had a corresponding visual aid that poured down from the top of the Sphere and coats the space.

For tracks like “Hotel California” and “Lyin’ Eyes,” these visuals were highly sophisticated

a flashing timestamp before the sky breaks open, the seats shake, and audience members are thrust into a storm leading right into “Hotel California.” Though I’d braced myself for a light-and-sound induced panic attack, it only took about a song to go from disorientation to awe. The sound quality lacked the glaring metallic nature that many stadiums promote. Instead, it sounded understated, the product of about 1,500 permanently installed speakers and 300 mobile modules mostly hidden behind the screen. It was like Henley was in my living room and not encased in a multi-billion dollar freak of industrial design.

The only thing more moving than the general adoration that emanated from the audience of nearly 18,600 people was Henley’s introduction speech which set a gracious tone for the rest of the evening.

“We’re so grateful people still want to hear these songs,” Henley said.

The Eagles performance at the Sphere had the potential to be a cheap caricature of a great band’s legacy, exploitative of their extensive history. Instead, it was a dazzling endeavor that honored not only the organic sonic experience the group is famed for, but also the roots of camaraderie and connection it still manages to cling to. Even 50 years later. Even under the glow of millions of pixels.

“The Bride” by Carla Paine (center) and drawings by Will St. John COURTESY | Grace Brennan

“The Sign of Jonah” by Samir Rakhmanov COURTESY | Grace Brennan

Ally hall | Collegian

Californian

landmarks like Chateau Marmont, the Troubadour,

Tower Records. A blimp buzzes around the

Ally hall | Collegian

Professor, students perform in ‘My Fair Lady’

By Ty Ruddy Assistant Editor

When Kelly Franklin turned 40, his wife said he should fulfill his lifelong dream of starring in a musical. At the end of this month, the associate professor of English will take the stage as professor Henry Higgins in a production of “My Fair Lady.” Along with him on stage are Hillsdale sophomore Maggie Saffian as Eliza Doolittle and freshman Alethia Diener as an ensemble member.

“My Fair Lady” premieres Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. at The Sauk, Hillsdale County’s community theater, in Jonesville. The show also runs on Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, 7, and 8 at 8 p.m.; and Feb. 1, 2, and 9 at 3 p.m.

“I had done community theater with my mother when I was a kid, so I got a taste of it there,” Franklin said. “I knew I wanted to do a musical because I like to sing.”

Franklin said he was inspired by his wife’s performance as a nun in “The Sound of Music” at The Sauk in 2023.

“I was jealous the whole time. I was so glad she was doing it but I thought ‘I want to be in a play too,’” Franklin said.

After watching The Sauk’s

schedule of upcoming musicals, Franklin finally decided “My Fair Lady” was his show.

The musical tells the story of professor Henry Higgins, who bets a friend that he can turn the low-class Eliza Doo little into a cultured woman of high society. Higgins and Doolittle form an unlikely friendship as they navigate their new worlds together.

Saffians will play Eliza Doolittle for the second time in her theater career.

She grew up in Brooklyn, New York where she watched a dozen Broadway musicals with her grandmother. Her love of the theater start ed when she met the cast of “Anastasia” on Broadway. Saffian said she first recognized the magic of the stage when she starred as Eliza Doolittle in her high school’s production of “My Fair Lady.”

“Funnily enough, I went to The Sauk’s version of ‘Anastasia,’ and saw ‘My Fair Lady’ when I was looking at their upcoming

tle and made the decision to stay in Hillsdale over break to rehearse.

“I think Eliza is a little more annoying than

star’s grasp on his own character and stage performance in general.

She described her audition this time around as a full-circle moment.

fian said. “I thought what are the odds that if I audition, I end up in the same role I played three years ago.” Saffian was cast as Doolit-

three years ago,” Saffian said. “But that’s the point. If she’s loud at the beginning, the change becomes more dynamic.”

Saffian also praised her co-

“This is Dr. Franklin’s first show in community theater,” Saffian said. “And you’d never know. So impressive. He’s such a lovely man and he’s been super fun to work with.”

Franklin himself said he had some advantages going into this role.

“In some ways, it felt like type casting,” Franklin said. “I’m an English professor playing an English professor.”

Still, he said, the learning curve has been steep. For one thing, professor Higgins is written as a harsh man.

“My wife told me I was playing the character a little too nice,” Franklin said. “My director looked at me and said ‘You’re a very nice man… and that’s a problem.’” Franklin admitted that he does not read music, and he never had any formal one-on-

one training, but that changed when he hired a local voice coach to prepare for his audition.

“It’s required me to learn a bunch of crazy, new skills,” Franklin said. “I have found that because I do language and reading for a living, memorizing has come more easily. It’s the dancing that’s the hardest.” Diener, a Hillsdale native and graduate of Hillsdale Academy, said she first took the stage in fourth grade and has been in 14 performances since.

“I played Ernestine Gilbreth in The Sauk’s performance of ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ in spring of 2022, so when I saw that they were putting on ‘My Fair Lady,’ I knew I had to audition,” Diener said. “It’s been a favorite musical of mine for at least a decade.” Franklin said the cast is ready to be on stage and show the community what they’ve put together.

“So much goes into a show. I think more goes in than people often realize,” he said. “It’s been such a long process. We’ve put in a ton of hours and we’re ready to tell the story.”

‘Balloonerism’ re-raises Miller from the dead

By Anna Broussard

Assistant Editor

Deceased rapper Mac Miller’s album “Balloonerism” has haunting elements and demands emotional resilience from its listeners.

Miller’s second of two posthumous albums was released on Jan. 17 with an immersive short film, making it oddly personal. According to Variety magazine, fans speculate the album was recorded in 2014 when Miller was battling drug addiction.

The 14-track album brings the listener into the heart of

Miller’s personal battles. Almost immediately, “Balloonerism” feels close to Miller’s heart. Each song is emotionally heavy but hypnotically compelling.

The ninth track, “Funny Papers,” is the best on the album. It reflects on a tragic death with a nonchalant tone that leaves an eerie feeling considering Miller’s own tragedy. The lyrics, “Didn’t think anyone died on a Friday,” are disturbing, as Miller’s life ended on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. And yet, the album is full of slipping moments which seem to be Miller’s cries for help as he battled his addiction.

“Balloonerism” overwhelms the listener with a psychedelic feeling through slow intros and jazz influenced acoustics mixed with a somber attitude making the album almost unenjoyable, due to the depressing reality of Miller’s life. Much like Miller’s previous music, this album’s background acoustics nod toward elevator music, but his lyrics

bring it back to life.

The 12th track, “Manak ins,” is gut-wrenching. He describes his struggles as he raps, “Why is heroism so close to heroin” and “There is no such thing as freedom.” This track is the cry for help that was expected amidst his personal battles. The lyrics are full of existential questions and hopelessness.

Yet, Miller showcases that this album was not his intend ed end and he intended to ex pand into more experimental tracks such as “Transforma tions” (featuring Delusional Thomas). The chaotic intro and robotic voices before introducing lyrics set this track apart from the al bum.

The second to last track, “Rick’s Piano,” continuously re peats, “The best is yet to come,” and the al bum turns a corner for a more hopeful ending, until the final song of the album.

“Tomorrow Will Nev

As a posthumous album, colades for the way it was assembled. Each track feels authentically produced, not over-tampered with, and as raw as if he had produced

The album is not an album er newbie. It is an album for the seasoned Miller listener because it provides both a kind of special revelation into cludes his musical career loonerism” is a final tic power. The 14 tracks reflect the lessness of drug morializes Miller in a way that er a haunting

Professors’ Picks: Nathan Herring, assistant professor of physics

“How to Read a Book” by

This is a song that my wife and I bonded over early in our relationship and became “our song.” For that reason, it will always have a special place in my heart. Fortunately, it’s also a very interesting piece of music. The song effortlessly cheers me up and grounds my perspective when life is stressful. Also, it has a great sax solo!

Mortimer Adler was an American philosopher who served on the board of editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. In this short text, Adler and his longtime collaborator Charles Van Doren outline a practical philosophy of reading which seeks to answer the seemingly innocuous question, “how/why do we read books?”. Even if one does not agree with all of the authors’ points, the text will cause you to think more critically and productively about how and why you read.

There are better made movies than Larry and Andy Wachowski’s turn-of-the-millennium, sci-fi, action films. However, the ambition, originality, and cultural impact of this picture make it a landmark piece of cinema. I was an adolescent when I first saw the film with my father on a rental VHS, and I happen to love philosophy. Beyond the intellectual themes, for its time the action sequences were ground-breaking and inspired numerous parodies and knock-offs.

“Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr., ft. Bill Withers (1980)

Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren (1940) “The Matrix” (1999)

Compiled by Eleanor Whitaker Assistant Editor

Herring plays the saxophone. COURTESY | Nathan Herring

Saffian and Franklin pose as Doolittle and Higgins. Courtesy | Trinity Bird

Mac Miller in 2014. Courtesy | kmeron / Flickr

“Balloonerism” album cover. Courtesy | Instagram

F E A T U R E S

A UV ray a day keeps the SAD away

By Ally Hall DESIGN EDITOR

Getting out of bed during the throes of Michigan’s long and dark winters is apparently so di cult that some women on campus just ock to another bunk — this one laden with UV lights.

Two freshmen, Reagan Kobach and Meredith Schmidt, made it to the end of November before deciding that they needed to head to Hillsdale’s Malibu Tan for a vitamin D x.

“I need sunshine,” Kobach said. “Even in the dead of winter, I’m used to the sun still being out in Kansas. I’m not used to the sky being all one color. I found myself getting sick a lot, too. I was willing to try just about anything.”

The two had a tangibly positive rst experience and plan to go again during this winter.

“We went for the vitamin D,” Schmidt said. “We went on a really gloomy day, and we were both kind of scared. But when we came out, we were both really happy. We actually felt it. It was a weird experience.”

Kobach was struggling to stay healthy during the rst few months of school, and people in her life suggested it may be an option.

“I know they say freshmen get sick a lot, but it was bad for me,” Kobach said. “I felt so dead, and I felt legitimately better the day we went and the next day. I really felt a noticeable di erence. I didn’t feel stu y-headed or groggy.”

Schmidt grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is familiar with the extreme winters, but the shi to college life replaced her once-cozy basement and fireplace with cinder block walls and a sweltering room in McIntyre Residence.

It’s not just a freshman fad, either. Senior Sarah Katherine Sisk is a seasoned tanner at

Malibu Tan and also started going her freshman year. Sisk has been going to tanning salons since she was 18, the age you have to be to legally go, even back in Texas. A er Great Books a few times a semester, Sisk and her friends would head down West Carlton for a UV pick-me-up.

“When I came to Michigan, I lowkey didn’t think that seasonal depression was real. I thought people were making it up, because, even when it’s cold, we get sun in Texas,” Sisk said. “I realized that the sun doesn’t come out a whole lot here for many months, and I started feeling the e ects of that.”

Seasonal a ective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that usually ares during speci c season, most commonly in winter. Many students struggle with this condition or symptoms of it during the winter.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the reduced levels of sunlight during the day throw o the body’s internal clock, trigger a drop in serotonin levels, and can increase the amount of melatonin we produce.

“Your body’s circadian rhythm has a lot to do with how early in the morning you’re getting sunlight in your eyes, and I feel like here I was never properly awake,” Sisk said.

Sisk mentioned that a er starting to go to Malibu Tan semi-regularly, she felt more energized and not like she needed to sleep all the time.

“I honestly think it probably gets kind of addictive at some point,” Sisk said. “Sometimes I’ll go months without tanning, but it’s less because I don’t want to do it and more because it feels expensive. All my fun money has to go toward it, so some months it doesn’t feel like it warrants that.”

Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation — speci cally UVA and UVB rays — is

proven to have deadly compounded e ects as time goes on due to resulting skin cancers, premature ageing, and even eye damage. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, UVA rays, the type of light tanning beds give off, are longer in wavelength and penetrate deeply into the skin beyond the surface. e human body actually needs UVB light in order to make vitamin D, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

Studies have also suggested that there are potential adverse psychiatric effects associated with semi-regular tanning bed use. Similar to other temporary “ xes” like substance use, tanning may be being used to mask underlying mood issues.

Kobach, Schmidt, and Sisk all acknowledged the skin cancer risks involved with sunbeds, especially with consistent use over time. But to them, the felt results outweigh the risks. At least for now.

I was sold by all three women’s claims of a near-sudden increase in mood, so I headed to Malibu Tan for my rst tanning bed experience. e temperature hadn’t broken twenty degrees all week, and every time I walked outside the air made my eyes tear up against my will.

e urry of pink faces exiting the row of cubicles piqued my interest. ey didn’t look frozen. People were milling in and out quickly, tapping the biometric check-in console as e ciently as the Saga line ID remotes. A er the clerk looked me up and down and informed me that a mere six minutes was going to be all I could handle, I headed back to my room. I noted that there was a gap between the walls and the ceiling so I could yell for help if I got stuck like that scene from “Final Destination.”

If you’re interested in a loud, hot full body MRI, have I got the depression treatment for you.

e fan at the tailend of the bed had about as much horsepower as an average yacht, and it kept me from sweating myself into a panic attack. e lights are, you guessed it, blindingly violet, and they cast your body against the mirror tucked behind the lights in possibly the most descriptive way possible.

A little under ten minutes later, I crawled out of the glass chamber and back out into the dry Michigan air. ough the sensory experience was nothing short of harrowing, it was the rst time my feet had felt warm in what felt like weeks. An hour later, my friend told me I looked tanner than usual. I felt like a thawed out slab of meat, and I considered going again.

Brock Lutz, director of health and wellness at Hillsdale College, was open to the idea of there possible bene ts of tanning for mood, albeit cautious.

“My thought would be that if tanning seems to be an activity that someone enjoys and helps someone to feel a little bit better about themselves then great,” Lutz said. “With most things in life it seems to come down to the question: Why is the person doing it?”

How someone manages their mood is up to them, and with each treatment comes its own set of risks and rewards. It’s up to individuals and their health consultants to decide which treatments at what frequency are best for them to get through the winter months.

“If it’s been done in a pretty nonchalant way, then it very well might be OK — even bene cial — but if it’s being done to mask underlying stressors or more signi cant mental health issues then it might be better o to actually address those things head on,” Lutz said.

How to beat the winter study blues

By Sophia Mandt COLLEGIAN REPORTER

The cure to passing that Great Books exam is not a matcha latte or all-night cramming session. According to Director of Academic Services Christy Maier, it’s good ol’ fashioned study skills.

Procrastination can be a sign of academic stress, said Maier, but it is possible for students to change their study habits and succeed at the task at hand.

“Some people procrastinate because they feel overwhelmed by a task,” Maier said. “If that’s the case then you break the task down into its smallest increments and you focus solely on that task.”

Maier said she encourages people to be more productive with their daytime hours if possible.

During the winter months — in particular — students lose precious daytime hours, meaning intentional studying falls within an even stricter timeline. One way to extend those daylight hours is a light therapy lamp, a tool that can be checked out from Mossey Library, according to Director of Health and Wellness Brock Lutz.

Especially here in Michigan, Lutz recommends stu-

dents take a walk outside to try and get their daily dose of vitamin D. If it’s too cold outside, the light therapy lamp is an alternative option.

Junior Gianna Dugan said she studies with white noise and in small increments of time.

“I block out 30 to 45-minute chunks where I focus on one task without checking my phone or doing anything else during that time,” Dugan said. “If I have another thought that distracts me I write it down on a pad of paper next to me and I come back to the thought once my timer goes o .”

Senior Lauren Smyth also practices time-based studying. She recommends the Pomodoro technique, a studying strategy consisting of 25 minutes of sustained focus with 5-minute breaks. Once accomplished four consecutive times the student gets a 30-minute break.

e Pomodoro technique allows a student to focus for timed increments while looking forward to an eventual long break as a reward for focused work.

Smyth said she enjoys how this strategy designates appropriate time without the risk of burn out, and it works well at keeping her accountable.

Smyth said she also takes

time daily to track how many consecutive hours she spends studying, working, and in the classroom.

“I set a minimum weekly goal for myself. By the end of the week, I know if I haven’t met that goal, I have to spend the whole weekend studying, and that’s a very strong incentive to study during the week,” Smyth said. “It really keeps me on track to have a productive week instead of losing where my hours go.”

Smyth said, however, that what works for her may not work for others. She said her number-based strategies allow for hyper xation on the time le in the cycle, which has the potential to be distracting.

Maier said studying is a highly individualized process, but it is universally true that cramming for an exam is a bad idea. Instead, she recommends a method of “distributed practice,” which involves studying for small amounts each day.

“You spread it out much like you would if you were learning to play an instrument or practice a sport,” Maier said. “We don’t gain competence in something if we do it in one big chunk.”

When studying for exams Maier also recommends studying in a way that mim-

with

Francis Steiner

By Isabella Doer SENIOR REPORTER

In this Quick Hits, Professor of Biology Francis Steiner talks best student excuses, his favorite restaurant — in both Hillsdale and in Jackson — and what inspired him to study biology.

Most adventurous food you’ve ever tried?

Sichuan food, when I was a post-doc at Rutgers University.

If you weren’t teaching biology, what completely different career could you see yourself in?

I would most probably be either an engineer, at least that’s what an aptitude test that I took in high school told me I should be, or an archaeologist.

What’s the most creative excuse you’ve ever heard from a student?

Humm, but started to really like biology in high school, and was inspired by my sophomore biology teacher, Sister Barbara. Also the fact that my father had very severe diabetes, and had to be treated by many doctors, which got me interested in medicine and human biology.

Favorite memory as a professor at Hillsdale so far?

ics — as closely as possible — what the test is going to look like.

“When it comes to reading your notes, no test has ever tested whether or not you can read notes,” Maier said. “It might be a good start to organize your thoughts but then you need to practice asking yourself questions.”

Lutz said he advises students to limit phone distractions while studying. He said the books students are reading require complete focus and attention.

Both Lutz and Maier said it is important for students to have a balanced life that encourages their overall health and well-being.

Maier said she likes to tell students to remember that they are “whole-person creatures.” Students were not created merely to study without taking care of their spiritual or social life. She never wants students to feel down if they feel they aren’t reaching their academic goals.

“It is a process to figure out what works for you and as long as you are working toward healthier and better habits that’s a good thing,” Maier said. “Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t arrived yet.”

It’s more of what I saw than heard. When I was the dean of sciences, I had a student come to see me about a math professor giving him a hard time for always being late to class, as he was in a cast due to a broken leg. He seemed sincere and that he was voicing a legitimate concern, so I met with the teacher and slightly chastised that person for not being accommodating and considerate. The next evening (Friday) when my wife and I were attending a home basketball game in the gym, I happened to notice that same student not wearing a cast and literally bounding up and down on the bleachers. You might guess that the following day he was back to wearing a cast, and late to class again. Let’s just say that he visited the dean’s office thereafter, and I apologized to the math professor.

If you could witness any groundbreaking biological discovery firsthand, which would it be?

That’s really a difficult question, but I think it would probably have to be the invention of the rabies vaccine by Louis Pasteur.

What inspired you to pursue biology as your field of study?

I always liked science and was inspired by my fifth and sixth grade science teacher, Miss

One of my favorite memories might be taking on a research student, who was from Nepal, and traveling to a Beta Beta Beta convention for him to present his research project. Since English was not his first language, he practiced his talk in front of me in the hotel, many times, over and over, the evening before the convention. He did such a good job the next day that he took third place, and was super elated about it, especially since he was extremely nervous. Many years later, he happened to come back to Hillsdale, with his wife and children, and stopped by my office to thank me for my help, to meet his family, and for helping him along his career path.

What book do you think everyone should read?

I actually have two, “Rats, Lice, and History” by Hans Zinsser and “Arrowsmith” by Sinclair Lewis.

What advice would you give to your college self?

As for my “college self,” take challenging courses, respect your elders and mentors, don’t take yourself too seriously, work hard and do your best, — success truly is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration — find healthy outlets to relieve stress, and finally, be prepared for new discoveries, as Louis Pasteur wrote “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Favorite local restaurant?

Probably the Finish Line for Hillsdale; Texas Roadhouse if you include Jackson.

Francis Steiner is a biology professor. COURTESY | HILLSDALE COLLEGE

f ea t u r e s

Après-ski: Students shred at annual SAB day trip

By Alessia Sandala Assistant Editor

Standing on a ski hill in Kalamazoo, Michigan, senior Jack Walker embraced the beauty of creation, just moments before skiing down from the summit. The sunny sky and 30-degree temperatures made for ideal skiing weather as Hillsdale College students hit the slopes during

Student Activities Board’s annual ski trip at Bittersweet Ski Resort on Saturday, Jan. 26.

“When you start skiing, the feeling shifts and you get a completely different angle on life,” Walker said. “All of a sudden, instead of serenity and calmness, it becomes chaotic and fast. You have to constantly be thinking.”

Walker said he has been

skiing since he was 3 years old, and the annual SAB trip was the perfect chance to ski again.

“This year I’ve really missed skiing because I haven’t done it in so long,” Walker said. “And I used to when I was little. I would just ski all the time.”

Sophomore Mikayla Manna has been skiing for three years at Winter Park in Colorado. Manna said she loves to ski no matter where she is, especially on a beautiful day.

“I like to go skiing because you get to be outside and go really fast,” Manna said. “I love the snow. It makes everything gorgeous, especially in Colorado, but even here. Just being out in nature, God’s creation, it’s beautiful.”

According to Manna, skiing at Bittersweet was an adjustment, but it was a perfect day to try new tricks.

“It was a lot different,” Man-

na said. “It’s a much smaller hill, not as deep. All the blacks are pretty easy. But I still made it fun because I got to work a little bit more on technique, and going faster. I spent a lot of time in the terrain parts and trying to learn how to jump. I can’t really do it yet, but it was still fun.”

Sophomore Hijiri Cramer said she has been skiing a few times with her family before at two ski resorts in Indiana and Michigan, but this was the first time she skied a hill with more scenery.

“The one that I usually go to, the hills are really short, but this one had more scenic routes,” Cramer said. “You could go through trees, whereas at other places, everything was marked off by ropes and poles. There was a bit more to look at here, and I really liked that.”

Cramer said her goal for the trip was to improve her skills.

She also hopes to eventually ski more difficult trails with Manna.

“I got to the highest peak, and at first I fell every five feet,” Cramer said. “One time I finally made it all the way down the hill. For me, skiing is about the excitement of not failing.”

She said she took advice from her brother to achieve her goal.

“My brothers, who are really good at skiing, tell me to trust in my skis and trust in myself,” Cramer said. “ I think leaning into my skis instead of pulling away definitely helped because if you aren’t leaning forward, you’re just gonna end up right on your back.”

Skiing takes time to master and Cramer said she is still learning but hopes to ski more challenging trails one day.

“When you’re going down a hill and it looks fast, you want to pull away,” she said. “Don’t pull away. Lean in. I think that was a technique that clicked for me. All of a sudden things got a lot easier. I still can’t turn to save my life though.”

When on the trails or the lift, Manna said she was surprised by the kindness of the non-Hillsdale skiers as they started conversations and wanted to get to know her.

“One crazy thing that I was not expecting was the people on

the ski lifts, just random people, strangers were way nicer,” Manna said. “They would just strike up a conversation, and that usually doesn’t happen unless I’m the one to start the conversation in Colorado. They’re like, ‘Where are you from?’ or ‘How’s it going?’ And that was rather shocking”.

Manna said getting to know strangers on the trip made it special for her and made Bittersweet feel like a community.

“It was kind of fun just to meet all sorts of people,” she said. “There were a lot of people from Indiana that I met. A lot of people were skiing for the first time or they just come up once every couple of weeks. But it was really fun to meet all the different people.”

While Manna made new acquaintances on the trial, Walker said he partook in his tradition of eating chili after skiing.

“This has become a tradition in the past two years,” Walker said. “I wish I was sticking around longer so I could keep doing it, because it’s a great tradition of going and skiing and then getting chili at lunch. I was sitting at lunch and a friend looked at me. She was like, ‘You have chili again.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, I do. You’re right. I did the same thing last year.’ Chili is so great to have after having skied for several hours.”

College remains home of only escalators in county

By Rachel Downey Collegian Freelancer

The two escalators in the Searle Center are the only set in Hillsdale County — a tidbit of unexpected and memorable trivia that prospective students and families can take home and marvel about.

While Hillsdale’s student ambassadors have spread the escalator conspiracy for years, the validity recently came into question. After the Admissions Department conducted some investigative journalism of its own, the question of whether or not Hillsdale College has the only escalators in the county has been confirmed.

Junior Jake Waldvogel, a student ambassador for the college, put those speculations to rest.

“I first heard the rumor that the hospital may have had another two years ago, so clearly

it was pretty well circulated,” Waldvogel said. “There has never been another escalator, so ours was the first and only in the county.”

The rumored hospital escalator has been a topic of discussion within the Hillsdale College admissions department for a long time before senior Isabella Socha finally debunked it.

“For our development event last semester, the admissions SALT team — student admissions leadership team — decided to do myth busters as one of the sections,” Socha said. “The myth that I searched up was ‘Where is the other escalator in Hillsdale?’”

Socha’s investigations proved to be successful.

“When I called the hospital where we thought it was, they informed me they did not have an escalator,” Socha said. “When I told the SALT team,

we realized there was no place in Hillsdale where we knew of the escalator.”

The ongoing construction and maintenance of the college escalators, however, only adds to the general lore and overall attention.

“The state of Michigan has very specific escalator codes, which were recently updated. It was inspected at the end of December and did not meet the code,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé explained. “Parts were needed and ordered at the end of December. We expect it to be working again by the end of this month.”

Maintenance workers have tested the newly up-to-code escalators but closed the pair for even more repairs.

“We had it running recently, but it needed adjustments, so we are waiting for those to be made by a third party,” Péwé said.

While the presence of one set of escalators may seem trivial, some students believe that the college should work on adding escalators to other buildings and the Searle Center.

Junior Karin Shively said Hillsdale College should invest in more escalators on campus to make the buildings more accessible for students who do not like using elevators or stairs.

“I refuse to take elevators because I’m claustrophobic,” Shively said. “Therefore, the escalator is the best option when I don’t want to walk up or down stairs.”

Despite the lack of escalators in other places on campus, the Searle Center’s escalator continues to be a conversation starter and a memorable feature for those who visit or attend Hillsdale College.

For Waldvogel, the escalator is more than a simple mode of

transportation — it is part of the charm that makes Hillsdale College stand out from other institutions in the region.

“I would also say as an ambassador that I’m glad ours is the only one because it sounds a lot better to prospective stu-

dents to hear that we have the only escalator in Hillsdale County,” Waldvogel said. “It makes it seem like Hillsdale College is at the forefront of our county’s transportation accessibility amenities.”

Students ski at Bittersweet Ski Resort.

All Ski Photos Courtesy | Student Activities Board

Sarah Katherine Sisk rides the escalators. Collegian | Kamden Mulder