Collegian 8.26.2020

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 144 Issue 1- August 26. 2020

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A socially-distanced commencement was held on the football field on July 18.

Courtesy | Hillsdale College Marketing Department

Class of 2024 breaks previous academic records Freshman class boasts highest-ever test scores as admission rates become increasingly competitive By | Ashley Kaitz Assistant Editor This year’s freshman class is the most accomplished in Hillsdale’s history with an average ACT score of 31 and average GPA of 3.9, according to preliminary statistics.

The class of 2024 is unique in more ways than one. Outof-state students comprise 71% of freshmen, while 27% are Michiganders and 2% are international students. Last year, 29% of students were from Michigan. Interestingly,

the incoming class includes 192 men and 172 women at a time when many colleges and universities across the country are dominated by female students.

Hillsdale’s admissions this year rate also dropped to 36.08%, another all-time low.

According to admissions counselor Zachary Miller, the increased competition could be attributed to Hillsdale’s commitment to its principles as other colleges abandon the Western tradition.

"Hillsdale’s mission and what we stand for continue to be something different than what most colleges offer,” Miller said. “The more we stand rooted in the idea of classical liberal arts and the principles of the Western tradition, and as fewer colleges stand for those things, I think Hillsdale is certainly going to attract students who believe in those things.”

Facebook Freshmen Addison Longenecker and Gillian Ruch said they had no idea that their class is the highest

By | Carmel Kookogey & Victoria Marshall Editor-in-chief & Senior Reporter

COVID under control in county, says hospital chief As the COVID-19 death toll in the United States approaches 180,000 people, the pandemic is under control in Hillsdale County, according to Hillsdale Hospital CEO J.J. Hodshire.

Since March, Hillsdale County has seen 294 cases and 26 deaths, including six new cases in the last week, according to Rebecca Burns, health officer for the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency. Michigan has reported more than 100,000 cases and more than 6,600 deaths.

The majority of Hillsdale cases have been tracked to their origins and there is no community outbreak, said Hodshire.

Initially, many Hillsdale cases stemmed from the Hillsdale County Medical Care Facility, an elder care home that saw several deaths early in the pandemic. Burns added the facility is testing their staff on a “routine basis.”

The current spread—the county has added six new cases since Aug. 21—is mainly community-acquired. People in the community who are “choosing to do whatever they do, are getting exposed,” Burns said.

On campus, an interdepartmental team was assembled in mid-May to determine a back-to-school plan.

“We wanted to bring students back. We’re called to be here. We’re called to be in community together,” said Brock Lutz, director of Health Services and a member of the team.

Many colleges and universities have closed or mostly closed their campuses this fall, including University of Michigan-Flint, Michigan Technological University, and Jackson College.

The team spoke with epidemiologists, organizations, and leadership at the Hillsdale Hospital. They determined the best solution was masking students for two weeks so “it’s more easily determined who is symptomatic and we’ll isolate

those people,” Lutz said.

After two weeks, and if everything goes according to plan, Lutz said he hopes restrictions can be eased.

“We want to take a tough approach because we want to do this. We want to stay here,” Lutz said. “If we have to inconvenience ourselves to do it, so be it.”

On Aug. 1, the college announced that a staff member had tested positive for the virus. The team immediately interviewed the individual. People who had been in sustained contact with the individual were quarantined.

No other staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus.

At Hillsdale Hospital, there have been no transmissions of the virus from patients to staff or vice versa, said Hodshire.

He credited mandatory masking and the hospital’s screening station that vets visitors and employees for symptoms before entering the 40-bed hospital.

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College mourns sports legend By | Reagan Gensiejewski Assistant Editor All-American. All-Pro, twice. On the staff of seven NFL teams, most notably with the Indianapolis Colts, where he served as the offensive line coach for more than 10 years.

These are just a few accomplishments of the well-known Hillsdale legend, Howard Mudd.

After dying from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident in early August at the age of 78, the Hillsdale community is remembering Mudd, the man who had a huge career but never forgot where it all began: Hillsdale College.

Mudd graduated from Hillsdale in 1964, where he played at tackle and guard, Follow @HDaleCollegian

sharpen each other,” she said.

“Hillsdale seems like a place with good conversations.

The people seem really neat and it seems like the people here have interests, and it’s sometimes hard to find people who are interested in anything these days.”

Despite the recordbreaking admissions rate, Miller said that the kind of student Hillsdale seeks to attract hasn’t changed.

“We continue to attract students from all across the country who have a diverse

range of interests and talents and passions, which has not changed in many years,” he said. “They all share a strong academic ability and curiosity.

They all share a desire and willingness to be involved on campus and in our community, and they all share a commitment to the school’s mission and the school’s honor code. Those things haven’t changed.”

Hillsdale will return to normal ‘as soon as possible,’ Arnn says

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, Hillsdale Hospital set up a tent to screen staff and patients as they enter. | Facebook

By | Ben Wilson Collegian Reporter

achieving in the college’s history.

“It’s exciting to be part of a big group of people who want to excel so much and who are excited to learn,” Longenecker said. “I’m very excited to learn from professors who are the best and brightest in their fields, and just to get to see their wisdom.”

Ruch said she hoped her class’s brainpower would lead to lots of interesting discussions.

“I’m hoping it’ll foster more dialogue and that we’ll

earning an NAIA All-American title and two Associated Press All-State player for winning teams awards. But the awards didn’t stop once he graduated.

After receiving an alumni award in 2007, Hillsdale College head football coach Keith Otterbein recalled a visit he had with Mudd.

“He was intelligent, charismatic, and had a presence about him,” Otterbien said.

“He was down to earth and loved talking about football.”

The pair talked about Mudd’s experience coaching the Colts offensive line.

“We made a lot of changes after that meeting and finetuned our offense,” Otterbien said. “We were very fortunate to have him as an alum.”

The changes Otterbien

would make due to Mudd’s suggestions played a big part in the team having its first winning record in eight seasons.

But Mudd’s coaching philosophy lived past the 2007 team. It remains in the Chargers offense today, and Danny Drummond, a 2018 graduate, noted that Mudd’s aggressive play style was a game changer.

“Mudd taught a short set, which is when we get our hands on the defensive line quickly to control the line of scrimmage, and make a good pocket for the quarterback,” Drummond said. “It is a great mindset for the offensive linemen to have for how they play.

It is a much better mindset to have, to go and get them.”

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Students may have to continue wearing masks, getting temperature checks, and following distancing guidelines after the second week of school if there’s an outbreak of COVID-19 cases on Hillsdale’s campus, according to Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn.

Arnn added that he plans to reduce restrictions as soon as possible, as they interfere with the purpose of the college.

“We’ll stop the extra restrictions on the first day we can — anything that interferes with the purpose of this college,” Arnn said. “What are we waiting for? We’re waiting to see if we have an outbreak of the virus. We half expect we will. We expect students will get it, and it will spread to some, but hopefully not many, and hopefully none will be harmed. We’re waiting to see how many cases we get. If we get a lot, then we’ll extend the protocols.”

Hillsdale College released its official return-to-campus protocols for students, staff, and faculty on Aug. 5.

Among some of the biggest changes: mandatory masks indoors, daily temperature checks, and newly-installed anti-viral technology in campus air filtration systems.

The complete plan is posted at returnplan.hillsdale.edu In early August, Arnn addressed students in an email, saying freshman convocation and the first day of classes would “occur as scheduled” on Aug. 23 and 26, respectively. He stressed the college is doing everything in its power to resume normal activities in a safe and legal manner.

“Right now there are no legal impediments to our resuming,” Arnn wrote. He said the college consulted with three leading public health and epidemiology experts to craft its reopening plan.

More than 260 Hillsdale College staff members from across campus worked throughout the spring and summer to contribute to the fall reopening plan, accord-

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ing to Arnn. The college spent a combined total of more than $500,000 on new ionization equipment, a four-person on-call nursing team, quarantine locations for students, and extra sanitizing and disinfectant equipment, Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said.

“Like its Commencement activities, the college is committed both to having college and to doing it in a safe and legal manner,” Péwé said. “As Dr. Arnn reminds us, the work and study that happens here is important and we must not surrender it willingly.”

In the original email, Arnn emphasized that the college was also taking many steps to ensure the safety of those in vulnerable groups.

“You will see that they are far-reaching,” Arnn said in the email.

In an interview with the Collegian on Aug. 25, Arnn said the college’s key concern is the students’ health.

“I don’t pretend to be an epidemiologist, but I am responsible for this, so I’ve read up on it quite a bit,” said Arnn, who noted that he spoke to Ambassador Deborah Birx, coordinator of the U.S. Government Effort to Combat AIDS and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “My key question is, ‘is it dangerous to the young?’ I asked her that, directly. And what she said was ‘no.’ That was in a Zoom call with a bunch of people about colleges reopening.

Well, there’s your answer.”

In addition to mandating masks indoors and daily health screenings until Sept.

5, the college will have four nurses on call after hours, and dining hall capacity reduced to 50% with two new grab-and-go food locations for students, one in Strosacker Science Center and one in Lane Hall. The college will also reserve four apartments in the College Park Townhouses to quarantine any students who may contract COVID-19.

“These steps comply with the law as it exists today, and will be adjusted as necessary,” Arnn said in the email. “Also it complies with the best evidence about the nature and course of the virus, insofar as

we can determine what that is.”

In addition to these protocols, equipment has been installed across campus to help reduce the rate of virus transmission indoors.

All campus buildings have been equipped with modular ionization technology ”documented to neutralize and eliminate COVID-19.”

High-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) air filters will also be installed in high-traffic areas, and four Clorox 360 machines—electrostatic disinfectant sprayers—will be used to disinfect large rooms in “an average of five minutes.”

Arnn concluded the email with an exhortation to the Hillsdale community not to shrink from this challenge, nor neglect its work as a college.

“We should proceed about that work intensely, as always we do,” Arnn said. “We should be cautious about anything that spreads the coronavirus, but we should not forget the joy of being together.”

This joy of being together is something Vice President of Student Affairs Diane Philipp does not want the college to lose sight of.

“We’re trying so hard to keep this momentum going of the typical, fun Hillsdale atmosphere,” Philipp said.

“It’s going to be a challenge.

So we’re going to try to get everybody to partner with us to keep that momentum and joy happening.”

Philipp eyes the Class of 2020’s graduation, which took place the weekend of July 18, as the model for a successful semester.

“We’re really trying to create that same culture that occurred during graduation.

We had 2,700 on campus,” Philipp said.

During the weekend, graduates and their guests were required to wear masks indoors and were subject to daily temperature checks.

The commencement ceremony took place outside at Frank “Muddy” Waters Football Stadium, where everyone sat six feet apart. There are no known coronavirus cases connected to the event.

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News

August 26, 2020

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Students, colleagues, family remember dining hall manager Powers By | Madeline Peltzer News Editor It takes a special person to ingratiate himself into a close-knit community in less than two years. Shane Powers, account support manager for Bon Appetit, did just that.

Powers died on July 28 in Lansing, Michigan, at the age of 54 from complications of alcoholism.

Although primarily based at Albion College, a small liberal arts school about 40 minutes north of Hillsdale College, Powers joined Bon Appetit Hillsdale in 2018 and quickly endeared himself to students and staff alike.

Known for his warmth and gregarious personality, Powers could often be found walking around the dining hall to personally greet students, ask after their meals, or offer them a cookie for dessert.

Powers brought changes to the dining room, starting with the long-neglected salad bar, to which he added a host of new toppings and dressings.

He also expanded the selection of healthy dining choices and options for students or visitors with allergies and dietary restrictions, adding the “Market” section, with grains and fruits and a stir fry bar.

Powers was always open to feedback from diners and encouraged students to request

food items they wanted.

“Shane made a strong impression on everyone he met,” said Dave Apthorpe, general manager for Bon Appetit Hillsdale. “He went above and beyond to provide excellent hospitality to the guests he served. He was taken away far too soon and filling the hole that he left will not be easy.”

Powers’ job was to manage the guest experience, a duty he took seriously. He introduced weekend dining hall trivia nights, complete with a microphone and A.J.’s Cafe vouchers as prizes. As Easter approached, Powers took pride in making campus festive, hiding plastic eggs filled with candy and gift cards all over the quad. During finals week in the dead of winter, Powers could be found riding around campus in a golf cart to deliver hot chocolate and coffee to students studying late.

Always willing to help, Powers’ assistance in carrying food from the cafeteria to a table was a relief to injured student-athletes like senior Jonathan Burton, a linebacker on the football team.

“When I had ankle surgery and used crutches last spring, Shane came to my aid before I’d even gathered the courage to ask for help,” Burton recalled. “More than missing our usual interactions at

meals, I’ll miss how he often went out of his way to help others.”

Powers’ wife, Julie, said he would have been pleased to be remembered that way.

“He always called you all his kids and people would get confused about whether he was speaking of his biological kids or his college kids,” she told the Collegian in an email.

“He sat around thinking of ideas and brainstorming with us how to make the kids feel welcome and loved like they were at home.”

Powers’ heart for hospitality wasn’t lost on students, who have taken to Facebook and other online platforms to pour out memories and condolences.

Shortly after Powers’ death, senior Megan Kerr started a GoFundMe to raise money to help the Powers family cover funeral costs, something she said she was inspired to do after experiencing a loss of her own recently. As of Aug. 25, Kerr’s fundraiser has raised nearly $2,600.

“The Hillsdale community has been very supportive of this campaign, beyond my expectations,” Kerr said. “I set the goal amount to $1,000, originally, and this goal was met in less than 24 hours. I am so proud of the students’ efforts and their drive to help out a family in need. Shane

has given us so much, and the least we can do is raise money to give back.”

Powers is survived by his

wife, Julie; daughter, Orion; son, Storm; his mother, Joyce; brothers, Brian and Robin; and a host of cousins, aunts,

uncles, nieces, and nephews.

A celebration of life event was held on Sunday, Aug. 23 in Holt, Michigan.

Shane Powers was a mainstay of the dining hall.

Courtesy | Dignity Memorial

Au revoir: Morellec retires after 25 year career By | Haley Strack Assistant Editor “Bonjour, tout le monde!”

This is how Marie-Claire Morellec, former chairwoman of the French department and professor of French at Hillsdale, first greets students as they walk into her classes.

Junior French major Luciya Katcher recalled the first time she arrived in one of Morellec’s classes and heard the enthusiastic, sing-song voice that would eventually convince her to major in French.

“I’ve always loved the language and the culture, but the stories Madame Morellec would tell us about growing up in France or how the French perceive our ‘American idiosyncrasies’ really piqued my interest,” Katcher said.

Now, Hillsdale bids adieu to Morellec, who has retired after 25 years at Hillsdale College. Affectionately called “Madame Morellec” by her students, Morellec taught at the University of Oregon for five years before the allure of classical education brought her to Hillsdale.

“Hillsdale offered the possibility of having a career in teaching at a small liberal arts college, which emphasized the teaching of the canon, as well as the ability to know and serve my students better than at a large institution,” Morel-

lec said. “I received a classical education myself, studying Latin, Spanish, German, and English, as well as Literature and Philosophy. I truly believe that it is the best education one can receive.”

Sherri Rose, associate professor of French, has worked alongside Morellec since 2015.

Rose emphasized that Morellec’s teaching style is compatible with a classical education.

“Good teaching is not about providing students the answers, but rather engaging them in asking the important questions,” Rose said. “Dr. Morellec loved exploring literature, history, art, and cinema with students, all through the lens of the French language.”

But Morellec’s responsibility as a French professor extended far past teaching conjugations and vocabulary.

“She created a fun class atmosphere that was reinforced by constant encouragement,” Rose said. “Dr. Morellec regularly organized trips to Ann Arbor or Toledo for students to see French plays, operas, or enjoy a meal in a French restaurant. She has been a dynamic tour guide during the weekend trip to Paris for the past 20 summers of Hillsdale students studying abroad.”

Morellec previously directed the Study Abroad Programs in France for the Oregon State System of Higher Education, a program

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get as close as we can to it as long as everybody abides by a few basic principles.”

Director of Health Services Brock Lutz said the college’s coronavirus plan is solid, as it’s based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and input from Hillsdale Hospital.

“We are going to do everything we can to keep everyone as safe as possible while we do what we love, which is to learn and grow together as intellectual and moral people,” Lutz said in an email.

One big reason to bring students back on campus was mental health, Lutz said. Students, as human beings, are meant to bond together in community.

“In quarantine, it became very apparent that it is very hard for students to engage in the level of intense learning and education on their own and very clear that it is better for all of us mentally, emotionally, and intellectually to do it together as a community,” he said.

Arnn affirmed this.

“There’s a lot of reasons to go ahead and do this,

“No one struggled with the requirements, they were dutiful about it and really came together,” Philipp said.

“Graduation showed us that everyone is smart and serious, and that’s what we’re expecting this time, too.”

Philipp said mask-wearing will be especially important for the first two weeks on campus.

“We’re going to have to have everyone mask up and to be really dutiful about it. It is the one thing that seems to really help,” she said.

Philipp stressed that the college is working hard to ensure that students will get to participate in the normal, fun activities Hillsdale offers.

“Student Activities is doing a ton. They’re going to try their best to create fun— permitting social distancing and we’re going to require masks at all events—but you should be socializing as normal human beings,” she said.

“We have to make some changes, but we’re going to

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she quickly implemented on Hillsdale’s campus. As director of the French study abroad program at Hillsdale, Morellec organized the college’s first program in Tours, France, where she’s sent more than 130 students since its founding in 1997.

“I went to France with our students every year. A wonderful experience,” Morellec said.

it’s not a matter of language, rather, a matter of countries and cultures, civilizations and history,” Morellec said.

“The world is an amazing place. You understand the world better through different cultures and discover what everybody really wants — to have a good life.”

A native of Brittany, France, Morellec channeled her personal experience

Morellec in her element teaching French at Hillsdale College.

Courtesy | Scott Galvin/Galvin Photo, LLC

The program is central to Morellec’s teaching philosophy, which encourages students to discover cultures outside of the typical classroom setting.

“I think it’s really part of your education to see that

with French culture into her lessons.

“She illustrated for us life under foreign occupancy, a concept of which we Americans have little experience,” Katcher said. “She told stories about her father protecting

French Jews during World War II at the expense of his own security and of her childhood trips to Saint-Malo as France rebuilt itself. To see the world through her perspective was incredibly important to me when studying our western heritage.”

Senior French major Joy Brower has nothing but fond memories in Morellec’s classes. Through listening and communicating with a native French speaker, Brower was inspired to share in Morellec’s passion for understanding different cultures.

“She always asked us provocative questions about the texts we read, films we watched, and history we studied,” Brower said. “I think this helped her students to think liberally and explore ideas about both the universals and particulars of the human experience.”

She says Morellec’s enthusiasm, generosity, patience, and intellectual curiosity greatly contributed to the French department.

“Madame Morellec has truly blessed her students at Hillsdale,” Brower said.

“C’était un grand plaisir.”

Whether it was it her genuine French accent, personal experience with French culture, or sunny disposition, Morellec brought a certain “je ne sais quoi” to class. Her dedication to her students’

education helped make learning a new language a positive endeavor.

“She was sure to sweeten our tough classroom experience by bringing us French pastries and chocolates to class,” Katcher noted.

Morellec’s career came to a close as Hillsdale was forced online due to COVID-19, an event she describes as like “leaving through the back door.” Regardless, Morellec’s legacy will live on through the countless students she’s taught.

“It was never just ‘teach and say goodbye,’” Morellec said. “It was really ‘teach and introduce students to things you care about,’ but also care about them.”

Although she won’t be on faculty this year, Morellec will remain in Hillsdale for the next few years, enjoying French pastries and hopefully pursuing her dream field of archaeology.

Rose will transition into Morellec’s former role as director of the French study abroad program, but said her colleague’s presence on campus will be missed dearly.

“Her love of the French language and of literature is contagious, and it will, I hope, live on in the department,” Rose said.

and not just for the college reasons. There’s also health reasons,” Arnn said. “The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said if you take the baseline suicide rate and calculate the extra ones — because, you know, suicides have been way up during this pandemic — he said there were more suicides in recent weeks than there were COVID deaths. And you know, you have to grow up and go out into the world. If you delay one year, especially for seniors, that’s an important year. You’re delaying the rest of your life.”

Arnn added that the nationwide coronavirus death rate has plummeted in recent weeks, and he prays it will continue to do so.

“The cost is tremendous,” Arnn said. “Like with the businesses: It’s not good for a business that you’ve worked your whole life on to be shut down permanently. So I think everyone should be looking for an urgent way to return to normal life as much as possible.

And we’re doing that. And we’re doing it safely.”

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The Weekly: Follow the rules to avoid ‘new normal’ (517) 607-2415

Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor-in-Chief | Carmel Kookogey Associate Editor | Allison Schuster Associate and Design Editor | Cal Abbo News Editor | Madeline Peltzer City News Editor | Stefan Kleinhenz Opinions Editor | Rachel Kookogey Sports Editors | Calli Townsend & Liam Bredberg Culture Editor | Sofia Krusmark Features Editor | Elizabeth Bachmann Web Editor | Callie Shinkle Photo Editor | Kalli Dalrymple Circulation Managers | Patricia Fernandez & Callie Shinkle Ad Manager | Benjamin Raffin Assistant Editors | Ashley Kaitz | Reagan Gensiejewski | Haley Strack | Tracy Wilson | Hannah Cote | Maggie Hroncich | Josh Newhook | Virginia Aabram Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, length, and style. Letters should be 450 words or less and include your name and number. Send submissions to the Opinions Editor at rkookogey@hillsdale.edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.

Letter to the Editor: Studies offer a way to know God By | Kenneth Calvert One of my favorite complaints concerning God is that He seems impossible to discern. He sends no phone calls, no emails, and not even a tweet or two when I could use some advice. In fact, more often than not, the Divine Person appears quite hidden. His existence cannot be proven and those who doubt Him are impatient for evidence. Of course, this complaint is not mine alone.

Just about every Christian I talk with has expressed, now and again, the same objection.

My first step in dealing with this whiny complaint is Holy Writ. And the more I read in those pages, the more it strikes me that God has a similar complaint against me. Have you noticed in Scripture how often God bends over backward to make Himself known to His people?

He showed up in the Garden of Eden one day looking for the two human beings He had just created.

Where were they?

They were hiding from Him. There was a prophet named Elijah who, after witnessing God’s power, was found hiding in a cave out of fear of Queen Jezebel.

In those pages, there is story after story of human doubt and a rejection of God by His own people. And just in case we Christians think that our New Testament brethren were made of sterner stuff, the disciples went into hiding when Jesus most needed them. Each of the Apostles wrote letters to Christians who were behaving badly.

And these are the people who became the Church which all-too-often in its history has been known for really bad theology, deep doubts, weaknesses, and hypocrisy. After all, is anyone more adept than Christians at hiding the Gospel under a bushel?

We also often forget that the problem is not limited to humans. Holy Scripture tells us that God created remarkable beings called angels – a large number of whom rebelled against their Creator.

Out of sheer will and pride, these beings rejected heaven, and now, the Bible tells us, they do everything they can to keep people from God. Would one not think that if a person was in heaven or in the Garden of Eden, was a recipient of direct communication from God, was at the first Eucharist, the Crucifixion, or witnessed the Resurrection of Jesus, that such a person would have no doubt of God’s existence,

power, and love?

What does God have to do to get our attention?

Speak through a prophet?

Send a fiery cloud? Raise someone from the dead?

Become one of us? I must remind myself that He has done all of that. Indeed, the witness of the Scriptures and of the saints through the millennia proclaims His real presence and desire to be known. When it comes to hiddenness, it must certainly be argued that God has a more profound complaint against me.

And what, you might rightly ask, does this rambling have to do with our autumn semester at Hillsdale College? I write to argue that our studies offer each of us an opportunity to better know God. Historians might be drawn out into the open by finding something of God’s providence in the events and persons of history. The student of literature might be drawn toward the light of God’s Truth in epic tales or through the music of poetry.

Gerard Manly Hopkins – translating Aquinas – is quoted on the south window of our beautiful chapel: “Truth Himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.” The philosopher will remember again the sun outside of Plato’s cave, and is there nothing the student of psychology wants more than to understand how wounded humanity might be drawn out of dark places?

It is equally true for those archaeologists of science, the physicists, chemists, biologists, and mathematicians, who uncover elements, processes, equations, and laws established aeons ago.

Even the scholar of political science might find himself drawn into a profound understanding of the “Laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God.” You see, if I could just stop complaining about God’s apparent absence, and through my studies respond to His invitation to be drawn into the open light of Truth as it is manifested in His time and creation, I am certain to perceive something of His presence. He is, after all, that Shepherd who seeks His lost sheep. He is the Father who watches for the Prodigal’s repentant reappearance. He is Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven.” Our dear Lord is in need of nothing. But He desires one thing. He has sacrificed Himself for that one thing. He desires that we accept His invitation to cease living as hidden men.

“When it comes to hiddenness, it must certainly be argued that God has a more profound complaint against me.”

Kenneth Calvert is a professor of history at Hillsdale College.

The opinion of The Collegian editorial staff

Your cafeteria meal will now be served in a box, you must recognize friends by their foreheads, and you have to carry hand sanitizer in a quick-shot holster.

This is the reality of life at Hillsdale during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite these precautions and even with what President

Arnn calls the virus-filtering “ion ray of death,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she’s “skeptical” about any college’s ability to prevent an outbreak this fall.

Several colleges and universities have already sent their students packing or switched to online classes in response to outbreaks following a return

to school.

With a united effort we will avoid this fate. The new rules may hinder our social lives, eating schedules, and spiritual lives, but a return to normalcy depends on them. By following the rules, we will reject the masked man as the “new normal” in American life.

Instead of complaining

about breaches of freedoms and rights, wear your masks and practice distancing.

Perhaps we can consider our adherence to the new guidelines as a gift to professors and staff, their families, and concerned Hillsdale residents as well as all the people who hope to remain in this place to learn and love and grow.

Football’s lessons for the pandemic By | Jonathan Burton On August 10, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference postponed all ‘high risk’ sports in the 2020 fall semester, effectively cancelling the Charger football and volleyball seasons and moving them instead to the spring semester.

The Charger golf, tennis, and cross country teams remain in competition.

For football, this decision to postpone is on par with the decisions already made by many college conferences.

These postponements continue the interruption to sports that originated in March. Coincidentally, this was when the football team should have had their spring ball session, a vital time for coaches to instruct and hone the skills of the new team.

My teammates and I have not felt this much uncertainty about what to expect since our freshman seasons. I recognize the apprehensiveness I once carried into my first season away from home: stress dredged up from my first three weeks isolated with 120 loud strangers on a new campus, without any guess as to how the upcoming year would go. Looking back, this

memory provides a comparable present-day emotion, but not just for the athletic community.

Uncertainty for a return to normalcy hangs overhead and taints thoughts about what is to come. Irrespective of the politically-charged arguments about COVID-19’s virulence, each person must deal with the rules imposed. For the members of the football and volleyball programs, this pertains to the GMAC fall season collapsing. For the academic community, this entails continuing class in-person, adhering to the protocols outlined by experts in epidemiology, and remaining steadfast against the barrage of universities’ mass movement to online instruction.

While everything else today seems to be in limbo, some things remain the same.

During this time of year, the college still bustles with activity as students and staff finalize pre-semester preparations. As everyone will soon come to realize, the way things are done here may have been modified, but their function and purpose remain the same. There is still food to be eaten, rooms to be lived in, and there will still be essays to write. We still have school together, which is

a paramount privilege, especially now for student-athletes without guaranteed athletics.

For those who have played under Coach Otterbein, the proverb “control what you can control, one play at a time” has a familiar ring. It continually reminds us of several things.

First, it implies that you cannot anticipate every challenge that you’ll face during a given time. The chaotic environment today demonstrates this concept.

Second, it reminds us that everything we face is a chapter with a start and an end. This serves as a rallying point in tough times, and a sobering reality after momentary triumph.

Lastly, it confirms that there are things that you can always control. On the football field and in life, these universals are attitude and effort.

Right now, my body cannot help but feel strongly out of place. I should be finishing the last week of my senior fall football camp, heavily freckled, sporting a fresh case of chinstrap acne, and gingerly easing my bruised body into the cafeteria ‘football tables’ (the two long conjoined tables that are as close to the food as possible).

There is no use now in

wallowing in the fact that we would have finished fall scrimmage earlier this week.

There is no use wallowing in the absence of play time, or even in the inside jokes my teammates and I would have developed. Having learned from the past, now is the time to look ahead.

During my freshman year, in the three weeks the football team spent alone on campus before the rest of the students arrived, I wondered what it would be like to be a regular student, unhampered by long practices, sweaty gym sessions, and meticulous film study. Mind you, at the time I was also cramping in bed from exhaustion and nursing the day’s beatdowns.

In light of the chaos surrounding this pandemic, Coach Otterbein’s wise words extend beyond the football field and into our uncomfortable reality. I sincerely hope it is short-lived, and that the Charger football team will exercise its attitude and effort to prepare for a championship season, whenever that time may come.

Jonathan Burton is a senior linebacker on the football team studying politics and Spanish.

Don’t forget the children By | Anne Ziegler A longer version of this piece was originally published in Focus on the Family’s news publication The Daily Citizen.

“I Can’t Breathe” It is a plea you all know.

They were the final words that 46-year-old George Floyd gasped before he was murdered by a policeman on May 25. These words, rightfully, have burned themselves into the minds of millions around the nation.

But did you consider the cry of 3-year-old Mehki James, “It hurts! It hurts!”?

Innocent Mehki was one of the protest victims who died on Father’s Day weekend in Chicago when a bullet struck him in the chest and killed him.

Did you hear 8-year-old Secoriea Turner cry out in pain for her mother when a neighbor opened gunfire and killed her?

Did you hear 11-year-old Davon McNeal’s body hit the concrete when he was gunned down outside his aunt’s house?

Perhaps we are all asking the same question Davon’s grandmother is asking: “When they catch these guys, I would like the opportunity just to ask one of them, why?”

Why indeed? Yes, it has been difficult to distinguish legitimate, passionate protest from rioting, anarchy, and random violence over these last few weeks. But the parents and loved ones of these children know this for sure: Things have gone too far. We must be able to fight for needed change without our babies dying in the process.

After substantive research, I have found scattered, brief news reports on children murdered by protestors. But I have yet to find a compilation that truly tells these children’s stories, as they ought to be told, in their raw, bleeding, grim reality.

I find articles filled with statistics and numbers and death tolls. I see pieces on George Floyd and on the history of racism. But where are

the articles that mourn these murdered children? Where is the outrage?

Lawrence Jones, the father of 7-year-old Natalie Wallace who was shot and killed on Independence Day, expressed his frustration that a black child murdered in her neighborhood does not receive the same attention as a black male killed by a white police officer. He said, “The fact that there is not outrage universally when both things happen ticks me off because both of the lives matter. But it seems that in a time like this, both sides can choose which stories they want to cover.”

It seems no journalist is interested in collecting the stories of black victims like Natalie or revealing how numerous these young victims really are. Their stories are not told in The New York Times.

Not in The Washington Post.

Not any major newspaper or magazine.

Because nobody else has done this, I will.

In a span of 35 days — May 31 to July 4 — the lives of 10 children were brutally cut short for no reason. 10 innocent children who had no voice. 10 children who will never breathe again.

Here are just 3 of their stories.

My name is Mekhi James.

I am 3 years old, and my step daddy just took me out to get my first “big guy” haircut.

I didn’t know that it would also be my last “big guy” haircut.

I won’t get to go to school this fall, or play outside, or see my step daddy ever again.

My life was taken from me. I

don’t know why. What did I do wrong?

Daddy and I were driving home when a car pulled up beside ours and started firing bullets at us. I was shot in the back and cried out “it hurts!

It hurts!”, but daddy couldn’t help me. He tried. He couldn’t stop the pain; he couldn’t stop the blood. He couldn’t save me. I had never seen Daddy cry before, but his tears fell all across my face. I died in his arms.

My name is Secoriea Turner.

My name is Davon McNeal.

My mom is my best friend.

We dance together, I tell her all about school, and I always have a kiss and a hug for her.

I have two older brothers who mommy says will always protect me, and they like to call me SeSe. My birthday is on November 29, and I will be 9 years old this year. I like to post TikTok videos with my mom. I told her that I want to be a nurse when I grow up because I see sad people, and I want to make them happy.

Today my mom and I are driving to my cousin’s house because it is the Fourth of July, and we want to play.

Suddenly, people started shooting at our car. I was hit and cried out in pain, reaching out for my mom. She held me and rocked me, her voice soothing like when she used to sing me to sleep at night. I died in her arms.

No, none of us were killed by a police officer. We were shot by our neighbors, by those who all want the same thing: more justice, greater equality, more opportunity.

What about our lives? Will anyone march for us?

None of our parents can find comfort in telling themselves we died for a just cause.

There was nothing noble in how we died. We died just as Mr. Floyd died. Where is the outrage for us? Where is the compassion for our family members?

Say our names aloud. Remember our stories. Stop the violence. Defend life.

I am 11 years old. I like to play football, and my older brother often plays with me.

I told mommy that I was going to be in the NFL when I grow up. Yesterday I told her, “when I make it, I’m going to buy you the biggest house I can find.”

I play video games with my friends and brothers. I always love going on vacation with my family. We go to Ocean City, Florida, and New Jersey.

My family has always called Anacostia, D.C home.

Today, I am at a community cookout to celebrate the Fourth of July. My mommy brought us all together today because she loves this holiday, and she loves the people here.

My phone died, so I jumped in the car with my mom to head over to my aunt’s house to get a charger.

I never saw my aunt that night.

I stepped out of the car, and someone from my own neighborhood shot at me.

The bullet hit me in the head.

Anne Ziegler is a senior studying English.

City News

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

A4 August 26, 2020

Fink, Hodshire win August Republican primaries, begin campaigns for November general elections By | Julia Mullins Senior Reporter Republican voters on August 4 nominated Andrew Fink for the state legislature’s 58th district and Scott Hodshire to become Hillsdale County’s next sheriff, in a pair of hotly contested elections.

Megan R.M. Stiverson and Brendan Sanger finished first and second, respectively, in the nonpartisan primary election for 2B District Court Judge. They will face each other in the general election on November 3.

Voter turnout in Hillsdale County increased by more than 12% compared to the 2018 primary election, with 36.09% of registered voters showing up at the polls, according to the Hillsdale County Cumulative Results Report. More than 22,800 residents in Hillsdale and Branch counties cast votes for candidates in the Michigan state house’s 58th district in Tuesday’s primary election and more than 10,000 residents voted in the Hillsdale County sheriff ’s race.

Voter turnout in Branch County increased by about 10% this year compared to the 2018 primary.

Fink wins Republican nomination for 58th District in state house race Local attorney and Hillsdale College alumnus Andrew Fink ’06 secured the Republican Party’s nomination to represent the 58th District in the Michigan State Legislature. Fink earned 31.57% of the votes in Hillsdale County and 48.41% of the votes in Branch County for a total of 6,520 votes.

Fink, who will go up against Democratic nominee Tamara Barnes in November, said he’s grateful to his family and team of volunteers who helped share his campaign message with the residents in the 58th District.

“We had my family, including my kids, and volunteers out with us knocking on doors, putting stamps on pieces of mails, and making phone calls,” Fink said. “My

COV I D - 1 9

family and our volunteers were awesome. They were, what we call in the Marines, a force multiplier. I am blessed with the support we had.”

While on the campaign trail, Fink said he enjoyed learning from residents in the community about which issues they are most concerned about.

“I heard a lot about concern for good and thoughtful government response to coronavirus that respects both safety and liberty,” Fink said. “I also heard a lot of concern about respect for police officers and discouraging destruction of property.”

With his background in law, Fink said if he is elected state representative in the general election, he will use his position in Lansing “to articulate exactly why it’s wrong for our governor to assume under herself the powers that she has without getting any input from our representatives and senators.”

“I’m ready and more than willing to take advantage of the amplified voice that a legislator is given to explain why that’s not normal in American government,” Fink added.

Former Chairman of Hillsdale County’s Board of Commissioners Andy Welden was the last Republican candidate to enter the race but only trailed Fink by 2.53% of the vote in Hillsdale County, where he earned 2,883 votes. Welden said he enjoyed the campaign process but wished he would have begun two years earlier to line up more support.

“I didn’t know it took so much finance to run a campaign for this position,” Welden said. “That is an overall surprise that I learned during the process.”

Although he does not plan to run for elected office in the future, Welden said he will still be actively involved in the community.

“If there’s anything I can do to help anybody, don’t hesitate to contact me,” Welden said.

Local real estate agent Daren Wiseley was also a candidate for the 58th District House Seat and ran

his first campaign for elected office. Although he passed Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford in the polls, Wiseley trailed Fink and Welden.

Looking back, Welden said he wished he had been more aggressive with his fundraising efforts. He added that COVID-19 changed the campaign field as he and his team were not able to go around knocking on doors.

“The mail campaign was very important,” Welden said.

“Andrew Fink implemented

Andrew Fink won the Republican primary for the state legislature’s 58th district. Courtesy | Facebook that aspect of the campaign well. It just takes more money to do the mailing than I had to invest.”

As Fink prepares for the general election, he said he’ll continue to go door to door introducing himself to constituents and will participate in events if COVID-19 restrictions allow for it.

Hodshire to represent Republicans on ticket for Hillsdale County Sheriff In a close race, Scott Hodshire clinched the Republican Party’s nomination for Hillsdale County Sheriff.

He earned 35.81% of the vote and narrowly defeated

from A1

“During this whole period, we’re very proud of our staff who have taken the necessary precautions and taken this extremely seriously,” Hodshire said. “Through this effort we’re able to ensure our patients are safe all the time.”

Hodshire made waves in late April when he signed an open letter to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, asking her to reverse her executive order that banned elective surgeries in the state. Whitmer claimed the ban on non-essential operations was to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Hodshire noted that decisions like that cannot be made widespread because some counties had less than 10 cases and no outbreak. Without the ability to conduct procedures and surgeries, local hospitals suffer financially and face closure. The letter notably said, “When rural hospitals close, people die.”

Hillsdale Hospital makes 60 percent of its revenue from the operating room and before changes were made to the order, it was projected to cost the hospital $10 million in a three month period and have a “significant impact on our ability to stay viable in the future,” Hodshire warned.

The executive order expired and hospitals are conducting “non-essential” operations again, but many rural hospitals are still struggling financially. A 2019 study discovered that death rates in surrounding communities skyrocket by nearly 6% after a rural hospital closes— this was before the 2020 pandemic.

“You cannot broad-brush this closure to every hospital in Michigan, it’s not fair,” Hodshire said of the now-expired executive order. “If I was sitting in the shoes of a

president of a Detroit hospital, I’d be nervous, but I’m in rural Michigan.”

Over the past few months, Hodshire noticed fewer people going to the hospital over COVID-19 fears, despite needing to for other health reasons.

“People are afraid. We’re seeing sicker patients than we ever have before,” he said.

“The hospital right now is the safest place you can be because we’re taking significant extra precautions.”

Businesses across the state have struggled over the past few months. The Hillsdale Daily News reported in April that most businesses had scaled back operations and staffing and many had closed their doors.

Hillsdale Economic Development Coordinator Kelly LoPresto said most Hillsdale businesses were making about 20 percent of their normal sales during the height of the pandemic.

A May survey by the Small Business Association of Michigan found 14 percent of the organization’s members were not confident they would survive through the pandemic and 60 percent had already laid off at least one employee.

“Businesses in our community have worked very hard to think outside of the box during this time,” LoPresto said. “Some changed their hours, some started delivering … they were willing to do what they could to provide to their customers.”

In just two Michigan counties, Ottawa and Allegan, 852 small businesses reported being negatively affected by the events and lockdowns surrounding the virus. Some Hillsdale businesses still haven’t been able to reopen and the current limits on seating

current Hillsdale County Undersheriff Carl Albright who received 33.04% and Hillsdale County Justice Project Founder Jon Paul Rutan who received 31.15%.

Hodshire ran unsuccessfully for Hillsdale County Sheriff in 2012 but said he was “floored” by the amount of support he received from people in the community during his 2020 campaign.

“I was able to base my platform on the things that the folks of Hillsdale County

capacity are still hurting bottom lines.

These businesses are eager for the school year to begin, which brings thousands of customers to the area.

“These local businesses are happy to see students back in town,” LoPresto said. Many local shops saw relief over the summer when a great influx of customers came during the college’s graduation weekend in July.

In fact, the July 18 Hillsdale commencement ceremony not only aided the local economy, but has also not contributed to the spread of the virus, or even created a single case.

Both Burns and Hodshire agreed there have been no cases linked to the event—despite Whitmer saying she was “gravely concerned” about the in-person event and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel calling it a violation of the law because more than 100 people attended.

The event featured socially distanced seating, temperature screenings, and masks. “[The college] immediately engaged us, took every recommended precaution we gave them, and there has been no spread of COVID from that event,” Hodshire said.

Staff members of the college and the hospital have worked diligently together to plan and prepare for the school year to go as successfully as graduation. This includes measures such as teachers, students, and staff wearing a mask for the first two weeks.

“We’re not doing this out of some obligation or fear,” Lutz said. “We’re doing this out of love.”

wanted,” Hodshire said. “I was transparent on who my undersheriff was going to be, and we ran a clean campaign.”

If elected Hillsdale County Sheriff in the general election, Hodshire said he plans on starting up community policing, offering an inmate labor program, and starting an in-house General Educational Development test program for the inmates.

“I appreciate the votes and the hard work from my campaign members,” Hodshire said. “Now, the real work begins.”

Stiverson and Sanger advance to general election in nonpartisan district judge race Megan R.M. Stiverson earned 37.39% of the vote, finishing ahead of Brendan Sanger, who received 31.61% of the vote. Stiverson will face Sanger in November’s election. A third candidate, Kimm Burger, received 31.01% of the vote, trailing Stiverson and Sanger.

As a first-time candidate, Stiverson said she enjoyed talking to residents in the community and answering their questions. One recurring question she heard was about the idea of being nonpartisan.

“A lot of people are really concerned when you can’t tell them what party you’re affiliated with,” Stiverson said. “It concerns people because they feel like it has to be Republican or Democrat.”

While Stiverson said she ran a large social media campaign, she also went door-knocking throughout Hillsdale County to share her platform and ideas with residents.

“My family walked miles with me,” she said.

Stiverson said, she decided to run a clean race as an example for her children.

“My family is second only to God. My faith and my family’s faith is what got us through this,” Stiverson said.

As she approaches the general election, Stiverson said she will continue her social media campaign but hopes she will have more opportunities to participate in public forums to tell people about her platform.

“I feel like my biggest strength is speaking to people,” Stiverson said. “I relish being challenged, and I will answer people’s questions.”

Four new nominees chosen to represent Republicans for Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners The Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners will have four new members in January 2021 if the Republican Party’s nominations win

the general election.

Doug Ingles earned 590 votes and defeated incumbent and four-term commissioner Ruth Brown by 2% to secure his nomination for the District 1 seat. Ingles, who previously served the City of Hillsdale as both a council member and mayor, said he feels re-energized and ready to serve the public once again.

“I’m already beginning the next part of my process so that in January we have very strong and prepared county commissioners,” Ingles said.

“I’ll be ready when it’s time.”

Ingles also owns Stadium Roller Rink which has been closed during the pandemic.

He said that its closure gave him the opportunity to go out and speak with many different people in the community.

“One of the things that made such a big impact was just talking to the people,” Ingles said. “It’s very humbling, and it’s so overwhelming at this moment. I’m appreciative of the support and the confidence that so many have that I’ll do a good job.”

Local accountant Kathy Schmitt earned 959 votes and defeated incumbent Julie Games to win the nomination for the District 2 seat.

Schmitt said she believes her background in accounting helped her get the votes she needed to secure the Republican Party’s nomination.

“I assume people were interested in my finance background and believed the county would benefit from my experience,” Schmitt said.

In the months leading to up to January, Schmitt said she hopes to learn more about her duties as county commissioner and more about what concerns her constituents in District 2.

Brent A. Leininger defeated incumbent Namatra Brad by 9.52% of the votes and Jon Smith by 5.98%. Benzing ran unopposed for the District 4 seat, which is currently occupied by Bruce Caswell.

Incumbent Mark E. Wiley defeated Karla D. Malone by 45.96% of the votes to defend his seat representing District 3.

Hillsdale Felines and Friends: New hope for stray cats in the Hillsdale community become an officially licensed cats draws interest and supBy | Tracy Wilson cats-only animal shelter. port from students and from Assistant Editor Though the facility is still the Hillsdale community.

Hillsdale Felines and in progress, the program has “We are launching a $5 Friends is a new nonprofit already been helping rescue fundraiser challenge in which organization that rescues cats by helping them find people go in through our stray cats in the community. homes or simply caring for website and set up a recurIts new facility is scheduled to them. ring monthly donation of $5,” be finished soon, according to Director Sandy Puvogel, Sherman said. “We hope that President and Treasurer Kátia professor of Spanish, said she people understand that if evSherman. has also helped rescue stray eryone who follows us on In“It’s already up and going cats in the community. stagram or visits our website — we are just finishing up “I’ve had neighbors who were to give $5 per month, electrical stuff,” Sherman said. most of our costs “I am going to begin would be taken care Mariella is a kitty available for adoption from to move furniture of. It takes a large Hillsdale Felines and Friends. Courtesy | Hillsdale and cats over there.” amount of individFelines and Friends She noted that she uals each giving a currently has 30 cats tiny bit.” staying at her house, Sherman and another 12 outand Puvogel side of her home. also stressed the Sherman, who importance of is also an assistant student volunteers professor of Spanish at in maintaining the Hillsdale College, said program. her interest in creating “A lot of students this program began really love animals after noticing a large and would like to problem with stray use some of their cats in the Hillsdale volunteer hours to area. devote to animals,” “When I began to Puvogel said. realize the extent of According to the problem, I decided Sherman, there are to do something about students already it,” she said. “The tax interested in volunsale from the county teering. of Hillsdale happens every had cats but couldn’t handle “I have about 35 to 40 stuyear. I was informed that the getting them neutered and dents who have emailed me two empty lots behind my spayed or keep them up to that are willing to volunteer,” house were going to be aucdate on vaccines,” Puvogel she said. “The shelter is going tioned in the county tax sale. I said. “I helped when I could to be about one block from went and was able to purchase to take the cats in.” The idea is Christ Church, so it’s very those two lots.” to help the community in this easy to get to on foot.”

Sherman talked through way — to help the cats first Those interested in helping some of the other steps inand foremost. I think there with Hillsdale Felines and volved in starting the organiare a lot of street cats like Friends can visit their website zation. She noted that Hillsthat who don’t have a home at www.hillsdalefelinesanddale Felines and Friends is a and we are hoping to provide friends.org. nonprofit organization, and various things for them.” has tax exemption status with Both Sherman and Puvogel the IRS. The final step is to said they hope their love for

Charger

A5 August 26, 2020

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

2020 Cross Country season continues despite COVID-19 concerns By | Hannah Cote Assistant Editor

Although nearly every fall varsity sport has been officially canceled for the semester, the Hillsdale College men’s and women’s cross country teams will train and compete this fall.

“These are definitely trying times,” Assistant Cross Country Coach R.P. White said. “I try to put myself in the shoes of the student-athletes missing out on fall competition and it definitely would be a tough pill to swallow.”

He said it will feel weird to be a part of the only fall sport competing on campus.

“It will be different coming home from a meet on Saturday and not having a football game to look forward to, or a volleyball match to pop into during the week,” White said.

Senior Christina Sawyer said she’s remaining optimistic about the upcoming season.

“It's definitely a huge blessing to have the opportunity to compete,” Sawyer said. “As we lost our outdoor track season last spring, I definitely feel for all of the other fall athletes at Hillsdale who are not getting this chance.”

The NCAA Division II has canceled its national and regional cross country championships, as well as removed all regional and national rankings for the year. The teams can compete only for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference title and at invitationals.

“From year to year our program objectives are always consistent: to be a podium

team at the NCAA championship,” White said. “Since the national meet is canceled, we have to find a way to navigate this obstacle while still trying to make progress toward our overall objective.”

Sawyer said the Chargers will make progress toward that objective by vying for the conference title in October.

“As the defending champions, I would say that we likely have the best shot at bringing home the G-MAC title this year,” Sawyer said. “And that is definitely what we are aiming for.”

Senior Maryssa Depies is also hopeful about the team’s chance to win another G-MAC championship. Hillsdale College has been a part of the conference since 2017, and this past cross country season, the men’s team placed second at the conference championship and the women’s team took first place.

“With many of our same runners returning from last year, we are striving to earn back-to-back conference titles,” Depies said. “The opportunity to compete has motivated and encouraged the team to continue to work hard and prepare, like we always have, for upcoming races.”

The men’s and women’s teams graduated three seniors each, while the men gained four freshmen and the women gained three.

“They are all really good fits for Hillsdale College and our team,” White said.

“They will add to the culture and pursuit of excellence we always strive for.”

Senior Mark Miller says he

is ready to compete as a representative for all the other fall athletes who are unable.

“I am sure that the other student-athletes whose sports were canceled are frustrated and would rather have the ability to represent themselves in their own sport than to watch a small group of men and women represent the entire school through a couple races,” Miller said. “With that being said, I am going to think of their situation to drive my training over the next couple months.”

Although numerous changes have been made across all of campus, junior Adam Wier said that the team focuses on each day and each race.

“The mission for our team is always to represent the diligence of our institution by the performances we give on race day,” Wier said. “As shown by the pandemic, any race could be your last, so we intend to be grateful in our opportunities and dedicated in our efforts.”

After losing its outdoor track season and stumbling into an uncertain fall semester, the Hillsdale cross country program has still persisted.

“I’ve learned through every adversity or set back, there is always something positive that can come of it,” White said.

“It isn’t always clear or easy to see. Even if it gives these athletes a deeper appreciation for being a college athlete and a sense of gratitude to compete, that is a powerful new perspective they can hold for themselves and to share with others.”

HILLSDALE RECEIVES THE 2019-20 ATHLETIC TRAINING STAFF OF THE YEAR AWARD Courtesy | Great Midwest Athletic Conference

Hillsdale wins G-MAC Athletic Training Staff of the Year award By | Liam Bredberg Sports editor The Hillsdale College athletic training staff was awarded for its dedication to the health of student-athletes with the G-MAC Athletic Training Staff of the Year Award. This is the first time the college has received the award since becoming a full member-institution in the G-MAC during the 2017-2018 season.

In putting the wellbeing of student-athletes first and finding new ways to not only care for, but prevent injuries, the staff stood out among those of the rest of the G-MAC conference.

Under the leadership of Tyler Cortwright, director of sports medicine and performance, the Chargers training staff has and established itself as one of the best in the conference.

“Since I began working with athletic training at Hillsdale, we’ve taken a strong approach to preparing and training our athletes with a stronger intention of preventing injuries and improving performance specific to the demands placed upon them by their specific sports,” Cortright said. “That isn't only inclusive to how we are preparing them with injury prevention programs, or training methods, but

how they are taking care of themselves at home.”

Cortright’s training team includes Andrew Bacon, the head athletic trainer; Lynne Neukom, a healthcare administrator and athletic trainer; Dan Hudson, an assistant athletic trainer; and Mitchell Schoenborn, the head strength and conditioning coach.

“All of the athletic trainers are incredibly hard working, willing to help anyone whenever they can, and always driven to learn new information,” Cortright said. “We each have our own individual strengths in our field which work well together to contribute to the overall goals of the department.”

According to the G-MAC, the award is given based on a school’s hospitality toward visiting training staff, host preparedness with supplies, equipment and services for visiting athletic training staff and teams, care for injured student-athletes from visiting teams, and overall staff preparedness for emergency situations.

Cedarville University has won the award three times, more than any other school in the conference.

Other winners have included Trevecca Nazarene University, Davis and Elkins College, and the University

of Findlay.

“Any time your staff gets recognized for the hard work that they put in, it’s rewarding,” Cortright said, “Between practices, lifting sessions, teaching classes, and traveling to competitions, our staff is working six or seven days a week, 70 hours or more per week, and through holiday breaks.

Having a pat on the back for the time we all put in for the athletes is satisfying.”

After being awarded the highest honor for an athletic training staff in the G-MAC, the Hillsdale College Sports Medicine and Performance Department still strives to improve.

“This year we will be converting a part-time position to a full time position,” Cortright said. “We also have changed some roles around within the department to encourage improved organization and to allow some of our staff for more individualized work with student athletes recovering from injuries.”

While many fall sports have been canceled or postponed until the spring season, the staff will remain busy with those sports that have not been canceled and with athletes working to heal ailments in the offseason.

Charger fall sports update By | Calli Townsend Sports editor

The Hillsdale women's cross country team starts a race at Calvin Knight Invitational in 2019.

Calli Townsend | collegian

MUDD, from a1 Mudd was well respected, not only at Hillsdale, but also as a high school offensive lineman on Midland High School’s 1958 Michigan Class A State Championship team. Mudd’s high school teammate, Jim Townsend, also the great-uncle of a reporter of this piece, recalled that state champion season as a memorable experience.

“It was wonderful,” Townsend said. “I think that’s why the football team is in the Midland County Hall of Fame. We were indoctronicated in 1995.”

Midland High School was ranked No. 1 in the state heading into its final game of the season, against the No. 2 Bay City Central.

“We won 20-12. It was a close game,” Townsend said.

“There were over 10,000 people jammed into the Bay City Central Stadium.

Townsend said he thought Mudd would make it to the NFL as a player, as 70% of that State Championship team went on to play at the college level, but he never imagined Mudd’s successful coaching career.

“He was a very determined and very intelligent individual,” Townsend said.

Mudd’s knack for football both on and off the field brought him to great places after high school, some much greater than Hillsdale.

But even with that, he never forgot his beginning with the Chargers, which he always spoke highly of,, especially to former Colts head coach, Tony Dungy.

“I got to talk to Coach

Dungy a few times,” Otterbein said. “He always said ‘Howard talks about you guys all the time, he loves what you have done.’”

Not all Chargers had the honor of meeting Mudd, and while Drumond never had the opportunity to meet him himself, he said Mudd’s philosophy and memory always lives on with the team through stories and pieces of wisdom.

Generations of Chargers know the name, but even more know the impact Mudd had and continues to have. The Chargers may miss him, but his legacy will live on.

“As long as I am going to be here his impact will always continue,” Otterbein said.

Like the rest of the fallsport athletes across the nation, the Hillsdale College Chargers waited all summer to see what their seasons would hold, or if they’d have a season at all. Similar to what happened this spring, the NCAA Division II fall sports seasons faced gradual cancelation beginning in July. For Hillsdale, this affects the football, volleyball, and cross country teams.

The Great Midwest Athletic Conference began by postponing the start of practices to Aug. 28 and the start of competition to Sept.

24. Fall sports would still go on, just with about a monthlong delay.

Then, on Aug. 5, the NCAA Division II Presidents Council canceled all of the 2020 fall championships “due to the operational, logistical, and financial challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to an NCAA Division II press release.

“After reviewing and discussing the Board of Governors’ directives, the Division II Presidents Council made the difficult decision that holding fall championships in any capacity was not a viable or fiscally responsible option for Division II,” said Sandra Jordan, chancellor of South Carolina Aiken and chair of the council.

While teams would no longer be able to compete for national titles, they would still be allowed to compete at the conference level. That changed, however, the following week.

The G-MAC announced on Aug. 10 that championships for “high-risk contact sports,” including volleyball

and football, will be postponed to the spring. Cross country will still continue with a postponed schedule, and the G-MAC championship race set for Oct. 24.

James Gensterblum, director of athletic communications for Hillsdale College, said the department has been adjusting on a daily basis to all of the changes, but remains optimistic.

“It’s been hard for everybody. This is such an unprecedented situation,” Gensterblum said. “We’re dealing with a situation that’s changing day to day, sometimes hour to hour or minute to minute. It’s definitely been a real challenge but I feel like the department has held together really well.”

As of now, the Hillsdale men’s and women’s cross country teams will be competing in several invitationals, as well as the G-MAC championship. The football and volleyball teams will continue in their limited training, with the goal of a modified season in the spring.

Head volleyball coach Chris Gravel is approaching the new schedule with positivity. He said this will give the team more time to train rather than beginning competition right away in August.

“They're disappointed, but at the same time, too, this could be a nice opportunity. It will give our freshmen more time to adjust and we’re looking to take full advantage of that,” Gravel said.

“We were going to be good this year, and now we’re hoping to be even better.”

He said the team has been doing its normal spring workouts at Baw Beese Lake as well as many other mental exercises.

“We kept that mentality

up all summer because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “They’ve come in ready to go. There were a lot of things we wanted to do when we got back from that trip back in March, and now they’re still on the books.”

Gensterblum said the athletic department as a whole is also keeping a positive attitude, looking forward to what the spring semester may bring.

“We are still optimistic that we’ll be able to have some kind of season in the spring. Obviously, that all depends on a lot of other factors that we won’t know the answer to for a while as well,” Gensterblum said.

“We’ve done our best to try to give kids a path to something here, to some kind of athletic experience this fall, this spring, and this season.”

Head football coach Keith Otterbein said while he’s looking ahead to the spring, his team is trying to get in as much practice as they can now.

“We’re supposed to play some games in the spring, but that’s kind of beyond where we’re at,” he said.

“We’re just trying to get a pretty good rhythm in the fall. For the next six weeks, our plan is to run and lift and try to get in as much football as possible within the NCAA regulations.”

Otterbein said he’s confident in his players’ attitudes and abilities.

“We’re going to get the very most we can and gain ground over the opponents that may not be adapting to adversity,” he said. “Knowing the character of the kids, they’re going to be focused and be able to make quick adjustments to the ever-changing rules.”

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

August 26, 2020

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Krusmark lived in Dallas for the summer. Sofia krusmark | Collegian

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Hillsdale music director Holleman receives national orchestral honor By | Virginia Aabram Assistant Editor When Jim Holleman came to Hillsdale in 1997, there were only around 40 students involved in the music department. Now there are more than 200 — and the music department chairman and director of Hillsdale orchestra and choirs is earning national recognition for his work.

In February, Holleman was elected vice president of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), a national organization that connects orchestra directors to collaborate and advance music in higher education.

After his term as vice president, he will serve one year as president-elect and will then assume presidency the following year.

“I’m looking forward to having our program have more exposure nationally,” Holleman said. “I’m looking forward to the ability to encourage other conductors from smaller schools to think outside the box and figure out creative ways to get their students on campus to participate, and have retention within their programs.”

Holleman said his approach relies on the liberal arts understanding of music as an end within itself, rather than a stepping stone toward a career. Additionally, he worked to develop a mutually beneficial relationship between the college and the music department.

“I made a decision when I started this job in this program that we were going to be a music department that stood in service to the college,” Holleman said. “A lot of music departments are self-con-

tained, but we step forward and perform at just about every major event on campus. In turn, the administration and different departments support the music program.”

Instead of requiring his students to “eat, sleep, and breathe orchestra,” which is often the case at large universities, Holleman developed a system that makes it possible for non-music majors to be easily involved in choir and orchestra.

The Hillsdale orchestra practices twice a week, which most students supplement

the only person at the university or the college who does what they do,” Holleman said.

“CODA connects us nationally -- anybody can throw out any question or voice any difficulties they’re having with their program, and then they’re able to tap immediately into a network of college orchestra directors who do what they do.”

For the past 10 years, Holleman has served in various leadership positions with CODA, including the roles of as the development and membership chairs. He also

“A lot of music departments are self-contained, but we step forward and perform at just about every event on campus” with private lessons, and is accessible to students of any academic discipline. Holleman said helping conductors at small schools understand this dynamic is one of his goals as vice president.

“Primarily, the conductors went to larger schools, so they tried to apply that model to a smaller liberal arts college.

And then [the approach] fails,” he said. “To base your program solely on majors, you’re not being honest with your students on what’s out there once they graduate.”

Founded in 2003, CODA provides a network for college orchestra directors to connect professionally.

“Quite often when a college university orchestra director takes a position, they’re really

led various presentations at their conferences on the topic of music engagement at small, liberal arts schools.

Melissa Osmond, former vocal teacher, has known Holleman since he began his career and has seen him transform the program.

“When he first came in he was handed the orchestra, chair, and chamber choir,” she said. “He had to wear many hats, but was able to create an extremely wonderful department that consists of people who love music and aren’t majors or minors.”

To increase program involvement, Hillsdale provides music scholarships for students who aren’t music majors, and the music department and admissions work

try. Taylor Swift fans categorize her career into different eras. The Red era was marked

by Swift’s straight blunt bangs, red lipstick, and vintage vibe.

The Reputation era saw snakes and skin-tight bodysuits.

But, none of those eras could go the distance. Each one was too niche, too point-

down and raw musical style beautifully showcases her lyrical genius. There is nothing to hide behind, nothing to distract from what she has to say.

Swift also writes like the 30-year-old woman she is.

The lyrics show maturity and understanding of the world, something that has not been

together to recruit students who can contribute to many aspects of campus life. This differs from other schools where music students are expected to participate in only music-related activities.

First chair violinist senior Ellie Fishlock has benefitted from this arrangement. She studies exercise science and also biology, but was able to fully participate in orchestra and receive a music scholarship.

“I’ve been involved in music from a very young age, so coming to Hilldale was such a blessing because I could continue pursuing my passion without it being my career,” she said.

“It’s so nice how accessible music is here, both as a participant in choir and in the number of concerts and events there are to go to,” added Teresa McNeely, a senior who has been involved in choir for her entire college career.

This approach was proven to be just as successful as many standard methods of orchestra engagement. Through a blind audition process against much larger universities, Hillsdale became one of only two orchestras selected as one of the best in the nation, performed at CODA’s 2017 conference at George Mason University.

“We are the smallest college orchestra ever invited, and it was very well received,” said Stacey Jones-Garrison, percussion instructor and the recruiter for Hillsdale’s music program. “Everyone there was blown away by what a small college orchestra was able to do. Holleman is doing things that turn the heads of larger colleges.”

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ed. She either outgrew it or her fans moved on from it before she could really flesh it out. But, “Folklore” has the power to stay. If there’s ever a Taylor Swift era that has potential for permanence, it’s this one.

In “Folklore,” Swift’s lyrics return to the focus on storytelling that made her earlier work stand out. The stripped-

present on her last seven albums. Instead of angry breakup songs, Swift takes a different approach to writing about relationships. She views ending relationships as lessons rather than personal affronts.

In “The 1,” Swift sings, “But we were something, don’t you think so? Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool.

And if my wishes came true,

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Krusmark toured JAXON Texas Kitchen and Beer Garden in Dallas, Texas. Courtesy | Bianca R. Montes

What I learned this summer in Dallas

By | Sofia Krusmark Culture Editor Dallas was one of the top 10 counties with COVID-19 cases in July, after having reopened in mid-May. Then, the city shut down all over again—and I was there.

I wasn’t supposed to be. In an epoch where internships fell through and many lost their summer plans, I was also a victim of cancelled opportunities. No longer would I be studying in Oxford and coming home to work as a front desk agent at my favorite hotel. I felt as dead as the streets in my small Arizona town.

Then Dallas became an option. I was hired at a business magazine, and though working from home was encouraged, I took my chances and headed to Texas. The offices were closed, but I was there.

Walking downtown in the city of Dallas was like walking through a ghost town. it would’ve been you.” Gone is It invited all sorts of eerie the vengeful tone of songs like feelings. Lights flickered.

“We Are Never Ever Getting Restaurants were boarded up.

Back Together” and “I Forgot The only people walking the That You Existed.” streets were the ones that lived Swift now writes like she’s on them. Culture wasn’t at a been there before, like she’s standstill, but it seemed dead. experienced and learned from We often define culture by life. It’s not just refreshing, but atmosphere and people. When also necessary. Throughout we go to a church or a school her career, Swift’s fans have or a city we don’t like, we are matured and grown alongside left with this simple statement her. Her ability to write to rolling off our tongues: “I them and for them has always didn’t like the culture.” And been impressive. Now that fan that’s exactly what I first said base is gravitating toward ma- about Dallas. ture and honest lyrics, Swift No doubt the pandemic had to adapt. And she delivers. has disrupted many cultures— “Folklore” is Swift’s ticket especially those defined by to the annals of music history. lights, bustling streets, and There’s no question that she’s buildings that invite people talented and that her music in instead of shutting them resonates with her audience, out. But we choose to define a but she’s struggled to find a culture by the way it makes us personal style. She’s proven feel, rather than what it is. time and again that she can Dallas proved me wrong, morphe and conform to the and my summer was marked expectations and appetites of by a vibrant and colorful the culture. But that continuculture. ous—and drastic—pendulum I visited sustainable homes swing is unsustainable. handcrafted and developed Swift needed to find her by some of the nations’ finest sound, her natural state. builders and architects. The “Folklore” is it. This is Swift’s developer shared that he defining moment, and if she wanted to create homes that can hold onto this honesty and encouraged wellness and rawness, she will be rememoutdoor living. I talked to a bered as one of the greatest woman who led the “Parade musicians of the 21st century. of Playhouses”—an event that This is her turning point. Let’s built playhouses to raise suphope she can see it. port for kids who didn’t have safe homes. It was a virtual

When Taylor Swift decided to grow up By | Regan Meyer Collegian Reporter Any musical artist with staying power has a defining album, the collection of music that defines their legacy. For Paul Simon it was “Graceland,” for Katy Perry “Firework,” and if you’d asked me this time last year, I’d have said Taylor Swift’s was “Reputation.”

That’s all changed, however, with the release of her 8th studio album, “Folklore.” It comes just barely a year after the release of her highly-anticipated “Lover” album.

“Folklore” is a 180 from any of Swift’s previous work.

It is, as the kids say, a cultural reset. Gone are the overhyped album releases: the Easter eggs, the anticipation. Gone is Swift’s affair with over-stylized pop music, replete with garish costumes and autotune.

It’s no secret that Swift is an accomplished lyricist. She’s exhibited her penchant for songwriting since the release of her debut album in 2006.

As she morphed from a country star to a pop star, however, her lyrics were often overshadowed by over-the-top performances and heavily-produced music.

Change is not new for Swift. She switches personas like a chameleon, morphing her personality to fit her age and status in the music indus-

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event this year—the first one in the last 20 years—but it went on, nonetheless.

Another time, I talked to a man who developed restaurants for a living. Dallas was always the place to create community, and a pandemic couldn’t stop that, he said.

One girl started canning “Ranch Water,” a staple drink for Texas residents. Now the seltzer shelves are empty, but maybe, she said, these drinks are a silver lining for Texans quarantining.

At the ends of my days, I’d drive home and see the gleaming city lights. No longer a sign of the pizzazz and glamour of a ritzy city, they seemed to stamp the work and culture of a different set of new, accomplished friends.

They built a culture that gave back.

The culture of Dallas didn’t depend on city lights and pizzazz, it depended on the steadfast work and kindness of its people. Of course restaurants, concerts, and busy streets are indicative of a thriving community. But even more so, these people, and their work to create and sustain this city they called home, were still breathing life into a culture I had assumed was dead. Social gatherings should be a celebration of this.

We’ve missed social gatherings in our time away from Hillsdale, and realistically, they will likely remain more limited for a while to come.

But what we’ve built in our corner of the country is special— the round-table conversations in the Knorr Family Dining Hall where we’ve developed life-long friendships, the long hours in the library that have cultivated our perseverance, or the students who have poured immeasurable amounts of time into their music that enriches our campus. These precious commitments—to ourselves and our loved ones—sustain the culture we’ve missed.

As students, as friends, as athletes, and as musicians, as faculty, it is our task to preserve our culture. It’s what brought us back to this special place. And maybe, when the time is right, we can raise a glass to Hillsdale, and our corner that has enriched us so deeply that we say, “Yeah. I like the culture there.”

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Senior from A8

being seen with others. It was as if people had forgotten how to greet each other. The elbow-bump seemed to say both far too much and far too little.

Toward the end of that strange semester, some friends and I gathered to play and hear some music. I regret that so many Hillsdalians missed Jake Rummel and Carson Waites’ last musical performance of that senior year. They played Mac Miller’s “Circles” to a group of friends at an off-campus house. This rendition, comprised only of a baseline, a light melody on the guitar, and Carson’s voice echoed in a small room lined with several class of 2020 se-

niors. They were sitting on the floor and leaning up against the wall with Coors Light and Moslon’s in their hands. It was a solemn occasion.

Music is meant to be shared. At this little get-together, I heard music that the whole class of 2020 should have heard together. Social distancing and college are mutually exclusive. Every note my friends and I heard that night affirmed this truth. In my heart of hearts I was sad, and I loathed those platitudes about “being in this together” more than ever.

By this time, people weren’t so scared anymore and hugs went around. I made some new friends that night, as I had on many other weekends — friends I might not

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have met had it not been for Corona. I realized that it had been too long since I’d seen my mother. It was time to go back to California.

I hope those who were in high school and middle school during this time were not trained to think that this kind of social life can be anywhere near normal. I hope younger generations won’t begin to defend these lockdowns, which will surely occur again.

I was elated when the college announced that we would be holding commencement in July, and I enjoyed the event immensely.

If I could pass just a few words on to coming generations of college students, those words would be: “This is not, and should never be, normal.”

Dear Dale,

I am an incoming freshman and I’m nervous about what to expect my first few days. Do you have any tips about how to prepare for the workload, good study spots, and how to meet friends? -Nervous Ned

Ned, Welcome to campus! It is completely normal to be nervous, especially as you start your college journey in such a unique situation.

The academics will be rigorous – which you will hear many times during orientation week. This is simply to serve as a reminder that there is no breezing through and getting easy As. You will have to put in a lot of work.

Even if your first few classes are easy, make sure you master the material because the whole course will build on it and you will need to know it for the final. Speaking from experience, falling behind in the beginning – even skipping one reading or blowing off one essay – will come back to bite you later. Most importantly, build a relationship with your professors – speak up in class, go to office hours, email them if you have questions – they want to get to know you.

Campus is full of great study spots. If you want coffee (and trust me, college will make you a caffeine addict) you can easily get to the campus coffee shops or try out the ones in town. Most of them are within walking distance, and I recommend checking them all out early on so you know which atmosphere you like best.

Finally, you’ll meet friends in all sorts of settings – the cafeteria, your dorm, your classes, and campus events. Don’t stress if the first week or two is a whirlwind of faces, names, and small talk that you don’t remember – things settle down after orientation.

There are always signs in classrooms, news on social media, and emails from the Student Activities Board to keep you informed of fun campus happenings, so just keep an eye out.

At Hillsdale, we are a community and we are here for you. Trust me, you’re in for a great year!

August 26, 2020 A7

‘No sneezy, no blessy’

Sneezing as solace during COVID-19

By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor Sophomore Meera Baldwin has always understood the importance of blessing a person after they sneeze. After noticing a clear lack of sneeze blessings within the Hillsdale community, she decided to be the ripple that would create a wave of change. She teamed up with sophomore Liz Oxaal, and together they created a Facebook group called “A Group Where We Bless Each Other After Sneezing”.

According to Baldwin and Oxaal, the group is oriented towards educating people about sneeze blessings. Their mission statement reads, “We unfortunately live in a world where not everyone is blessed enough to receive a blessing after they sneeze. The purpose of this group is to raise awareness about the topic and hopefully come up with helpful alternatives.”

“We ask our followers to post incidents where they sneezed and did not receive a blessing,” Oxaal said. “It’s like a big support group.”

The group started with only about 20 members, but rapidly

grew to over 240. Once the group became more well known, group members began to contribute to the ongoing discussions about sneezing and sneeze blessings. Under the leadership of Oxaal and Baldwin, the group began to settle on certain truths and rules regarding sneeze blessings. One such rule is known as “no sneezy, no blessy.”

According to group mediator sophomore Haley Strack, “’No sneezy, no blessy’ is the first and only real guideline of the group.” This rule centers around the fact that a person must sneeze in order to receive a sneeze blessing.

Oxaal explained that “No sneezy, no blessy,” was initially a response to a question from a group member, but turned into a much more controversial topic.

“There has been a lot of confusion about this issue.

“No sneezy, no blessy” does not mean you cannot bless someone for any reason,” Oxaal said. “If I cough, I would love it if someone blessed me.

But within the group, the issue was created where someone asked if they can bless some-

one if they only look like they’re about to sneeze.”

Baldwin expanded on some of the other controversies within the group.

“We had a sneeze naming competition,” Baldwin said, describing their difficulty in selecting a winner for the competition. “We were afraid to come across as biased. After we announced the winners, two group members called for our impeachment.”

Despite disagreements between members, the group has still fostered a new love for sneeze blessings within the community.

“There have been a lot of people who confess that they have failed to bless someone after they sneezed,” Oxaal said. “I think that’s something that can unite us all, because it’s something we all struggle with.”

Strack also commented on the positive impact the group has created. “I hope people realize that anyone deserves a blessing,” she commented.

The Lord doesn’t specify that a blessing is only for friends or family—it’s for everyone.”

-Dale To submit questions to Dear Dale, contact ebachmann@hillsdale.edu

Fostering from A8

the endowed scholarship,” Jacob Petersen said. “And that speaks to what Tori does.

She sees a dark place and she wants to bring light into it.

Her intention with the letter was to bring hope to hurting people. She thought about not even posting it and just sending it to some of her favorite faculty. But she wanted it to shine as much light as possible. Being married to Tori is like watching one miracle

after the other happen and I love it.”

Just as the Petersens were heartened by the outpouring of support, Drummond expressed gratitude for their efforts on behalf of the institution.

“Never does the college cease to be humbled and grateful for the remarkable generosity of people around the country,” he said. “We are especially grateful when our alumni seek to strengthen our community beyond their student days. The Petersens

are doing this, and the impact of their efforts will last for generations.”

Fully funded, the scholarship is now ready for students in need. Petersen’s hope for the scholarship is that it will not only help a former foster child reach their dreams, but also inspire others to put their faith in action.

“If you don’t know what to do, ask yourself, ‘What is the next love thing?’” she said.

“And then simply do the next thing in love.”

ously,” Zeiser said. “This is an idea that is worth contending with. That’s pretty much what we do at Hillsdale.”

Both Zeiser and Sabo credit Hillsdale’s master’s program in political philosophy with honing their writing and thinking abilities. For his political science degree at Fordham, Zeiser said he studied technical details, like hegemonic stability theory, rather than the deeper philosophic ideas that underpin them.

“We were discussing hegemonic theory, a Cold War theory, in the early 2000s. So it was already out of date, even then. I realized I needed to learn more about the founding documents and the underpinning philosophies that lay behind my own beliefs,” Zeiser said.

For Sabo, though he grew up with a dad that read Imprimis regularly and knew about Hillsdale “for forever,” he only learned about Hillsdale’s grad program while working as a legislative aide in the Ohio House of Representatives.

After graduating from the master’s program in 2015,

Sabo worked as a fellow in the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. While there, he began writing articles for The Daily Signal, Heritage’s in-house news publication. By March 2019, he was picking up part-time work for RealClear, and in August 2019 joined RealClearPublicAffairs full time, editing the American Civics portal, which aggregates civics resources for students, teachers, and anyone interested in learning more about America.

“In every Hillsdale class we wrote at least one large paper, of course,” Sabo said.

“Well, when I’m compiling all these sub-pages, I’ve got quotes from the American founders, from all throughout American civics to pull from.

Just the ability to know, ‘Oh, Lincoln said this in a speech at this point, that would be perfect for this page,’ — that’s so useful.”

Sabo said he still even refers to his class notes from time to time, to recall how Kevin Portteus, associate professor of politics, or Ronald

Elizabeth Oxaal and Meera Baldwin created a Facebook group called “A Group Where We Bless Each Other Sneezing.” Courtesy | Meera Baldwin

Alumni working at RealClear pursue the virtue of understanding

By | Carmel Kookogey Editor-in-Chief If there’s one thing Hillsdale alumni now working at RealClearPolitics have taken with them, it’s the virtue of properly understanding someone else’s argument, according to Hillsdale City Councilmember Bill Zeiser, a 2016 graduate of the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship.

The political news site and polling data aggregate site founded in 2000 boasts four Hillsdale alumni on staff currently, including Zeiser; Mike Sabo ’15, editor of RealClearPublicAffairs; Philip Wegmann ’15, White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics; and Chandler (Lasch) Kuhlmann ’18, editor of RealClearReligion.

Now an editor of RealClearPolicy, Zeiser was a sophomore at Fordham University in New York when a faculty advisor told him he’d be branded as “an ultra-right wing radical” if he interned at National Review.

“That was 2001. If that’s radical right, what even is centrist?” Zeiser laughed.

But his advisor’s words pushed Zeiser to take an internship with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer instead of the journalism internship, which he credits with helping him understand arguments from all across the political spectrum.

“While no one would ever accuse me of being a Democrat, I learned from that experience in Schumer’s office,” Zeiser said. “I may have had a more direct path from doing National Review at that point, but I wouldn’t have gotten that experience.”

For Zeiser, this means pointing people to the best arguments from left, right, and center.

“In order to be good at that, I think it’s helpful to have a truly liberal education.

You’re forced to take ideas that you might not agree with seri-

Pestritto, dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship, responded to a certain topic.

“It’s the idea that citizens are made, not born. We have to form ourselves. And knowing the problems with civic education — we’re seeing it a lot this year, with the riots, the 1619 Project, the statues being torn down — I think there’s a huge need for civic education,” Sabo said. “To put the common ground and the unity we used to share as a country and say, how can we return to that? How can we make citizens? Thinking in that manner is basically behind everything I do at RealClear.”

Called “Cannon’s Law,” after RealClearPolitics Executive Editor Carl Cannon, who was a part of a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist team before joining RealClear, Zeiser said RealClear’s governing principle of journalism, like Hillsdale’s, is honesty.

“Cannon’s law basically means if you write something about someone, your words might be upsetting to them, but they should be able to see

Philip Wegmann interviews President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Courtesy | Philip Wegmann

themselves” — rather than the writer’s political bent — “in what you have written,” Zeiser said.

This is especially important for editors like Kuhlmann, who runs the RealClearPolitics’ fact check review program, which examines fact check articles on sites such as Snopes, FactCheck.org, The Washington Post, and Facebook, to display their methodology. Kuhlmann also edits RealClearReligion.

“I think one of the things that was a really interesting take away from Hillsdale for me is that the liberal arts are not separate boxes,” Kuhlmann said. “They really bleed into each other and that’s where the interesting discussions happen. Especially in this job dealing with questions of religion — that overlaps with philosophy, and politics, of course, and so many other things.”

While Zeiser said he immediately began looking for Hillsdale students to bring on board since joining the company officially in December 2018, he had “nothing to do

with Wegmann.”

“He’s just a testament to how good Hillsdale is. Phil Wegmann is out there kicking butt in the world as our White House correspondent,” Zeiser said.

Wegmann, who majored in history and politics while at Hillsdale, said he wished he’d gotten involved in journalism sooner.

“In a lot of ways, journalism is the definition of the liberal arts,” Wegmann said.

“You get the opportunity every day to admit there are things you don’t know, figure out what the question is, and find answers. It is truly a pleasure.”

Wegmann, who has worked as White House correspondent at RealClearPolitics for about a year and a half, frequents the White House press pool, and even interviewed President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. He spent the first half of 2020 on the Democratic presidential campaign trail in Iowa until coronavirus restrictions sent him back to Washington, D.C. “A lot of things just require you to be in the right place at the right time, to have your antenna up,” Wegmann said. “A lot of things we learn at Hilldale are the deeper, esoteric things. You have to dig down deep to understand those things fully, and that applies to my job today.”

The biggest thing he’s kept since graduating, however, was the value of work ethic, Wegmann said.

“Hillsdale just teaches you how to work hard. If you can write a 20-page term paper in two days, you sure as hell can write a 1,200-word piece in six hours. Do I remember a lot about German unification?

Not really. I love Doc Conner, but to be honest I don’t remember a lot about that episode in nineteenth century Europe. But what I do know is how to understand things a little more quickly, and I think that’s a product of Hillsdale.”

Features www.hillsdalecollegian.com

August 26, 2020

A8

Juan Vargas, Brian Freimuth, Michael Hagestad, Luke Gryzwacz, and Francis Lucchetti hiked the Appalachian Trail.

Courtesy | Brian Freimuth

Being a senior in the era of coronavirus By | Brian Freimuth Collegian Freelancer “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom and of foolishness, the epoch of belief and incredulity, of darkness and of light, of hope and of despair.”

Dickens’ words certainly applied to that confusing semester.

As spring break of 2020 began, several friends and I hit the road, bound southward for the freedom and serenity of a week-long backpacking trip through Appalachia.

Senior Juan Vargas Hernandez was our driver; junior Frank Lucchetti was our navigator and leader; senior Michael

HagEstad kept us updated on the progress of this mysterious Chinese virus and its effect on gas prices in the United States; while Luke Grzywacz and I, both seniors, cracked jokes about everything.

At the time, there still wasn’t a murmur about the possibility of a cancelled spring semester. We left our half-minded concerns about these reports in Juan’s Honda and embarked into the unknown and the unowned.

Our boots crunched the last inch of winter snow to the rhythm of our songs and our rabble. We followed the creek and searched for a place to set up camp.

By our fire we talked about who was getting married

and when, about President Trump’s chances of winning reelection, about how our country was likely to change throughout the rest of our lives, and about where each of us might go within this country in search of happiness and God. We spent our last day of ignorance hiking 11 miles up the tallest mountain in West Virginia. From the peak of Spruce Knob, the five of us descended into a world quite different from the one we left.

The tendrils of 5G pulled us back into the jungle of mass media, where we read of empty shelves at Costcos across the country and the quarantining of millions of Chinese.

We spent the night in

Pittsburgh on our way back to Michigan and each called our parents. There was no toilet paper and no soap. The world was panicking.

On our way out of Pittsburgh the next morning, a nice woman let us into St. Anthony Chapel after we knocked several times and waited on the steps. She couldn’t bring herself to turn away five young men from that church. We filled a cantine we bought at the army surplus store with holy water and it made the trip back to Hillsdale with us.

The next two weeks we debated whether or not to head home. Many parents were growing increasingly concerned about the econom-

ic and political consequences of COVID-19. Michael made the trip to Arizona in record time, Juan took a flight back to Colombia, and Frank went back to D.C. I decided to stay. Anyone could guess that the Silicon Valley might be one of the worst places to be through all this. Sure enough, the lockdown there was intense.

At the time, all my old high school friends didn’t think it right to visit anyway, had I been home.

I missed people. I missed my girlfriend Saige. I regretted not having a real spring semester for my senior year.

The conversations about how innocuous this disease was for most people inspired hope

at first, but after having the same conversation 10 times, the topic just became depressing. I went to every protest in Lansing. When Luke and I went together, a local news station interviewed us and put us on TV. In our interview, Luke and I emphasized that the worst part about all this was the lack of church on Sundays.

This was not included in the broadcast.

I lit many bonfires and drank a lot of whiskey with close friends on the weekends.

Hillsdale seemed like a ghost town. Many people were afraid — afraid of each other, or in some cases just afraid of

See Senior A7

Fostering the good Alumna starts Hillsdale College scholarship for former foster youth

Victoria Petersen, her husband Jacob, and their children sit on their porch. Courtesy | Victoria Petersen

By | Madeline Peltzer News Editor If you ask Tori Petersen ‘18 what Bible verse guides her life, she’ll tell you it’s John 13:33-35, the passage about loving one another as Jesus loves us.

“I want people to know my love for Jesus and I want people to be drawn to Him because they see what His love drives me and others to do,” she said That passion is what inspired her to start the Fostering the Good scholarship.

The fund is Hillsdale College’s only scholarship dedicated to students who spent time in foster care, a system Petersen knows well.

“I grew up with a single mother diagnosed with severe mental illness. My dad wasn’t involved in my life because I was conceived out of a rape, and then my dad passed away a month before I was born,” Petersen said. “Due to my mom’s mental illness, abuse, neglect, and the lack of family on either side, I went into the foster care system at 4 years old and again at 12. I lived in a dozen different homes and remained in the foster care system until I emancipated the day I turned 18.”

In between leaving the foster care system and coming to Hillsdale, Petersen attended a different college. But she began to feel she wasn’t growing in her faith. When her track coach was fired, she took that as a sign that things needed to change.

“I Googled ‘most religious colleges in America’ and Hillsdale came up as number two, so I emailed the track

coach and told him I needed a full-ride scholarship and told him my times,” she recalled. “I really wanted to go to Hillsdale because I wanted to be somewhere I could figure out who I was in Christ and how to live that out.”

Petersen graduated with degrees in Christian studies and psychology. Now married and with a 20-month-old son and a baby girl on the way, she continues to be a voice for foster children, especially on social media where she seeks to spread awareness about the system.

It was her online advocacy that gave rise to a more tangible project: creating a fund so students with backgrounds like hers could have a chance at a Hillsdale education.

“The community at Hillsdale College offers vulnerable young people a vision of what it looks like to live out the Gospel and a vision of what family should be,” Petersen said. “I saw it for myself in my professors, the administration, and my close friends. I want every former foster youth to experience that. Foster care can be isolating. Hillsdale College is a place where youth can experience freedom in a safe way.”

She brought her idea up to Danny Drummond ’18, a friend from her college days who now works in the college’s institutional advancement office. Drummond called it “a joy” to help Victoria and her husband, Jacob, create the Fostering the Good Scholarship.

“They had been graduated from Hillsdale for only a year when they reached out to me to begin work on the scholar-

ship,” Drummond said. “They wanted to create an endowed scholarship, which is great because endowed scholarships are invested in the market and will never go away, if managed properly.”

But endowed scholarships require an initial gift of $50,000—no small feat. The Petersens worked with Drummond and the college’s alumni relations department to create a campaign to crowd-raise the amount. The effort launched in early June and quickly received a number of gifts, but by the end of the month, they still needed to raise $25,000.

Around that time, Petersen wrote an open letter to her alma mater, defending the college as some called on the institution to take a stand in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. She relayed her own experience as a former foster child and Black student at Hillsdale. To Petersen’s surprise, it went viral.

“I just wanted Dr. Arnn and some other of my favorite professors and the administration to read it so they’d be encouraged, because the messages they were receiving were hurtful even to me, mostly because they weren’t true,” she explained. “I mentioned the Fostering the Good Scholarship in that letter and thankfully, a lot of people donated through the link.”

In fact, so many people donated that in the two to three weeks following her letter’s release, her scholarship received more than $35,000 in donations, easily exceeding the $50,000 threshold.

“We couldn’t have predicted what the letter would do to

See Fostering A7