1.28.16 Hillsdale Collegian

HHS graduate stars in potential super bowl ad Chris Pentzell was cast in a Doritos commercial which could air during the big game. A6

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 139 Issue 13 - 28 Jan. 2016

mt. bental sea of galilee

nazareth

tel aviv jaffa

sderot

gaza

ein gedi

Living under the rockets Members of the Israel Defense Forces and a kibbutz bordering the Gaza Strip describe life and resilience in the midst of constant conflict. B

jerusalem dead sea

Return from Israel After travelling to Israel earlier this month, students examine the complexity of the nation’s geopolitics, its culture, and our shared heritage. A4

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Students reflect on Holy Land travels By | JoAnna Kroeker Collegian Reporter Earlier this month, 85 Hillsdale College students and faculty members returned from Israel with their political views challenged, their expectations exceeded, and their faiths renewed.

The Philos Project and the Museum of the Bible organized the Israel trip that took place from Jan. 2-13 to give Christian college students the opportunity to learn about the modern state of Israel and strengthen their faith. The organizers said they hope students’ experiences will prompt them to advocate for the truth about Israel and be ambassadors for Jewish-Christian relations.

In their itinerary, the sponsors emphasized Christian and Jewish sites, tours of cities and borders, and lectures, exposing students to multiple political perspectives. The complex political situation the itinerary reflected surprised students like senior Matalyn Vander Bleek, who expected a pro-Israel bias.

“I was prepared to be filtering everything heavily, but then it turned out to be not necessary,” Vander Bleek said.

“I think it was fairly presented, and everyone who spoke said their own story, their own point of view. Sometimes that

didn’t match up, but that just gave us a better and more true view of the situation.”

Students met with a variety of speakers: Jewish and Palestinian journalists, a Jewish peace negotiator, an Aramaic Christian, members of the Israel Defense Force, a political science professor, and religious leaders.

“I thought often when I was sitting there listening to people that if I had heard the same thing from a third party observer, some American making some statement about Israel, I would highly doubt what they were saying to me,” senior Marie Wathen said. “Everything has its own bias, but it was very clear that their biases

“I was hoping for a lot more answers but now I have a lot more questions.” were ‘I live this as my reality.’”

Others said they expected the trip would emphasize the religious significance of Israel.

Its modern cities paradoxically coexist and conflict with preserved ruins and redefine what a modern Christian pilgrimage looks like.

“I was expecting to have a

really emotional experience trying to put myself back in the past and picture everything as it was,” junior Katie Kortepeter said. “After Nazareth, I decided I shouldn’t try to create an experience like that; I should take it for what it is, the modern and the historic. It helped my perspective a lot because I was able to come up with a love for Israel that Jesus probably had.”

Senior Hannah Wolff said she expected Nazareth to be a preserved site, but what she encountered was “not the prettiest” modern city.

“I was reading my Bible, and someone was talking about Jesus, and someone said ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ and I was struck with this fact that Jesus would have come from somewhere like that...To see a modern interpretation come out of that verse was really fascinating.”

While some sites were poignant, others felt fake, students said.

“I felt like a lot of the Christian sites were touristy, and I wasn’t expecting that,” Kortepeter said. “There were people everywhere, gift shops; it was very commercialized.”

Despite the kitsch souvenirs, the sites still boasted 2,000 years of pilgrimage, a history that junior Sarah Reinsel said had “the biggest spiritual imp a c t ” See Israel A2

Hillsdale students visit the Sea of Gallilee in northern Israel.

Anders Kiledal | Collegian

‫שלוםמישראל‬

New nonprofit to train Christian leaders

By | Macaela J. Bennett Editor-in-Chief When Rivekah Kidron, former adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, noticed that most tourists in Israel mainly visit its holy sites and neglect many that define the modern state, she asked Netanyahu to change her title to adviser on Christian Affairs.

Kidron made it her mission to provide a way for the next generation of Christian leaders to learn about Israel as a blend of sacred history and modern innovation.

She connected two nonprofits, Museum of the Bible and The Philos Project, as partners in accomplishing her vision of educating the next generation of Christian leaders about Israel.

The two groups worked together to organize and subsidize a Christmas Break trip to Israel for more than 150 college students. Students were chosen from schools selected for their likelihood to promote future leaders in religion and policy, and while the trip cost about $3,000 per person, each student paid only $500.

The January trip was one of the first that the two nonprofits planned together. In the next few weeks, a new nonprofit formed by Museum of the Bible and Philos will be named with the purpose of organizing trips and following up with the participants afterward to continue developing them as leaders, said Scott Phillips, who will serve as executive director of the temporarily unnamed group.

“We are strategically developing relationships with college presidents and faculty who represent a diverse spectrum of college students from future pastors to leaders in journalism and politics,” Phillips said. “Our ultimate goal is have an

See Philos A2

Supreme Court justice named 2016 commencement speaker

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address the Class of 2016 at college commencement ceremonies in May. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States | Courtesy Follow @HDaleCollegian

By | Evan Carter Web Editor United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address this year’s senior class in Hillsdale’s 164th commencement ceremony.

The past five classes have also considered Thomas, according to Senior Class Adviser John Quint ’09.

Thomas was born near Savannah, Georgia, in 1948; received an applied baccalaureate degree from Holy Cross College in 1971; and earned his juris doctor from Yale University in 1974. He was nominated to the Supreme Court

by George H.W. Bush and officially took his post on October 23, 1991.

“I was pretty ecstatic,” senior Randy Keefe said. “I couldn’t think of someone that I would be more excited about.”

Keefe, who originally suggested former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said he now believes Thomas is the best choice.

“Thomas was always at the top of our list,” senior class president Nick Brown said.

The selection process began at the end of the last academic year, when the senior class presented a refined list of candidates to the president’s office.

Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs,” and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman were other names seniors suggested to give the commencement address.

In late September, the senior class officers chose Thomas, and the president’s office extended Thomas the invitation. Thomas accepted earlier this month.

“The role of the class officers was to go to the student body to hear their thoughts and hear who they wanted to bring to bring to campus,” Brown said.

“Class officers then work together with the administration to find somebody that is going to excite students and that’s going to represent the Hillsdale brand well.”

Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, who knows Thomas personally, describes him as modest, funny, and very talented.

“As a judge or justice he has written some of the most

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insightful opinions about the meaning of the Constitution in many decades. I think they are serious achievements,” Arnn said in an email. “In Justice Thomas we find excellence.”

Brown said he is confident Thomas can transcend politics with his speech even in the midst of a contentious election year. Some past seniors have expressed frustration with how political some commencement speakers have been.

“Mostly what we heard from the senior class is that they didn’t want a politician, especially in an election year,” Brown said. “While some would think of Clarence Thomas as a politician, we think he’s more than that. He’s a statesman, and he’s dealing with topics that are affecting us today.”

Senior Emily Runge said due to his position, Thomas isn’t allowed to be overtly political in his speech.

“I know that the speech is not going to be overtly political in the sense of engaging in the political topics of the day,” Runge said. “The election and current cases or legislative issues won’t be discussed be-

cause Supreme Court Justices are not allowed to talk about those.”

Senior Richard Caster said he hopes Thomas explains his dissenting opinion in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

In the June 2015 decision, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that gay marriage is constitutionally protected the 14th Amendment and therefore cannot be denied by either the federal or state governments.

“I want him to talk about human dignity,” he said. “I think if you read his dissent in the gay marriage decision, when he talked about how no government can remove the dignity of man and how no government can bestow dignity upon man, I think there is such uncomfortable truth in that that I would love for him to come here and explain those words.”

Senior Dominic Restuccia is excited as Thomas rarely gives public addresses.

“I think everyone is going to be hanging onto every word because he doesn’t speak often, so everything he has to say is worth listening to,” Restuccia said.

Look for The Hillsdale Collegian

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In brief: Fifth Annual Ski Trip Saturday By | Timmy Pearce Collegian Reporter Campus Rec holds its fifth annual ski trip to Alpine Valley Saturday, Jan. 30 for students interested in a $40 day on the slopes.

The fee covers a lift ticket and ski rental. A bus will leave from the Dow Center parking lot at 8 a.m. and return at 7 p.m. Bus space is limited to 54, but students have the option of driving separately. Students should bring extra money to purchase lunch.

Senior Rachael Hille and junior Daniel Cody are co-directors of Campus Rec and organized this year’s trip.

Campus Rec first chose Alpine Valley in White Lake, Michigan, to hold the event in 2015. Alpine Valley is closer than the previous venue, Bittersweet Ski Resort in Oswego, Michigan, and offers more value with better runs at a cheaper cost, Hille said.

Students who went on last year’s ski trip loved Alpine Valley, making the decision to return an easy one, she added.

About 80 students took to the slopes on last year’s trip, and more are expected to attend this year.

The $40 deal students receive is about a third of the cost for the same package alone normally. Along with the group discount, Campus Rec helps with the cost to give Hillsdale students the most affordable ski day of the year.

Junior Davis Peters went on the ski trip last year.

“It’s a fun and exciting experience,” Peters said. “It’s the highlight of the winter, and I look forward to going again.”

Senior Party Friday

By | Hannah Leitner Collegian Reporter With graduation mere months away, job applications, college credits, and networking fall to the front of seniors’ minds. This Friday beginning at 9 p.m., however, Hillsdale senior class officers offer senior students the perfect study break.

The class party, named “Let’s get down to business,” will feature music, dancing, games, and a photobooth at the McCall Center on W. Carleton Ave. “It’s going to be so much fun,” class Secretary Lucia Rothhaas said. “I think it’s great that we can all get together as a class and celebrate the four years we’ve had.”

Finger food catered by Broadstreet and three free drink tickets will also be provided. Students can choose from beer, hard cider, and Tom Collins, a drink consisting of gin, sprite, and sours.

“It’s honestly very good.

It tastes like lemonade,” class Vice President Mark LaPrairie said.

The party is not all fun and games. The event also gives attending students the chance to vote for the outstanding senior man and woman, outstanding professor of the year, and the senior class memento.

“In years past, they have just done T-shirts. So we are putting it up for a vote whether or not it’s going to be a T-shirt again,” LaPrairie said. “But we are kind of hoping people will throw in some cool ideas.”

Senior class President Nick Brown said this is the first event of the year put together strictly with seniors in mind.

“We’re not there to take your money. We’re not there to steal your time,” Brown said.

“We really want it to be an opportunity for seniors to get together and celebrate the work that we’ve done and just have fun.”

In preparation for graduation, Brown said this event gives students a chance to reflect on their time at Hillsdale.

“It’s time to begin to review where we started four years ago and to prepare for what’s about to happen in a few short months, because our lives are about to change a whole lot,” Brown said. “I think this is just the beginning of a celebration.”

A2 28 Jan. 2016

Israel by the numbers: 25

sites

12

2

speakers

donors

8

cities

81

students

valued at about

$3,000

per person

4

10

staff

days Israel from A1 because “so many people had also come here.”

Israel animated students’ knowledge of both religious history and modern politics, revealing real people who live in places most Americans know only through the media.

“It turned the cold, sterile article that you read online into something you can actually touch. You could see the grief on the mothers’ faces;

you can see Gaza; you can see the fence; you can see al-Qaida driving around in Syria,” sophomore Nathan Lehman said.

Sophomore Nathaniel Trainor said the opportunity to visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza — a close-knit, agricultural, communal settlement three miles from the Gaza Strip — and speak with a woman who lived there surprised him. As she spoke about her life, she demonstrated the resilience of Israelis, Trainor said.

“These people live with

these events every day, and yet they are still able to carry on with their daily lives,” Trainor said.

On the returning El-Al Israel airline flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport, students talked, reflected, and slept. The Philos Project gave Hillsdale students multiple perspectives and challenged them to research and maintain the conversation back home.

Despite being back in Hillsdale, senior Naomi Virnelson summed up the feeling of hav-

ing just begun her Israel journey.

“I was hoping for a lot more answers,” she said, “but now I have a lot more questions.”

Philos from A1 Christian leaders rooted in biblical faith and who can be informed voices for Israel — that’s the whole mission of the program.”

Phillips said the group hopes to organize trips this

summer for between 500 and 700 students with the longterm goal of sending around 5,000 students per year.

“We want people to see truth on what’s happening in Israel,” Phillips said. “In general, we believe the truth is on our side. We want to show fact and give a diverse spectrum of view, and then the students can take what they learn and be advocates for truth.”

Foreign policy: America, Israel, and the future of the Middle East By |Micah Meadowcroft Middle East continues to Assistant Editor be redrawn.

“I hope As Russia becomes the that the major player in Syria and attacks in ISIS gives countries with Paris and diverging interests a common enemy, America has the California will be a opportunity to take back the lost initiative in Iraq after the wake-up call to have weary slog of wars, Colonel a clear Kobi Marom believes. strategy Marom, retired from the about what Israel Defense Forces afare we ter 25 years of service and going to do now a research associate with the for the International Instithreat from ISIS and “I think the Russians cooperate together with the use the situation that Russians.

We can Sophomore Michael Lucchese examines exploded Qassam rockets from Gaza at a police we have of a clear give up to station in the “bomb shelter capital of the world,” Sderot, Israel. Anders Kiledal | Collegian the Russians decline of the Amerihere in Syria the situation that we have of plained that Turkish presand have them fighting with a clear decline of the Amerident Recep Edergan must ican influence all over the deal both with his country’s can influence all over us against the real threat, which is ISIS.” Middle East,” Marom said.

Syrian refugee population While Israel disagrees “And in my point of view, and its conflict with the the Middle East.” with American diplomacy it’s not that they just want Kurds. with Iran, Marom said Israel to stay with their influence “The Turks are playing and America share the more in Syria, they also want to a double standard,” Martute for Counter-Terrorism, immediate threat of ISIS put a lot of pressure on the om said. “They are part of answered a few questions in what was Iraq. Syria has international community to NATO, they are supposed to during lunch after showing conceded to Russian influhave a comprehensive deal fight, but on the other hand Hillsdale students the Golan ence, and America needs to about Syria and the crisis in they don’t want to cooperHeights and Israel’s borders mitigate that reality, Marom Ukraine as well.” ate with the Kurds who are with Syria and Lebanon. He argued. The country needs In addition to America enemies to them, so if I’m acknowledged gaps between and Russia, the other major looking forward, we are goAmerican and Israeli foreign to ask itself how much effort it is willing to expend for its players in the Middle East ing to see a new Middle East policy but pointed out a interests in the region. today are Iran, Saudi Arabia, with an independent Kurdish number of opportunities for “I think the Russians use and Turkey. Marom excountry — not on the Turkcontinued cooperation as the

ish territory but on the Iraqi side. That’ll be a compromise, but we are going to see a new country for the Kurds, there is no question.”

Marom said that, as a rich and powerful Sunni country, Saudi Arabia leads the Sunni world and wants to continue to keep a trans-Sunni axis.

That brings them in conflict with Iranian interests in Iraq and Syria.

“They’ll try to cooperate with the Sunni countries against the Iranian regime.

Egypt, Saudi, Jordan, Turkey — and maybe Israel as well, if we will have any advance on the Palestinian trail.”

Marom said the Iran nuclear deal represents the clearest point of departure between American and Israeli strategy in the region.

He drew parallels between Israel’s concerns about a future nuclear Iran and news that North Korea had likely performed another nuclear test.

“Israel said something very clear, if they are talking about a peaceful project why do they still have secret sites? Why do they need ballistic missiles? Why did the international community allow them to keep all those facilities for the enriching process, as well? So our major concern is that within five or ten years they will reach the bomb.”

Politics profs make presidential predictions on eve of Iowa caucuses By |Tom Novelly Assistant Editor Presidential candidates will get their first chance to hear from voters during the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Feb. 1, and the Hillsdale politics professors, however, have already started making their predictions on how it will turn out.

Mickey Craig, politics department chair, said the Iowa caucuses are historically accurate for choosing who will become president and often change the polls drastically.

“Iowa has been good at picking presidents,” Craig said. “Obama won Iowa in 2008 and 2011; George W. Bush won Iowa in 2000 and 2004. Clinton did not win in 1992 because Tom Harkin, the senior senator from Iowa ran in 1980. George H.W. Bush finished first and Reagan second, and in 1976, Jimmy Carter won Iowa. So, for close to 40 years, Iowa almost

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always picks the president.”

While many past presidents have done well in Iowa, it still possesses the worst record of selecting presidential nominees compared to any other state, choosing four losers since 1976. According to Assistant Professor of Politics Adam Carrington, this has much to do with the population of Iowa itself.

“Iowa hasn’t been a strong indicator in part because its composition, especially in the GOP primary, isn’t that representative of the national electorate,” Carrington said.

“But it does still matter. It is the first time we actually hear from the voters, not just pundits and polls. It does help in clarifying the choices by revealing some candidates’ campaigns as not viable.”

Assistant Professor of Politics John Grant said voters should be concerned with candidates who normally appeal to a demographic similar

to Iowa but fall short in the polls.

“Candidates relying heavily on the evangelical vote who do poorly are in deep trouble,” Grant said. “If Cruz or Rubio do badly, that is a terrible sign for them given their appeal to that demographic.”

Craig said if the top two front-runners, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Donald Trump, don’t show well, it could jeopardize their campaign, but they may also garner support from more obscure candidates.

“If either Cruz or Trump don’t finish in the top two in Iowa that will harm their candidacy greatly,” Craig said.

“Iowa certainly winnows the field, especially a large field like the GOP has this year. So, it is likely that Huckabee and Santorum will drop out and endorse Cruz after Iowa.”

However, Professor of Politics Thomas West said the semantics of Iowa and

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who will drop out of the race are insignificant because of Trump’s consistent lead in the polls.

“It doesn’t matter who stays and who drops out. It’s probably over. Trump is likely to be our next president,” West said.

“Trump wins Iowa, he will probably win every primary and the nomination. If Trump loses Iowa, same result. The Trump phenomenon is a once-in-a-lifetime event. No candidate since Reagan has motivated the forgotten part of the electorate in the way Trump has, and he’s doing it even more effectively than Reagan did.”

Carrington said Trump has secured a demographic primarily by separating the party while Cruz attempts to consolidate it.

“Trump is trying to forge a new coalition on a new paradigm that pits working class voters against perceived elites from both parties,” Carrington

said. “Cruz speaks in this way too, but still keeps ‘the people’ as conservative voters.

Trump’s coalition isn’t really conservative but draws pretty widely across the spectrum, including many moderate to left-leaning voters but not necessarily more conservative.”

Craig said if he were voting in a primary today, he would cast his ballot for Cruz, but regardless of party affiliation, this caucus will be one of the most interesting in recent years.

“The exciting thing about this election is that both parties have large segments of their base who are very, very angry at the establishment,” Craig said. “Witness Sanders challenge Hillary and Jeb Bush’s poor showing, but the establishment/empire will strike back at some point.”

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A3 28 Jan. 2016

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Health prohibits Turner from return to Hillsdale In brief: By | Katie Scheu Collegian Reporter

Professor of Philosophy Donald Turner’s health will prohibit him from returning to teach at Hillsdale College.

He is currently living near family and friends in Alabama.

Turner said he planned to come back to campus for the 2015-2016 academic year, but as his health declined throughout the summer and into the fall, it became clear to him that teaching again would not be possible.

“It all started near the end of July on a trip to Pittsburgh,” Turner said in an email.

While in Pittsburgh, Turner suddenly found himself gasping for breath after walking just a few steps. He was hospitalized upon his return to Alabama at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital for a pul-

monary embolism — a blood clot in the lungs. Although he originally expected to stay in the hospital for only a few days, he remained there for one month after he developed severe pneumonia and doctors discovered cancer.

After his initial monthlong stay, he returned to the hospital twice more with persistent pneumonia that complicated his cancer treatments.

“During the third hospitalization with pneumonia, the doctors recommended that I not try to go back at all, which was very hard for me because I love teaching and I love my students,” Turner said. “I am on oxygen and probably will be for life, and I am on medication, which would make it extremely difficult to try to teach.”

Turner is not alone in grieving his absence from the

college.

“I don’t know if we’ve come to terms yet with the idea that he’s not coming back,” Professor of Philosophy and Culture Peter Blum said.

Blum is a close friend of Turner’s.

“Don consistently brought humor and an upbeat attitude that I’m sure we’ll miss,” Blum said. “Don’s just a warm person who everybody loves having around. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Don. He’s a much loved individual, so we just miss having him around.”

The philosophy department now faces emotional and logistical challenges in his absence.

Blum said Turner’s absence has led the philosophy department to reconsider its hiring process for the fall 2016 semester. Due to changes in the core requirements,

the department planned to add a new professor but will now adjust its hiring processes in light of Turner’s situation.

Loved and cherished, no professor will ever replace Turner, his students said.

“His classes were never merely lectures but were focused on student involvement, getting them to focus on the issues and offer their own opinions,” senior Timothy Troutner said.

Troutner said he took Turner’s Philosophy of Science Fiction class. He cited the free-range discussion as an “important experience.”

Blum attested to Turner’s strength as an educator.

“He’s been instrumental.

Everybody knows that he’s great in the classroom,” Blum said. “There have always been at least some of our students that have awakened through his intro class and become

interested in philosophy. It’s difficult anytime when you have somebody like that, who’s a significant figure in developing your interests and abilities… It’s a loss.”

Blum visited Turner in Alabama over New Year’s weekend, bringing a box of cards and gifts from Hillsdale professors and students. He described Turner as speechless upon receiving the good wishes.

“I hope that people around here do not underestimate the importance and the impact of even just a little bit of contact — something on Facebook, an email — and how meaningful that is in terms of support for him,” Blum said.

Turner actively checks his Hillsdale email.

“I miss my colleagues, and I miss my students,” he said.

Swanson ‘14 running for Nebraska Legislature By |Emma Vinton Assistant Editor “I always knew I wanted to serve my state and my country; I just didn’t exactly know when and how,” alumnus Ian Swanson ’14 told the Collegian.

Swanson is running to represent Nebraska’s 31st District of Southwest Omaha. Because Nebraska is unicameral, there is no House and no Senate, only a Legislature of 49 nonpartisan senators. If elected in November, Swanson will become a senator in the Unicameral.

After graduating with a major in political economy, Swanson worked as executive director of the Douglas County Republican Party, the most populous county in Nebraska. After seeing the problems in his home state throughout the 2014 cycle, Swanson decided to run for the position in May 2015 and announced his candidacy in July.

“I have two choices,” he said. “I can either complain, or I can do something about it.”

He faces incumbent democrat Rick Kolowski, but Swanson remains optimistic.

“It’s a very challenging thing to run against an incumbent in any office but especially in Nebraska,” Swanson said. “Incumbents usually win. It can be a challenge if you want to make it a challenge. But I love doing it because I know people are crying out for something different, and I want to provide an alternative to the status quo in politics.”

Swanson said he applies his Hillsdale degree daily in his campaign, which focuses on three main points: tax re-

form, education reform, and general government accountability. He said he is grateful that his Hillsdale education taught him to love learning and gave him the desire to serve.

“It’s been invaluable to me, especially in the relationships I’ve built with my professors because I’ve relied a lot on their wisdom and counsel

“I can either complain, or I can do something about it.” even after I’ve graduated,” he said.

Since his campaign kickoff, Swanson said he has been busy door-knocking, phone calling, and connecting with constituents. Two supporters from his alma mater have endorsed him: President Larry Arnn and Hillsdale College Board of Trustees member and former Nebraska Gov. Kay Orr. Both Arnn and Orr encouraged Swanson to run for the position and attended a reception in Omaha last October to support him as a candidate. Swanson said he is thankful for their generosity.

“I am so grateful to Dr. Arnn and Gov. Kay Orr for their support,” he said. “They didn’t have to get involved, but they did out of the kindness of their hearts, saying they believed in me.”

Arnn said via email that Swanson possesses intelligence, integrity, and commitment to duty.

“He loves his country, freedom, and the good it represents in principle,” Arnn

said. “He will be an excellent servant of his district.”

Swanson said two professors at Hillsdale — Professors of History Tom Conner and Burt Folsom — were particularly influential to him because of their excellence as teachers and storytellers.

Folsom, a fellow Nebraskan who attended the October event in Omaha, said Swanson took three of his history classes while at Hillsdale.

“I heard his first speech of the campaign,” Folsom said.

“When he was a senior, he was talking about the seat, and I think it really became Ian Swanson ‘14 is challenging democratic incumbant Rick Kolowski in the race to a possibility. represent the 31st District of Southwest Omaha, Nebraska, in the state legislature.

He told me that Swanson majored in political economy at Hillsdale. Ian Swanson | Courtesy he felt this was where he would Swanson first when Swanson service and not for ambition’s be able to make a difference.” attended the Hillsdale high sake.”

Swanson was also a school summer Churchill The Nebraska primary research assistant for two World War II trip before is set for May 10 with the books that Folsom was starting college at Hillsdale. general election on Nov. 18. writing, one on failed gov“Ian stands out in a Swanson said he is confident ernment subsidies, the other crowd,” Conner said. “From in the success of the camon prison reform. Folsom the first he was mature for paign. said Swanson has a good his age, very serious, yet very “I wouldn’t be doing this work ethic and was a dedipersonable.” unless I plan to win,” he said. cated student of politics and Conner taught Swanson “I’m doing this because I history.

American Heritage as well know I can make a differ“He had a good mind for as three upper-level history ence; I know I have the caparetentiveness,” Folsom said. classes. He said Swanson bility. I would not be in the “He loved the presidency. has an active mind and is position I am in today if it Whenever that would come wholesome. weren’t for Hillsdale College, up in class, he would always “It was clear from the onthe things I learned, and the like that because he likes po- set that he was interested in people I met.” litical history in particular.” politics,” Conner said. “His Conner said he met sincerity is aimed at public

‘Jonas’ prevents college trip to March for Life By | Nicole Ault Collegian Reporter “MFL CANCELLATION!!” read the subject line of the email that landed in dozens of inboxes at 3:50 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. The email arrived just four hours before 84 students and faculty planned to depart campus for a much-anticipated trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the annual March for Life.

Two professors and 82 students, including a few from Siena Heights University, intended to travel by bus through the night and arrive in Washington early Friday morning — when weather forecasters were predicting the blizzard, which would later be called winter storm Jonas, would hit the D.C. area. Still,

5

things to know this week

—Compiled by Philip Henry

it wasn’t clear how severe the storm would be as of Wednesday.

“Things were starting to look dangerous [on Wednesday], but [we] still wanted to go,” Students for Life President senior Nichole Chaney said.

On Wednesday, Chaney held an informational meeting for the trip where there was no mention of potential cancellation.

Chaney said Dean of Women Diane Philipp asked her and March for Life Trip Coordinator junior Danielle Ciarelli to come to the Dean’s office with the bus contract, on Thursday Philipp advised that they cancel the excursion.

“Washington, D.C. declared a state of emergency due to the terrible snow storm, which is the main reason we decided

to cancel,” Philipp said.

On Thursday evening, the National Weather Service predicted two feet of snow in the Washington, D.C. area for Friday with over 20 inches of snowfall in the city later that weekend.

“I think it was the best decision [to cancel the trip],” Chaney said.

Chaney said she was disappointed but noted other groups had become stranded for hours on their way back from the March or had buses called back by their bus companies.

Students for Life faculty adviser and Associate Professor of German Fred Yaniga, who has participated in the trip five times since coming to Hillsdale, agreed that the cancellation was a wise choice.

“That doesn’t make it any less painful,” he said.

According to Yaniga, Hillsdale students have taken the trip for 10 years and never cancelled before, though they had faced bad weather on previous trips “At Hillsdale we take involvement in politics very seriously. We write about it in the Collegian, we talk about it in the cafeteria — but talk isn’t enough. Sometimes we need to put thoughts to action, and the March for Life is a very demonstrative way,” Yaniga said. “When you get to D.C., you see literally hundreds of thousands of other people — young people — excited, energetic, marching for that cause, and it gives you confidence.

It gives you a sense of togetherness, pride, that you can’t

get just by reading newspaper articles or blog posts about the cause.”

Students who missed the march this year due to the cancellation will receive a partial refund of the $70 they paid for the trip.

“The bus company contract did not permit a ‘same-day’ cancellation,” Philipp said. “[College General Counsel Robert] Norton phoned the company and did negotiate a substantial refund.”

Yaniga said he thought the bus company would refund at least two-thirds of the money.

“The hope is that we’ll be able to get that money back and use it for next year’s trip.

And then we’ll be bigger and better than ever,” he said.

Trump to skip debate

Flint water crisis continues

Citing his ongoing battle with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly, 2016 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said he would not be attending the Fox News/ Google debate in Des Moines, Iowa. Instead, Trump will host an event in Iowa to raise money for veterans through the Wounded Warriors program.

Members of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration admitted they have no immediate plans to resolve the water crisis plaguing Flint, Michigan, yesterday.

Since April, residents of the east-central Michigan city have experienced lead-corroded water pipes, which have poisoned at least 200 children.

Oregon sheriff arrests militia leader Ammon Bundy, leader of the militia that organized a takeover of a federal wildlife facility in Burns, Oregon, was arrested Tuesday after a standoff between Oregon police, the FBI, and Bundy’s militia.

He has urged the remaining militia members to stand down, citing the death of a fellow militia member.

Sanders catching up with Clinton Hillary Clinton has reached an all-time low in the most recent national poll facing fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. Clinton is currently polling at 55 percent and Sanders at 36.

Hillsdale College ranked best value in state of Michigan By | Michael Lucchese Collegian Reporter For the seventh consecutive year, Hillsdale College ranked the best college value in the state of Michigan by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list.

This is also the eighth year in a row that Hillsdale has earned a spot as one of the best valued liberal arts schools in the entire country at No. 21 of 100.

“We need to charge more,” College President Larry Arnn said.

“We are proud to be able to sustain an excellent college that pursues education in a way established in time and suited to nature. And we’re proud to do it at cost economical to the students,” Arnn said.

Unlike many other schools in the country, which have raised tuition costs by an average of five percent over the last ten years, Hillsdale has only raised tuition by 3.4 percent.

College Provost David Whalen emphasized how Hillsdale’s financial aid programs enable the school to extend liberal education to students who could not afford it at other universities.

“The college strains mightily to remain affordable because our mission is to educate students in essential things, not pursue prestige via high sticker prices,” Whalen said.

“True, the cost of educating each student far outstrips tuition, but we rely on the help of our graduates and many others to keep tuition and student debt low,” he said.

Many students, such as freshman Andres Torres, could not afford an education at a similar but more expensive institution.

“With two older siblings who attended college, I needed financial aid for my family to afford my education without incurring too much debt,” Torres said. “Without Hillsdale’s financial aid, I couldn’t afford to go to college.”

More than 92 percent of students receive some form of aid, totaling more than $22 million in the 2014-2015 academic year.

On top of that, Hillsdale College provides full scholarships for U.S. military veterans.

“Hillsdale’s approach connects students to funding their education more effectively and develop relationships with those who made their education possible: our donors,” Director of Financial Aid Rich Moeggenberg said.

Hillsdale College does not accept government funding and therefore finds funding primarily through generous donations from friends of the college.

Many donors attend on-campus events, such as the upcoming Center for Constructive Alternatives on “The Art of the Biography.” Students often express their gratitude to their sponsors at these gatherings.

“It is a great blessing to attend a first-class institution at a much lower price than comparable colleges,” freshman Tom Ryskamp said. “I am grateful to those who have donated money so that it is possible for more people to attend this great school.”

Panthers and Broncos to face off in the Super Bowl The Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos will face off in Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7.

The Panthers defeated the New England Patriots and the Broncos the Arizona Cardinals, for whom Jared Veldheer ‘09 plays. This is Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning’s fourth Super Bowl appearance.

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CLARENCE THOMAS SHARES OUR MISSION Newsroom: (517) 607-2897 Advertising: (517) 607-2684

Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor in Chief | Macaela Bennett News Editor | Vivian Hughbanks City News Editor | Kate Patrick Opinions Editor | Sarah Albers Sports Editor | Nathanael Meadowcroft Arts Editor | Ramona Tausz Features Editor | Amanda Tindall Design Editor | Meg Prom Web Editor | Evan Carter Photo Editor | Anders Kiledal Associate Editor | Micah Meadowcroft Senior Reporter | Natalie McKee Circulation Managers | Sarah Chavey | Conor Woodfin Ad Managers | Drew Jenkins | Patrick Nalepa Assistant Editors | Stevan Bennett | Phil DeVoe | Andrew Egger Jessie Fox | Madeleine Jepsen | Breana Noble | Tom Novelly | Joe Pappalardo | Emma Vinton Photographers | Madeline Barry | Elena Creed | Stacey Egger | Madeline Fry | Brendan Miller | Hailey Morgan | Carsten Stann | Ben Strickland | Lillian Quinones Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold

Once the speech has ended, the caps and gowns have been doffed, and parents have been tearfully embraced, Hillsdale students often begin to subject their commencement speaker to harsh criticism.

Few things are nearer to our hearts than debate, and the relative merits of our speaker are fair game.

Past commencement speakers have asked the question that most graduates are asking themselves: Has our work been and will it be worthwhile? Were our years here well-spent?

What, as Michael Ward asked the class of 2015, are we to do with the time that has been given us?

The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff The answer to our graduates’ questions is not just a matter of theory, but action. We have spent our time at Hillsdale striving to become liberally educated; we must spend the time to come acting in accord with this education, dedicated to the truth and beauty of the life we have found here.

United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is returning to Hillsdale to be the class of 2016 commencement speaker. Thomas is not only one of the most incisive legal scholars of the last century, but a man who values Hillsdale’s mission and has sustained a long relationship with its stu-

dents.

Thomas grew up in Pin Point, Georgia, in a wooden house with dirt floors and no electricity. After graduating in the top of his class from Holy Cross College, he attended Yale Law School and went on to serve in government before being appointed by George H.W. Bush to the United States Supreme Court. He’s most well-known for his constitutional originalism, reading the Constitution according to its original intention.

But more than that, he has been a Hillsdale College Distinguished Visiting Fellow and colleague of many of our professors.

He also spoke at Dr. Larry Arnn’s installation as Hillsdale’s president in 2000.

“You people of Hillsdale College — trustees, faculty and staff, and most of all you students — have a mission to fulfill. You are on the front lines of a battle of ideas that will determine whether Hillsdale’s and America’s time-honored principles will continue to guide our lives and keep us free,” Thomas said.

We do, indeed, have a mission to fulfill. Justice Thomas is a man wellequipped to address our graduates both in speech and by example.

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 salbers@hillsdale. edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.

The two-state solution is no solution at all By | Michael Lucchese Special to the Collegian

Political crises, real and imaginary By | Micah Meadowcroft Associate Editor “They encircle me with words of hate.”

Israel lives the lament of the psalmist, 8 million people surrounded by enemies.

Across the northwest border, the rockets of Hezbollah face Jerusalem. In the northeast, al-Qaida clings to its piece of shattered Syria. Jordan, sometime friend but former enemy, weak to external pressure, lies in the east.

Between the river and a green line, in the West Bank, imams preach hate and leaders without popular mandate pander to their congregations. In Gaza, Hamas trades its people for rockets and international attention. ISIS and others share the wastes of the Sinai in the south. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeats his vow for Israel’s destruction in sermons and on Twitter.

Israel experiences real existential danger every day. Israelis live perpetually under the threat of terrorism, invasion, and internal unrest.

Meanwhile, America’s neighbors are Canadians, oceans, and Mexico.

Yet every four years, in speeches, TV spots, and editorials, America teeters on the verge of collapse. Our aspiring leaders tell us all the ways we could die as they woo

Forester McClatchey

Michael is a sophomore majoring in American Studies.

Hillsdale students overlook Syria as Colonel Kobi Marom, Research Associate for the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Herzeliya Interdisciplinary Center, speaks about contested territories in northern Israel.

Anders Kiledal | Hillsdale Collegian

Uses of a Liberal Arts Education

Over the last four months in Israel, Islamic terrorists have committed 100 stabbings, 38 shootings, and 22 vehicular attacks targeting Jewish Israelis. In these attacks, 28 people have died and 230 have been wounded.

In the wake of these attacks, pro-Palestine organizations in the United States have renewed their calls for the Jewish State to engage Palestinians in negotiations to find a twostate solution, wherein two independent governments — one run by Palestinian and the other by Israeli authorities — divide the Holy Land and rule it as separate states.

However well-intentioned these calls for a two-state solution may be, they display a complete misunderstanding of the facts on the ground. The State of Israel is not ready for a two-state solution, and the it should avoid negotiations with Palestinian groups for three reasons.

First, radicalism is on the rise in Palestinian territories.

Hamas, an Islamist group dedicated to the destruction of Israel, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2006. Since then, they have consolidated power through political terrorism.

The United States, Russia, the European Union, and even several Middle Eastern states recognize Hamas as a terrorist group. Expecting the Jewish people to negotiate with terrorists is irrational.

The West Bank is more complicated. Fatah, a secular Arab party led by Mahmoud Abbas, currently heads the Palestinian Authority. In 2006, it lost parliamentary elections to Hamas, but refused to surrender actual authority to the extremist group. Abbas is currently serving the eleventh year of what was originally a four-year term.

Even if Abbas were inclined to negotiate, he does not have popular support for lasting peace with Israel. If Abbas gives an inch to Israel, his people will likely rise up, overthrow Fatah, and replace it with Hamas or a similar extremist group.

Second, the preconditions that Palestinians have put forward for negotiations are unreasonable. Fatah insists that Israel must withdraw Jewish citizens from their settlements in the West Bank for the Palestinian Authority to even consider negotiations. In addition, Abbas has convinced the United States that a return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for future negotiations.

If enacted, these measures would endanger Israel. From settlements in the West Bank, the Israel Defense Force is able to monitor entry and stop potential terrorists from entering Israel. The other precondition, a return to pre-1967 borders, presents even greater problems. Surrendering land would adversely affect Israel’s strategic interests.

For instance, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the strategically important Golan Heights. From this elevated region, the IDF can monitor threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon and the warring extremist groups in Syria with ease. The Golan Heights also serve as a buffer region between these hostile groups and Israel’s more populated areas. A return to the pre-1967 borders would force Israel to surrender the region.

Finally, if the Palestinians achieve independence, what is to prevent the new State of Palestine from becoming a failed state, such as Libya or Syria?

The political authorities in both the West Bank and Gaza have shown an utter lack of interest in modernization or providing even the most basic services for their citizens.

With Hamas’ ideological priorities and the corruption and impotency of Fatah, neither appear to have the inclination or ability to create a stable nation-state.

There will be no safety net should the Palestinian political establishment fail. Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia are disinterested in helping their Palestinian brethren, and show no signs of reversing policy should the politics change. Iran’s Shiite regime is only interested in the Palestine controversy insofar as it enables them to attack Israel and take pot shots at the “Great Satan” — the United States.

If the West Bank disintegrates, any number of extremist groups — al Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, or others — will likely move in to take over. The West Bank would become another launch zone for rockets, missiles, or worse.

Israel cannot afford a two-state solution. Perhaps someday in the future the region will be ready for substantial negotiations, but that day is not today. For now, Israel and her Western allies ought to preserve the status quo.

“When we are angry, when we are scared, when politicans scream crisis, it is no time to throw away our principles for false security.” us.

In every election, a crisis atmosphere must be established, created by and for the politician. Thus, despite the United States’ $63.5 trillion of private wealth and a military budget last year of $601 billion — more dollars than the next seven largest national military budgets combined — Americans are told the country strains at a breaking point, that not only should they be angry at politicians who have failed to keep promises, but also that they should be scared of threats on all sides.

We are not allowed to worry about the problems of everyday life, to concern ourselves with paying rent and marrying, with being a parent and giving in marriage. The Cold War may be over, but candidates tell us our crises worsen and only electing them will save us.

Listen to us, the candidates say. This is a crisis. This is the exception to the rules. America is not that great, but now it is going to be great again if you let us make up what that means as we go along. Let us make this century newer, red-er, white-er, and blue-er.

Vote Trump, and we can build the wall that will keep out all the rapists. Never mind that 82 percent of victims of sexual

assault know their attacker.

Ban Muslims from entering the country so no one gets shot.

No need to worry about the more than 13,000 gun deaths not connected to terrorism, or to worry too much about nonIslamic acts of terror like the Charleston Emmanuel AME Church shooting.

Vote for Rubio because he understands that fighting terrorist organizations is a “clash of civilizations.” What a good reminder that ISIS, alQaida, and the rest resemble our 321 million person country spanning a continent, or that their interpretation of Sunni Islam bears comparison to the western tradition we claim.

Vote Cruz, and we can finally establish whether “sand can glow in the dark” after incessant carpet-bombing. Yes, that would be a war crime.

The German political philosopher — and Nazi — Carl Schmitt wrote, “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.”

Contemporary politics has declined to offer a real alternative definition of sovereignty and American political rhetoric has played right along. Politicians present crises as the exception that only they can decide on.

Government grows and the executive expands the scope of

its powers.

But there is no such exception, not now.

The mere fact of an election, of a working constitutional system, demonstrates this. All this shouting and pointing to this and that specter is a distraction from the incredible fact that the country is preparing to peacefully transition power from one executive to another, one elected by the people.

Israel, encircled with enemies, participates in this little miracle too. Despite real threats, real crises on each horizon, Israelis live a life we would recognize as mostly normal. While they have a parliamentary system, they vote like we do. And though there was another fatal stabbing attack Monday, and though rockets still rain from Gaza, they continue.

No leader can protect us from everything. America was founded on principles that acknowledge and transcend the brokenness of humanity. When we are angry, when we are scared, when politicians scream crisis, is no time to throw those away for false security. Instead, live the life this country’s blessings allow.

Micah is a senior studying history.

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Encountering Israel on its own terms By | Anna Pfaff Special to the Collegian Twisted copper sits on the floor, shining under studio lights. Is it a fold of her dress? A section of arm?

It’s hard to tell when you can’t see the rest of her, but the remaining pieces are scattered across the world.

The exhibit is titled “We the People,” after the main piece by artist Danh Vo. The work is a recreation of the Statue of Liberty separated into nearly 300 parts. Several of these parts are included in the display at the Israel Museum of Jerusalem.

The exhibit explores national identity through the fragmentation of a common symbol of freedom, the displacement and immigration of persons, the creation of a defining constitution, and the meeting of countless personal identities and cultural systems.

My trip to Israel, cosponsored by the Philos Project and Museum of the Bible, was like taking a walk through this display. I

was immersed in the Israeli struggle with identity.

My plan was to learn enough about the country’s complicated faith, history, and political situation so that I could better engage in discussions of the “Israel problem.”

As a lecturer on the trip told us, however, countries are not math problems. To say, “Israel is complicated” might be true, but that implies that there are just more things about Israel that need explaining and, as long as you include all the factors, you can come to the correct solution.

Instead, we should approach Israel like we approach art. In politics, Israel is a problem. In warfare, it is a breeding ground for conflict. In art, however, Israel is a joy to wrestle with.

The task of coming to know art on its own terms is difficult because it requires humility — a humility that is directly related to identity. Not only are we tempted to impose our own beliefs on another’s art, culture, and country, but there is the perhaps greater

temptation to say that this humility demands we give up our biases and beliefs.

It says that to understand another we must diminish ourselves.

This was not the request we received from the people we met in Israel.

We heard of the effect that constant missile alerts have on the children living near Gaza as we stood next to their concrete shelter that doubled as a playground.

We heard a Christian man’s stories of Syrian and Iraqi Christians who are dragged out of their homes and brutally murdered as we ate dinner in his home with a four-foot statue of the Virgin Mary standing by the door.

The Israelis that we met gave us their experiences in a spirit of hope and gratitude.

What they asked was not that we give up our own beliefs and experiences, but that we would hold them alongside ours. The humility that allows one to do this comes from the belief in a Truth that is much greater than the small piece we claim.

Reading news stories about the Middle East, I often hear the same little “art critic” voice in my head that spoke to me in the Israel Museum: “that twist in the metal means this, those dents must represent that, the color obviously reflects these things…”

Going there didn’t give me an infallible knowledge of Israel’s identity, but it helped me appreciate the people trying to bring the pieces together.

Anna is a senior majoring in American Studies.

From the top of Masada, an ancient Jewish fortification in the Judean Desert, students look out over what is left of the Dead Sea. Anders Kiledal | Hillsdale Collegian

The psychology of terrorism produces a vicious cycle By | JoAnna Kroeker Special to the Collegian Following the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, the fear of terrorism has triggered America’s trauma from 9/11. Halfway around the world, Israel experiences a wave of Palestinianexecuted stabbings of Jewish citizens, the “knife intifada.”

The attacks trigger memories of the previous century of violence.

The traumas of our past affect our perception of current threats.

Americans remember two distinct traumas: 9/11 and Afghanistan.

On the right, 9/11 is the symbol for aggressive counterterrorism and justifies the assumption that all Muslims are dangerous.

On the left, Afghanistan is the symbol for a long and unsuccessful war in which aggressive counterterrorism did not work, a justification for minimal intervention.

Meanwhile, Israeli Jews remember the Holocaust in their perception of the “knife intifada,” and the existential threat it poses leads to the emphasis on security and quick, shortterm solutions.

Israel has fought for its right to exist since it declared existence in the ’40s. This continual fight with the surrounding Arab countries and Palestinian people who deny Israel’s right to exist leads Israelis to perceive terrorist attacks of any scale as an imminent threat. And because the international community criticizes Israeli policy, Israelis go at it alone, focusing on enactable short-term

security solutions: gun permit changes, a security fence, racial profiling, and drones.

Daniel Kovler, a reserve Israel Defense Force soldier, said that the mandatory stint in the IDF and the constant threat to existence leads Israelis to elect prime ministers who are ex-commanders or chief of staff in the military. Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, served in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit.

In the last election, the Labor Party, a more leftleaning party, was ahead in polls until Netanyahu posted a 28-second video on Facebook.

“The right-wing government is in danger,” he said. “Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are bussing them out. Get out to vote, bring your friends and family, vote Likud in order to close the gap between us and Labor.”

Netanyahu’s strategy worked. He equated the “left” with what Hebrew University Professor of Political Science Reuven Hazan calls “doves,” people who argue for more communication with Palestinians and greater commitment to peace processes. Netanyahu is a “hawk,” promoting a strong defense front and counting on the Israelis’ collective existential fear to show that the “doves” will not protect them.

In times of heightened security and intifada, the word “Arab” triggers voters to run to their strongest leader. Security becomes Israel’s only politics, dividing people into hawks and doves and neglecting social and

economic issues.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump, a hawk as well, echoed Netanyahu’s “Arabs” when he insisted that we ban the entry of all Muslims. This suggestion invokes our terrorist trauma and dangerously conflates “us” and “ISIS and hostile Arab countries” with “us” and “Muslims.” His comment is a reaction to President Barack Obama, a dove, and his reluctance to call the California attack a terrorist attack, which would be racial profiling and would label the radicalized Muslim couple “them” even though they were average Americans before.

Real violence leads American citizens to lose their faith a dovish government. In response, people call for a hawkish leader who demonstrates greater strength and become hawks themselves by turning to private ownership of guns. They hope that guns will succeed where the White House and its counterterrorism strategy seems to fail.

The psychology of terrorism, in the U.S. or in Israel, relives trauma and divides people into “us” and “the enemy,” “hawks” and “doves.” Terrorism turns people against each other and people turn to the “hawks” for protection.

Israelis perceive terrorism much more imminently because their existence is not secure like that of Americans’. They enact short-term security solutions out of necessity and push economic and social issues to the back burner.

JoAnna studying English.

is a junior French and

Students reflect: How should we relate to the Holy Land?

By | Christina Lambert Student Columnist Historian Herbert Jewish people saw Islamic Butterfield paints a worshippers set up their portrait of historical study own holy places on the that compels its students Temple Mount. And that to embrace the complexity today, you can still see of an idea, person, or these people weeping event by exercising an and swaying with holy “imaginative sympathy.” fervor at the Western This sympathy seeks to Wall, offering up prayers understand rather than for the restoration of define a thing by collecting their Temple, for the particularities rather than restoration of the steps

“Imaginative sympathy demands that I recognize that the stones of the entrance to Jerusalem were not placed here for my own personal pilgrimage.” judgments.

As I continue to reflect upon the moments and memories that formed my trip to Israel, I realize more than ever what it means for a thing to demand the kind of perspective Butterfield describes.

The stones of varying heights and lengths purposefully compel pilgrims to slow their strides and tread in quiet reflection as they climb the steps of the entrance to Jerusalem. As a Christian, I walked these steps with the overwhelming knowledge that Jesus Christ walked them as he entered the city to be the final sacrifice.

The imaginative sympathy that Butterfield describes, however, demands that I recognize that these stones were not placed here for my own personal pilgrimage.

These steps were first worn down by the thousands of Jewish worshippers journeying three times a year to the Temple to make sacrifices, to once again become one with God. An imaginative sympathy demands that I remember that these same people saw their temple destroyed for a second time. It reminds me that years later, the

that I tread with so narrow a perspective.

These stone steps demand something of me. They demand that I acknowledge the thousands of years of life and death, worship and tragedy, that have taken place upon that mount.

They demand of me sympathy with the Jewish people and their tradition — and an understanding that only in sympathy with this tradition may I fully understand my own.

Israel is a country made up of moments, such as mine in Jerusalem, that demand this kind of sympathy, this kind of complexity. Yet my brief trip to this holy land also reminded me that the story of each nation is made up of individual persons who also deserve this perspective of sympathy. Far more than even the stones leading to Jerusalem, persons, infinitely complex, demand that I take the time to imagine the entirety of their world — lest they become to me simply a marker along my own personal story rather than a complex yet beautiful narrative of their own.

By | Nathan Trainor Special to the Collegian For some, Israel is the idyllic Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. For others, Israel is the war-torn strip of land possessed by a people dwelling in continuous calamity. But these are misconceptions, ones which I myself previously had. Due to them one cannot really know the Holy Land until one goes there.

Only in Israel does one learn the human angle of the Israeli people. We can read articles about Israeli politicians weighing the merits of mandatory military service, but in Israel one can talk with soldiers in the IDF and everyday civilians. By doing so, one begins to understand the constant struggle between their personal lives and their nation’s security.

We can read about Jesus as the omnipotent, distant hero who preached to multitudes and performed marvelous miracles, but it is truly humbling to walk past the houses and terraces of Nazareth and realize that Jesus had an everyday life too, walking this town helping neighbors or being invited to a friend’s house for a wedding.

Traveling to Israel is a demystifying experience. It is comforting to know that Jesus and the other Biblical figures led everyday lives, and the modern Israelis still do, and triumph against the odds each day.

Go and walk in God’s footsteps.

Nathan is sophomore studying history and German.

By | Michael Tripepi Special to the Collegian It is said that “all roads lead to Rome.” I would add that “all roads lead through Judea.”

Historically, the Land of Israel was the crossroads of the known world. Its value was seen as more strategic than intrinsic. The land and sea routes between three continents must pass through this region.

From a Christian perspective, we are called to make the journey along the “straight and narrow path” to our home in God. Salvation starts with a journey. It is on the road to Damascus that Saul encounters Christ and similarly two disciples walk with Him on the road to Emmaus. The hill of Golgotha was along the road into Jerusalem and so too mankind reencounters its Creator along the highway of its exile.

The Holy Land is where the Bride and Bridegroom first met. Any two lovers recount

Christina is a senior studying history.

The Temple Mount viewed from Dominus Flevit, a Roman Catholic church on the Mount of Olives.

Anders Kiledal | Hillsdale Collegian

such a moment.

Our own heritage passes through the Holy Land, regardless of what today’s culture wishes to say.

At the fullness of time, when Roman polity and Greek culture passed through the province of Judea, Christ was there. Strolling through the land upon which civilizations crossed, battled, and conquered, we are reminded of the Man, the God, who invited us on a journey to love Him. The dirt that many trampled upon became the soil from which the Church sprouted.

All of this is built and buried in the Holy Land. It is a voice amidst the wilderness calling for us to reflect on the sacred and “make straight a highway for God.” Michael is a junior studying physics and mathematics.

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

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HHS alum stars in Doritos commercial Son of previous Hillsdale College professor cast in potential Super Bowl ad

By | Jessie Fox Assistant Editor Locals might see a familiar face during the Super Bowl this year — not during the game, but during the commercials.

Hillsdale High School alumnus Chris Pentzell ’87 recently starred in a commercial called “Doritos Dogs,” a finalist in the Doritos annual “Crash the Super Bowl” contest.

“Dorito Dogs” stars Pentzell as a grocery store manager shooing a trio of mischievous dogs trying to break in for a bag of Doritos. The commercial was produced for $1,000 and shot in Redlands, California.

Jacob Chase, director and co-writer, and Travis Braun, co-producer and co-writer, will watch the Super Bowl, and the commercials, from a private suite along with the other finalists. They will all find out the winning commercial when it’s aired on national television.

The winning director will ring in $1 million, have the

opportunity to work with Zack Snyder — the director of “300,” “Man of Steel,” and the upcoming “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” film — and DC Comics, and Warner Bros. on an upcoming project, and have his or her commercial aired nationally during the big game.

This is the final year that Doritos will hold the contest,

Dogs was the only one I submitted to.”

Pentzell’s father, Dr. Raymond Pentzell, was the former head of the theatre and speech department at Hillsdale College. Chris, however, attended the University of Michigan and now lives in Pasadena, California with his wife and three-year-old daughter.

Chase said Pentzell

The Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities received a call about raw sewage flowing out of a manhole located at the intersection of Oak Street and Willow Street at 9 a.m. Monday. About 30,000 gallons of sewage escaped before crews could stop the flow.

BPU has not yet identified what caused the blockage in the system.

The overflow sewage traveled through a nearby

“They were very encouraging in terms of improv,” Pentzell said. “They had the idea set, but they didn’t know exactly how it was going to happen so I could come up with a few ways of shooing the dogs out. For example, I asked “Do you guys have a broom?” I got to try a couple different ways and that was fun.”

Neither Chase nor Braun

“There’s not much dialogue, because it’s from the dog’s perspective, but in auditions I wrote up some rough dialogue and he just cracked us up. He was hilarious, he ad-libbed, and he had perfect look.” which is partly why Pentzell decided to audition.

“Over the years I do see these auditions for the Doritos commercials. A long time ago I might have submitted to some,” Pentzell said. “This year, with it being the last year, I thought, ‘Why not?’ Dorito

“knocked it out of the park” at his audition.

“We knew that he was our guy when he walked in,” Chase said. “There’s not much dialogue, because it’s from the dog’s perspective, but in auditions I wrote up some rough dialogue and he just cracked

30,000 gallons of raw sewage overflow into St. Joseph River By | Timothy Pearce Collegian Freelancer

us up. He was hilarious, he ad-libbed, and he had perfect look.”

The commercial featured three rescue dogs. During the shoot, Pentzell had to interact with the dogs, a feat which he called both enjoyable and tricky.

“It was interesting,” he said.

“There were some challenges.

Some of the easier shots were

storm drainage area leading into the St. Joseph River.

Water from the river was tested for concentration of fecal coliform, a bacteria that can cause severe illness.

Environmental Health Director of the Hillsdale Community Health Agency Rob Stauffer said the results came back “very low” and posed no health risks for the community.

BPU crews cleared out the blockage and used pumps to return what sewage they could back into the sewer system. Clean up

was finished in the evening the same day the leak was reported.

“If it was in a different part of the city, you might have just a few hundred gallons get out on the ground before someone realizes what is going on,” said Superintendent of Water Distribution and Sewer Collection Bill Briggs. “As soon as the ground freezes up in the next few weeks we are going in and replacing that manhole and getting that one with holes in it out of there.”

actually more challenging.

When I was shooing the dogs, they wouldn’t all run at the same speed. It was hard to get them running in a pack.”

Pentzell said that both Chase and Braun gave him some creative liberty which made the shoot fun for him.

had previously entered into contest, but Chase said he has always loved the Doritos commercials. A long-time dog-lover, Chase was inspired by his own little, white terrier, Miz, who he cast in the commercial.

“Definitely her being a part of my life was inspirational,

and I wanted to put her in the commercial,” Chase said. “In terms of the actual idea, I was thinking about when you’re outside of grocery store you see dogs waiting for their owners, I started wondering what are they doing when we aren’t around. Maybe they’re breaking into a store to get some Doritos.”

Chase said that winning this commercial could be his “big break.”

“Having your commercial playing during the Super Bowl is the pinnacle of any director’s career,” Chase said. “Getting that so early on would be great.”

Pentzell said he’s not sure where he will watch the Super Bowl, but he’s eager to know the results.

“It’s a national commercial, and it could air for two years if it wins. That’s a concrete victory,” Pentzell said. “It’s very exciting. The most immediate thing is the prize money, and I get some of that, too.”

Hillsdale donates clean water to Flint By | Jordyn Pair Collegian Freelancer Employees from the Hillsdale Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Hillsdale Assembly of God church and on Monday to start collecting water donations for Flint, Michigan. Donations will be taken to Flint to ease the ongoing water crisis.

Betsy Clark, an employee of the Hillsdale Department of Health and Human Services, is heading up the project.

“My goal is to have raised 500 cases of water,” she said, “but it would be nice if we got more.”

People can drop off waterbottles to the Assembly of God church until February 5. Both gallons of water and water bottles are accepted.

Clark said the plan is to take the water to Flint during the second week of February.

“I want to collect as much as we can collect,” she said, “so if we have to extend it, we will. We just want to get the maximum amount of water.”

Around 25 gallons of water have already been donated.

“They need water,” said Lori Darga, the church secretary. “It’s important to help other people. If you have the means and you can do it, it’s important to do it.”

The church is open for collection Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8:30.

Market House gets makeover Market House wants to ‘give back’ to Hillsdale community with Anytime Fitness, Biggby Coffee, drugstore By | Philip Henry Collegian Freelancer

As part of its renovation plans, Market House will feature Biggby Coffee and Anytime Fitness inside the supermarket store at 210 W. Carleton Rd. Phil DeVoe | Collegian

The Hillsdale Market House will soon become the Hometown Hotspot as long-awaited renovations near completion.

“We’re really excited for the changes. Our goal is to make Market House the newest Hillsdale hotspot, which inspired the new name for the complex,” Boyd said.

The name, Hometown Hotspot, can be seen emblazoned on a brand-new sign in front of the store, which Boyd says he will use to advertise area events, including college sports, concerts, and art shows. It is all part of Boyd’s pursuit of a more community-centered store.

“We’ve been in this community for 75 years, and we appreciate the service we receive from the college and the Hillsdale area,” Boyd said. “This is our way of giving back.”

Although construction delays have elongated the project’s timeframe, owner Brett Boyd is confident renovations will be fully completed by July 3.

“A lot of progress has been made even though we are keeping the store open and running during construction,” Boyd said. “Our next step is completing the Anytime Fitness, Biggby Coffee, and bakery, which should be finished within the next few weeks.”

Boyd explained construction on the Anytime Fitness center includes cleared-out space and minor plumbing; once construction is completed, the next step will be accommodating Nash Drugs and

“We’ve been in this community for 75 years, and we appreciate the service we receive from the college and the Hillsdale area.

This is our way of giving back.”

Biggby Coffee.

The expanded bakery and deli will have to wait until the Department of Agriculture grants approval within the next few weeks, and the salad and soup bar will be finished by the end of February.

Market House human resources manager Jan Hutchins says she has noticed an excitement among customers shopping around the renovations.

“We’re receiving positive,

good comments from the customers, and they’ve voiced much interest in the Biggby and Anytime additions,” Hutchins said. “It’s a big change for all of us, and the customers have been very receptive.”

Hutchins added that Market House’s impact on the community extends further than many realize. Their partnership with Spartan Brand foods allows them to keep food affordable, and their loyal customer base, which they’ve largely kept since opening in 1941, appreciates what they offer to the community.

The employees of Market House have been handling the renovations well, according to Hutchins, who says they have been upbeat, positive, and helpful in light of the construction throughout the store.

“Their help has allowed us to continue to serve customers in a timely manner,” Hutchins said. “We’re all looking forward to the new customer faces.”

Boyd wished to extend his gratitude to the members of the community who have helped with the construction, planning, and overall renovation process, and encourages members of the college and city visit the store during and after renovation to see the changes and take advantage of the new facilities.

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Hillsdale High BPA wins five regional medals Hillsdale High School’s Business Professionals of America qualifies 25 students for state, wins state theme By | Stevan Bennett, Jr. Assistant Editor It was 5 a.m. Jan. 8 when members of the Hillsdale High School chapter of Business Professionals of America started towards Dearborn, Michigan. Fifteen hours later they returned to Hillsdale with five regional gold medals and 25 state qualifiers, and earlier this month it was announced that junior Vice President Alexis Higgins won the Michigan BPA state theme competition.

The BPA competition at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan attracted more than 800 students from 28 BPA Michigan chapters. The 50 different events ranged from graphic design to parliamentary procedure.

Four of the five gold medals collected by Hillsdale were in individual events.

Seniors Lindsey Foust, Samuel McArthur, Martin Petersen, and Victor Ybarra won gold in human resource management, graphic design promotion, prepared speech, and entrepreneurship respectively.

“We have added some

new members this year, so we had to try out some new things. Before we were only doing events that we had experience with, but we joined some new events this year and it went well,” said Mindy Eggleston, the group’s faculty adviser.

Hillsdale also won a team gold medal in parliamentary

present to two judges. They are expected to discuss business ideas, make formal motions, and conduct votes.

“This event really forces you to work as a team and be efficient,” Holbrook said.

“We have even been able to take some of the things we’ve learned and use it to help us run our student council

“It’s great to see such success with the group. When I started doing this two years ago we had about 30 members, and now we have almost 60. Our numbers just keep growing.” procedure with a team consisting of sophomore Braxten Boyd, senior Brock Eves, senior Charles Holbrook, junior Janel Kast, junior Olivia Nolan, senior Martin Petersen, senior Olivia Rumler, and junior Emma Shreffler.

In parliamentary procedure, a group of eight students is given an agenda and it must prepare a business meeting in 15 minutes then

meetings more effectively.”

Petersen, who serves as chapter president, noted that BPA offers a unique type of competition as well as an insightful experience in the world of business.

“It’s always fun to compete, be it on the court or in front of the judges,” Petersen said. “In addition BPA puts you in business-like situations that you could actually

find yourself in someday.”

Both Petersen and Holbrook plan to attend Hillsdale College in the fall.

Hillsdale also placed second in five events: sophomore Breanna Bildner in fundamental word processing, junior Rebecca Butters in both graphic design promotion and economic research promotion, senior Brock Eves in entrepreneurship, and sophomore Chloe Page in basic office systems.

“It’s great to see such success with the group,” Petersen said. “When I started doing this two years ago we had about 30 members, and now we have almost 60. Our numbers just keep growing.”

This success comes on the heels of another very exciting moment for Hillsdale BPA: Higgin’s award-winning BPA state theme competition.

The state theme competition, held annually, allows students to submit a theme design to be featured on the cover of the state conference programs.

“This is a big deal,” Eggleston said in a press release. “About 30 students enter each year and Alexis is

Kinsey Gibler ‘16, Jenna Wood ‘16, Ryan Wood ‘19, Peter VanderHoff ‘16, Louis Holbrook ‘18 are award-winning members of the Hillsdale High School Business Professionals of America.

Mindy Eggleston | Courtesy

the first student from Hillsdale to win the contest.”

Higgins’ design features the outline of Michigan with a variety of business catchphrases printed throughout. The BPA color scheme of navy, tan and red is also

prominent and represents leadership, professionalism, opportunity, and teamwork.

The club hopes to continue its success at the state conference held March 1720 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids.

Stephen French accepts city clerk appointment For the first time in city’s history, Hillsdale appoints city clerk

By |Lillian Quinones Collegian Reporter Hillsdale’s new city clerk Stephen French is already getting crazy questions, like how to register a Hillsdale College student to vote when her Texas driver’s license has a Michigan state address? French, with 16 years of clerking experience, said the first step is to call the state of Michigan.

French was unanimously approved as clerk by the Hillsdale City Council in Jan. 19 and has been actively in office for less than two weeks. Appointed by city Mayor Scott Sessions, French is the first appointed city clerk in Hillsdale’s history. The city’s charter was changed to make the clerk an appointed position rather than elected after a high turnover rate demonstrated that oversight was needed to ensure a

qualified individual in the position.

A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, French graduated from Kalamazoo College with bachelor of arts degrees in political science and religion and received a master’s in public administration from Day-

council meetings and organizing all the city’s elections, whether local or presidential.

“We’re pretty excited him about having him on the team,” Hillsdale City Manager David Mackie said.

Dubbed a “master minutes book-clerk” by Mackie,

body else is running,’” French said.

After being elected clerk for four years in Kalamazoo, French clerked for six years in Comstock Township followed by six years in Dayton, Ohio.

Moving back to Kalamazoo to be close to his daughter, a

expects of its clerk,” French said.

An election-junkie, French came to Hillsdale at the right time with the presidential primary elections on the horizon.

At his last clerking position in Dayton, Ohio, elections were organized at the county level

“I’ve only been here for a little over a week, and I’ve got two ears and one mouth. I have a lot to do in terms of learning about what makes Hillsdale tick and what the community expects of its clerk.” ton University, in addition to clerking certification.

“I want to see the city clerk department run well and I think he will do an excellent job there,” Sessions said.

The primary responsibilities of a clerk involves meticulous record-keeping at city

French’s career in clerking started at the suggestion of his dad over lunch, when French was considering running for town supervisor in Kalamazoo.

“My dad said, ‘You really should run for clerk because the pay is the same and no-

freshman in college, French applied for the open clerk position in Hillsdale.

“I’ve only been here for a little over a week and I’ve got two ears and one mouth. I have a lot to do in terms of learning about what makes Hillsdale tick and what the community

rather than by the city clerk.

“I love elections because it’s a time when everybody gets to have their voice heard. You can complain about your president or love your council member but when it comes down to the votes, the most educated person, the professor at Hillsdale

College, his vote is the same as everyone else’s,” French remarked.

While preparing for the upcoming elections and keeping the city council’s books in order, French is assisting Mackie on multiple projects, which include improving the council chamber’s sound and video system and working with department heads to raise awareness among Hillsdale inhabitants of positive changes and news occurring within the community.

Always looking for new ways to develop efficiency, French loves to quote Robert Kennedy, “It’s important to ask why but also ‘why not?’ Like why can’t we improve what we’re doing? There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?”

Sushi rolls into Broad Street Broad Street Downtown Market and Tavern brings new chef, new menu By | Amanda Tindall

Features Editor

Broad Street Downtown Market and Tavern is refining its menu, and the most notable change is the addition of sushi, thanks to Broad Street’s new sushi chef, Ezra Bertakis.

“I’ve written a menu that will appeal to all sushi lovers from the basic to the fancy and extravagant, we want to be able to appeal to everyone, and we’re really keeping a high standard that way we only use the best first,” Bertakis said.

Executive Chef Brian Wilson is currently working on an upscale comfort food menu, which includes stuffed meatloaf, wedge salad, and a tuna sandwich.

“I think we thought this place was better than it was, better than it used to be,” Executive Chef Brian Wilson said. “We had a lot of craft beers, a lot of really nice wines, but the menu didn’t really match our atmosphere.

So we wanted to match the food to the atmosphere and

to the area.”

Broad Street tries to source as much food locally as it can, with an emphasis on always using fresh fruits and vegetables.

“We tried to shorten our menu to things that we could do right and homemade,” Wilson said. “Everything here is homemade. I do all

there’s no place out here for sushi.”

Ezra Bertakis grew up in the Hillsdale area and trained under Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto after working in hotel restaurants in South Florida. After working with Morimoto’s executive chef from Philadelphia, Bertakis was invited to learn sushi

studios. And that really took it to the next level with my own types of restaurants throughout Detroit and Birmingham.”

Bertakis said he came back to the Hillsdale area to put this training to work at Broad Street Tavern.

“We’re really trying to appeal to the local public,”

Andrew Kern said. “It always takes me back to some of the best times of my life. I seriously cannot wait for this to get going, so I can go there every time I get paid and blow all of my spending money.”

Between sushi and the comfort foods, there’s something to appeal to all

“We had a lot of craft beers, a lot of really nice wines, but the menu didn’t really match our atmosphere. So we wanted to match the food to the atmosphere and to the area.” my vegetables fresh. I do most of them oven roasted.

Today, I have a tri-colored organic carrot that is ovenroasted. It has 35 percent more sugars in it than a normal carrot, so when you roast it you can really taste it. It’s more flavorful.

We’ll have nicer specials that people can get into. I know that this is meat and potatoes area, so we do meat and potatoes, but we also wanted to do sushi because

from Morimoto himself.

Morimoto, an Iron Chef star, is acclaimed for his integration of Western and Japanese ingredients.

“Morimoto came into town all the time and it was a very rigorous program and I worked from the bottom all the way up with them,” Bertakis said. “I got to go to the South Beach food and wine festivals and to New York to the restaurant there here the Food Network

Bertakis. “We try to locally source from Great Lakes Seafood and other places like that. We have an opportunity in this town to make something really awesome.”

For many students, the presence of sushi in Hillsdale is an exciting addition to the Hillsdale food-scene.

“In my year off I spent some time in Australia and I’ll never forget the sushi I had there,” sophomore

customers, according to the two chefs.

“I think we really hit it out of the park on that one,” Wilson said. “If you go to Jackson, you’re going to get sushi, and that’s it. Here you can come in, you can bring in a large party and you have something for everyone without dulling down the quality of our sushi and we’re not dulling down the quality of our comfort foods.

You’re going to get quality no

matter what you order here.”

The quality of food and the length of preparation means Broad Street is hiring more wait staff and kitchen staff to keep up a quick pace for customers.

“My food in the back takes longer to prepare, but we’re going to get it out in a shorter time. That’s just a lot of training, a lot of preprep, making sure things are set up and ready to go, that was drilled into my head in college, that’s just always have your set up ready. So if your setup is ready, you can get the food out quickly.”

Both Wilson and Bertakis emphasized the importance of quality in all of their food choices.

“We aim for the best, so the highest standards across the board,” Bertakis said.

“We do a lot of pairings with all of our micro-brewed beers that we have on stock and all of our wines across the board. The availability as far as that goes is just incredible.”

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Follow @HDaleSports for live updates and news

Women’s Basketball

Men’s Basketball THURSDAY, JAN. 21 Hillsdale

Michigan Tech

69 74 StatS from Jan. 21 Stedman Lowry | Ryan Badowski | Kyle Cooper | Jason Pretzer |

upcoming

SATURDAY, JAN. 23

Thursday, Jan. 28 VS. ferriS St. 8:00 pm saTurday, Jan. 30 at grand VaLLey St. 3:00 pm Monday, Feb. 1 VS. Saginaw VaLLey 8:00 pm

20 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST 18 PTS, 3 STL, 1 REB 14 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST 11 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL

GLIAC Standings North Division Conf. Overall 1. Saginaw Valley 10-2 14-4 2. Ferris St. 9-3 15-3 3. Grand Valley St. 8-4 14-4 Lake Superior St. 8-4 13-5 5. Hillsdale 7-5 11-5 6. Northwood 6-6 10-8 7. Michigan Tech 5-7 6-10 8. Northern Mich.

3-9 5-11

Hillsdale

Northern Michigan

64 70

StatS from Jan. 23 Kyle Cooper | Stedman Lowry | Jason Pretzer | Ryan Badowski |

South Division 1. Findlay 2. Ashland 3. Walsh 4. Tiffin 5. Lake Erie Ohio Dominican 7. Wayne St. 8. Malone

25 PTS, 9 REB, 2 AST 15 PTS, 3 AST, 2 STL 11 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST 2 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL

Conf.

9-3 8-4 7-5 5-7 4-8 4-8 3-9 0-12

Overall 12-5 14-4 9-7 9-10 7-11 7-11 3-12 3-14

upcoming

THURSDAY, JAN. 21 Hillsdale

Thursday, Jan. 28 VS. ferriS St. 6:00 pm saTurday, Jan. 30 at grand VaLLey St. 1:00 pm Monday, Feb. 1 VS. Saginaw VaLLey 6:00 pm

Michigan Tech

53 83 StatS from Jan. 21 Becca Scherting Morgan Blair Kelsey Cromer Madison Berry

| | | |

South Division 1. Ashland 2. Ohio Dominican 3. Walsh 4. Findlay 5. Wayne St. Lake Erie Tiffin 8. Malone

Northern Michigan

Hillsdale

53 64

StatS from Jan. 23 Morgan Blair | Makenna Ott | Becca Scherting | Kelsey Cromer |

9 PTS, 1 AST, 1 STL 9 PTS, 1 STL 8 PTS, 2 REB, 1 BLK 7 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST

GLIAC Standings North Division Conf. Overall 1. Grand Valley St. 9-3 14-4 Saginaw Valley 9-3 12-5 Michigan Tech 9-3 11-5 4. Northwood 6-6 10-8 Northern Mich.

6-6 7-11 6. Hillsdale 5-7 8-8 7. Lake Superior St. 3-9 4-14 Ferris St. 3-9 3-15

SATURDAY, JAN. 23

9 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL 7 PTS, 4 REB, 1 BLK 6 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL 5 PTS, 5 REB, 1 STL

Conf.

12-0 9-3 8-4 6-6 3-9 3-9 3-9 2-10

Overall 18-0 14-4 11-6 11-7 8-10 6-12 5-12 5-12

Swimming

Track and Field Upcoming

Results

feb. 5-6 Hillsdale Wide Track Classic 4:00 PM

Saturday, Jan. 16 Hillsdale-156 Ashland-106

Saturday, Jan. 23 Hillsdale-169 Ohio Northern-125

Hillsdale-135 Saginaw Valley-159

Hillsdale-144 Case Western-144

01

Men’s Tennis

Upcoming Saturday, feb. 20 GLIAC Championships At Oakland Universty Rochester, MI

Women’s Tennis

Upcoming

Upcoming

Saturday, feb. 6 at LewiS Plainfield, IL 4:00 PM

Sunday, feb. 28 at weStern mich.

4:00 PM

Women’s basketball can’t Hillsdale alum signs find traction in the U.P. pro contract in Spain By | Hannah Niemeier Collegian Reporter

Balance has been both a struggle and a strength for the Hillsdale College women’s basketball team which boasts a deep bench filled with young players. After losses to Northern Michigan University and Michigan Tech last week, the Chargers will work to balance playing time and shooting strategy to improve on their 8-8 overall record.

Throughout January, the Chargers have posted a string of convincing wins and close losses, battling through tough competition with their fastpaced, aggressive game strategy. Frequent substitutions have allowed the Chargers to beat their opponents down the floor, racking up impressive numbers on offense.

But the Chargers struggled with shooting this week, scoring on just 34 percent of their field goal attempts in an 8353 loss to Michigan Tech last Thursday. When the Chargers challenged another Michigan team in the Upper Peninsula on Saturday, they put up similar statistics, falling short 6453 against Northern Michigan University.

“We’ve shown quite a bit of improvement since we’ve come back at times, and in

the last week we’ve struggled quite a bit. Part of that is that we’ve improved, but our opponents are tough,” head coach Todd Mitmesser said. “Michigan Tech is a very good team. They’re a perennial powerhouse in the league, and they’re good again this year.”

Junior Morgan Blair, who led her team in scoring with nine points against Northern Michigan, said the team’s fastpaced game strategy is both a strength and a weakness when facing other athletic, quick-scoring teams.

“Playing fast is definitely effective, and I think we’re getting a lot better at it,” Blair said. “However, we’ve switched to not playing as many people now. We’re not necessarily subbing five in, five out every two minutes.”

Mitmesser said many teams pare down their lineups throughout the season as individual players distinguish themselves. Yet the Chargers still consistently play 10 players for more than 15 minutes, making use of a deep bench and the growing experience of a young, skilled team.

Blair said one of the Chargers’ strengths is their widespread scoring ability.

“We are very fast and athletic, and we have a lot of players who are good one-on-one,”

Senior forward Sarah Theut brings the ball up the court in Hillsdale’s 75-67 loss to Northwood on Jan. 14. Brendan Miller | Collegian

Blair said.

But according to senior Alex Moynes, Hillsdale’s recent scoring struggles mean that every player needs to work together and take smart shots, not just fast ones.

“We have a tendency to overlook the subtle things that help us play as a team. We were playing too much oneon-one,” Moynes said. “Individually, our team has good shooters, but I think we need to work on shot selection. Instead of focusing on how many possessions we run, we need to focus on how many points we get in those possessions.”

The Chargers have struggled to score with what have usually been go-to outside shots. Though they average 18 points per game on threepoint shots, the team was 0-for-13 from outside the arc in the second half against Northern Michigan.

Moynes said the Chargers’ focus on creating quick shots is effective, but sometimes that means they don’t get the chance to create a good shot on offense.

“So it’s one of our biggest strengths, but also one of our biggest weaknesses as well,” Blair agreed.

Mitmesser said the Chargers will focus on shooting in practice this week in order to improve shooting statistics.

Blair also said the team will run more full-court drills to build up endurance as they substitute less frequently.

Though the Chargers have switched up their approach to substitution and shooting, Mitmesser said the team’s goals remain the same.

“I don’t think much has changed in terms of strategy,” Mitmesser said. “We have a lot of depth, and the younger players are continuing to gain experience. A lot of players can make tremendous strides over this next month, both on offense and defense. It’s their age. They haven’t played a lot, but they’re going to get it.”

The Chargers will host Ferris State at 6 p.m. tonight in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.

Hillsdale will travel to Grand Valley State University for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, and return home to play Saginaw Valley at 6 p.m. on Monday.

By | Thomas Novelly Assistant Editor

After playing professional basketball in Luxembourg for a year, 2014 Hillsdale graduate Tim Dezelski signed his second professional contract at the beginning of January with BVM 2012, a team based in Mieres, Spain.

Dezelski had a successful 30-3 season with his first professional team, the Residence Walferdange, in Luxembourg, averaging 17 points and 16 rebounds per game. When contract negotiations stalled for a second year, he searched for a new agent who found a more competitive league in Spain.

“I ended up in Spain after switching agents in November,” Dezelski said. “I was without a team for about six months so I made a change and this opportunity presented itself. Spain has a great reputation in the basketball world and is a great opportunity to prove myself in a competitive league.”

Dezelski moved to Spain on Jan. 14 and three days later played his first game, racking up 19 points, nine rebounds, and two steals. Dezelski said he has enjoyed the competition and some of the subtle changes to the game.

“The competition in Europe is very strong because many Europeans have focused solely on basketball from a young age and teams have foreign players who had very successful college and professional careers,” Dezelski said. “It’s also different in that it’s more fast paced and free flowing. For example, the 24-second shot clock places a lot of emphasis on skill, ball movement, and understanding each other as a team.

Practice here is focused on working offensively as a team as opposed to college practices which place a huge emphasis on defense.”

In addition to the adjusting to the new competition, Dezelski has enjoyed adapting to and observing the new culture in Europe.

“Life in Spain, and Europe in general, is a lot more laid back than in America,” Dezelski said. “The people as a whole are more relaxed. Particularly in Spain with the daily siesta most of the city closes down in mid-afternoon.”

As a member of the Hills-

dale College men’s basketball team, Dezelski was named a NCAA Division II All-American his senior year, and was the only player in his division that season to accumulate 600 points, 250 rebounds, and 100 assists. Dezelski said his time with the Chargers gave him some of the most memorable moments of his life.

“Playing for the Hillsdale Chargers was truly a privilege, and I have to say my favorite thing was the relationships I formed with all my teammates and coaches,” Dezelski said.

“My favorite memory was when we won a close game at SVSU to clinch the GLIAC regular season title and sprinted to the locker room to celebrate by singing our victory song.”

John Tharp, the head coach of Hillsdale’s men’s basketball team, said that Dezelski is his fourth player to play professional basketball and that he will be remembered as one of the best to come out of the Chargers program.

“Tim Dezelski was one of the greatest players in the his-

tory of our program,” Tharp said. “His senior year here was one of the best performances in terms of points and rebounds we’ve seen here. He wasn’t a heralded recruit by any stretch, but he made great strides and improvement to be where he is today. Simply, he’s a winner.”

Dezelski said he still keeps in touch with Tharp and is incredibly grateful for his coaching.

“I owe him more than I can express for giving me a chance as a walk on and helping me develop my game to a high level,” Dezelski said. “I consider him a close friend now that I have graduated and always will.”

Dezelski’s girlfriend and former Hillsdale College women’s basketball player Kadie Lowery said she is glad that all of Dezelski’s dedication to the game is paying off.

“Anyone who knows Tim knows how hard of a worker he is,” Lowery said. “He gives everything he has to the game and I’m happy to see him achieving his dreams.”

Tim Dezelski ‘14 poses for a photo with his new jersey as a member of BVM 2012. Bvm Baloncesto Mieres | Courtesy

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Hyman twins make each other better on and off the tennis court By | Philip Henry Assistant Editor Halle and Justin, members of the Hillsdale women’s and men’s tennis teams, grew up like most siblings — fiercely competitive but close friends.

Unlike most siblings, however, their competitions were decided and friendships started on the tennis court, where they spent their youth, adolescence, and today, adulthood.

The Hymans’ parents, who encouraged the twins to pursue tennis, placed both Halle and Justin in a tennis clinic when they were young and watched them fall in love with the sport. Both twins agree that playing together from a young age helped them quickly improve their tennis skills, something they see reflected in their performances today.

“Having someone to hit with definitely helped me get an edge over my teammates and competitors,” Justin said.

“As we grew up, I slowly overtook Halle, but at the beginning, when we were at the same level, it was great to have had her to practice with.”

Besides the personal reward of developing athletic competence, the winning twin was often rewarded with a smoothie from their father, eager to encourage their physical ability and competitive spirits.

“We would both wind up getting smoothies after our matches, though,” Justin said.

In high school, the twins’ tennis careers took different tracks as they were assigned to single-ed tennis teams.

Though their styles and abilities differed, they continued to play against each other for practice.

Halle said Justin was always available to hit against her throughout high school, which certainly helped her within her team and against her competitors, since men tend to hit harder than women. Nikki Walbright, head coach of the Hillsdale women’s tennis team, has noticed Halle’s advantage.

“Halle growing up with Justin was definitely a positive influence, something I can see today in Halle’s style, which differs from the other girls on the team,” Walbright said. “I think her having Justin to hit

against has something to do with that.”

Although Halle and Justin were looking at many schools to continue their tennis careers, it was Halle’s visit, and Halle’s visit alone, which landed the two at Hillsdale.

“I went on a visit, loved it, came home, told Justin, and he took my word for it,” Halle said. “He committed with no visit, relying on my opinion alone.”

This steadfast belief in his sister’s opinion represents their close friendship, developed over years of living together as family and playing tennis together as co-competitors, another part of why they have excelled in their athletic performance. Their coaches have noticed this friendship, even though the pair plays for different teams on campus which rarely scrimmage together.

“Justin and Halle are very close, which has helped them push each other,” men’s tennis head coach Keith Turner said.

“Justin is very supportive of his sister.”

Walbright agreed, saying that when the two teams have

Freshmen twins Justin and Halle Hyman grew up playing tennis together and now compete for the same college. Halle was named GLIAC Freshman of the Year last fall. Halle Hyman | Courtesy

played doubles together in the past, Halle and Justin seem like old friends, instead of academic and athletic colleagues.

Ultimately, Halle and Justin are grateful for each other, for

the friendship they’ve found through their family, and what they offer each other through their shared love of tennis.

They are both watching their younger brother, 14, as he de-

velops his tennis skills, and are hoping he will choose Hillsdale too, and keep the Hyman name associated with Hillsdale tennis excellence in the future.

going to be at their very best, yet you know that what you’re doing training wise, that’s just not quite appropriate yet,” Towne said.

Even with the rigor of the training before championship season, Frickey is glad to concentrate solely on track for the first time after finishing his football career last semester.

“It’s a different kind of fitness in track and in football,” Frickey said. “The way that our training works, I’m hopefully going to keep improving.”

In addition to mentioning the success of Frickey and Schipper, Towne also praised sprinters Lane White and Colby Clark, jumpers David Chase and Ty Etchemendy, and distance runners Caleb Gatchell and Joe Newcomb.

After running a personal best 8:28 in the 3K at the Gladstein Invitational last weekend, Newcomb is currently ranked No. 1 in the GLIAC for the event.

The men will have this weekend off from racing, and then race at home next weekend at the Hillsdale Wide Track Classic on both Friday

and Saturday. Towne considers the meet to be the beginning of “championship season,” and said he expects his athletes to begin showing improvement at the meet.

“Any time when it’s championship season, you want to start to see your NCAA-level kids to make gains towards marks that will get them in, so when we get to the GLIAC Championships, we can just focus on scoring points there,” Towne said.

Looking forward to the Wide Track Classic and beyond to the rest of the season, Towne is expecting great things from his athletes.

“I think to some degree, seeing what the women have done, the guys on one hand know it’s possible — the plan is exactly the same and the stats are exactly the same — but they probably don’t love hearing about the women over and over and over again,” Towne said. “It’s too bad, they’re going to keep hearing about them, but I think what they’d prefer is if people heard about them a little bit too.”

Swim prepares for GLIACs Men’s track picks up steam By | Kat Torres Collegian Reporter

By | Evan Carter Web Editor

The Hillsdale College swim team finished its regular season on a high note on Saturday, beating Ohio Northern University 169-125 and tying with Case Western Reserve University 144-144 in Ada, Ohio.

“We wanted to go out and win both ends of the meet without swimming our strongest lineup,” head coach Kurt Kirner said. “We were allowing many swimmers to swim different events. I wanted them to look for or create their own races and beat the opponent.

We were good but not as good as we needed to be in many circumstances.”

The freshmen have proven their abilities heading into the championship season, particularly Anika Ellingson, who won both the 100 breaststroke with a 1:07.79 and the 200 breaststroke with a 2:31.48.

Her performance in the 200 earned her a spot in Hillsdale’s top 10 in the event all-time.

“Anika Ellingson and Sarah Rinaldi have been solid in their main events,” Kirner said.

“Zoe Hopkins seems to come through big in every situation I put her in.”

Hopkins has consistently been victorious in her specialty — the 1000 freestyle — and this weekend was no exception, as she swam a time of 10:52.75.

She holds a school record in this event, and although this particular meet wasn’t her fastest mark, the team’s reduction of intense training, or ‘taper,’ should prove to be beneficial not only for Hopkins, but for the entire team.

“We raced hard and showed our team strength during our last dual meet,” senior Naofa Noll said. “We are really ready to rest for GLIACs. Everyone was excited to start taper

At last weekend’s Gladstein Invitational, senior Todd Frickey broke his own school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.89 seconds, while sophomore Jared Schipper set another school record in the pole vault with a jump of 5.10 meters.

While he was excited about breaking the school’s pole vault record, Schipper also expressed a sense of relief after breaking the record because he had fallen just short of breaking the record a number of times in the past.

“I felt like I broke through a barrier,” he said. “I felt like I was stuck at five meters, five centimeters, so it felt good to finally break the record.”

In addition to Frickey and Schipper’s success, a number of the other athletes on the Hillsdale College men’s track and field team have begun to hit their stride in the first four races. Five individual athletes and one relay team have already hit the provisional marks to qualify for the indoor national meet in March.

“I think we’re starting to get some things right that will be really good for us,” head distance coach Andrew Towne said. “There’s no question, the guys are definitely improved.”

Towne said he sets up his athletes’ training so that they perform at their best at either the GLIAC conference championship or at the national meet. While some athletes are already posting personal best marks, they’re even more likely to do so later on in the season.

“Non-championship season is hard for coaches because you get glimpses all the time of what your kids can do and you hope almost against hope sometimes that they’re

Freshman Grace Houghton swims the breaststroke in a home meet last fall. Anders Kiledal | Collegian

soon.”

Though the Chargers’ bodies were tired due to the intense training, junior Emily Shallman managed to push for a win in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:26.21 and freshman Suzanne DeTar won the 200 freestyle, swimming a 2:00.07.

Senior Mikalah Smith took second in both events, not far behind both Shallman and DeTar. “Sarah Rinaldi’s 400 IM definitely stood out to me,” Shallman said. “She hasn’t swam that event all season, having just recovered from an injury, and the 400 IM was the last individual event to be swam at the meet, which took several hours longer than usual. Despite all of this, Sarah

was able to swim a great race which was really inspiring.”

Now, the team will take a much-needed break before the GLIAC Championships kick off on Feb. 20 at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Last year, the Chargers placed sixth in the GLIAC with 300 points. They are looking to improve this year.

“At this point in the season everyone is pretty tired, but taper is approaching quickly so we’re all excited for that,” Shallman said. “Everyone is excited for GLIACs. There is a lot of great talent on this team, so it will be really cool to see what everyone can do once they have rested. We’ve put the work in, so now it’s showtime.”

I could keep jumping forever, and all my injuries went away. It was a great feeling of excitement. I was in the zone, and I was really proud of my accomplishments at that time. I was also proud of my teammate Maddie Estell: she was jumping with me, and I was just so happy we made it to that point.

giate level. The coaches here also do the same thing. I didn’t have my best meet this past weekend, but my coach reminded me that we came to accomplish what we’d needed to do for that day. Like this week, it was jumping to jump, not jumping to score.

Sophomore Colby Clark (left) races in the 4x400 relay at the Dan Gladstein Invitational. Hillsdale took fourth in the event.

Joe Newcomb Sr. | Courtesy

Charger Chatter: Kristin Freeman

Kristin Freeman | Courtesy

Kristin Freeman, a freshman on the Hillsdale College track and field team, broke the 19-year-old school high-jump record by jumping 5 feet, 7 ¾ inches (1.72 meters). She was also named GLIAC coField Athlete of the Week on Jan. 21, her first conference award.

What was your initial reaction when you learned that you’d beaten Hillsdale’s long-standing record for the high jump event?

I saw what the height was at, so I knew it was a school record and I was trying to do my best. And then once I beat it, I got this rush of adrenaline and I was so excited. I felt like

How does it feel to be named co-Field Athlete of the Week?

It was very unexpected at the time. I didn’t expect anything to happen from the jump, but once I found out, I was so happy and proud that I could represent my school and felt blessed with the opportunities God had given me.

What inspired you to compete on the collegiate level?

For me, it was definitely more gradual. I got to high school and decided to join my sister on the team, where I met a coach that encouraged me to do more than I thought I could. My coach and my parents continually supported me throughout the entire process. Their support system influenced me to keep going — they helped me believe I could compete on the colle-

How did you choose Hillsdale College?

It was kind of unexpected.

I got something in the mail with the statue of George Washington on it, and it had a quote that immediately appealed to me. My dad had heard about Hillsdale College on the radio and told me more about it, so I thought I might as well give it a chance. On my visit, the unique environment at the school and how successful the track program was definitely influenced my decision. I knew it would be uncomfortable in the sense that I didn’t know anyone coming in and it was so far away from home, but I felt comfortable enough when I visited that I knew I would be fine. I knew this is where God wanted me.

Do you have any projected majors or minors?

When I came in, I wanted to be a theatre major because I’ve been acting, singing, and dancing since I was eight years old. Last fall, I was an extra in the Shakespeare play, “Twelfth Night.” But all my friends are psychology majors, and the way they talk about it and they way it’s influenced them has inspired me. So I’m taking my first psychology class this semester, but I’m still open to taking some of the arts classes.

What are your interests outside of track?

Theatre and arts are my main interest. I also take vocal lessons here, so I’m into singing.

And then I was a dancer: I especially love ballet, tap, any of the classical styles. Any of the visual arts too. I love to draw and craft.

What helps mentally prepare you for an event?

It’s changed a lot over the years. On the bus ride down and as I’m walking to the sports complex, I listen to music and get into a zone.

Once I’m there I don’t listen to anything: I absorb all the sounds and get comfortable in the environment. Lately,

before I jump I visualize what I will be doing, my goals, what I’m supposed to be doing for that meet. Then I do a couple warm-up jumps, and right before I jump Maddie and I will say a quick prayer. I pray for Him to give me sportsmanlike conduct and to be open to the support around me.

How has being a part of the track team impacted your freshman year?

At the beginning of the year, they were my first friends.

They’re built-in friends, made of people that blend well with the rest of the team. We all have our hearts in the same place: to compete for Hillsdale track and field, but also we have our fun, like with Super Smash Brothers tournaments.

What are your goals for the rest of the season?

At the beginning of the season, Coach Miller had us write down our goals for the season. Some of my performance goals were to get the indoor school record, top five in the GLIAC conference meet—that’s probably my next goal—and to consistently jump one meter, 60 centimeters at meets. I’d also like to

become No. 1 in the nation, because right now I’m at No. 2—that would be a dream goal of mine.

What are your goals for your next three years?

Definitely one of them would be to become All-American in high jump. The thought is surreal—to be one of the top division jumpers in the nation—but it would be an awesome goal to accomplish.

What is your favorite thing about being a part of the Hillsdale track team?

It keeps me on track with my time. My entire schedule is structured and solidified, which ends up giving me more time to do homework and study and do whatever else I’d like to do. Because of this, the thought of waking up and knowing I have track practice makes me realize what a blessing it is, an opportunity to serve God. -Compiled by Corinne Prost

Charger Hyman twins find a home at Hillsdale Freshmen Justin and Halle continue their tennis careers together as Chargers. A9

Halle Hyman | Courtesy

Kristin freeman | Courtesy

Charger Chatter: Kristin Freeman Freeman, a freshman on Hillsdale’s women’s track and field team, discusses being named GLIAC co-Field Athlete of the Week.

A9

28 JAN. 2016

Women’s basketball drops two over weekend Chargers look to bounce back tonight at home against Ferris State at 6 p.m.

A8 Brendan Miller | Collegian

ComebaCks fall short for men’s basketball trailed Northern Michigan by

Chargers waste 10 with 5:31 left in the game before pulling within a point two big second- of the Wildcats at 63-62 with 1:40 remaining. For the sechalf rallies, look to ond straight game, the Charwere unable to take the rebound tonight gers lead.

“When we get down, we vs. Ferris State start playing with an energy

Sophomore Hannah McIntyre (middle in blue) races in the 3000 meter at the Gladstein Invitational.

McIntyre won the event, running a 9:46 and hitting the provisional time for the national meet.

Joe Newcomb Sr. | Courtesy

Women’s track and field ranked fourth in nation

Chargers break school and personal records to qualify for national meet By | Jessica Hurley Collegian Reporter The fourth-ranked Hillsdale College women’s indoor track and field team has sprinted to a fast start this season.

The Chargers traveled to Indiana University last weekend to compete with several prominent D-I and D-II schools in the Gladstein Invitational. After their third meet this semester, the Chargers have already broken records and qualified for the national meet.

Sophomore Chloe Ohlgren broke her own triple jump school record which she set at Findlay last week, jumping 11.64 meters to hit the provisional qualifying mark for the national meet. For the rest of the season she will focus on reaching a better qualifying mark, as she is just on the brink in the current ranking.

“Getting into nationals is a huge goal,” she said.

Ohlgren walked on to the

track team last year in time to compete in the outdoor season. Having a full fall season to train with the team has proved rewarding early this season.

Junior pole vaulter Alex Whitford also hit a provisional mark clearing 11 feet, 8 inches.

She ranks ninth in the nation, coming off knee surgery last season.

Senior Emily Oren, a seasoned national champion, ran the mile in 4:51, placing sixth while also reaching the provisional standard for the national meet.

Kristina Galat competed in the “select” 3000 meters, impressive for such a big meet, and automatically qualified for nationals with a time of 9:30.

She is ranked second nationally in the event.

Junior Molly Oren and sophomore Hannah McIntyre also ran the open 3000. Both Chargers beat their personal records and hit provisional times for the national meet.

Oren ran 9:57 and McIntyre won the event with a time of 9:46.

Sophomore Hannah Watts placed third in the 800 meters running a time of 2:15. Watts met the provisional standard for the national meet last week at the Findlay meet.

In the throws, both sophomore Rachael Tolsma and

junior captain Dana Newell hit provisional marks in the weight throw. Newell placed sixth, putting her at 12th in nation for the event.

“I’m really excited,” Newell said. “It’s really challenging, but that’s what we need — someone to challenge us every week.”

This meet was loaded with intense competition, including several Division I schools. Being an invitational meet, there are high standards to be met in order to even compete in it.

Therefore, high value is placed on the competitiveness of the athletes.

“I thought we competed really well,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “Sometimes with younger kids it can be unnerving for them, but I thought we did a really good job competing.”

Towne said that from this point in the season it is time to start making decisions about deliberate placement of athletes to put the team in the best position possible going into championship season.

“We focus on the individual within the concept of the team,” Towne said.

The Chargers are taking a break this weekend but will compete again on Feb. 6 in the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center.

and a fire,” said senior forBy|Nathanael Meadowcroft ward Kyle Cooper, who leads Sports Editor the GLIAC with 23.2 points After erasing a 16-point per game. “We have the talent deficit against the Lake Supe- and skill to win games, but for rior State Lakers in an 82-80 some reason we’re not coming home win on Jan. 16, the Hills- out with that same passion.”

The Chargers shot 52 perdale College men’s basketball cent (25-for-48) in their loss team’s comeback attempts to the Wildcats, but were outfroze in the Upper Peninsula. rebounded 36-23 overall and The Chargers fell 74-69 to 12-2 on the offensive glass, the Michigan Tech Huskies giving Northern Michigan last Thursday before losing 70a 9-2 edge in second chance 64 to the Northern Michigan points.

Wildcats on Saturday, drop“In the games that we’ve lost ping to 7-5 in the GLIAC and we haven’t been very good on 11-5 overall. the boards as a team,” Tharp “There was one common said.

“If you’re going to win theme this weekend: about the on the road, your defensive last eight seconds of the shot rebounding has to be the key, clock, we weren’t getting stops and truthfully it wasn’t this as a team,” head coach John weekend. ” Tharp said. “Both of those “We’re shooting a high games were games that we had enough percentage on the opportunities to win and we offensive end that if we stop didn’t make enough plays early teams from getting those secin the game.” ond chance points, and if we Facing an 18-point seccould even get ourselves a ond-half deficit against the couple offensive rebounds, it Huskies on Thursday, the would go a long way to helping Chargers rattled off a 27-9 us win a lot of the games that run to tie the game at 56-56 we’re losing, ” Cooper said. with 5:35 remaining. But the Tonight, the Chargers will Huskies responded with five host the 25th-ranked Ferris straight points and held onto State Bulldogs at 8 p.m. in the lead for the rest of the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena, game. the first game of an important On Saturday, Hillsdale stretch of three games in five

days. The Chargers will travel to Grand Valley on Saturday to take on the Lakers at 3 p.m. before returning home to face the league-leading Saginaw Valley Cardinals on Monday at 8 p.m. All three teams sit ahead of Hillsdale in the GLIAC North Division standings.

“We are in a situation right now where we’ve got to pick ourselves up off the floor and fight,” Tharp said. “Every game in the North is brutal but the three games that we have coming up are three big-time teams.”

With games next Thursday and Saturday as well, Hillsdale will play a total of five games in just 10 days, but the Chargers are focusing solely on the next team on their schedule.

“You can’t get caught up in all these games in so many days, good teams focus on one day at a time and right now we’re focusing on Ferris,” said senior point guard Zach Miller, who is third in the GLIAC with 6.1 assists per game.

“One thing that this team has learned is that we’ve stepped up to the challenge, we like the big moment, the big stage, and we’ve done really well against teams that have been ranked.

So Ferris is just another one.

They’re up next.”

The Chargers plan to play with that comeback energy for the full 40 minutes.

“We’ve just got to look at what we did last weekend, see where we went wrong, and fix it,” Cooper said. “On Thursday we’ll come out playing better basketball from the start.”

Senior forward Kyle Cooper looks to finish off a drive to the basket in Hillsdale’s 88-66 win over Northwood on Jan. 14. Cooper leads the GLIAC with 23.2 points per game and is second in rebounds with 9.9 per contest. Brendan Miller | Collegian

HILLSDALE COLLEGE ALUMNI IN THE PROS

Former Chargers basketball star Tim Dezelski ‘14 signed his second professional contract earlier this month with Spanish-side BVM 2012. For the full story, see A8.

Bvm Baloncesto Mieres | Courtesy

Former Chargers football player Jared Veldheer (in red), the starting left tackle on the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, leads Carolina Panthers players in a prayer after the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

Veldheer’s Cardinals lost to the Panthers 49-15. Kelsey Riggs | Courtesy

B1 28 Jan. 2016

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Tower Players to bring Thirty Years’ War to Markel stage Bertolt Brecht’s 20th-century German drama “Mother Courage and Her Children” opens Feb. 24 By | Jordan Finney

Collegian Reporter Rehearsals are underway for “Mother Courage and Her Children,” by Bertolt Brecht. The Tower Players will perform the 20th-century German drama in Markel Auditorium from Feb. 24 to Feb. 28.

Senior theatre and English double major Catherine Coffey will play the lead role of Mother Courage for her senior theatre project.

Her fellow cast members include sophomore Nikolai Dignoti as the Cook, junior Dani Morey as Yvette, senior Jason Klicker as the Chaplain, Austin Benson as Swiss Cheese, and sophomore Mark Naida as Eilif.

“I have been wanting to direct this play for a very long time — it’s one of my favorite plays by one of my favorite authors,” Professor of The-

atre James Brandon said. “Brecht’s plays are typical in that they’re emotional, but they’re also rational. They are meant to get the audience to think and maybe even take action. I like to classify them as a sort of glorified advertisement for ideas.”

The play is set during the Thirty Years’ War and details the life of Mother Courage, a woman and camp follower who slowly loses her family to the war. The primary prop for the production, the moving canteen cart from which she sells goods to hapless soldiers, will rarely if at all leave the stage during the entire two to three hour production. “‘Mother Courage’ is pretty widely considered to be the anti-war play,” Coffey said. “It’s basically about how in a war we all thrive off the war, but it depletes a lot of who we are as moral human beings. I’ve wanted to perform it since high school, when I first became fascinated by Brecht’s style.”

Coffey spends about 30 hours every week on the play. Half of that time is spent at nightly rehearsals. She dedicates the additional 15 hours

to journaling about the rehearsal process and reading material on the Thirty Years’ War, old acting books, other Brecht plays, and anything about Helene Weigel, Brecht’s wife and what Coffey calls “definitive Mother Courage.”

“My goal is to best understand the circumstances of Courage’s day-to-day life and create a character in which everyone can see themselves,” Coffey said. “My biggest goal is not to blame Mother Courage or make her a villain, because she’s not. She’s a human being. A lot of people dislike her off the bat and it’s easy to do. She’s gruff and even greedy at times.

But she’s a very caring mother and she’s smart. It’s the war that’s bad.”

In addition to her role as Mother Courage, Coffey will be writing 6-10 songs for the play. She said the original production featured music reminiscent of Weimar Berlin culture and jazz music. Coffey plans to incorporate Eastern European elements into the music, which she said should sound “very much” like her personal style.

“I think all of Brecht’s plays include music. It’s a big part of his style,” Coffey said. “He uses it to pull the audience out of the play and make

sure that they remember they’re in a theater watching actors play parts. He didn’t want them to get too emotionally invested or have thoughtless, gut reaction. The goal was not to forget the outside world but to think about what the play is saying.”

Coffey is one of 23 students in the play — a notably large cast, according to Brandon.

Senior Faith Liu will be playing a mute named Kattrin, one of Mother Courage’s three children.

“She’s a difficult character to play in that she’s mute and self-conscious so she has to keep her mouth closed,” Liu said. “I spend a lot of time looking at lines I have to react to and then learning how to communicate who she is without talking. It’s a common misconception that acting is just about memorizing lines.”

Liu and Coffey both emphasized the play’s masterful portrayal of the human condition and the effects

of war on the individual.

“It’s easy to go to class and discuss the human condition through literature, but it’s another thing entirely to be in a room with someone and experience it with them,” Coffey said. “We can talk for ages about a hypothetical situation in which a mother loses her child or in which a family loses its heart from war. But when you step in the theater, you are sharing what it means to be a human being with other human beings in real time.

It’s absolutely invaluable.”

Professor of Theatre James Brandon directs the Tower Players in a rehearsal for “Mother Courage and Her Children,” which opens Feb. 24. Jordyn Pair | Collegian

In Review: ‘The Force Awakens’ Senior Chris McCaffery argues we should appreciate ‘new variations on a timeless story without bemoaning the familiarity of the plot’ By | Chris McCaffery

Sophomore Mark Naida derides latest ‘Star Wars’ installment as ‘just banal enough to reawaken the fuzzy feelings’ of the original films By | Mark Naida

Columnist

T h e Force has awakened, because J.J. Abrams’ long-anticipated “Star Wars” film is exactly what it ought to be.

Since it has been well over a month now since “The Force Awakens” was released in theaters, we can afford to step back and examine this extraordinarily low-stakes debate from a more balanced perspective. You have heard it said the film is is unworthy because it lacks originality; it’s just a remake of 1977’s “A New Hope.” I claim that this argument fails both factually and critically, first because the film diverges in important ways from its predecessor and, were this not the case, this would still not be a fair criticism relative to the ends of making a “Star Wars” film. I will explore these claims in reverse order.

What, in fact, ought we look for in a “Star Wars” film? They succeed in part because they are simple, epic tales which recapitulate the themes of Westerns, pulp science fiction, and samurai films in an exotic, imaginative context. “Star Wars” is about dramatic grandeur and the triumph of the good hero, Luke Skywalker, over an ultimate evil. Retelling this timeless hero’s journey with memorable and likeable characters (Han Solo!

Princess Leia!), striking settings, and excellent filmmaking has made it hugely successful. The worthy object of our affection is the timeless narrative of the epic struggle — the story of the Skywalker and Solo families and their fight against darkness. The means of its transmission and reception are the wonderful setting and enjoyable telling.

So I think it is more helpful, and less ridiculous, for the critic

See McCaffery, B2.

to talk about “Star Wars” as it wants to be understood.

And by this measure, “The Force Awakens” seems to me to have succeeded.

In a New York Times column, Ross Douthat accused “The Force Awakens” of symbolizing the “decadence” of modern culture. He defines this decadence as “falling off ” of the “forms of art” signified by “repetition and frustration,” a definition taken from Jacques Barzun. While etymologically accurate and useful in its own place, it’s too vague to be useful here. We all understand that decadence signifies a decline and an attenuation, but what is its cause?

The decadence that I see at work here, though not in “The Force Awakens,” is the one Dennis Quinn takes from C.E.M. Joad: the identification of means with ends. A decadent is a man who pursues the means of an end for its own sake — a decadent eater confuses the nourishment and fellowship of eating with the pleasure of consuming (hence Aristotle’s tale of the glutton who prayed for the gullet of a crane so that he could experience the pleasure of swallowing more). Decadence is self-indulgence as its own end. How many times have you seen “decadent” modifying “chocolate cake”?

But how does this apply to “Star Wars”? Critics of “The Force Awakens” have taken it as its greatest failure that it follows too closely the plot of “A New

Special to the Collegian It clearly a “Star Wars” film.

There is the ever gruff and blasé Harrison Ford attempting to reprise a less arthritic version of himself. There is Carrie Fisher arising from the ether to recapitulate the mythos cemented in the days when Jabba kept her by his side in flimsy garments. There are lightsabers, blasters, strange planet names, aliens, jumps to hyperspace in the indefatigable Millennium Falcon, and an old sage Jedi hiding out while waiting to revive the Force in order for good to prevail. But this is a different film. This film was not controlled by George Lucas, the person who truly loved “Star Wars” and nearly bankrupted himself to give us the first episode.

Instead, it was made by J.J. Abrams, that esteemed director who gave us “Lost,” “Super 8,” the later (and worse) “Mission Impossible” films, and the reboot of “Star Trek.” Abrams allowed the film to feel like the season finale of a too-long-running teenage drama where the gang all comes back to allow the audience to remember “Star Wars” with tender memories of youth, eliciting cheers from the audience as each cultural icon graces the silver screen 33 years after “Return of the Jedi.” The plot merely piggybacked on the success of the three previous episodes.

A father-son dispute? A masked villain? An attractive but reserved heroine? A fight in a cantina? A Jedi master’s long-lost lightsaber? A planet adapted as the center of galactic government which happens to be outfitted with a laser for obliterating other planets? It is a veritable mystery as to how Abrams and his writing partners could have imagined such innovative material.

The acting is

See Naida, B2.

and casting was adequate overall. John Boyega was convincing in his own way and America’s new darling, Daisy Ridley, effectively reawakened American men’s fixation on British women who look and sound like Keira Knightley.

However, the choice of Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, the villain to end all villains, was nonsense. The actor looks more like Bert or Ernie from “Sesame Street” than he does the evil head of the First Order.

Artistically, however, the film had a chance. The character of Finn, a stormtrooper, would have created a robust character capable of expressing some realistic elements into the overly-heroic narrative. One of the opening scenes, in which he stands among the ruins of a burning village while other troopers pillage, is actually effective in bringing the audience into that “galaxy far, far away” while also imbuing the heroic mood of the first six episodes with a new realist element. But that wouldn’t sell. Disney’s crack team of market analysts knew that if they wanted to outsell James Cameron’s epics they would need something just tired enough, just banal enough to reawaken the fuzzy feelings of that fateful night in 1977 when “Star Wars” burst to the forefront of the American imagination.

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Jonesville’s Sauk Theatre brings ‘M.A.S.H.’ to campus By | Nicholas Rowan

Collegian Freelancer The Jonesville-based Sauk Theatre will perform its stage adaptation of the 1970 anti-war comedy, “M.A.S.H.,” in Hillsdale’s Phillips Auditorium next month.

Initially, The Sauk had intended to stage the play at its home theater in Jonesville. But, since the roof collapsed in late December, the venue has moved to

the college.

The Sauk chose to perform “M.A.S.H.” mainly for its comedic value, but also because the story carries culturally relevant content.

“February shows need to be comedies, just because of the time of year,” director Kristin Hood said. “We needed a comedy — ‘M.A.S.H.’ was perfect. And I think it is very relevant today because of the political issues we have going on right now.”

The original 1970 film is a loosely-constructed narrative that follows the antics of a unit of battle-fa-

Arts News Jan. 

tigued American field doctors in the midst of the Korean War. “Even though the show was written in the early ’70s, it has a very modern feel to it, which has been interesting for our development of the show,” Trinity Bird, executive manager of The Sauk Theatre, said.

“It’s a period piece, but also has that feeling of now.”

To unify the storyline and make “M.A.S.H.” more palatable to a stage audience, The Sauk has added a musical element, with the film’s theme song, “Suicide Is Painless,” wedged into scenes throughout the play.

“The show — like the movie — is a lot of vignettes,” Hood said. “I thought that using the theme song which is so recognizable and poignant to tie the whole thing together would be a unique way to do that that the audience would enjoy.”

Lisa Cryderman, who plays Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, agreed.

“The theme song adds a little to the play. It makes it unique,” she said.

Bird said he is confident the play will still succeed, despite the change of venue.

“This space works very well for the show and we have a loyal patron group that we hope will come visit us here,” he said. “In the tradition of The Sauk Theatre, the first performance will be a ‘pay what you can’ night. That basically means you could come see the show for a quarter if you wanted. We do this for people who couldn’t normally afford to see the show.

It’s a good night for college students.”

Performances will be at 8 p.m. on Feb. 11-13 and 18-20, and at 3 p.m. on Feb. 14 and 21. Tickets are available at The Sauk’s website and at the door of Phillips Auditorium before each show.

“From Rags to Nirvana”: A Hillsdale College Faculty Recital, featuring Chris McCourry, trumpet, and Brad Blackham, piano 8 p.m. Friday Markel Auditorium Sage Center for the Arts Free Admission

Jan. -Feb.  “George Mauersberger: Works on Paper” Jan.  8 p.m. Artist’s Reception Daughtrey Gallery Sage Center for the Arts

Members of the cast of ‘M.A.S.H.’ rehearse in Phillips Auditorium. | Courtesy Sauk Theatre Facebook page

Q&A: Reduced Shakespeare Company Last night, The Reduced Shakespeare Company performed “The Complete History of America (abridged): Special Election Edition” for Hillsdale’s campus. The Collegian sat down with Reed Martin, performer, writer, and managing partner of the Reduced Shakespeare Company.

The group, which also includes managing partner Austin Tichenor and performer Dominic Conti, has performed in the White House and London’s West End, and the Kennedy Center, and has made TV appearances on PBS and BBC. Your plays appear to be very off-the-cuff — is there a lot of improvisation, or is it mostly scripted?

We want it to look like we’re flying by the seat of our pants. The whole thing is scripted. That being said, we do design certain parts of the show with room for improvisation. In the show, in the second act, we take actual questions from actual audience members, so that’s improvised. But in most of our shows, there are a number of things that go wrong, but they’re planned to go wrong. We hope the audience really thinks they’re going wrong.

that’s funny,” and shaking the head, “Nah, I don’t know.”

If Shakespeare saw your abridged version of his complete works, what do you think he’d say?

We think he would approve. He was a popular entertainer in his day — over the years he’s sort of evolved into high culture — but when he did his shows, everybody from the high to the low would come and see his show, and love it.

The audience was right there in front of the actors, and the actors would acknowledge that, and Shakespeare wrote stuff where they would interact, so the fact that we’re interacting with the audience...I think he would take us out for a drink afterward. We actually perform in England a lot, so we went

to visit Stratford-upon-Avon. We went to visit his grave, and we put our ear to the ground and did not hear any seismic activity, so we’re pretty sure he was not rolling over in his grave.

Do you have any authors or playwrights or comedians that you draw inspiration from?

Yes, too many to list, but I’ll rattle off a few: Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, Second City, classic “Looney Toons” cartoons, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, a lot of the standups from when Austin and I were kids — the Smothers Brothers, George Carlin, Cheech and Chong.

How did you come to be a part of the Reduced Shakespeare Company?

I was ready to leave the circus, and Daniel Singer, the founder, had gotten an offer to go be an artist for Disney, for their theme parks. So Jess, one of our co-founders, said, “I know a guy who studied serious Shakespeare in graduate school and has also studied clowning,” and it seemed like the perfect combination. He called me, and that’s how I got started in 1989. It barely became a full-time job a year later.

So I guess like a lot of good things, it was done for the love of it for about 10 years.

When you’re writing and producing plays, do you ever find it stressful trying to be funny?

I guess the stressful part is that it’s how we make a living. I think Austin and I both come from funny families, so being funny is fun — but you’re not doing it for fun, you’re doing it for a living. That part is stressful. I was newly married when we wrote “The History of America.” I read the script to my wife, and she didn’t laugh once. She would nod, and then she would shake her head, and then she’d nod, and then she’d shake her head. When we got to the end I said, “You didn’t laugh once,” and she said, “Well, it felt like I was listening to the mortgage.” So the nod meant, “Yes,

Would you consider yourself an avid Shakespeare fan?

Yeah. I love Shakespeare. One of my goals is to be in or see live the whole Shakespearean canon. I’m about twothirds of the way through. So yes. ~Compiled by Madeleine Jepsen Dominic Conti, Austin Tichenor, and Reed Martin, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, performed in Markel Auditorium last night. Anders Kiledal | Collegian

McCaffery, from B1

Hope”: a desert planet, an evil empire, a seedy bar, et cetera. Where was the “imagination” we saw at work in the original films, so the argument goes. This seems to me like decadence.

If our basis for enjoyment is simply to be shown new things, to multiply the images our filmmakers present us with into an ever-wider panoply of fantastical diversions, we’ve succumbed to what Quinn calls “the decadence of wonder.”

A “Star Wars” film with brilliant new images, imaginative scenarios, and a universe-widening scope would certainly be entertaining. It’s also already been made three times over, and those films were almost universally disliked. If originality in plot were the criterion of an excellent story, we’d certainly have a very different Great Books curriculum than we do now — William Shakespeare is the first on the chopping block, with Chaucer and Goethe in chains behind him And this is certainly ridiculous, because we all know that we value Shakespeare’s plays not because they simply contain many new situations for us to marvel at, but because they combine eternal stories with the unrivaled skill of a master of his art.

But is this not what “The Force Awakens” has done? The original films wed timeless motifs of adventure stories with brilliant filmcraft and memorable characters to the approbation of all. This story has now taken on a definite form and content in the “Star Wars” universe, and to ask a new “Star Wars” film to reinvent itself completely seems to confuse the pleasures of the original’s novelty with the real content and characters that the “Star Wars” films are in fact about.

By avoiding the question of whether or not “The Force Awakens” sufficiently filled our eye-sockets with new distractions, we can turn to consider what the film itself has done, the moments that Alexi Sargeant, writing for First Things, called “going small.” Kylo Ren is no Darth Vader, nor was he meant to be! If the only value the original films held for you was the extrinsic pleasure of seeing a fearsome new villain, Adam Driver’s performance as a weak, confused try-hard is a disappointment. There’s nothing new about Rey — typical unsuspecting hero who defeats the bad guy — boring. Han Solo isn’t young and handsome anymore, he’s just an old man who isn’t up to anything new — just there for fanservice. Of course this irony exercised at the level of cliché will find nothing of value in what has always been the content of “Star Wars.”

What makes “The Force Awakens” an interesting film is that it weds the timeless narrative at the heart of “Star Wars” with new situations and themes. It emphasizes the new, tragic element in the life of each of its aging characters lacking happy endings while bringing in new players whose stories are still full of hope. Innovation in spectacle is not the name of the game; we should appreciate new variations on a timeless story in a definite setting without bemoaning the familiarity of the plot.

Naida, from B1

It should not be understated that “The Force Awakens” is very different from the other episodes. The long, tiresome political and philosophical discourses of the first six films are absent. Neither is there any sort of tender, quiet moment. Luke is never left hanging in the cables, Anakin and Padme never caress each other in an island chateau, Han Solo never shamelessly flirts with Leia.

What we have in actuality is an action flick; it is not the innovative space opera which permanently altered the film industry. It is nonstop, do this, go there, blast this, force that. The frenetic nature of the movie is far more akin to “Rambo.” The delicious effect of a single lightsaber duel at the end of the movie — a reward for the audience’s honest attention — is gone, as is the attention and artistic capability of popular American cinema. This movie is a product of immense excitement, an attenuated popular film culture, and the inherent commercial success of the “Star Wars” brand. A large measure of cultural identity could not be left in remastered Blu-ray collections, patiently awaiting the day when we would show our children their cultural inheritance, for Disney wouldn’t allow it to be put to rest on the topmost echelon of American cinema. No, they had to try again — the market value was irresistible. But that does not mean they should have.

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B3 28 Jan. 2016

A survivor’s story of silence: living through the Holocaust By | Andrew Egger Assistant Editor For the Hillsdale students who visited the Holy Land over Christmas break, the experiences were largely separated into two categories: those which touched the treasury of Israel’s past, and those which wrestled with the realities of Israel’s present.

But past and present converged on Jan. 11 with a trip to Yad Vashem, Israel’s central Holocaust memorial, which ended with the group hearing the personal story, both poignant and paradigm-altering, of a Holocaust survivor.

Berthe Badehi, 83, was a young Jewish child living in France in 1941, when Nazi Germany began its attempt to scour the world of her people. Her parents, who were

politically conscious enough to have an inkling of what was coming, went into hiding, placing Badehi in the trust of a local farmer, Marie Massonnat. From that time, she lived a double life.

“At that moment, I took my life into my own hands,” Badehi said. “At 9 years old, I was not a child anymore. I had to play another person.

Badehi’s new identity as a young Christian girl dominated her existence. Whether at school or at church, she guarded her words carefully, keeping her head down to avoid revealing that she knew little of the religion and culture she was surrounded by. Even at home she kept up her guard, because Massonnat, wanting Badehi to stay consistent in her narrative, never told her that she was in on the scheme.

“What I didn’t know is that Madam Massonnat knew I was a Jew, because she has

been contacted through the Jewish organization,” Badehi said. “But she never told her children, and whenever I was studying my stories, she never once told me ‘You know, I know that you are a Jew.’ She was a very simple farmer, but she had a heart of gold.”

Once, when Badehi’s mother was visiting in 1944, a Nazi officer came to the Massonnat farmhouse to inquire about deserters from the army. If he had entered the house, both Badehi and her mother would have been identified and taken. Massonnat met the officer at his car and managed to turn him away.

Badehi’s life story did not match the narratives of gut-wrenching horror, of concentration camps and gas chambers, that Americans generally associate with the Holocaust.

But it illuminated a reality quieter and more easily forgotten: the creeping dread and confusion of a child forced into hiding, and the

unassuming heroism of a woman who risked her own life to protect another’s.

“It was a simple story, and it wasn’t a horror story,” junior Sarah Reinsel said. “A very impressionable child who doesn’t really understand why she’s doing what she’s doing, but knows that she needs to keep this secret.

I think that’s just a psychological story that you don’t hear that often.”

For the Hillsdale audience, Badehi’s story gave a face to the Holocaust unlike anything they had previously seen.

“It gave us a different perspective of showing how horrific the Holocaust was, how it tore families apart,” senior Tim Troutner said, “showing the way that good people in various countries helped the Jews, but also how strange an experience it was for her to have to deny her ethnic and religious identity. So it was just a refreshing perspective.”

Only ten seconds to live: Life in the Kfar Aza Kibbutz Despite an unsavory media spotlight, Israeli forces remain resilient By | Vivian Hughbanks News Editor When a group of Hillsdale students visited the Kfar Aza Kibbutz less than one mile from the Gaza Strip on Jan. 4, residents of the kibbutz had not experienced an incoming Qassam rocket in four days.

Chen Abrams, who has lived at Kfar Aza nearly all her life, remarked to the group that it had been a peaceful week.

“Today our life is all the time between relaxed, more calm periods and a time of escalation,” Abrams said. “In our terminology, we’re on the way to an escalation now. We’re not there yet: the last alert and rockets in the area were on Thursday, which is like, four days ago.”

The Hamas Palestinian political party — which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and controls the Gaza Strip — began launching rockets into surrounding Israeli area in 2006, and has wreaked havoc on the lives of villages and kibbutzim within range ever since. Qassam rockets are explosive weapons homemade from sections of pipe stuffed with nails or shards of metal propelled by potassium nitrate and sugar.

The rockets have approximately a six-mile range.

“We used to go to Gaza and go to the beach there. Life was very very different. We did commerce together,” Abrams remembered. “Then it changed unfortunately. It came to a point in 2008. There was a deadly attack on the kibbutz: One of our members who was walking in his garden at the time was directly hit and was killed. This kibbutz changed forever.”

Whenever radar systems detect an incoming rocket, a red code is announced over loudspeakers throughout the kibbutz.

“All the kids and everybody here knows that they have between 10 to 15 seconds to run for cover,” Abrams said.

“Toddlers immediately will lift their arms because they know somebody will come pick them up.”

There are bomb shelters or safe rooms within 10 seconds of anywhere in the kibbutz. During calm periods, Kfar Aza experiences one to five rockets per week.

But periods of escalation are different, meaning areas around the Gaza strip can experience up to 120 incoming rockets in 48 hours.

“The difference is huge: in times of escalation you can’t continue your life as you used to,” Abrams explains. “You can’t go to school. You can’t go to work. Your whole life changes.”

To combat the constant unrest on Israel’s borders and defend Israeli people during times of escalation, every Israeli citizen is required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces after graduating high school at age 18.

Aptitude and capability testing is administered by Israeli authorities while students are still in high school, and most graduates enter the IDF immediately upon draft. Some, however, apply to the national Ein Prat Israeli Social Leadership Pre-Military Schools — highly selective specialty training at schools around the nation that provide a year of preparation and leadership training before a draftee continues to basic training.

Ein Prat helps train students to become more prepared to lead their future units, provide an opportunity to develop deeper personal connections with the communities of Israel, and emphasize a holistic, liberal arts education.

Erez Eshel, former director and head of Ein Prat, spoke to trip participants on Jan. 10.

“Leadership is the ability to face a crisis — to get prepared for it,” Eshel said, describing Ein Prat’s emphasis on personal development. “A great mind doesn’t mean that you’re a great person. You have to have a solid, strong, courageous soul. A very gentle one that feels others when they need you. When they cry without tears. How do you do it?

You have to go a lot into nature, into society. To be there, to feel them. To respect things. To develop the ability to love others.”

Ein Prat programs, which train students in classes of only 50, focus on the development of mind, soul, and body.

“You must work on your mind. How? By learning liberal arts from great teachers,” Eshel said. “Great teachers — real teachers — will answer you always, ‘I’m not a teacher, I’m a student.’ It’s not about exams. It’s not about grades. It’s about great ideas.”

Draftees who don’t apply for a year at Ein Prat also develop a strong sense of national identity, duty to the Israeli people, and compassion. Every member of the IDF visits Yad Vashem, Israel’s national holocaust memorial, as a part of their military training.

“The principle ethos in the IDF is the ethos of purity of arms,” said Avi Lewis, a former IDF Commander and a staff writer at the Times of Israel. “While serving as soldiers, it’s of paramount importance to safeguard our own morality.”

Because of the developments of modern warfare, and the tactics used by Israel’s enemies, the discrepancy in moral standards between the opponents is extreme.

Joppa, a town visited by both Jonah and St. Peter. Anders Kiledal | Collegian

“Even though U.S. troops are educated by moral standards and so are Israelis, the enemies that we face, whether it’s Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon or the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan — they have no moral qualms in killing civilians,” Lewis explains. “They have no issue hiding behind civilians. If they get hold of the body of one of our troops, they have no issue desecrating the body.”

According to many Israelis, international media outlets — many of which have bureaus in Israel — don’t always hold Israel to the same standards of combat as other nations.

Uri Goldflam, a former IDF paratrooper and guide for one bus of Hillsdale students, explained that Israel comes under high levels of scrutiny by international powers when any incident occurs.

“In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the collateral damage is 1-1. One civilian to one combatant,” Goldflam explains.

“Britain and the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan the ratio is 1-4 or 1-5 — that’s four or five civilians killed for every combatant. And you don’t see as much criticism against America and Britain as you do against the Israeli people.

That’s not even comparing the numbers of civilians killed in Arab countries by other Muslims.”

Terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon use this international media bias and the ensuing political pressure from foreign powers to their advantage.

“I saw with my own eyes in Lebanon a cash of rockets under a school. A regular school,” Goldflam said. “Had Israel bombed that weapons cash — it always shoots back to the source of the rockets — children would have been killed. For Hamas, that would have been a win, because Israel would have gotten the black eye and the condemnation from the global community.”

Despite the rockets, the conflict, and global criticism, the Israeli people remain resilient. Members of the kibbutzim in the Gaza area continue their daily lives despite perpetual trauma resulting from rocket fire. Israeli children study hard in school to do well on IDF qualification exams to brag to their friends and compete for the most difficult jobs.

“I still believe — and this is how I raise my son — that it can change,” Abrams said. “I believe that on the other side of the fence, there are children like my son. There are lots of children there that are less fortunate than him. They don’t have food. A lot of times they don’t have electricity. They don’t have running water. They definitely don’t have Call of Duty on their computer. And they deserve life like he deserves life. And I can’t give up this hope.”

B4 28 Jan. 2016

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Hillsdale tours the Holy Land

Senior Katy VanEgmond takes in the view from the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking the Sea of Galilee on the Philos Project/Museum of the Bible-sponsored trip to Israel during Christmas break. Anders Kiledal | Collegian

Tracing out the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa, Sigrid Kiledal ‘17 and Katy VanEgmond ‘16 head into the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem.

Anders Kiledal | Collegian

The view of Tel Aviv from the shores of Joppa. Anders Kiledal | Collegian

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Jonathan Anderson By | Evan Carter

How would you describe your style?

Victorian, as exemplified by the first outfit. Charles Dickens, Tiny Tim. Another one that’s pretty obvious — living with ACL tears.

Has your fashion evolved recently?

I definitely would say that my bruising has evolved, but other than that I would say my fashion has been pretty stagnant.

Where do you like to shop for clothes?

Usually, it’s a pretty urban environment. My favorite area is the streets of London: wonderful haberdasheries and other

Evan Carter | Collegian

clothing stores there. And the other place is local sports stores.

Evan Carter | Collegian

Do you have a favorite piece of clothing?

The first one isn’t actually a piece of clothing — It’s a tool. It’s my crutches.

And my other favorite piece of clothing is my ‘I love soccer moms’ shirt, which I wear often while teaching underprivileged youth how to play soccer.