3.23.17 Hillsdale Collegian

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The poetry of Will Carleton The Hillsdale alumnus was also a beloved poet, with works such as “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse” and “Betsey and I Are Out.” B4

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

‘Beauty and the Beast’ The live-action version of the Disney classic with Emma Watson shows dazzling promise but disappoints in reality.

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Vol. 140 Issue 22 - 23 March 2017

Citgo gas station reopens Watkins Oil recently reopened the Citgo gas station on Broad Street as the Sunrise Shop convenience store. A6

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Arrest of former student concludes two-hour lockdown of campus By | Thomas Novelly Editor-in-Chief A former student was arrested by Coldwater Police on Wednesday, after Hillsdale College received news of a potential threat that sent campus into a two-hour lockdown. College administrators lifted the lockdown at 2:15 p.m., after Coldwater Police reported they had detained the former student. “The college is always going to take every step possible to ensure the safety of the campus community,” Rich Péwé, chief administrative officer for Hillsdale College, said in a press release. “Under the same circumstances, the college would not hesitate to take the same action.” Director of Campus Security

and Emergency Management William Whorley sent students an email at 12:26 p.m. alerting them to stay indoors and to be on the lookout for the suspect. “The college has received information that a person, who left a residence from the surrounding area, may be armed,” Whorley said in the email. “Please stay indoors — You will be advised when it is all clear.” While students sat in A.J.’s Café, the library, and classrooms, college security worked with local law enforcement and actively searched campus for the suspect. Student veterans and Professor of Biology Francis Steiner volunteered to stand outside and guard the building with security, as well. Hillsdale Police Chief Scott Hephner searched the Grewcock Student Union, looking

over balconies and walking past tables to locate the suspect. “There is a threat that is active,” Hephner said during the search. “While it is unlikely here, these lockdown precautions are necessary.” After the lockdown was lifted, numerous students and faculty members shook the hands of local police and college security staff, thanking them for their diligence during the search. “They did very well,” President Larry Arnn said in an email. “They consulted each other, kept me and each other informed, reasoned clearly, and coordinated with law enforcement. I enjoyed the cooperation of the student body and all the staff and faculty.” In addition to thanking the law enforcement, administra-

tors also said they were appreciative of the student body’s quiet and calm demeanor during the lockdown. “We appreciate the way our students responded,” Diane Phillipp, vice president for student affairs for Hillsdale College, said in a press release. “They were calm and respectful of the situation.” Coldwater Police said they wouldn’t comment on the condition of the former student. Arnn said he felt bad for the former student and hoped he would be OK in the future. “Sad about that,” Arnn said, “I wish him well, but I hope he is not a danger or further danger to others.”

Hillsdale College put up a fence around the Quad over spring break, to mark the construction area for Christ Chapel to protect people walking on campus. The fence will stand, for two years. Nina Hufford | Collegian

Fence around Quad to stand until 2019

By | Thomas Novelly Editor-in-Chief Walking to class has become more complicated, and it won’t change for the next two years. As soon as students left campus for spring break on March 10, Hillsdale College installed fencing around the Quad in preparation for the construction of Christ Chapel, blocking off the entirety of the Quad as well as some parking for the student body. “Unfortunately, the project will last two years,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said in an email. “There is no way to avoid the inconvenience. The sooner we started in the spring, the quicker we can get certain ‘critical path’ work done before winter.” The fence blocks students from accessing the main entrance of the Grewcock Student Union and the main entrance to the Dow Leadership Center.

As a result, numerous students have complained about the fence, calling it unsightly and a major inconvenience to their campus commute.

next two years, and in some cases, access to Galloway Drive might be temporarily blocked,” Péwé said. “Right now, there is a sidewalk going in which will accommodate student traffic from Galloway Drive to the southeast end of Grewcock.” Additionally, students have wondered why construction could not begin after graduation. While that may be more convenient for students, Péwé said the project must start sooner rather than later. “March and April are better months to mobilize so we can get earth work and foundation work under way in the favorable temperatures,” Péwé said. “It makes my walk to class “A month or two makes a huge an extra five to 10 minutes londifference. March was a better ger,” junior Elyse Hutchenson time versus May to get more said. “I live in Pi Phi and walk competitive bids.” to class from that direction. While the next two years Now the whole way we use to of the incoming construction get on campus is blocked off.” may lead to frustration from With the groundbreaking numerous students, Péwé said it is ultimately in the best interest of everyone. “Everything we do is in pursuit of the mission and the benefit of our students,” Péwé said. “It’s better to complete the project and have a dedication in May 2019 versus September 2019. This way we have a chance of having the 2019 grads take part in the dedication and see the finished chapel before heading out to jobs, grad school, and professional Construction crew members make a new path from Galloway Drive to Galloway Residence to help people get more school.”

“Everything we do is in pursuit of the mission and the benefit of our students.”

ceremony for Christ Chapel on April 6, the college is already taking aggressive steps to start construction on the 27,000-square-foot building. Since the beginning of March, the college has made numerous steps to prepare for the fence and the excavation. Groundskeepers have pulled out shrubs and tall trees as well as the sprinkler system. Péwé said workers will soon begin digging a 26-foot long pit for the foundation, and eventually a tower crane reaching several hundred feet high will be installed within the perimeter to lift heavy materials. Because of numerous safety hazards, Péwé said the fence will not be moving any time soon. To help students navigate around the constricted campus, workers have already started installing new routes. “There will be a good amount of construction traffic on Galloway Drive for the

easily to campus, since the Quad is closed for construction of Christ Chapel. Nina Hufford | Collegian Follow @HDaleCollegian

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Students crowd the Grewcock Student Union, after Hillsdale College went into a full lockdown and asked people to stay indoors. Brendan noble | Courtesy

Students react to lockdown By | Breana Noble News Editor After learning the potential threat made against Hillsdale College on Wednesday allegedly came from a student formerly enrolled at Hillsdale, students said they were surprised and concerned for their former classmate. The suspect was arrested in Coldwater on Wednesday shortly after 2 p.m., according to the Daily Reporter, a newspaper based in Coldwater. Although many said they did not think much of the initial announcement about the lockdown, after learning the suspect once attended the college, students said they prayed for him and hoped that he would get medical help. “It’s a reminder to be understanding and gracious to the people you know, because there are things you don’t know about people, and things you can’t see,” sophomore Bobbie Briggs said. Students said when Director of Security William Whorley initially sent an email to students, faculty, and staff about campus being put on lockdown at 12:26 p.m., they still felt secure, expecting the incident to end shortly. “We didn’t know about it until after noonday prayer,” junior Monicah Wanjiru said. “The initial reaction was that students said, ‘I wonder if I can go to Galloway or the old snack bar.’ We were not scared. Nothing ever happens here.” Freshman Lauren Adams said she didn’t think much of it at first. “I thought it was just someone close to campus,” Adams said. “I mean, this is a school where we get emails about when deer season starts.” Freshman Adelaide Holmes was eating lunch with President Larry Arnn when he got a phone call about the situation. “He was just really open and honest about what was going on,” Holmes said. “He was really peaceful, and that helped me not worry. He knew it was well-handled and under control.” Junior Allison Deckert said she was in a class on the second floor of Lane Hall, during the lockdown, giving her a view of many police vehicles traveling around campus. Shortly after sending the email, an emergency telephone call was made to students and their emergency contacts, informing them of the lockdown and that there wasn’t an immediate threat. “I appreciated the call,” said Mike Bruno, father of senior Frank Bruno. “I wouldn’t have known what was going on without it...The first thing I thought is ‘Wow, this is the type of thing you see on the television, and now it’s happening to us.’ I told Frank to lay low and contact me when it is all safe and cleared up.” Stuck in the buildings they were in, students continued mostly as they were, eating lunch and playing ping pong

and card games in the Grewcock Student Union, while they waited for updates. A.J.’s Café continued its service, as well. “I was in the library, and it was really quiet, like normal,” junior Jessie Kopmeyer said. “They just asked us to move away from the windows, and the librarians were really nice, going around and asking if we wanted water.” Some students said they did have problems with connecting to the internet, especially in the union, as people were trying to find more information about the lockdown on social media and from news reports. After learning that the suspect in the case was a former student, however, current students said it became more personal. “I knew him,” junior Kevin Wilkinson said. “I wouldn’t ever have expected that.” Senior Shelby Nies said she knows the former student, as well. “I didn’t think anything would happen on campus,” Nies said. “I was more concerned for his well being.” Adams said learning that it was a former student made her more nervous. “That freaked me out, because it wasn’t just someone upset and near,” Adams said. “It was someone who knew the college well, and I was in the union with hundreds of people, and that is not a place you want to be.” Kristina Perkins ’16 arrived to campus, during the lockdown, to visit friends. She said she hopes people still see the school as the safe campus that she experienced for four years. Wanjiru said junior Peter Wenger led a group of students for 30 minutes in prayer, since many of them knew him through extracurricular activities. “We prayed for his soul, for grace,” Wanjiru said. “We prayed for him as a friend. It was surprising that this was even possible that a former Hillsdale student did this.” Wenger said the former student was a good friend of his when he attended Hillsdale. “I was concerned for him, and I knew that only God could restore his heart and heal his mind,” Wenger said. Once given the all clear, campus activities continued as normal, and students returned to class. Bon Appétit Management Company, however, did extend lunch dining hours for students who missed their meal while being held in other buildings. After the lockdown, students said they were unclear on what happened, since updates from the college to students did not hold many details, but they said they were grateful that security and police handled the situation. “It’s a comment that students feel safe on campus, because no one was scared by it,” Nies said. “That’s a blessing.” Look for The Hillsdale Collegian


News Stopping the Spotify sound

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A2 23 Mar. 2017

In brief:

NRA CEO to speak in April

Hillsdale students not eligible for Spotify discount

By | Philip H. DeVoe City News Editor National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre will visit campus April 7 to deliver a speech titled “The 2016 Election and Future Challenges” at a luncheon in the Searle Center. Students are welcome to attend, but they must RSVP through a link provided in this week’s student activities newsletters by Friday becuase of limited seating. “LaPierre knows that Hillsdale is a staunch defender of traditional liberties and traditional rights, and appreciates that,” said Professor of History David Raney, who is introducing LaPierre during the event. “In recent years, with the addition of the John A. Halter Shooting Sports Center, he understands that level of devotion has been enhanced and there’s no doubt that he’s sup-

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre will speak at Hillsdale College on April 7. Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia Commons

portive of that and thankful we’re doing it.” Raney — who is also the Halter chair in American history, the Constitution, and the Second Amendment — said he has known LaPierre since 1989 when he met him at an NRA annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. Raney has been an NRA member since he was 14 and worked as a summer intern at the association in 1989. “LaPierre is a very effective communicator, very soft spoken, and very mellow but also tenacious when it comes to lobbying effort,” Raney said. “He has boundless energy and is a tireless defender of the Second Amendment, which he has put into play in his current position.” Raney said LaPierre is effective at increasing membership in the association and placing the NRA on the offensive. One of the association’s best forces for lobbying is its extensive grassroots membership throughout the United States. Campaign finance laws limit how much the NRA can contribute to politicians, so the association relies on its political clout resulting from large groups of members in electoral districts. “Their members are in some cases single-mindedly devoted to protecting the right to keep and bear arms,” Raney said. “LaPierre has been very effective at building membership.”

David Wagner and Jeremy Tate, co-founders of the Classic Learning Initiative, said they produced the Classic Learning Test in response to a demand for something different from the SAT and ACT. Nicole ault | Collegian

Hillsdale accepts new entrance exam By | Nicole Ault Collegian reporter ANNAPOLIS, Md. — When Hillsdale College announced its acceptance of the Classic Learning Test on March 6, views on the college entrance exam’s website almost doubled, said Jeremy Tate, president and co-founder of the Classic Learning Initiative, the exam’s parent company. “It was a game changer,” Tate said. “I think it communicated a lot of credibility to other schools.” Along with 39 other colleges and universities, Hillsdale College will start accepting students’ CLT scores as an alternative to SAT and ACT scores for the class of 2022. The college found out about the CLT a year and a half ago and began to seriously consider adopting it in part because parents expressed concern about the SAT and ACT’s alignment with Common Core national standards, said Zachary Miller, senior director of admissions. Hillsdale subjected the CLT to an extensive vetting process that made the college’s acceptance all the more meaningful, Tate said. Over the course of four months, a select committee at the college analyzed test questions, queried other colleges that have adopted the exam, compared scores with those from other standardized tests, and administered the exam to 38 current freshman. “It went through intense scrutiny to make sure it was really a test that could measure a student’s preparedness for college, especially for Hillsdale,” Miller said. Miller said the exam is different but on par with the other tests as an evaluation of students’ abilities. “It’s truly a test that’s going to measure a student’s ability to reason and their aptitude, and that’s what we like,” he said, noting that the committee found questions on the CLT to be comparable in rigor to those on the SAT and ACT. “That’s what a standardized college entrance exam is supposed to do.” Tate said he and David Wagner, CEO of the Classic Learning Initiative, founded the exam because they recognized a demand for something different — and better — than the SAT and ACT. First offered in the fall of 2015, the CLT differs from the SAT and ACT both in content and in form. Consisting of three sections — verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and grammar and writing — the 120-question exam takes 2

hours and 15 minutes to complete, Tate said. Students must come to designated testing centers, but they can use their own devices to take the exam online, and they receive their results the same day. But the most significant differences are in content, Tate said, noting that the exam is not geared to match the Common Core curriculum. “At the end of the day, the ACT, SAT, and CLT are academic standards that ultimately drive curriculum at the high school level,” Tate said. “The SAT and ACT put pressure on high school curriculum to conform to the Common Core.” In contrast, Tate said, the CLT asks students to analyze classic texts from the Western tradition instead of modern texts that are often found on the SAT and ACT. “We want to put kids in front of the greatest thinkers in the history Western thought, in front of really timeless material that’s stood the test of time,” he said. “They’re not just going to be prepping for a test; they’re going to be immersing themselves in the full richness of the Western intellectual inheritance.” Miller said the college appreciated this distinction from the SAT and ACT. “We like that the passages and questions in the CLT draw from some of the great minds of the Western tradition,” he said. “We think there’s a richness and a depth to that, which allows students to engage their minds.” But Tate and Wagner said they want the test to be more than an alternative for families who don’t like the Common Core. They aim to provide good customer service, they said, noting conveniences they offer that the other tests don’t: an online platform, same-day results, and free score reporting to colleges. Wagner said they’re trying to reach out to families and colleges, too, and starting an online book club with professors of partner colleges. “We’re galvanizing a community — an approach to education, a worldview,” he said. At the Classic Learning Initiative’s headquarters — a spacious apartment tucked away in Annapolis’ historic district — Wagner and Tate and their co-workers joke that they want to be the Chick-Fil-A of standardized testing — with customer loyalty and a reputation for providing excellent quality. “We want to be the best test out there,” Wagner said.

Art trip planned for Saturday By | Jo Kroeker Opinions Editor A visiting painting of a stark old woman, the mother of American-born painter James McNeill Whistler, is drawing Hillsdale College students to the Chicago Institute of Art on Saturday. The trip costs $45 and covers transportation, a ticket, and dinner. Professor of Art Barbara Bushey said everything on display at the institute is worth the visit for students studying art at any level because the works are best experienced in person. Whistler’s “Arrangement in Grey and Black #1,” however, makes the trip more attractive, because it is a visiting exhibit. If the trip goes well, Bushey said she hopes to offer it every three years.

For senior art major Rachael Reynolds, Whistler’s visiting piece is a main draw, because she relates to the story behind the painting. “He needed a model, so he used his mom, and she couldn’t stand, so he had her sit, and then he needed money, so he pawned it off,” Reynolds said. “It’s very plain, but I find that interesting and relatable. It’s difficult to find models, and making money is hard.” Bushey said Whistler believed in art for art’s sake, concerning himself with the formal qualities of art such as line, shape, value, color, space, texture, and pattern, rather than the work’s resemblance to a particular thing in the real world. “He gave his works musical titles,” Bushey said. “Music is

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the most abstract of all the arts and yet no one is angry that a symphony does not exactly replicate the sound of a babbling brook, for instance.” Bushey said people can learn about form and composition by studying the work of an artist who was particularly interested in these elements. President of Alpha Rho Tau, Hillsdale’s art honorary, junior Elsa Lagerquist, said she can never pass up on a chance to visit a museum and that trips like this aren’t just for art majors. “Appreciating art is basically noticing, getting good at observation, and things will come out of that,” Lagerquist said. “If you go, just start looking at a painting, and connections will form, and it’ll get better and better.”

By | Breana Noble News Editor Hillsdale College students may no longer qualify for Spotify student discounts. Several Hillsdale College students were denied the $4.99-per-month deal on premium accounts for the music streaming service offered to college students, because Hillsdale is not a Title IV institution, meaning it doesn’t accept federal money. Students still were denied, even after going through Spotify’s manual student verification process with SheerID Inc. “Unfortunately, this offer is only being extended to students enrolled in the winter or Spring 2017 term at any Title IV U.S. College/University located in the United States,” Victor of the SheerID verification team said in an email to junior Chandler Lasch, when she was denied renewal of the student discount last week. “As a third party service, we must follow the guidelines set by Spotify.” Spotify’s terms and conditions state the discount is offered to “students at a U.S. Title IV accredited institution located in the United States.” Aunika, a SheerID verification team member who said she could not share her last name, told The Collegian that Spotify updated its terms within the past year. “Right now, for this school year, we are to approve only Title IV institutions,” Aunika said. Spotify did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Spotify Premium allows subscribers to download music and avoid advertisements that the service’s free version includes. Without the discount, it costs $9.99 per month. In the fall, SheerID and Spotify told The Collegian that they were aware Hillsdale stu-

dents have to manually verify their enrollment to receive the student discount. SheerID uses a database from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which only includes Title IV institutions, to approve student enrollment. The manual verification process requires students to supply school-issued documentation providing their name, an issue date of the current term, and their college’s name. Hillsdale students said they were successful in qualifying for the discount by submitting a transcript or class schedule as recent as the fall semester. But according to SheerID, that should no longer be the case. “SheerID verifies eligibility based on our customer’s specified verification requirements,” Katie Kellar, SheerID manager of strategic communications, said in an email. “As such, we have continued to improve our technology and processes to ensure eligibility is accurate based on the specified [terms and conditions].” Aunika said the updates to SheerID’s verification system occur frequently. Nonetheless, a Collegian reporter submitted copies of an unofficial transcript, class schedule, and student ID to SheerID to be approved for the student discount on Saturday. An email from the SheerID verification team approved the request, and the reporter was able to access Spotify remium for the lower rate. Aunika from SheerID said the request should not have been approved and that all team members have been informed that they should not accept requests from students at non-Title IV institutions. Students who were denied the discount said they were disappointed and frustrated by the change in policy.

Last month, SheerID denied the request of junior Razi Lane to renew his student discount because Hillsdale is not a Title IV institution, he said. It happened as he was making road trip preparations with his father and brother to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where his brother attends. Since West Point is in SheerID’s database, Lane now uses his brother’s account. “Spotify’s decision to extend its student discount exclusively to schools which accept federal funding is poor execution of a noble motivation,” Lane said. “While I expect reasonable vetting for colleges whose students seek the discount, Spotify’s federal funding metric dismisses reputable colleges, such as Hillsdale and Grove City College, absent any consideration of their educational merit. I think that Spotify should use the Department of Education’s accreditation as its standard. If it’s good enough for graduate schools, it should satisfy Spotify.” After Lasch received her denial email for renewing her discount, she contacted Spotify on Twitter. “We’re afraid that since SheerID are the ones taking care of the verification for the student discount, there isn’t much we can do,” Spotify said in a response to her direct message. “Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to let the right folks know that you’d like to see it available at more schools.” Lasch said she is now using Spotify’s free version and that she doesn’t understand how attending a Title IV institution relates to the service Spotify offers. “It’s really frustrating, especially since I reached out to them,” Lasch said. “The Twitter handle I talked to was called @ SpotifyCares, and I’m not convinced they do.”

Forensics finishes with four honors at state finals

Juniors Mary Blendermann and Steven Custer competed at the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League’s State Championship Tournament on Saturday. Hans Noyes | Courtesy

By | Joe Pappalardo Video Editor Junior Mary Blendermann finished the state speech finals with an armful of hardware, placing in four events on Saturday. The Hillsdale College forensics team competed at Eastern Michigan University in the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League’s State Championship Tournament. Blendermann and junior Steven Custer were the only Hillsdale students who participated at the event, though the team brought along student observers who will participate in forensics next semester, coach Matthew Warner said. “The only person to place was Mary,” Warner said. “She killed it.” Blendermann won the tournament’s Impromptu Speaking category and placed fifh in Informative Speaking, Poetry, and Program of Oral Interpretation. Because she participated in four events over three different categories, Blendermann placed third in the tournament’s Quadrathon, an award given to the best overall performers. She edged her way to the top, by making her first

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attempt in the Poetry category, giving a speech interpreting a piece of work. “In order to be eligible for a Quadrathon award, you have to be entered in at least one event from each of the three categories — platform, limited preparation, and interpretation — as well as a fourth event,” Blendermann said in an email. “Those who receive Quadrathon trophies have the highest cumulative point totals across all of their events.” The speech team joined the debate team on Tuesday, as they traveled to the Pi Kappa Delta Convention and National Tournament at Boise State University in Idaho. The competition runs from March 2125 and requires a joint effort by the two teams. “Everyone on the speech team will be doing two debate events: Discussion and Student Congress,” Custer said. “Similarly, everyone on the debate team is doing individual speech events. Some examples include Radio Broadcasting, Persuasive, and After Dinner Speaking.” Warner said he hopes for a top 10 finish this year with the speech team, and he said de-

bate coach Matthew Doggett is seeking a top five finish for the debate students. He said he would normally also expect a top five finish, but the speech team is smaller than a typical tournament squad. The debate team typically expects first place, but this year, there is a much larger pool of competitors. “Overall, we are after three team awards,” Warner said. “Team Debate Sweepstakes, Team Individual Events Sweepstakes, and Combined Sweepstakes. Each of the three, due to the overlap by both debate and speech team members, is fully considered a Hillsdale Competitive Speaking honor. We have won the Debate Sweepstakes three out of the last four biennial tournaments. Last time, we finished second. Our best-ever combined finish so far has been first in Debate, fourth in Individual Events, and third in Combined Sweepstakes.” The Pi Kappa Delta Tournament is the final event of the speech team’s season. The debate team will compete in the National Forensics Association championship in April.

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News Exam shows class of 2017 is smarter than class of 2016

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By | Evan Carter Web Editor Hillsdale College seniors scored in the 99th-100th percentile of college students nationwide in a national stan-

A3 23 Mar. 2017

dardized exam. In the second year the college has administered the Educational Testing Service Proficiency Profile, the 50 seniors from Hillsdale who took the exam earned an average total

ETS Proficiency Profile results

Grace DeSandro | Collegian

score of 482.4 of 500 points, nearly two points higher than last year’s seniors, and 35 points higher than the national average of 447.1. The results provide the college with data on students’ growth and the college’s academic results, Director of Institutional Research George Allen said. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said he wasn’t surprised the scores of students at the college surpassed the national average. “Our curriculum is arranged according to principles much older than testing of this type, which makes it curious that we should excel on this test,” Arnn said in an email. “In another way, it is not curious: When intelligent and inspired students and faculty work hard together, marvels unfold.” The exam is akin to a college-level SAT and tests stu-

dents in the skill areas of critical thinking, reading, writing, and math as well as in the context-based areas of humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Hillsdale improved its scores in every subject, except reading and social sciences. More than 130,000 students participated in the exams nationwide. Senior Kimberly Deichmann said her biggest motivation for taking the exam was the $25 Amazon gift card given to those who participated. “I didn’t think it was that hard,” Deichmann said, “It was pretty similar to other standardized tests I’ve taken like the ACT or the GRE.” Allen said the proficiency profile is part of the college’s revision of its general educational assessment of students’ educational growth over their four years at the college. Previ-

ous assessments were internally produced, while the proficiency profile allows the school administration to compare students at Hillsdale with those at other institutions. “Our previously developed methods and standards internally demonstrated that students were growing in their capacity for thinking and writing,” Allen said. “But this adds something we didn’t have before, which is validation against externally developed standards.” Allen said Hillsdale’s sample of 50 seniors is representative of the whole senior class and fair to compare against the scores from other institutions. Hillsdale’s 50 exam participants had GPAs ranging from below 3.0 to nearly 4.0 with an average of 3.47. At fall convocation, the class of 2017 had an average GPA of 3.34.

“We did consider that only the academically best students take the test, but what we’ve shown that the average GPA of our sample size matches the average GPA of the senior body as a whole,” Allen said. In January 2018, representatives of the Higher Learning Commission, which grants the college its accreditation, will visit the college. As a part of Hillsdale’s reaccreditation process, the representatives will look at the college’s general educational assessment. “Changes to general education assessment will be a topic of conversation. I certainly don’t anticipate there being any problem,” Allen said. “In the past the Higher Learning Commission has examined how we did general education assessment, and they made minor recommendations, which we adopted.”

Expanded on-campus housing decreases off-campus permissions off-campus permission, which affected his plans to live with friends his senior year, he said. Dean of Women Diane Philipp said last year’s renovations to Mauck Residence forced more sophomore and juniors off campus. Now, 43 women live in Mauck, just shy of the 53-person limit. “Mauck made a difference,” Philipp said. “More kids got off last year, because we couldn’t house all the kids from Mauck when they moved back in. There was a group that we had to put off-campus, because we couldn’t house them on campus. This year that would’ve been noticeable.” Both Petersen and Philipp said the process of determining off-campus permission is simple and transparent for students. All students can apply to live off campus, after their freshman year. After the signup deadline, the registrar puts the names in a list based on graduation year and number of Hillsdale College course credits. Philipp said the deans then go down the list to grant off-campus permission. “The process was established a number of years ago,” Philipp said. “It was actually created by fellow students as a leadership project. The reason

why we go by Hillsdale College credits is that sophomores were able to get off before some seniors because of AP and dual-enrolment credits from high school. It’s about the integrity of the office, and we want to make sure nobody thinks we’re playing favorites.” Some women said they were only credits away from making the cut. Sophomore Haley Hauprich was one of them, and as a result, she can’t rent a house with her two friends. “I had roommates and a house all set to go, and since we were given the impression that it was very likely we would receive permission, I didn’t really think of a back-up plan,” Hauprich said. “My two roommates ended up receiving permission, so they are doing their own thing. I was told they make the decision entirely based on how many credits you have taken. Someone who has taken just one more credit than you can receive permission, but you wouldn’t.” While the credit scale for off-campus permission hasn’t changed, the number of students who decline to live off campus has. In 2016, 49 men declined to live on campus, leaving the administration scrambling and calling students over the summer to offer

Students granted off-campus permission Grace DeSandro | Collegian

By | Thomas Novelly Editor-In-Chief Numerous juniors and sophomores did not recieve off-campus permission, because of expanded on-campus housing options next year, leaving many unsure of their future housing plans. According to the Dean of Men and Women’s offices, the numbers are substantially lower for off-campus permission compared to last year. In 2016, 143 men and 110 women were allowed to live off campus. For the 2017-2018 academic year, however, only 82 men and 92 women have been given permission so far. With Koon Residence set to house men instead of women next year, Dean of Men Aaron Petersen said off-campus permission is unlikely to change. “This year I gained about 50 more beds from Koon and Park Place,” Petersen said. “At this point, we don’t plan on letting any more men off-campus. If we have beds we need to fill, then we have a fiscal responsibility to fill those beds. It’s also a benefit. Having more campus spaces to fill adds to the strong community.” As a result, many students housing plans for next semester are uncertain. Junior Nathan Steinmeyer did not recieve

them spots. The dean’s offered nearly 100 less off-campus spots to men this year, because only nine men declined. In addition to missing the credit cutoff, many students said living on campus is a financial burden for them. “I only have 53 Hillsdale credits, and the girls that received off campus had maybe 60-62,” sophomore Katie Zelnak said. “My concern is that I cannot afford the suites, and why would I, as a junior, next year want to live in the dorms?” Dean Philipp said the administration needs to fill all bed’s on campus to help the school’s budget and that they’re willing to help students with financial need. “We have to make money,

and we have to pay the heat bills and the maintenance,” Philipp said. “Our marching orders are to fill as many beds as we can. We’ll encourage those students who are struggling with finances to talk with financial aid for help. We have never closed that door for a student to get off-campus housing due to financial reasons.” The majority of universities throughout the country don’t require undergraduates to get permission to live off campus, and several Hillsdale students said they think the requirement limits their opportunity to govern themselves. “Living off campus in an independent situation is an excellent way to practice the self government that the Hillsdale

administration is so eager to preach but so rarely actually allows its students to practice,” sophomore Kathleen Russo said in a message. Decreasing the on-campus requirement would be beneficial to the overall aims of the college and its purposes.” Philipp and Petersen said they understand the frustrations of students who aren’t granted off-campus permission but that it is an opportunity to grow Hillsdale’s community. “I would love to have everyone live on campus, because I like the community it would create,” Philipp said. “But I realize that students like to have some independence and want that experience of living in apartment with their friends.”

Marketing makes the cut, nabs adverstising awards Volunteers from Hillsdale College traveled to Flint, Michigan, to clean up the grounds near abandoned homes, during the spring break mission trip. Hans Noyes | Courtesy

Volunteering on vacation Hillsdale students spend spring break serving others

By | Abigail Liebing Collegian Freelancer While some students worked on their tans this spring break, others worked through the chilly Michigan weather, serving the Hillsdale community. For a fourth year, a group of students organized a weeklong mission trip to share the gospel and serve the community in Hillsdale. About 35 people volunteered with various community organization as well as cleaned up neighborhoods in Flint, Michigan. Senior Kathryn Lewis, who started the annual trip with Shelley Peters ’15, said the mission trip has two goals. “The first is to spread the gospel in the Hillsdale community by meeting relational, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs,” Lewis said in an email. “The second is for real and rich discipleship to happen in the lives of college students participating.” The group spent Saturday in Flint, helping clean up differ-

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things to know from this week

-Compiled by Brendan Clarey

ent neighborhoods and areas. It spent the rest of the week in Hillsdale. Volunteers helped A Few Good Men with manual labor projects for Hillsdale residents, spent time with children at the Community Action Agency preschool, distributed food at Salvation Army, and visited people at Hillsdale Hospital. They also held a lunch on Tuesday for the custodial, maintenance, Bon Appètit Management Co., and security staff, to thank them for their work. For some students, staying to serve in Hillsdale was a way to refresh and connect with others, they said. “It’s actually really restful, because at school, there is a lot of focus on yourself, and your grades, and achieving,” said junior Emily Barnum, who went on the trip for the third time this year, “Getting the focus off yourself and toward others is really grounding, and it can actually be really encouraging.” Junior Summer Burkholder, who helped plan the trip, said

she enjoyed working with students with a passion for service. “I enjoyed meeting students who care about the Hillsdale community and are aware of the city we inhabit during our college years,” Burkholder said. The trip is also a time for spiritual rejuvenation, participants said. During the week, the group did devotionals and held times for worship, and speakers spoke on the devotional topics. “We deeply desire to see tangible growth in our own walks with the Lord, and this almost always happens when you are surrounded by the Christian community and walking in the way of the cross through emptying yourself just as Jesus emptied himself,” Lewis said. Although the mission trip focuses on Christianity, it is open to all students, Lewis said. “This is something that I am so passionate about,” she said. “I really believe that the mission trip can change lives and the community in amazing and tangible ways.”

FBI investigates Russian involvement in election FBI Director James Comey said Monday the agency is looking into ties between President Donald Trump’s election campaign and the Russian government. Trump has been outspoken in his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

3 dead, 40 injured in U.K. attack on Wednesday A suspected terrorist attack on the U.K.’s Parliament building in London on Wednesday left three civilians dead and as many as 40 injured. The gunman ran over pedestrians on a bridge, before attacking a police officer with a knife. The gunman was killed by police.

By | Breana Noble News Editor Hillsdale College’s new website and TV commercial have earned its recognition from the Educational Advertising Awards for the first time. On March 1, the competition sponsored by the Higher Education Marketing Report announced Hillsdale had received six honors in its category of four-year institutions under 2,000 enrollees for the redesign of the college’s online platform, promotional videos, and other marketing materials. “The department’s goal is radiating the message, activity, and mission of the college to as many people as we can,” said Brad Lowrey, director of digital marketing and social media. “Marketing talks to more people than any other department, and with Hillsdale in the position that it is, we need to talk with as many people as we can. The mission is unique, and at times, it’s contagious.” Of the 33 categories, Hillsdale submitted materials for seven, said Megan Bowser, executive assistant and account manager for marketing. This was the second year Hillsdale participated in the competition. The awards received more than 2,500 entries from more than 1,000 institutions in every state and some foreign countries, according to a press release. Only 319 institutions received gold awards and 224

earned silver. Hillsdale earned three gold awards for its television series advertisement, integrated marketing campaign, and athletic marketing program. The college’s “Freedom” TV ad filmed with ColdWater Media Inc. in Colorado had its premiere in September in Michigan and was then taken national. The marketing department later extended the national campaign through March 31. The ad features a voiceover describing the college’s mission and shows students and faculty members in various places on campus, including classrooms, Slayton Arboretum, Mossey Library, McNamara Recital Hall, and the JAM weight room. “At the end of the day, we want Hillsdale to look the best,” ColdWater Media Production Manager David Coonradt said. “This recognition represents that. At the end of the day, it’s about making the college, the students, the professors look the best and show the awesome school they are.” The marketing campaign included the college’s website as well as redesigned admissions booklets and brochures that are more visually appealing with photos of campus and student life and less textually heavy. One of these viewbooks for prospective students also received a merit award. “The best part about it is that we’re creating these creative pieces and these very

beautiful brochures, but inside all of them it’s talking about the work of the college,” Lowrey said. Hillsdale launched its redesigned website with help from Lipman Hearne LLC in April 2016, transforming it into a modern-looking site that highlights social media, video, and photos with more than 700 pages. “It’s a living thing,” Lowrey said. “Since the launch of last year, we have made over 1,000 changes to the site overall, and we’re getting more all the time.” The marketing department also won silver awards for two videos done with help from Cold WaterMedia. The video viewbook of “What College is Meant to Be” shows students explaining the features of a Hillsdale education, from the liberal arts and Hillsdale’s professors to the students’ thriving faith life and lifelong friendships. The video “Hillsdale College: Surrounded By Beauty” also received silver and features images of students at Baw Beese Lake, an equestrian team rider, football games, and runners and bikers in Hayden Park. In the past, Hillsdale has also received awards for its videos, student blog, and social media. “It validates the work we’re doing and shows that Hillsdale College is moving into a bestin-class, best-in-industry model,” Lowrey said.

Gorsuch has Senate hearings, defends Rule of Law Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil. M. Gorsuch had a series of Senate hearings this week in which he defended the rule of law and his willingness to rule against the Trump administration. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned a decision based on Gorsuch’s views.

SpaceX Dragon returns to Earth, after mission A spacecraft called the SpaceX Dragon has returned to Earth, after a month-long mission to the International Space Station. It safely returned with lab samples from various experiments carried out in the zero-gravity environment of the station.

Rhinoceroses lose their horns in Czech Republic A zoo in the Czech Republic has begun to remove the horns from its rhinoceroses. The Dvur Kralove Zoo decided to remove the horns from the animals after a recent attack in France where a rhino was killed and the horns stolen. The procedure is painless.


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Yesterday, we were safe. Tomorrow, let's be safer. Newsroom: (517) 607-2897 Advertising: (517) 607-2684

Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor in Chief | Thomas Novelly Associate Editor | Kate Patrick News Editor | Breana Noble City News Editor | Philip H. DeVoe Opinions Editor | Jo Kroeker | Anders Hagstrom Sports Editor | Jessie Fox Culture Editor | Hannah Niemeier Features Editor | S.M. Chavey Design Editor | Grace DeSandro Web Editor | Evan Carter Photo Editor | Madeline Barry Senior Writers | Andrew Egger | Nathanael Meadowcroft | Ramona Tausz Circulation Managers | Conor Woodfin | Finn Cleary Ad Managers | Adam Stathakis | Aidan Donovan Assistant Editors | Stevan Bennett, Jr. | Jordyn Pair | Joe Pappalardo | Joshua J. Paladino | Katie Scheu | Tim Pearce | Brendan Clarey | Madeleine Jepsen | Michael Lucchese Photographers | Ben Block | Catherine Howard | Emilia Heider | Jordyn Pair | Luke Robson | Andrea Lee | Lauren Schlientz | Madeline Fry | Nicole Ault | Nina Hufford | Rachael Reynolds | Sarah Borger | Zane Miller | Hannah Kwapisz | Sarah Reinsel Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, length, and style. Letters should be 450 words or less and include your name and number. Send submissions to jkroeker@hillsdale.edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.

The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff

Now we know what happens when the campus goes into lockdown. Although we’re still learning about the incident, it appears as though the administration received a credible threat and took strong but appropriate action to protect students, faculty, and staff. We’ve watched in horror as terror has struck other campuses. The cliché is true: Better safe than sorry. Yesterday, we were safe. During the lockdown, hundreds of students sat in class-

rooms and in the Grewcock Student Union, refreshing social media feeds and email inboxes, waiting to receive more information about a potential threat to campus. A phone call playing a recorded message, followed by an all-campus email, alerted students about the lockdown, mentioning a person who “may be armed.” In emergencies like this, confusion is normal. In another context, this is called the “fog of war.” In the moment, we must act on only partial in-

formation. The cold, hard facts — and the clarity that they deliver — come later. During the lockdown, students received few details about what was happening. Some learned about the threat from parents. The rumor mill began to churn. With few updates from the administration, students texted friends and scoured the internet for nuggets of information to fill the gaps on their own. This resulted in even more confusion and hearsay, adding additional

chaos to an already tense afternoon. Some of this is inevitable. No crisis ever unfolds smoothly. We are a college, so it’s natural for us to think of everything as a learning opportunity. Let’s turn this into one, reviewing all of our practices to make sure — if this ever happens again — that the college is as safe as possible.

Unplug your earbuds They're making us deaf By | Tara Ung

Special to the Collegian

in noisy ones. Researchers hypothesize that because earbuds do not block sound as well as over-theear headphones, users tend to listen at higher volumes, battering those hair cells with higher decibels. Earbuds in particular — more than headphones — also deliver stronger waves to the cochlear nerves, which can cause ear damage even at a lower volume. So, earbud users should be careful about their listening habits. But, even those of us who use overthe-ear headphones have reasons to unplug. At the Grammys last month, the sound-tech company Sonos launched an ad campaign based on a study — conducted with musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin — that investigated the effects of the “silent home” epidemic. The study found that 67 percent of people globally live in “silent homes,” or households without music. Levitin’s research has indicated that music is a social experience crossculturally, and only recently has listening to music become an ex-societal experience. In one of his experiments, participants who underwent a 30-minute singing lesson with another individual produced significant increases in oxytocin, the social bonding hormone also released during sex and childbirth. Music can stimulate incredible social bonding. Before there were personal listening devices, music was always heard out loud during social performances. So next time Hillsdale has an orchestra performance (hint: it’s at the end of finals week this semester), unplug the earbuds and experience some music out loud with your fellow students.

Humans enjoy music as a social experience. Rhythm and melody are good for an individual’s body, mind, and social relationships. Recently, however, the way humans listen to music has changed. With the introduction of personal listening devices and earbuds, modern music enthusiasts — including about 76 percent of college students — experience fewer of their tunes in social settings, listening through earbuds instead. Unfortunately, new research finds that frequent earbud users lose not only the social experience of music, but are likely to lose some of their hearing as well. Spare your ears: unplug, and listen to music out loud. The World Health Organization estimated that an individual can safely tolerate a maximum noise exposure of 85 decibels for about eight hours. The loudest volume for ordinary Apple earbuds reaches between 95 to 105 decibels, which will result in damage within 15 minutes. One study found that in the 15 years between 1990 and 2005, earbud use rose about 75 percent. During a similar period of time — 1994 to 2006 — hearing loss among teenages rose from 3.5 to 5.6 percent. Earbuds are at fault even more than headphones because they can cause a more subtle type of ear damage. There are two ways to cause hearing loss: through damage to the hair cells in the ear that sense vibrations, and through damage to cochlear nerve fibres that transmit those vibrations to the brain. The second type of hearing loss is much more difficult to detect because it doesn’t change an individual’s Ms. Ung is a junior George ability to hear sounds in Washington Fellow studying quiet environments, only politics and Latin.

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Chapel construction puts students on the de-fence-ive By Joel Haines

Hillsdale needs a student TV studio

By | Evan Carter Web Editor The fall of my sophomore year, Jordan Finney ’16 and I rushed to the Grewcock Student Union after our Monday classes to set up a camera and boom-microphone in the Richard Raese Conference Room. We were scheduled to film an interview with visiting professor of history Victor Davis Hanson, and the conference room was the only available filming space. A long and narrow conferenceroom table dominates the relatively small room, which isn’t optimal for filming, but it was the only room without other students. Situations like this one are fairly common for student journalists trying to film interviews, and because Hillsdale doesn’t have a student TV studio, student journalists looking to film shows and interviews often have to be creative about finding a suitable filming location. The college is already raising money for a Film and Documentary Program, which would train students in documentary filmmaking and digital media. Not included in this budget, however, is funding for a studio — a vital part of video production that would also round out the college’s Dow Journalism Program. A TV studio does exist on campus in

the basement of the Old Student Union, but it’s not for student use. The college uses it to film videos or facilitate interviews with broadcast television stations like Fox News. Hillsdale already has multiple well-established student print publications and a blossoming radio program. A TV studio would make these offerings more complete. By opening a small TV studio just for students, the college would provide another tool to prepare them for careers in journalism, videography, theater, and rhetoric. Hillsdale’s journalism program values hands-on experience over theories taught in the classroom, and a student TV studio would enhance this learning experience by allowing students to imagine ways to use this classroom knowledge to translate their video ideas into reality. Today’s print journalists, at print publications of all sizes, need to use video in their reporting. New York Times reporters frequently share their findings on Facebook Live, and the mid-sized Detroit News recently began filming short videos with columnists to talk about recent political events or upcoming sports matchups. Students already use classroom teachings to inform their writing, and since last year, their on-air radio commentaries. It would be beneficial for students to have

the opportunity to learn how to do this in front of a camera. Even without a TV studio currently available to students, senior Kayla Stetzel and sophomore Jordyn Pair began a film and production club in February, and this semester, members of The Collegian film a weekly interview show. In the first full year of the Radio Free Hillsdale, over 10 studentproduced radio shows and segments have been launched. This could easily happen with a TV studio as well. Students could create news shows, sportstalk shows, interview shows, comedy routines, or even video essays. These videos could then be shown live or saved for later on Facebook or YouTube at no cost. While alumni like Genna Hilgenbrink ’15, Abigail Gilbert ’14, and Kat Timpf ’10, were able to make the jump from print to TV without the benefit of a studio to practice in, it doesn’t mean future students wouldn’t benefit from on-campus broadcast experience. Money has already been set aside to hire a staff member to run the Film and Documentary program. In making the final hiring decision, the college could choose someone capable of running a student journalist TV studio as well, like Scot Bertram does with the radio station. For as little as $200,000 extra,

in addition to the $740,000 earmarked for equipment, the college could pay for the construction of a TV studio. While the college’s current studio cost about $1.7 million to construct, a student equivalent could be built much less expensively because it would only need to produce internet-quality videos. It wouldn't need to meet the broadcast-quality standards the college’s TV studio currently has to meet to host professor interviews on Fox News. The cost difference between highend consumer equipment and broadcast-quality equipment is substantial. And while space to build a studio up the hill is extremely limited, the college could potentially convert a floor of one of the college-owned houses currently being rented-out into studio space. Today’s journalists must be well-versed in video as well as print and radio. Hillsdale College should consider directing some of the money it raises in the Film and Documentary Program campaign toward building a TV studio, where motivated students could develop their skills for video while putting their rhetorical and writing skills into practice. Mr. Carter is a senior studying politics and journalism.

Desperate for a summer job or internship? Embrace the unexpected By | Gwendolyn Hodge

Special to the Collegian

When I worked as a camp counselor at a Christian sleepaway camp in New Jersey, I never imagined my experience would help me get a job at the Supreme Court. Playing dodgeball and singing campfire songs with preteens might not seem related to attending office meetings in a suit with mid-level professionals — but they are. With the arrival of spring comes the sudden onset of the discussion of summer plans. This summer, embrace the unexpected, the unusual, the unique. What made my experience as a camp counselor valuable to my employers was its practicality and the way I talked about my job. Camp demands real problemsolving skills because you never can plan for a camper to kick a beehive and suddenly swarm 50 others with angry bees. When I talked about camp in interviews, potential employers could tell that I was passionate about what I was doing and that I put my everything into it. Counselling

wasn’t the most glamorous or impressive job, but to me, it was. Learning how to market yourself and your experiences is one of the best skills you can learn. I would not have interned in the private sector, with the federal government, for nonprofits had I not taken two summers to work as a summer camp counselor. When I was hired as an intern for the Supreme Court of the United States the summer after my junior year, I was told verbatim that it was my experience as a summer camp counselor that convinced them to hire me. High-profile internships at accounting firms or on Capitol Hill are often viewed more favorably than working retail or nannying, but most of these experiences have something valuable in them. Forbes reported on a study by The National Association of Colleges and Employers that examined the connection between internships and full employment upon graduation. The results they found were surprising: Those who had completed an unpaid summer internship loosely related to

their field had a hiring rate of 35 percent while those who had completed some sort of paid job, also loosely related to their field, had a hiring rate of 67 percent. Take a job you never foresaw yourself doing. I have friends who have worked in salmon plants and learned more in three weeks about management than friends who have spent three months interning at some highpowered merchandiser. Junior Jackson Ventrella’s past summer in Alaska processing salmon prepared him professionally to do his best no matter the task. “Even though cutting fish 16 hours a day is quite frankly a pretty low job, it cultivates the ability to work hard,” Ventrella said. Whether Alaska or abroad, students should seriously consider expanding their studies beyond just the Hillsdale College campus. My junior year, I spent my fall semester at the University of Oxford and my spring semester in the WashingtonHillsdale Internship Program. My experience at Oxford helped market my résumé to the public

affairs firm I worked for in D.C. This is not typical, however. On average, five students study abroad in Europe and around 20 participate in WashingtonHillsdale Internship Program each semester. Very few Hillsdale students choose to spend semesters pursuing these opportunities. While I missed campus, I would not change the way I spent my junior year. It can be hard to complete all of your major and minor requirements while missing a year of classes on campus, but if you plan ahead and talk to your department, it is doable and enjoyable. Every internship or job will teach important lessons and prepare you for your future in ways you never imagined, even if it seems trivial or worthless at first. Be proud of your experiences and learn how to market yourself. In the long run, you won’t regret it. Do the unexpected. Ms. Hodge is a senior George Washington Fellow studying politics and theater.

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Snoop Dogg doesn’t clown around in new music video By | Scott McClallen Collegian Reporter Snoop Dogg hit a joint and then shot clown President “Ronald Klump” in his music video “Badbadnotgood,” in response to Klump’s order to “deport all doggs.” Klump appears seconds later in chains, surrounded by a gang of armed clowns, dogs, and cars in a hazy parking lot. Klump reaches for a joint being passed by Snoop to director Jesse Wellens, but is rejected, and almost backhanded by Wellens. “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!” President Trump tweeted to his 16.7 million followers. Snoop uses a clown world to target grave social issues in America, and to list his grievances with Trump: his election, police militarization and brutality, his travel ban, and 20 to 30 year sentencing for marijuana. Snoop calls his listeners to stand up against social issues, to peacefully exercise first amendment rights through events like his March on the LAPD police department after the Dallas sniper shootings. Snoop’s chorus references a Holocaust documentary, “Night Will Fall”, that warns if the world doesn’t learn from the past, night will fall, and people will die. “I feel like a lot of people making cool records, having

fun, partying, but no one out here is dealing with the real issue, with this fuckin’ clown as president, and the shit that we dealing with out here,” said Dogg. Actor Michael Rapaport played one clown in the video. Sitting with his two young clown children, he eats cooked peanuts for breakfast, a reminder of the overdue bills lining the kitchen. Rapaport gets into his car, and begins smoking a joint, only to be pulled over and shot twice by a clown cop who saw one of the young children’s toy gun in Rappaport’s suitcase. A teenager films the shooting, and sends it to the news outlet — criticizing that police body cameras film shootings that millions watch on television, but little seems to have changed. Snoop references Philando Castile, an African-American with no criminal record whose July traffic stop shooting was Facebook live-streamed by his girlfriend, while their 4-year old daughter sat in the back. Police said Castile was shot seven times for carrying an unloaded, legal weapon. In the lyrics, Snoop calls for reparations, “now it ain’t so fun when the rabbit got the gun.” Snoop is just one of many to use satire to highlight social issues. Trump’s claim Snoop Dogg’s actions would have brought with jail time under Obama is ludicrous, given the First Amendment protects satire and comedy, as long as a reasonable person would

not believe the statement was a credible threat. In an essay on the protection of satire and parody in journalism, the Reporter’s Committee for a Free Press, a nonprofit that assists journalists, wrote “subjects of even the most biting satire or criticism cannot successfully sue unless the

should not have mock- shot “Klump” because presidential assassinations happened. Though the 1,092 “shot dead” by police in 2015 alone, as reported by the Guardian, seem a more pressing matter than the four presidential assassinations in America’s history. Trump is no stranger to

of speech,”, spurred a Secret Service investigation. During a National Rifle Association meeting in 2015, Nugent also threatened to shoot Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid — crossing the line between of freedom of speech and a credible threat. Republicans criticize the left

A "Ronald Klump" in chains pouts after being denied a joint and almost backhanded | YouTube

irreverent comments contain a provably false fact.” Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle responded to the video saying that Snoop Dogg and Bow Wow, who tweeted in Snoop’s defense and threatened to “pimp” out the first lady, should be “killed” for their statements. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said that Snoop Dogg

the line between comedy and libel; he defended artist Ted Nugent, featured in Trump’s campaign ads, who is known for threatening violence upon Democrats. In 2012, Nugent said that if President Barack Obama won a second term in office, Nugent would “either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” His comments, defended by Trump as a “mere figure

the video to talk about bigger social problems bigger, not than his video — perhaps Trump should do the same. To be truly bipartisan, American politicians, artists, and citizens alike need to understand and respect free

speech, especially when we disagree. Violence cannot encroach upon political debate, no matter the party. Snoop wanted to make a song “that was not controversial, but real — real to the voice of the people who don’t have a voice.”

for silencing free speech on college campuses and inciting violence against controversial right-wing speakers like Milo Yiannopoulos or Richard Spencer. But if Trump can’t handle satire from a 45-yearold “failing rapper,” then Mr. McClallen is a junior making America great again studying economics and may lay out of reach. Snoop journalism. said he does not plan to apologize to Trump; he crafted

When populists redefine conservatism, Tomi Lahren happens

Trump: Episode IV – A New Hope | By Josh Lee

Talk money to me: Eat and shop local instead of online Invest in downtown Hillsdale for $20 or less By | Kate Patrick Financial Columnist For the past few months, you’ve been faithfully budgeting your income, and you’ve allotted $20 this week to spend however you want. Instead of buying more makeup online or stocking six-packs for a house party, think about investing in local Hillsdale businesses. In fact, you only need $20 to have a lot of fun downtown. First head over to the Jonesville Bakery at 10 a.m. to grab a ginormous donut and a coffee. This bakery’s donuts are huge, delectable, and baked fresh every morning. Price range: $1-$3. Then park on Howell Street in downtown Hillsdale and check out the shops: Hero’s Nest sells comic books for as low as $3.50, and Maribeth’s is having a sale, which means you can steal a sweater for as low as $10. For lunch, you have a couple options: you could walk over to Checker Records, which sells bagels with cream cheese for $1.50 and a king-

sized coffee for less than $2 If more money circulates (cups of water are free), or you through the hands of business can walk down to the Filling owners, entrepreneurs, and Station for a $5 sandwich, or consumers, then the city will to Handmade Sandwiches be able reinvest in itself and and Beverages for a $7-$8 provide better goods and sandwich and a $3 cup of services. Supporting local smooth, creamy ice cream. business is a big deal, and From there you have a Hillsdale has a lot to offer, so couple options for your do it. afternoon: Mrs. Stock’s Park Start by buying a offers a free walk, but you humongous peanut butter could also sit down at Toasted creme donut from the Mud to paint a tile or a wine Jonesville Bakery. stopper for less than $15, or you could pop over to Ten on Ms. Patrick is a senior the Table to get an “express studying history and manicure” for $14 (the spa journalism. offers other services for under $20 as well). If you want to see a movie at the Premiere Theater on Carleton Road, tickets are $7.75 (but $5 on Tuesdays). So here’s the deal: Hillsdale offers quality food and entertainment services for pretty affordable prices, and it’s pretty easy to stretch $20 downtown on a Saturday. By investing in the city, you can support Handmade's ice cream | Facebook the Hillsdale economy. Dear Editor,

It's time to kiss moralism goodbye

On Mar. 9, The Collegian published Samuel Musser’s article entitled, “‘Kiss Me, Kate’: Did we kiss morality goodbye?” which seemed to assert that Cole Porter’s musical is unsuitable for families, incompatible with Biblical commands to fill our minds with good things, and too easily offends the moral sensibilities of Hillsdale’s community. The author seems to miss the point of art, which cannot, and should not, always be family-friendly, mistakes the portrayal of immorality for an endorsement of it, and

confuses Biblical admonitions with contemporary fundamentalist legalism. I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent cast of “Kiss Me, Kate.” But, the content of the musical itself made me quite uncomfortable. And that is a good thing. The audience should be uncomfortable with physical violence towards women, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, and shameless promiscuity. The backlash towards those elements of the show is a testament to the ability of the actors to portray the gravity and deplorability of such things simply by acting

By | Michael Lucchese Assistant Editor Blaze TV host Tomi Lahren announced last Friday on ABC’s The View she believes the government should not outlaw abortion. Subsequently, the Blaze suspended her show and may terminate her contract early. As recently as three months ago, however, Lahren called abortion murder. While some conservatives took to social media to express shock at this abrupt reversal, no one should really act surprised she changed tack in front of a leftist audience. Lahren says whatever makes her popular at any given time. She does not “tell it like it is,” she tells people what they want to hear. For a long time, Lahren fed on right-wing angst, and now she’s looking to expand her base by speaking out of the other side of her mouth. “I’m pro choice, and here’s why,” Lahren said, to applause from the studio audience. “I am a constitutional … someone that loves the Constitution. I’m someone that’s for limited government. So I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies.” Lahren engaged in a despicable display of intellectual dishonesty when she spewed the untruth that conservative pro-lifers hold a hypocritical position. In fact, she took the only incoherent, hypocritical position a supporter of limited government could when it comes to abortion. In “Federalist 51,” James Madison articulated the truth at the heart of all conservative political thought: “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” For true constitutionalists, them out without ever needing to clarify that such things are wrong. The very portrayal of such immorality on stage, however, is apparently enough to offend the sensibilities of some, and that is a problem. The beauty of art is its ability to make moral statements that touch the core of our humanity in a way that “do and do nots” could never do. Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” was arguably a statement condemning the misogyny of his day, and “Kiss Me, Kate” should be taken no differently. When we obsess over the mere portrayal of immorality and the way it

government exists to energetically secure citizens’ natural rights, often by prohibiting the types of action those citizens can take. We the people endowed our government with the sacred obligation to protect all human life, especially the lives of the weakest members of society — the unborn. Lahren rejected these vital convictions. For her, ratings and celebrity trumped intellectual integrity and a commitment to principles. Conservatives ought to applaud the Blaze for taking a stand against this foolishness. But, the movement cannot simply move on and ignore this controversy like nothing happened. The conservative movement has an enduring demagogy problem because the Tomi Lahrens of the world dominate right-wing media outlets. When they gave a platform to professional populists like Lahren and countless other sophists, they sold principles for popularity, driving a stake through the heart of the movement on their rise to the top. In “The Conservative Mind,” conservative intellectual Russell Kirk wrote, “Whether the conservative impulse within modern society can suffice to prevent the disintegration of the moral order and the civil order by the vertiginous speed of alteration .. hang[s] upon how well conservatives apprehend their patrimony.” Lahren’s abortion flipflop shows that angry media personalities do not use their immense popularity to renew republican liberty. She and her ilk do not take Kirk’s call to “redeem the times” and restore seriously. Instead, they incite faction and divide the people to profit on drummed-up controversy, cheap insults, and fear-mongering. When men like Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, and Harry Jaffa led the movement, conservatives fought for ideas. We fought to preserve the western and American heritage offends us, we lose sight of the true value that art can offer when it critiques human flaws with a poignancy that only it can offer. Sure, such content may not be for all audiences, especially children. Neither was most of what I read in my Great Books classes. Neither is much of the Old Testament for that matter. While the Bible frequently admonishes Christians to entertain what is good, that does not mean Christians are to be so sensitive to the mere mention of sin that they cannot stand to see it portrayed artistically or literarily. If that were the case, then much of

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we study here at Hillsdale. We fought to protect the innate dignity of human beings and defend their fragile but precious communities. The movement lost its soul when it let populists redefine conservatism. We sold out what made America great for primetime shows, roaring crowds, bundles of cash, and “access” to the levers of power in Washington, D.C. The conservative movement became exactly what its founders combated. In spite of recent turmoil, we should feel encouraged that Lahren exposed herself as a huckster, because it provides us an opportunity clarify the principles for which we stand. This is the moment for the conservative movement to win back its soul and cast out the charlatans that have dominated it for so many years. Figures like Yuval Levin, Glenn Beck, and Hillsdale’s own president Larry Arnn provide an insightful, Constitutioncentered alternative to the screaming heads on cable news. The movement needs to promote those voices to remind the American people that Tomi Lahren’s does not speak for conservatism. Our dedication to the permanent things is far too important for us to let shrill populists charade as conservatives. It is time to take back our movement, once and for all. Mr. Lucchese is a junior studying American Studies and journalism. the Bible itself would be quite unfit for the eyes of any Bible believer. Herein lies the distinction lost within the blind legalism so often demonstrated through zealous, sheltered fundamentalism. Portrayal is not the same thing as an endorsement. The Bible portrays a lot of immorality, yet nobody seriously suggests that the Bible endorses such things. So why are we incapable of making the same distinction with art? Sincerely, Kyle Huitt


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City Council to become more open after citizen comment By | Nic Rowan Collegian Reporter

ABOVE: The Team One store, reopened as Sunrise Shop, behind the Citgo gas station pumps. Facebook LEFT: A sign displays the new hours of the re-opened store. Thomas Novelly | Collegian

Team One reopens as Sunrise Shop By | Thomas Novelly Editor-in-Chief Despite being closed earlier this month, Watkins Oil reopened the Citgo gas station on Broad Street on Friday and replaced the previous Team One Food Store with a new Sunrise Shop convenience store. “We’re still in the process of making all the changes,” Sunrise Shop manager Courtney Congrey said. “The kitchen is closed now, but we’re making some renovations and making

the place new.” Team One Food Store closed on March 6, after previous owner Mick Ritter faced financial troubles and bankruptcy. His sudden decision to close the 24-hour convenience store left 14 employees jobless. Numerous employees with Team One Food Store applied to work at the new convenience store just a day after Ritter announced the store’s closure. Now, a week later, many of the employees have been hired back. Marlene Abbey, a former

clerk at Team One, said she is enjoying her new position with the Sunrise Shop. “It feels good to have my job back,” Abbey said. “There are a lot of things that are different here compared to Team One, but it’s better. The management is better and, overall, I like the way this store operates.” Abbey did acknowledge that her pay has taken a slight decrease because Team One used to be open 24 hours. The new Sunrise Shop is only open 19 hours a day Monday through Saturday and, 17

hours on Sundays. Watkins Oil did not respond to multiple requests for comment relating to the new store or Ritter. In addition to running Team One, Ritter was also a previous part-owner in Broad Street Downtown Market and Tavern. The former pub closed its doors in late January due to high operating costs and unpaid property taxes. Dave Watkins, owner of Watkins Oil, was also a part owner of the restaurant.

For Hillsdale resident Joseph Hendee, the devil is in the details. According to Hendee, the city of Hillsdale is violating Michigan’s Open Meeting Act by not listing phone numbers and an address on public notices for city council meetings, invalidating decisions made within the past 60 days. He expressed these concerns during the opening public comment section of the March 20 city council meeting. The section of the OMA to which Hendee referred, states that a public meeting cannot be held unless the public body’s name, telephone number, and address are posted at its principal office and any other locations. “We should strive for excellence,” he said. “City council and the city attorney should understand these rules — this is wasted time and this is an illegal meeting.” The meeting continued, despite Hendee’s objections, but, according to City Manager David Mackie, City Clerk Stephen French’s office will update all public notices to meet OMA requirements in the future. “We just had a Rising Tide meeting,” Hendee said, referencing the economic development initiative introduced to the city. “One of my main concerns there was ethics. And then here they are with this — it looks like they’re breaking the rules.” Hillsdale resident Penny Swan said she agrees with Hendee.

“Possibly everything that transcribed today would be null and void,” she said. City Councilman Bill Zeiser said that while Hendee is right to say that the city should strive for excellence in its conduct, the council did not violate the intent of the OMA by not posting an address or phone number on public notices. Zeiser said Hillsdale residents always have access to city council meetings because of the internet, even if the council forgets to abide by several details within the OMA law. “Mr. Hendee has not produced anyone who claims that they were unable to attend a meeting, and presumably any such person would have been able to find the location of city hall anyhow, since they would have read the notice on the city’s website in the first place,” he said. “The meetings are even live streamed on the web for residents who are unable to attend in person.” Zeiser also said that although he believes Hendee meant well, to take his advice would harm the city more than it would help it. “If Mr. Hendee’s wishes were met, and council meetings of the past 60 days were declared void, that would be the violation of democracy. It takes an extra ten seconds for some hypothetical person to find the phone number for the city.” A look at the City of Hillsdale’s website revealed that an address and phone number was listed at the bottom of each webpage but not on each public notice for meetings.

Housing study provides opportunities for city growth

Qualite lights illuminate Hillsdale College’s Frank “Muddy” Waters stadium. Jessie Fox | Collegian

Hillsdale-based company lights the way for innovation By | Kaylee McGhee Assistant Editor Hillsdale’s Qualite Sports Lighting is one of the world’s top stadium lighting companies. Its newest lighting system — the Q-LED Gamechanger Series — was recently nominated to win the Edison Award, which recognizes product development innovations. Qualite’s main office has been located in Hillsdale for nearly 30 years while making a name for itself in sports stadiums across the country. Most recently, the local company built and installed the lighting system for Super Bowl XLIX

in University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals. Qualite has supplied lighting for other professional venues, such as U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox; and soccer and cricket stadiums overseas. A staple in the lighting industry, Qualite has been committed to doing most of its manufacturing in Hillsdale. “We do the engineering, design, quoting, prewiring, labeling, and pole assembly all here in Hillsdale,” Qualite President Nick Page said. Page said Qualite will be focusing primarily on its new Gamechanger Series as the

company continues to make a name for itself. “It’s a better product,” Page said. “The beauty of it is that it works with anything, from parks and recreational facilities to professional stadiums.” The Gamechanger Series is unique because of its unique beam spreads, glare control, and linear design. It is unlike any other sports lighting system, which is why it was nominated for the Edison Award, Page said. According to a press release from Qualite, the Edison Award competition is an “annual, global competition honoring excellence in new prod-

uct and service development, marketing, human-centered design, and innovation.” Though the Gamechanger Series is still only a finalist in the competition, Qualite owner Eric Boorom said the nomination has been the greatest honor in the company’s history thus far. “The Edison Award nomination is a testament to the insight, intuitiveness and somewhat radical development of the GameChanger product,” Boorom said in a statement. “We knew we wanted to make a statement to the industry, and the Edison Award nomination has validated our work.”

By | Josephine von Dohlen of Hillsdale, as well as those seeking attached housing with Collegian Reporter good indication of an urban In conjunction with Gov. location. “Michigan has the desire Rick Snyder’s Rising Tide inito retrain and attract talent, tiative, the City of Hillsdale received a Target Market Analy- which is both millennial and sis, providing a housing study aging adults on the move,” that hopes to prompt growth Woods said. “Singles of all and development within the ages and in different regions are looking for a ‘hip, vibrant, city. Snyder’s 2015 initiative walkable’ place to live.” The City of Hillsdale had selected ten communities investigated providing their throughout Michigan, based on the state of economics and own TMA prior to their being growth in each “prosperity chosen by the Rising Tide iniregions.” Hillsdale represents tiative. “We looked into doing this region 9, Southeastern Michourselves, but it was too exigan, and received services from consulting firms selected pensive,” Mary Wolfram, diby the state, namely LandUse- rector of Economic DevelopUSA and TED, an agency for ment, said. The next step for Hillsdale Talent and Economic Develwill involve private investors opment. as well as local builders and “It’s a big deal for Hillsdale developers acting upon the to be selected for these congrowth opportunities to supsultation services,” Sharon Woods, CRE, Principal owner port more housing units in the of LandUseUSA said. “They area. Upon finalization, the rehave the opportunity to get on the right track for economic port will be available on the City of Hillsdale’s website and growth.” The TMA is a housing in the Clerk’s office, to be sent study looking at households out by request. migrating to and from the city

Donations to Hillsdale historical groups piece together town’s history By | Kristiana Mork Collegian Reporter The Hillsdale County Historical Society and Mitchell Research Center received over 130 donations in 2016 detailing the lives of Hillsdale residents dating back as far as the American Civil War. Donations included yearbooks, genealogies, pictures, newspaper clippings, books, and a plaque. People donate these materials, sometimes dating back to the 1800’s, because they want them to be preserved, Research Center President Evelyn Jacob said. They want to share their stories with the public. This year’s donations to the historical society included letters describing life during the Civil War. “Out of the blue, Ed Pickell, who currently lives in Florida, contacted us through our website,” said JoAnne Miller, a member of the historical society. “He said he was getting on in years and he had some Civil

War letters that he had just run across in a cardboard shoe box in his closet, and asked, ‘would we want them?’” Pickell’s letters primarily described the lives of two of his distant relatives, Jerome and Hiram “Hick” Fountain. Jerome Fountain wrote about working as a picket guard for the Union Army, where he ate hard crackers, bacon, figs, and roasted corn. In one letter, Jerome Fountain wrote that he was glad to see his brother Hick standing up on a bank by the side of the road. “Never saw him look tougher in my life,” Jerome Fountain wrote. “Says he is pretty satis-

fied with soldiering as am I.” But the Fountain letters also describe the harshness of war. Jerome Fountain’s last letter

came several days before U.S. Army records report that he died of malaria in Washington,

D.C. Hick Fountain’s last letter came from what the historical society thinks may have been the battlefield at Chancellors-

had three days fighting None of importance going on today this is all I have time to write now. Yours, Hick.” H i c k Fountain was killed at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. Shortly after receiving Bickell’s donation, Miller said she received another set of Civil War letters, and while she was transcribing the second set, she received a third. The third Mitchell Research Center in set of letters downtown Hillsdale. was sent to Kristiana Mork | Collegian Jackson resident Pat B i l d n e r ’s ville. great-grandmother, Delphine “I am yet unharmed,” he “Dell” Chester during the end wrote in March 1863, “we have of the Civil War. The letters

describe the building of national cemeteries and Chester’s courtship with her husband, Jirah Young. “I was just a little girl growing up when I first heard Grandma read the letters,” Bildner said. “We’d be at Grandma’s house and she enjoyed talking about history. When she was a little girl the Indians would come up to the house and look in the window and would be sleeping on the front porch when they woke up. She just liked to tell me all about her life and what it was like in 1894.” For Miller, the letters are a glimpse into what life was like on the battlefield and during the Civil War. “I can’t tell you how excited and thrilled and just blessed I feel to have been able to have touched these letters and to have transcribed them so other people can enjoy them more than I did with my magnifying glass and trying to get the right words,” Miller said.


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A7 23 Mar. 2017

Anglers use electrofishing strategy to cut down on invasive carp population. Wikimedia

Cut the carp! Homegrown methods may help cut down on invasive fish populations

By | Jo Kroeker Opinions Editor To catch silver carp, Youtube will show you that all you need is a baseball mitt and a boat engine: the engine will startle them so they leap out of the water and into your glove (warning: flying silver carp smack fishers and knock kids into the water). It’s a homegrown solution, but that’s the state of Michigan’s new approach to the carp invasion: crowdsource solutions from the people. The Michigan legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder recently allocated $1 million to launch the Invasive Carp Challenge, which introduces crowdsourcing solutions to the carp invasion encroaching on the Great Lakes and bordering states.

Invasive carp already overwhelm Midwestern and Southern rivers, where they represent 70 percent of biomass, and they are swimming upstream to the Great Lakes area, where they will seek out rivers in which they can reproduce and feed. “What we know about the invasive carp is they prefer riverine systems,” said Joanne Foreman, the invasive species communications coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “They’ll get into lake systems, but they’ll find warmer waters — that’s where they’ll end up populating and reproducing. They need water flow to lay their eggs, so they’re unlikely to lay in the depths of the lake, preferring shallower river beds.”

The term ‘Asian carp’ encompasses four species: grass, bighead, silver, and black carp. More than 100 years ago, they were introduced to America as food sources, even though they eat 20 percent of their body weight a day in plankton and are starving out local bottom feeders. Of the four threatening species, only grass carp (also known as common carp) populations exist in four of the five Great Lakes, excluding Lake Superior. Foreman said the grass carp come through Lake Erie, since certain states still allow them to be stocked because they are supposed to be infertile. Infertility methods in use, however, are neither long-lasting nor do they consistently work. Stopping the invasion has brought together states along

the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. Currently, the carp-fighting coalition includes the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, the federal government, the Canadian government, and the department of natural resources of Great Lakes state governments. And now it’s open to the public. Foreman said the legislature made the decision to open brainstorming to the public because good solutions exist and they might not be within employees of fisheries. Members in the department are currently picking the right approach to the challenge, in order to get better results than solutions that have already been suggested and tried. She also said the department has

Domestic Harmony funding survives council debate, receives $5,000 in funding for 2017 By | Nic Rowan Collegian Reporter Despite debate, the Hillsdale City Council passed a resolution to renew funding for Domestic Harmony in the 2017 fiscal year at a March 20 meeting. Domestic Harmony is a domestic violence victim provider, and offers free shelter and assistance to men, women, and children who have suffered domestic abuse in the City of Hillsdale, as well as to residents of the township and county. This support also includes counseling and legal aid for victims. Executive Director Julia Denig requested $5,000 from the city council for 2017 because Domestic Harmony is the only service of its kind in

the city and works closely with local law enforcement to help victims of domestic violence. Denig said although the service only employs nine people, volunteers from both the community and Hillsdale College provide aid to victims. “We change lives and possibly even save lives,” she said. Police Chief Scott Hephner said Domestic Harmony helps victims of domestic abuse in ways police officers cannot because it offers long-term care. He said he is comfortable taking people in need to the safehouse because he knows Domestic Harmony will be able to handle the problem. “It goes unspoken — it’s an absolute asset to the community,” Hephner said. Despite the help it gives the community, City Councilman Patrick Flannery opposed

funding Domestic Harmony because he said cities cannot enter into contracts in which the services provided are free. Flannery also said he opposed funding an organization that was not strictly a city government entity. “We have to look at our other departments here,” he said. “I’m sure if we asked every department if they could use that $5,000, each budget manager would say yes.” Councilman Bill Zeiser said he agreed with Flannery’s view, but that he thinks the reality of domestic abuse means the city should support Domestic Harmony. “I think it’s clear through the Chief that this is an extension of law enforcement in a sense. I don’t like it philosophically, but I could never vote against it,” Zeiser said.

Apartments for Rent The following houses are for rent for the 2017-2018 school year:

• 36C North Howell Street This is a very spacious, third floor apartment with three bedrooms and one bath. It includes all utilities, including a washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, and fridge. The rent is $1,200 per month, with a three-student maximum occupancy. Available 2017-2018.

• 34 North Howell Street – The apartments above the old smoke shop building are avaiable. With three bedrooms, and one bath, these apartments have a three-student maximum occupancy. They include all utilities, including a washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, and fridge. The lease is $1,200 per month based upon three student occupants. Available 2017-2018. If you are interested please call Eric Potes at: 517-270-0540 (cellphone) or email at Eric.Potes@countynationalbank.com

Zeiser is among several city councilmen who have visited Domestic Harmony’s facility within the past month. Councilman Bruce Sharp, who also visited the facility, said the cleanliness and order made him confident Domestic Harmony is using city funds responsibly to care for victims of domestic abuse. “If you don’t go there you would never know what it’s there for,” he said. Sharp also said that regardless of philosophical concerns council members might have, domestic abuse cannot be overlooked in the Hillsdale community. “It’s very concerning that we have to have something like this, but we have to. Because it does happen,” he said. “I wish we didn’t have to have this, but this is the real world.”

yet to determine whether it will award one or multiple prizes for suggested solutions, a decision dependent on categories reflecting the bigger discussion taking place. She predicts these questions will be answered and the competition ready to launch by mid-summer. She said the challenge will probably last five to six months, leaving enough time for people to come up with the ideas, connect with other problem solvers, and seek out guidance from experts through Innocentive. In the meantime, however, self-proclaimed avid fishermen and “old geezers” like Ted LoPresto are worried about birds and boats accidentally introducing bighead, silver, and black carp eggs and babies from the Mississippi River into

Michigan’s lakes and rivers. LoPresto, a past chairman of Michigan’s third district of united conservation clubs, said the carp pose a huge threat to the state’s industries: multimillion dollar businesses will go down the drain if nothing is done about the carp, especially Michigan charter fishing businesses. Foreman agrees. The lasting impact of an invasion in Michigan wouldn’t be the lakes, but rivers, backwater areas, and smaller inland recreational lakes. “Look at a detailed river map of Michigan,” Foreman said. “With the watershed connectivity to lakes, they can go anywhere.”

Library director Beckwith resigns after seven years of service By | Kaylee McGhee Assistant Editor After seven years of service, LeAnn Beckwith has announced her retirement as director of the Hillsdale Community Library. Beckwith said in a letter to the library board that the choice to resign was not an easy one, but necessary nonetheless. “This was not an easy decision to make as the past seven years have been very rewarding,” Beckwith said. “I have enjoyed completing the goals that I had set when I

first became director in 2012. I am sorry I will not be here to implement my latest ideas but I am sure you will find someone who will bring even greater vision to the library.” Beckwith said she wishes the library the best, and that she is hopeful the library’s board members and staff will help the new director throughout the transition. “The current staff is extremely accommodating and flexible and I am sure they will be very helpful to the new director,” Beckwith said. “I wish the Hillsdale Community Library all the best.”

Section of US-12 to be renamed after Vietnam War Staff Sergeant By | Joshua Lee Collegian Freelancer The Michigan House of Representatives recently approved legislation by Rep. Eric Leutheuser, MI-Hillsdale, to rename a portion of U.S. 12 in honor of local Medal of Honor recipient James Bondsteel. The House gave its unanimous approval on March 1 to rename U.S. 12 within the city boundaries of Jonesville as the “James Bondsteel Memorial Highway.” Bondsteel grew up in Hillsdale County and served as a staff sergeant in the Vietnam War. He later worked in the Veterans Administration as a counselor at the regional office in Anchorage, Alaska until his death in a trucking accident in April 1987. Donovan Kolness served in the same platoon and fought in the four-hour long firefight on May 24, 1969, for which Staff Sgt. Bondsteel would receive both the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart. Kolness detailed Bondsteel’s actions that day in an interview with the Alaska Post in April 2000. “Our reconnaissance platoon had stumbled into a battalion-plus size base camp of maybe 600 to 800 North Vietnamese. They were getting the snuff kicked out of them before Bondsteel’s platoon came up for support,” Kolness said. Not only were Bondsteel

James Bondsteel, the Vietnam War staff sergeant after whom a section of U.S. 12 will be named. Wikimedia

and his men outnumbered, but a series of fortified underground bunkers also stood in their way. Bondsteel rallied his and other platoons to advance and personally silenced ten enemy bunkers and a machine gun nest. “He dove into them with a grenade and his M-16 blaring. Then he’d go on to the next one, blowing these bunkers up left and right” Kolness said. “During the fight, our company commander was wounded in hand-to-hand combat, and Bondsteel, somehow, I don’t know how he showed up there with all that was going on, saved our company commander that day, also.” Kolness said it was Bondstreet’s passion that drove him

to heroism. “He couldn’t stand to see another soldier get hurt,” Kolness said. “I don’t know if he was that much of a combat expert or not, but he was driven by his passion.” Rep. Leutheuser hopes renaming the highway will honor the courageous service of Bondsteel and all veterans who sacrifice for our country. “Most of us will never serve in uniform, but we can encourage those who do. We can pay tribute to those who came before and honor those who will follow by enabling this town to say, with well earned pride, here lived a hero,” Leutheuser said on the House floor. The bill now goes to the Michigan Senate for consideration.


A8 23 Mar. 2017

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Kansas State University, where he is pursuing his master’s degree in academic advising. In Furlong’s first year, the Wildcats made it to the NCAA championship tournament. “It was just a roller coaster of a season,” Furlong said of Kansas State’s 21-14 year, which sent the No. 11 Wildcats to the first round of the NCAA championships against No. 6 seeded Cincinnati. “We found out we were facing Wake Forest on Tuesday, and flew the team to Dayton for that game, then we won that game and had to fly the team to Sacramento for our game with Cincinnati,” Furlong said. Furlong said every night

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coaches were up until at least 2:30 in the morning preparing for the next day’s practice and competition. The team spent the day traveling, sleeping when they could, practicing, and competing. “The championship just had incredible energy,” Furlong said. “It was amazing how many people showed up for the practices alone.” The energy was comparable, he said, to the energy he felt during his freshman year when Hillsdale’s men’s basketball team competed in the NCAA Division II tournament. Furlong said this year’s team was encouraged by the number of fans attending practices, people requesting

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Hillsdale alum coaches in NCAA Tournament Hillsdale alum Michael Furlong ‘15 took spring break travel to a whole new level last week as he helped prepare the Kansas State University’s men’s basketball team for the opening round of the NCAA tournament, where they fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats on March 17. Furlong spent four years playing men’s basketball at Hillsdale, rising to team captain and Teammate of the Year before graduating in 2015. After graduation, Furlong became assistant graduate coach for the men’s basketball team at

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autographs, and members of the press asking the players questions. The Wildcats’ season came to an end in the 75-61 Cincinnati game, but head coach Bruce Weber remained positive about next year’s prospects. “For the young guys, it was a great experience,” Weber told media after the game. “I told them after, ‘You got a taste of it. Now you want more. You’ve got to get better.’” For senior Wildcat forward Wesley Iwundu, the game came down to three fouls that benched him with 6:56 left in the first half. “I definitely feel like those three fouls affected the game,” Iwundu told media. “I couldn’t help the team in the first half when they went on that run. The refs saw some things I didn’t see and didn’t agree with but it is what it is. Cincinnati was the better team today, and they came out with the win.” Furlong said that if he had the opportunity to do things differently he would have liked to avoid playing Wake Forest earlier in the same week as the championship tournament, because, by the end of the week, coaches and players alike were exhausted. However, with one NCAA championship game behind him, he said he would be better prepared to handle a championship tournament week next year.

Michael Furlong ‘15 and the Kansas State University men’s basketball team sit in the locker room after the team’s loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats. Michael Furlong | Courtesy

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Softball from A10 man Haley Lawrence’s run. Asselta broke the tie in the bottom of the seventh with a walkoff single, bringing in Gockman for a 9-8 victory. Over the course of the game, Gockman scored three times, and Lawrence scored twice. “We just kept hitting every inning and caught up,” Abraham said. “That was a big win for us.” The winning streak continued against Viterbo with a 6-2 victory — freshman pitcher Alexis Newby’s first win on the mound. The Chargers took an early 3-0 lead in the first three innings, and answered Vitterbo’s two runs with three of their own in the bottom of the fourth. On Friday, the team took an 8-1 loss to Slippery Rock University and a five-inning 12-1 loss to Bemidji State University. Abraham said the team will continue to work on its defense. “For us to continue to improve, we need to clean up some areas of our defense — we’re giving away too many runs,” he said. “Just a lot of little things add up. We’re working on getting our outfielders better reads off the bat, we’re working on pitcher defense, we have to work on our defense taking outs whenever we can get them. It’s all those things combined.” The Chargers’ final win of the week was against Dominican College, with three of the runs from the team’s 6-2 victory coming from Addis. Abraham said that after the opening victory against Minnesota Duluth, this was the

Mar. 26 vs. Lake Superior St. 11:00 AM

team’s strongest game overall. “Those are the two games we played the best: good pitching, timely hitting, and solid defense all the way throughout,” he said. The team closed out their pre-conference play with a close 5-4 loss in a second game against Concordia, which was tied until Concordia scored twice in the final two innings of the game. They ended their time in Florida 6-8, and an overall 10-13 record heading into conference play. They will open with home games against University of Findlay at 3 p.m. on Friday, and will play an additional two home games against Tiffin University on Sunday at noon. Abraham said beginning conference play nearly halfway through the team’s season bodes well for the team in terms of experience. “It has been great to play 23 games before the league starts,” Abraham said. “Now that we’re in the middle of the season, we have a pretty good feel for the lineup and the things we need to work on.” Rodi agreed, saying the experience provided by the Florida games helped point out areas of improvement for the team. “I think we’re all excited to get back to work and improve the things we need to improve, but we’re all thankful we got the chance to go to Florida and play so much,” she said.

CHARGER CHATTER: DONALD RING Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which is a powerhouse for baseball with a very wellknown baseball program. It was very competitive at Rice. There were 27 guys on the roster of my class and 24 went on to play baseball at the collegiate level. What’s your earliest memory of the sport?

Donald Ring is a sophomore catcher from Northville, Michigan. How long have you been playing baseball? I started playing baseball when I was 7 years old and my mom was the coach of my Little League team. I played at Brother Rice High School in

My earliest memory might have been when I was 8 years old. I was playing in the All-Star game with the Little League and I hated playing in the field because I was scared of the ball. I hated catching. So when the ball came toward me, I ran out of the way. My mom asked me after the game, ‘Are you afraid of the ball?” I told her no, but secretly, yes, I was afraid of the ball. How did you end up playing for Hillsdale?

When I made varsity in my sophomore year of high school, I decided that I wanted to play baseball at the collegiate level. My coach was really excited for me and said that if I practice hard, I could play in college. After that, I thought, “That’s my goal.” In my senior year, Coach T saw me play baseball in Chelsea. After I got an email from him, I went on a tour of campus and then played a game on Prospect Day. How does this year of baseball compare to your freshman year? I can tell you that I’ve improved immensely since last year. Last year was the first year that I’d caught consistently, and I was recruited as a catcher. There was a learning curve. It was tough in my freshman-year fall, a lot of it was focusing and not being lazy behind the plate.

Six of our nine starters last year were seniors, so I was really trying to be a sponge and absorb everything from them. That year, we made it to the GLIAC for the first time since ’03 and we had a regional bid for our first time in history. Now the team is really, really young. My class has 14 kids on the team and the class below us has eight. Because of that, you get shoved into a leadership role. We are going through growing pains now. Last year, we started off very hot. But we’re seven and 12 right now and learning from our mistakes. What’s the best advice you’ve received as a student-athlete at Hillsdale? I’d say that in terms of succeeding as a student athlete: when you say you’re going to do something, do it. Otherwise, you will procrastinate. And when you are going to do

something, do it right. How is the team looking this season? As long as we stick to the process and focus on the little things that Coach T always preaches to us, I think we’ll have a really good season. We have to play with confidence and allow everyone to make their mistakes because we’re young. Describe your first at bat for Hillsdale. My first collegiate at bat was last year in Georgia when I hit a grand slam. To be honest, I think I was just really anxious in the box. I had the mindset that no matter where this pitch comes, I’m going to hit it hard, and it just happened to be in the middle. About 10 games into this season, I hit four home runs. It was probably the best weekend of

baseball I ever had, up there with the grand slam I hit last year. It was surreal. Is America’s pastime losing its audience? It could be true. I watch MLB network everyday, so I could never see that it’s not one of the big four sports. I live, breathe, and bleed baseball. I’m not too worried about it. I think you would have a better answer than I would. What are your plans for after Hillsdale? I still have to declare for accounting. My dad is an accountant and my uncle is an accountant, so I figured that have a network for when I graduate. I’ve always loved numbers. — Compiled by Lillian Quinones


A9 23 Mar. 2017

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TRACK AND FIELD COMPETES ON NATIONAL STAGE

Seven Chargers receive All-American honors By | Jessica Hurley Collegian Reporter Nine women and three men from Hillsdale College competed in the NCAA Division II Track and Field National Championships over spring break. This year, however, didn’t measure up to the past two years in terms of numbers or points. The women’s squad finished 33rd while the men came in 42nd. “The division has continued to get deeper. I also feel like we didn’t compete and prepare ourselves to compete throughout the year to the best of our abilities, either,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “I don’t know that we were on quite the urgent timetable that we needed to be on. This has been a transition year for us. I don’t think there is any shortage of talent. The year, just didn’t go the way we wanted it to and preparation plays a big role in that.” Seven Chargers, however, earned All-American honors at the meet. Senior Caleb Gatchell took sixth nationally in the mile with a time of 4:08.62. This is his third All-American title. Gatchell didn’t think he was going to make the finals in the event after running in the preliminaries. Once he did, however, he was determined to get a spot on the podium. “The key to nationals is you have to take it one race at a time. You have to race a prelim like it’s a final, then you have to do the same thing again,” Gatchell said. “I think I did a pretty good job of doing that.” Gatchell said the meet was fast this year. To get into the meet, he said, runners had to race about three seconds faster than previous years. “Any time you’re at a national meet, the level of competition is going to be very high. The meet as a whole was just quicker this year,” Gatchell said. For the outdoor season, Gatchell wants to put himself in a good place early on so he

want to finish innings by stepping on throats and getting the third out,” he said. “That has been kind of a constant thing the last two weeks. In the series’ final game, Ring opened the scoring with a first-inning home run, before the Dragons pushed across three unearned runs in the bottom half. Freshman left fielder Jake Rhodes added another Charger run in the top of the second with his second collegiate home run. The Chargers then added

By | Joshua Paladino Collegian Reporter A month after their last tournament, the Hillsdale College Golf team traveled south to play at the Cherry Blossom Golf Course. The Cherry Blossom Invite was hosted in Georgetown, Kentucky. Hillsdale placed 14th out of 21 teams in the two-day tournament that was played on March 18 and 19. The Chargers shot 617, which put them 25 strokes behind the first place finisher, Bellarmine University. Junior Logan Kauffman said these middle-of-thepack finishes are not where the team wants to be, since it needs more top-place finishes to qualify for the postseason. “Quite frankly, we need to win,” Kauffman said. “We really wanted to play better, and we should have. However, your rounds are not always what you would like them be.” Kauffman said he played “below average.”

After shooting 79 on Saturday and 77 on Sunday, Kauffman tied for 58th place as an individual with an overall score of 156. Freshmen George Roberts and Sutton Dunwoodie, sophomore Peter Beneteau, and junior Joel Pietila also played in the tournament. Pietila came in with the team’s lowest score, 152, and tied for 28th as an individual. Beneteau shot 154, Dunwoodie shot 155, and Roberts shot 161. Roberts said he struggled to “find a good rhythm,” and he believes this is the problem for the team as a whole. “It is there for us as a team, but we are just not putting all the pieces of the puzzle together at this moment. Hopefully, it will come together over the weeks remaining,” he said Unfortunately, the best place finisher for the team only competed as an individual, so his score did not count for the team. Juniors Joe Torres played as

an individual and took ninth place out of the nearly 130 players. He shot 70 on Saturday and 77 on Sunday, for a two-day score of 147. Junior Steve Sartore also played individually, shooting a 163. Roberts said Torres played well despite “strong unexpected winds,” especially with his first-day two-under-par round. Only three tournaments remain before the GLIAC Championship on April 23. “Moving forward, we really need to push ourselves to be the best we can be each and every round,” Kauffman said. The remaining tournaments are against teams in the team’s region. This means the golf team has to rank well in the coming weeks, ideally the top three, to advance to the postseason. Hillsdale’s next event is the GLIAC South Invite at the Andover Country Club in Lexington Kentucky on March 27 and 28.

Ellingson represents Hillsdale at national meet By | Morgan Channels Collegian Reporter Senior Alex Whitford tied with two other athletes, placing eighth at the national meet. Whitford received All-American honors for her performance. Alex Whitford | Courtesy

doesn’t have to worry about ranking and simply work on improving his times. Junior Hannah McIntyre took sixth in the women’s 5,000 meter, earning her fourth national title. She ran her season best time of 16:44.24. McIntyre was happy with her effort and ranking in the 5,000, though she was nervous going into it, because she had no teammates in the race with her. “It was stiff this year. In both of my races, I had to be really on it every second of the race. People make moves and you have to fight for your space,” McIntyre said. “You don’t really get an experience like that outside of nationals, but I knew to expect it from past years.” The women’s distance medley relay of sophomore Allyson Eads, junior Hannah Watts,

Senior Caleb Gatchell (right) placed sixth in the mile at the national meet. Above, Gatchell poses with his brother Ethan. Caleb Gatchell | Courtesy

Baseball from A10

Golf places 14th in Kentucky

three runs over the the sixth and seventh innings, with Ring and sophomore third baseman Colin Boerst each adding an RBI. Four Dragon runs in the bottom of the eighth, however, put the game out of reach for Hillsdale, who was only able to add one in the ninth on an RBI walk from sophomore centerfielder Michael Mitchell. In total, the Chargers left 12 men on base in the 9-6 loss. After every tough weekend, however, there is an opportunity to rebound. Junior captain Ryan O’Hearn said

and seniors Molly Oren and Allison Duber took seventh with a total time of 11:34.08. Last year, Hillsdale’s relay was the national champion. With last year’s time, the relay would have placed second this year. As a testament to the rigid competition in the division, 11:34.08 earned them only two points this year. The top two teams shattered the Division-II record. Senior Alex Whitford tied two other athletes to come in eighth in the pole vault with her jump of 12 feet, 4.5 inches. After a long journey to the All-American podium, Whitford emphasized her gratitude to the people that rallied behind her that week. “I was excited and also I had an otherworldly kind of drive to do the best I could,” Whitford said. “I was a little unsure how I was going to be mentally, but it was really easy to be present in the moment and I feel like that confidence came from the support of my coach and my teammates and a lot of prayer.” The pole-vault community is very tight-knit, even though the women only see each other at a few meets per year. Whitford expressed excitement in watching her friends perform well and seeing the NCAA championship meet record for pole vault broken by Courtney Crandall from the University of Sioux Falls. The teams will continue to train and refocus on fundamentals before the start of the outdoor season the weekend of April 1 in Texas, California, and Michigan. Towne said he’s looking forward to the outdoor season. “The beauty of track is that whether you have a good season or a bad season, the next season happens right away,” Towne said. “I feel really good about where we are at, it just took us longer to get there than I thought.”

this week has to be taken seriously. “It’s early, but it’s obviously disappointing to get swept in your first GLIAC series,” he said. “The only thing you can do is learn from the mistakes we made in those games and use that as motivation. We should have our best practice this week — be busting butt on the field and in the weight room. It’s not really an option.” The Chargers will head to Ashland University this weekend to face the Eagles in double headers on both Friday and Saturday.

Hillsdale swimmer sophomore Anika Ellingson faced more than 1,000 student athletes at the NCAA Division II National Championships Winter Festival from March 7-11. Some of the best Division-II athletes from across the country in men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s wrestling competed in Birmingham, Alabama. At nationals, Ellingson faced what she called an at times “overwhelming situation.” Ellingson placed 22nd in the 100-yard breaststroke and 30th in the 200-yard breaststroke. Head coach Kurt Kirner said Ellingson performed very well at nationals, adding that it’s difficult to get best times only a couple weeks after a strong performance at GLIACs. Over ten meet records were broken in several competitions, and several athletes set new NCAA Division II time standards. Kirner said each accomplishment is just scratching

the surface of what Ellingson is capable of. Though he had hoped Ellingson would place, he said it was very promising that Ellingson came close to placing in both of her events. “The important thing is that she got a taste of competing at that level, and she knows she belongs there,” Kirner said. Ellingson also said she encountered people who, like herself, had never been to nationals before. She said they were looking around with nervous wonder, taking in every aspect of the new experience. Ellingson said meeting the variety of people from all over the world was exciting. She said the athletes were personable, and she met swimmers from Germany and Norway. Ellingson enjoyed bonding with many new people over athlete breakfasts. “Although the atmosphere was really intense, the atmosphere only became intense during the races. There wasn’t any animosity between any of the teams or athletes,” Ellingson said. Ellingson admitted to being slightly disappointed that she did not swim best

times or make finals, but, at the same time, she said she knows it was her first year at nationals. “Overall, I am happy because I had my fastest morning swims there,” Ellingson said. “This shows that I am still improving. My races felt good — the pool felt fast.” Kirner acknowledged that competing in nationals first takes skill, and he knows Ellingson worked extensively over the last two seasons to refine her stroke, start, turns, underwater pullouts, and finishes. “Her determination and focus really got her there. Now, it is up to harnessing that nervous energy she feels behind the blocks to place at NCAAs,” Kirner said. Kirner said that he hopes Hillsdale will take a relay or more Chargers to nationals next year, along with Ellingson. Looking forward, Ellingson said she hopes to return to nationals next year to place even higher. “Now that I know what to work on in the middle of the season, taper, and for coming off of conference, I know what I have to do,” she said.

Sophomore Anika Ellingson poses for a photo at the NCAA Division II National Championships Winter Festival. Ellingson was the sole Charger to compete in the meet. Anika Ellingson | Courtesy


Charger Chargers place at National Meet Seven Hillsdale athletes were named All-Americans at the Division II Track and Field Championships. A9

Anika Ellingson Competes at National Meet Ellingson competed in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. A9

Hillsdale alum coaches NCAA Tournament team Michael Furlong ‘15 is an assistant coach for the Kansas State men’s basketball team. A8 Anika Ellingson | Courtesy

Michael Furlong | Courtesy

Alex Whitford | Courtesy

23 MAR. 2017

SOFTBALL CONCLUDES PRE-CONFERENCE PLAY 10-13 After going 6-8 in Florida, the Chargers will start conference play this weekend against Tiffin By | Madeleine Jepsen Assistant Editor

Many students traded in Michigan weather for warmth and sunshine over break, including the Hillsdale College softball team, which took advantage of the warm weather in Clermont, Florida, to play 14 games. Head coach Joe Abraham said the games gave a young team some much-needed experience before heading into conference play.

With nearly half of the lineup being freshmen, Abraham said the team’s 10-13 record shows a perseverance against worthy opponents, which bodes well for the rest of the season. The series of games began on a high note with a 3-2 victory over University of Minnesota Duluth, a team that is 16-8 on the season. After getting three runs in the first two innings, including a home run from freshman shortstop

Sam Catron, the Chargers held the lead for the remainder of the game. Freshman pitcher Dana Weidinger shut out Duluth over the final six innings, striking out eight batters while allowing only four hits and a walk. Senior outfielder Bekah Kastning scored one run, and junior third baseman Kelsey Gockman’s single scored sophomore second baseman Amanda Marra. Catron’s home run, the first of her collegiate career, was a

Freshman utility player Carlin MacDonald-Gannon makes a running catch. Sarah Klopfer | Courtesy

Tennis sweeps Spring Arbor By | Scott McClallen Collegian Reporter After competing at Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort in South Carolina during spring break — going 2-1 to reach .500 on the season — the Hillsdale College men’s tennis team swept Spring Arbor University 9-0 at home on Tuesday evening. The Chargers are 7-6 on the season, surpassing a .500 record for the first time since the program’s inception. “It was a good way to end the trip on a high note,” head coach Keith Turner said. “We have the strongest singles lineup in the region. If we can win two-thirds of doubles a match, we will dominate.” On Tuesday, Hillsdale won six singles flights in straight sets. The Chargers dominated, only allowing the Cougars to score above 6-2 in just one of 12 matches. Sophomore Justin Hyman continued his six-match singles win streak 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 singles. After his performance, Hyman was named GLIAC Player of the Week. Freshman Charlie Adams was a No. 2 singles winner 6-0, 6-0, and junior Dugan Delp picked up a No. 3 singles win 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore John Ciraci won at No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-1. Freshman Julien Clouette was victorious at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-1, followed by sophomore Jerry Hewitt’s No. 6 win 6-2, 6-4. The Chargers dominated doubles matches for the third time this season. Hyman and Adams won at No. 1 singles 8-4. Ciraci and Delp shut out the Cougars at No. 2 doubles, 8-0, and Clouette and Hewitt completed the sweep with a win at No. 3 doubles. Freshman Milan Mirkovic stands 10-0 in singles match-

es, and Hyman went undefeated during spring break. To start the week in Hilton Head, the Chargers fell to West Liberty University — ranked No. 3 in the Atlantic region — 5-4 Sunday morning. Hillsdale won three singles matches, but were defeated in two singles matches and a doubles match, which required a tiebreaker resulting in a frustrating one-point loss to the Hilltoppers. Mirkovic won at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-3. Clouette finished strong with a No. 6 singles win 6-3, 4-6, 10-6. Hyman won at No. 2 singles 7-5, 6-1, and teamed up with Adams at No. 1 doubles for Hillsdale’s lone doubles win at 8-3. “It was a heartbreak — as close as I’ve been in a match that’s come down to one singles match. It was very even,” Turner said. West Liberty was the Chargers’ fifth of 12 matches ending in a 5-4 score, showing the team’s improvement and competitive schedule in the GLIAC and Atlantic region. “I put together a tough schedule to place the team in tight situations. You don’t improve by playing easy teams,” Turner said. Last Tuesday, Hillsdale toppled Fairmont State 5-4. The Chargers trailed 2-1 after doubles play, but fought back to win four singles to decide the match against the second ranked team in the Atlantic region. Hyman won at No. 1 singles 2-6, 6-3, 10-7, and Delp was a No. 4 singles winner at 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 — both returning from 1-0 deficits. Delp’s tiebreaker win upset the 4-4 tie to decide the match. Adams won straight sets at No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-2, along

with Mirkovic, who won at No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-1. Hyman and Adams teamed up for a No. 1 doubles win at 8-6. “We knew it would be a really good win for us,” Ciraci said. “We had just lost, and, coming into the GLIAC games, we knew this win would give us some good momentum going forward — showing teams we are much better than last year, and that we are going to compete for a higher spot this year.” The Chargers went on to bulldoze through Kutztown University 8-1 on Wednesday in 40-degree weather — their final match in South Carolina. Hillsdale dominated doubles play for the second time this season, winning three matches with a combined score of 24-11, a welcome split from past doubles trouble. Hillsdale won five singles matches in straight sets. Hyman won at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1, and matched with Adams for a No. 1 doubles victory 8-1. Clouette teamed up with Ciraci to win at No. 3 doubles 8-5. Clouette was a No. 6 singles winner at 6-2, 6-0, while Ciraci scored 6-1, 6-2, at No. 5 singles. Mirkovic earned a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles, and then played with Delp — who won No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-0 — for an 8-5 No. 2 doubles win. “Our singles lineup had been pulling us through. We could be down after doubles and still make it a close match, but with this new lineup, we can advance in doubles, and win more matches,” Ciraci said.

theme repeated throughout the course of the week for many of the freshman players. “A lot of people had their first hits,” freshman catcher Sydney San Juan said. “That was really cool to watch.” The Chargers’ next set of wins came on Saturday, when they mercied University Saint Francis 14-4 and Saint Ambrose University 12-4 in respective six-inning and five-inning games. Over the course of the day, the team turned its 27 hits into 26 runs. In game one against St. Ambrose, San Juan went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs. Freshman outfielder Victoria Addis went 3-for-3, with all hits producing a run. Kastning doubled twice, scoring once, and driving in two more runs. In game two, Kastning continued her hitting streak with her third four-hit game of her career, scoring four runs. Over the course of the day, she reached base seven times in eight at-bats. Senior catcher Cassie Asselta had a career-high 5 RBIs in game two, and sophomore outfielder Katie Kish scored three runs and had four hits, another career high. Marra also scored twice. In the circle, Weidinger won game one, and freshman pitcher Erin Gordon got the win in game two in relief. The next two games proved difficult for the Chargers, which senior pitcher Kyra Rodi said was due to a combination of tough opponents and off-days for the batting lineup. “We definitely had ups and downs, but I think our team dynamic really grew,” Rodi said. “There were games where we made too many mental

Senior outfielder Bekah Kastning was named GLIAC Hitter of the Week after her spring break performance. Sarah Klopfer | Courtesy

mistakes, where if we had been sharper, we would have won,” Rodi said. “We just need to think through the game, and as the season goes on, I think that will get better.” San Juan agreed, citing the losses as a valuable experience. “Coach is very optimistic about our losses, just because we have a young team,” San Juan said. “Just being down there playing against the good competition was a good experience.”

The team’s next victories weren’t until Thursday, when they played Concordia University-St. Paul and Viterbo University. The team came back from a deficit early in the game and headed into the fifth inning tied 4-4. The Chargers answered a Concordia run with one of their own in the sixth inning when San Juan’s single brought in junior first base-

See Softball A8

Baseball struggles in GLIAC opener By | Stevan Bennett Jr. Assistant Editor Athletics can provide the highest highs and the lowest lows — over spring break, the Hillsdale College baseball team saw both ends of the spectrum. After sweeping four games from Davis & Elkins college over the first weekend of spring break, Hillsdale dropped two games to Tiffin on both Sunday and Tuesday to open conference play. “We have to remember that we are still young and still learning, and learning even how to compete,” head coach Eric Theisen said. “...We need to look in the mirror and decide what kind of effort level we want to have every day, on a daily basis, and that’s a choice. The talent is there to compete in a conference tournament.” For practice this week, the focus will be on the fundamentals and on competitive drive, according to both Eric Theisen and assistant coach

Gordie Theisen. “We need to get better about competing, believing in ourselves, and keeping the foot on the gas pedal,” Gordie Theisen said. Game one of the series went to the the Tiffin Dragons 4-0. Although the Dragons only outhit the Chargers 8-6, the Chargers failed to string hits together, leaving seven men on base in the effort. Junior captain Will Kruse tossed all six Charger defensive innings, allowing four earned runs, while also striking out four. In game two, the Dragons pushed two runs across in the bottom of the first, before the Chargers tied the game in the top of the third, thanks to RBI doubles from sophomore catcher Donald Ring and freshman left fielder Dante Toppi. After Tiffin scored one in the bottom half of the third, the Chargers pulled things even again in the top of the fifth on a Ring single. The

Junior captain Will Kruse allowed four earned runs and struck out four during his six innings of pitching against Tiffin on Tuesday. John Quint | Courtesy

Dragons answered with one of their own, before adding three in the sixth and one in each of the sixth and seventh innings. Hillsdale was only able to add one more, coming on a Toppi sacrifice fly, bringing the game to its 9-4 final. The two teams reconvened on Tuesday, where Tiffin opened up a 4-0 lead over the first two innings. Hillsdale got one back in the top of the fifth when junior second baseman Alex Walts knocked an RBI double, but Tiffin responded with two of their own. The Chargers attempted to mount a comeback with two runs in the seventh, but fell short, dropping the game 6-3. Gordie Theisen said the pitching staff has done well with finding the strike zone, but wants to see improvement in the ability to close out innings. “We want to throw first pitch strikes. We want to get leadoff batters out, and we

See Baseball A9


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B1 23 Mar. 2017 Grace DeSandro | Collegian

‘Beauty and the Beast’: Tropes as old as time, wrongs as old as rhyme By | Kate Patrick

Associate Editor

Disney’s live action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” took $170 million from American moviegoers in its opening weekend, making it the biggest opening ever for a Disney live action remake or a PG-rated movie. Those are impressive stats, and although “Beauty and the Beast” dazzles, it does not deliver. By clinging tightly to the storyline of the original 1991 animated film, except for a few minor deviances (more on that later), Disney offers an easily forgettable film that is mostly a shadow of the original. The frustrating part is, it’s hard to pinpoint where exactly Disney went wrong. Disney overshot the film’s storyline while conserving the story’s traditional themes of love and courage, and as a result “Beauty and the Beast” is lukewarm and mediocre. The film opens with the narration of the Prince’s downfall and transformation into the Beast (Dan Stevens), then transitions into the familiar “Bonjour” opening number featuring misfit bookworm Belle (Emma Watson). From there the film follows the original storyline, with a few embellishments: In the remake, Belle is an inventor

like her father Maurice (Kevin Kline), and Maurice is a likeable and respectable character, unlike the bumbling, absent-minded fellow in the animated version. Disney adds a few scenes for Belle and the Beast to spend more time getting to know each other by sharing their love of books and then throws in a random scene where Belle resolves the story of her mother’s death. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with these additional scenes, but Disney tries to go too deep with a fairy tale that is supposed to be much simpler. The point of the original Grimms’ fairy tale of “Beauty and the Beast” and the beloved animated film is not to tell a realistic, explainable story about a strong woman saving a man with a troubled past. The point is to show viewers what selfless love and courage look like, and encourage you not to be deceived by appearances. You don’t need extra scenes about Belle’s past or her burgeoning relationship with the Beast to do that, and the overall effect makes the film feel rushed and haphazard. Then there’s Disney’s obvious LGBTQ agenda roaring through a few brief moments in the remake. Two stand out: first, during the attack on the castle, the Wardrobe (the amazing Audra McDonald)

Seniors show off art in capstone projects By | S. M. Chavey Features Editor

Just a dozen pieces of artwork. That’s all — give or take a few — that the senior art majors select from their portfolios of almost four years to display in their senior art show. Two to four seniors share the shows, which typically begin with a reception and last a week. The first show, “Overly Caffeinated,” featuring the work of Katherine Frank and Sara Pezzella, began Monday, and the other three shows will follow in upcoming weeks. Though seniors consider their show a capstone project, it only conveys a glimpse into the long hours art majors spend in the Sage Center for the Arts. “I think that as a human being you gain an appreciation for the daily beauty around you, but I also think you gain an appreciation for effort,” senior art major Hana Bernhardson said. “Once you’ve sat in a studio class for three hours and have come out shaking your head in frustration because the creativity’s not working or something’s not going right, you understand it. You understand the hard work that goes into it.” A double major in exercise science and art, Bernhardson said she and many other art majors have had to balance time spent in the studio with time spent on other parts of campus. Bernhardson will be sharing a show with two like-minded seniors — Erin Holsinger and Eileen Thoma — beginning March 26. But others, such as senior art major Tori Swanson, prioritize art. “I’ve really had to push myself to find the time outside the class,” Swanson said. “It’s really hard because we’re at Hillsdale and it’s the liberal arts so we have English classes and politics classes and stuff like that

defends herself by magically dressing three townsmen as women in a dizzying whirlwind of ribbons and lace. The men react with glee and dance off down the stairs. Second, during the ending ball scene of the film, Gaston’s henchman LeFou (Josh Gad) — a very effeminate character — begins dancing with another man. Really, Disney? These moments weren’t in the Grimms’ story or the original animated film, so it doesn’t make sense to add them to the remake other than to push an LG BTQ agenda. Disney created a gay character for the sake of starring a gay character, and as a result casts itself as a bad publicist and a subpar storyteller. The film boasts a few redeeming features, but they aren’t strong enough to overcome the shortcomings. From a visual standpoint, the film is lovely. Favorite numbers like “Be Our Guest”

“Over and over

again, the characters prove themselves to be brave and noble. They learn humility, and they learn to love.”

Senior art majors’ shows opened this week. Hana Bernhardson | Courtesy

at the same time as art classes. You just gotta force yourself to do it and not wait for the inspiration or the motivation.” Swanson’s show, beginning April 9, will be shared with three other seniors. The best pieces, Swanson said, are those that are emotionally inspired. For Swanson, her best pieces are tied to home: a nostalgic painting of her grandparents’ house and farm where she used to spend part of the summer, and a vibrant landscape of the sunset from freshman year inspired by a homesickness that she remembers when she sees it. Bernhardson said her favorite work — a 2-foot sculpture depicting a weary boxer after a fight — displays the fusion of her two majors. “It shows that I understand the muscles and the underpinning of a human body, but also an artistic interpretation of this fully-ripped guy. He’s so overcome with fatigue that he’s just sitting on this bench. It also ties into my athletic training; I see football players, volleyball players, anybody after a victory or a loss and you see those moments where you have these powerful figures at moment of weakness. That’s what I try to capture in the figure,” Bernhardson said. Bernhardson will display primarily drawings and sculptures to show her growth as an artist. Holsinger, a student athlete herself, will show many more oil paintings, and Thoma, who’s worked in theater, may show off some of her costume designs. In Swanson’s art show two weeks later, she’ll display many oil paintings and landscapes. A native Nebraskan, Swanson said she wants to convert others to loving Nebraska’s beauty through her paintings. “I try to take that beauty I see and paint it … and show the beauty of places people

and “Tale As Old As Time” are glamorous and nostalgic. But for some reason, Disney cut the song “Human Again” from the remake, which is a major disappointment. The “little town” where Belle and her father live is full of bright, colorful characters, several of whom provide charming little anecdotes throughout the film. One thin grouchy townswoman, for example, turns out to be the wife of Cogsworth (Ian McKellen). Swe e pi ng panoramic scenes of the French countryside are thrilling and delightful, but drown Watson’s weak voice. Watson acts well, and although her voice is sweet, it isn’t strong, and doesn’t match Belle’s strong personality. Belle is the star of a musical, but Watson’s lack of worthy vocals makes her forgettable. Fortunately, themes of love, sacrifice, and courage are still the lifeblood of the film: Belle bravely sacrifices herself (and then her friendship with the Beast) to save her father, and

which subtly casts religion — specifically the Christian religion — in a positive light. Over and over again, the characters prove themselves to be brave and noble. They learn humility, and they learn to love. Although “Beauty and the Beast” fails to enchant, it retains the classic story and effortlessly promotes virtue. It may be worth watching for that fact alone, but if you want to watch a well-made, praiseworthy live-action remake of a Disney classic, then you’re better off watching 2015’s “Cinderella” or 2016’s “The Jungle Book.”

Disney’s new version of the classic fairytale was released in theaters March 17. IMDB

Hillsdale’s copy of ‘Leaves of Grass’ recently returned to the library. Ramona Tausz | Collegian

‘Leaves of Grass’ didn’t leave Mossey Library for long By | Ramona Tausz

might not typically think as beautiful,” Swanson said. Seniors Grace DeSandro, Mikel Eatough, and Cecily Parell will share the show with Swanson. Together, the group identifies a possible theme and title as well as a branding strategy. Individually, they determine the order of their works, write the labels, frame the pictures, prepare food for the reception, and write an artist statement about why they do what they do. Those who attend the shows in Sage catch a sample of the talent in Hillsdale’s art department and “get to feel like they’re cultured,” Swanson said. But for the senior art majors, this show represents their growth as artists and people through the art department. In comparison to other majors in which students are already somewhat educated, many art majors have to start as beginners, according to Professor of Art Barbara Bushey. “It’s intimidating because you haven’t been in that position of being a beginner for a long time. It’s frustrating because you think, ‘I should know how to do this,’ but you have to learn. And it is at once personal and impersonal, because you are actually making these marks or whatever, but you want to get to a point where you’ve created this object of beauty that others will enjoy,” Bushey said. The quiet halls of Sage may separate art majors from the hustling busyness closer to Lane and Kendall Halls, but these art shows enable the rest of campus to briefly view and understand the creative process of visual arts. “I feel like the act of creating something is in our human nature,” Swanson said. “People want to create and to make things, so it’s good for people to make things.”

her father does everything in his power to get her back. The Beast lets Belle go to save her father, even though he knows that by doing so he’s dooming himself to eternity as a beast. The Beast’s servants — Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), Chip (Nathan Mack), Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), Plumette (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Cogsworth, and others — acknowledge their failure to love the Prince and raise him properly, and routinely give up their own desire to be human again. The local chaplain (Ray Fearon) is portrayed as a kindly, knowledgeable character who graciously lends Belle books from the chapel library,

Senior Writer

Hillsdale’s first edition, second issue copy of Walt Whitman’s 1855 “Leaves of Grass” has officially returned to the Heritage Room after several months of repairs — a restoration process that has left the book officially appraised at $25,000. “Our primary interest in restoring the book was in making it something that students could look at,” Public Service Librarian Linda Moore said. Accidentally, however, the restoration process ended up increasing the book’s monetary value, as well. In its original condition, it was only worth $1-2,000. A woman named Gladys Mathew donated the copy to the college in the 1970s, although Moore said informa-

tion about who this woman was or why she owned the book has been “lost in the mists of time.” The book had long been in disrepair, and almost nobody asked to see it until Assistant Professor of English Kelly Franklin, a Whitman scholar, started working at the college in 2014 and began using the book to teach students in his Great Books classes. “It helps bridge the gap of time,” Franklin said. “It enables the students to connect with the book in a deeper and more real way than by just reading a paperback edition.” “Once he became interested in it, we decided we should try to find someone to restore the book,” Moore said. Although they knew they were running the risk of decreasing the value of the book in the

restoration process, the librarians decided it was more important to make sure students could better access the book. Moore sent the volume to a restorer in November, and it was finished by February. Repairs included replacing the cover’s worn-out boards, adding new tissue inserts between pages, and giving the book a custom clamshell and bone folder for safe handling. The book can again be safely handled by students and used in classes. When Franklin uses the edition in his classes, he often has students discuss the drawing of Whitman that appears on the inside cover. Because Whitman’s name didn’t actually appear on the first edition of “Leaves of Grass,” this image is the first interaction readers have with the

See Whitman B2

CULTURE CORNER Welcome to paper season. If you could write about anything, which topic would you choose?

Senior Will Veitkus: I would love to travel around the world and look at the global impact of the Beatles on various cultures, and their reception by foreign speakers, with the intention of proving that the band’s impact on the West was as culturally, economically, and historically profound as any major modern conflict, politician, or poet — if not more so. Senior Patience Tyne: My great-grandfather Victor Said Armesto, a Galician author, worked to preserve the Galician heritage on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. I would love to study the contemporary state of democracy and heritage in Galicia in comparison with other regions of Spain.

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Senior Joel Haines: My dream research would be to study wolverines in Wyoming. I would want to study the basic behavior patterns and also the effects the wolverine has on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in northwestern Wyoming. Senior Angela Bonvissuto: I would write a thesis exploring therapy for people with type 1 diabetes including biological, environmental, psychological, and spiritual approaches. This is a topic of interest for me because I am a type 1 diabetic. Courtesy

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Compiled by Katie J. Read


Culture www.hillsdalecollegian.com

B2 23 Mar. 2017

on campus this week . . .

Ron Hansen: A visiting writer with variety By | Tim Pearce Assistant Editor Ron Hansen, best known for writing fiction on the American West, will be speaking at Hillsdale College on Tuesday about Shakespeare’s impact on his writing and his recent visit to the Holy Land. The lecture will be in Dow Rooms A & B at 8 p.m., with a book signing and reception held after at a location given out to attendees. Hansen will also be reading selections from two of his works on Monday at the same time and place as the lecture. The selections are a short story about a deadly blizzard that hit the Great Plains in 1888 and part of his most recent novel, “The Kid,” about the life of outlaw Henry McCarty, or Billy the Kid. Professor of English John Somerville and the Visiting Writers Program are hosting Hansen.

“We have lots of speakers come to campus; a lot of people from the political world, maybe economics, maybe history. But as for serious writers in poetry and fiction, it’s just the guys and women I bring,” Somerville said. Hansen has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice, and his novel “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” was into a movie in 2007. He has taught fiction and screenwriting at universities including Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Hansen currently teaches courses on fiction, screenwriting, and literature at Santa Clara University. While on campus, Somerville has arranged for Hansen to eat with select students and give a question and answer session on writing fiction. “One of the things I’ve wanted to do since I started directing this program is to give students as much contact

with the writer as possible,” Somerville said. “I don’t want to bring him and have him just spend his time with faculty because, come on, it’s really for the students.” Hansen has come to Hillsdale once before, in 2008. Somerville said he has wanted to bring Hansen back for a few years, and Hansen is excited to return. Hansen’s visit this semester almost didn’t happen, however. Before contacting Hansen, Somerville reached out to two other writers who had conflicts with coming this spring. “Ron Hansen hasn’t been here in awhile. He has a new novel out — it came out in the fall – and I’ve wanted to bring him back for a number of years. So I wrote him and, thank goodness, he said yes,” Somerville said. “I’m very pleased he’s coming. He’s a great guy; he’s a very generous and smart and kind person.”

David Katz will perform his one-man play at Markel Auditorium Friday. Facebook

Katz’s magical, musical, one-man play comes to Markel By | Chandler Lasch Collegian Reporter David Katz’s original play “Muse of Fire” will tell the modern-day story of a sorcerer and his apprentice in a battle to the death at 8 p.m. Friday in Markel Auditorium. Katz, a conductor, playwright, and actor, performs as seven characters in this one-man play based on his own life as a young student at the Pierre Monteux Conducting School in Maine. His teacher, the legendary and tyrannical maestro Charles Bruck, provides the inspiration for the sorcerer in “Muse of Fire.” The play follows the apprentice as he recollects his experience, going from fearing and hating to greatly loving his teacher. “This is particularly fun

homecoming for me,” said Katz in a post on “Muse of Fire’s” Facebook page. “I was on campus many times between 1988-2000, when I was music director of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra—none happier (before this weekend) than in 1992, when I led the ASO and Hillsdale Choirs at the dedication of the Sage Center for the Arts.” Music Director James Holleman said he saw “Muse of Fire” last March and decided to bring the show to Hillsdale as a part of the Professional Artists Series. “I found it to be interesting and enjoyable,” Holleman said. “And yes, there is a strong connection to the theme of studying conducting. Though in a broader sense it speaks to the student-teacher relation-

ship from the viewpoint of the student after many years. I think many people will connect to the story.” Peter Van de Graaff, host of WFMT Fine Arts “Radio Music Through the Night,” praised the show for its humor and gravity. “It is a one-man play about the art of conducting,” Van de Graaff said. “It is about a man and his mentor, who is an intense, almost abusive man, but what he draws out of this conductor is the art of feeling music, of truly living the music … I’m someone who has spent a lifetime in music, as both performer and broadcaster, and I came away with a much deeper love of music from this play.”

Dinner and a talent show with ‘Hillsdale Idol’ Thursday By | Abigail Liebing Collegian Freelancer Johnny T’s Bistro will host Hillsdale Idol Unplugged, a musical fundraiser that will benefit Hillsdale County School of Arts, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Professor of Philosophy and Religion Nathan Schlueter organized the event, recruiting sponsors such as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and

Checker Records. Several Hillsdale students, and at least one alumna, will perform acoustic sets. “These are great musicians, and it’s going to be a great performance,” Schlueter said. Schlueter said he sees this event as his way of giving back to HSCA, an organization hwwe appreciates for giving the Hillsdale community many opportunities to

explore the arts. Judging the talent show will be English Professor Justin Jackson, Cello Professor David Peshlakai, and Dave Trippett. First place will win $150, second place $100, and third place $50. Phi Mu Alpha members will sell tickets at lunch and dinner today for $10, and the price will increase to $15 at the door.

Sunny Wilkinson’s last show at Hillsdale to feature the jazz music of Joni Mitchell By | Anna Timmis Collegian Reporter The Hillcats, Hillsdale’s faculty jazz band, will perform “The Music of Joni Mitchell,” from her iconic “Big Yellow Taxi Cab” to her later jazz work at 8 p.m. Saturday in Markel Auditorium. The concert features Sunny Wilkinson, Hillsdale’s resident jazz vocalist, in her final concert at Hillsdale. Wilkinson will be singing Mitchell’s versatile music which features complex harmonies and upbeat rhythms. “Joni Mitchell is the poet laureate of our generation,” Wilkinson said. “She’s leaps and bounds ahead and apart from all the others.” The faculty will also perform the work of jazz artist Charles Mingus, who worked closely with Mitchell when she turned from folk to jazz. Wilkinson said Mingus would not let anyone write lyrics to his jazz music until he met Mitchell. She wrote a record of lyrics to his songs, some of which the Hillcats will perform at the concert. “Joni Mitchell’s music was far more in depth as far as har-

mony goes,” Chris McCourry, director of jazz ensembles, said. “Because of that, she was pulled into the jazz world.” McCourry said jazz players could understand her harmonies that folk players couldn’t because her work had the complexity of jazz. Wilkinson herself has had an impressive musical career, winning two Grammy awards and touring with jazz artists. Junior percussionist Aaron Andrews said he is looking forward to seeing how the jazz faculty take Mitchell’s folk sound and turn it into jazz. “Sunny’s voice is perfect for Joni Mitchell,” he said. Wilkinson will be joined by McCourry, Jon Gewirtz, Arlene McDaniel, Hank Horton, and Larry Ochiltree. “I take lessons from Jon Gewirtz,” junior Heather Woodhouse said. “I love watching him play the saxophone. He’s a peaceful, quiet guy and he just shreds on saxophone, let me tell you.” Woodhouse said she is grateful to work with the jazz faculty, and since joining the jazz program, has realized how accomplished they are.

“It’s just inspiring,” she said. “We don’t just take lessons from our professors and work with them in combo and big band. We get to see them perform, and that shows they practice what they preach.” On her farewell concert, Wilkinson said, “It’s very special to me. I am very fond of the students and very good friends with the faculty.”

Joni Mitchell’s music will be featured in the Hillcats’ performance Saturday. Hillsdale College | Courtesy

Amazon

Writer Ron Hansen will discuss his work March 27 and 28.

In review: Hansen’s ‘She Loves Me Not’ By | Hannah Niemeier Culture Editor I couldn’t resist: I picked up the book with the steamy makeout scene on the cover. I was wandering the library stacks, exploring the work of Hillsdale College’s next Visiting Writer. As yet, he was a mystery to me, and the “H” section of the fiction shelves only turned up more intrigue. The listings under “Hansen, Ron” are a hothouse of variety: his creativity blooms in novels, historical fiction, short stories, and essays on the religious life. These works are populated by nuns (“Mariette in Ecstasy”), gangsters (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Richard Ford”), dictators and their relatives (“Hitler’s Niece”), possibly rabid dogs (multiple stories in “Nebraska” and “She Loves Me Not”), and the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (“Exiles”). The cover of Ron Hansen’s most recent collection of stories, then, is suggestive of more than a tendency toward the passionate side of life: “She Loves Me Not” is a collection of short stories that runs the range of human experience and emotion, vice and unexpected virtue. It’s an emblem of Hansen’s interest in the excitement of everything, and his stories are vibrant, violent, and brimming with life. And the dust jacket only made matters more interesting: Ron Hansen is the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University, where he teaches literature. He is an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church. Two of his novels have been finalists for the PEN/Faulkner award, and one was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is a native Nebraskan, and he writes largely from and about his home, but there is far more going on in those silent cornfields than his readers knew. The table of contents spans thirty years of Hansen’s writing, and the stories fly by, invigorating as a wintry gust of Nebraska wind: “Nebraska,” published in 1989, is a stirring picture of the changelessness of home. “True Romance” injects the evil of the unknown into this already melancholic idyll, and “A Hazard of New Fortunes” uses suffering to inject new hope — somewhat strangely — into a life not-so-

well-lived. The first 30 pages frame the book beautifully: Oscar Wilde, extravagant artiste and aesthete extraordinaire, visits Omaha, Nebraska, and finds that his elaborate poses fall flat before the bewildering — and sobering — straightforwardness of a reporter for the Omaha Daily Herald. Hansen’s Wilde is enchanting and true to the Irish author’s voice, but his loyalties lie with the Midwest. Hansen’s landscape is never simply a backdrop; it threatens annihilation in “Wickedness,” a story of the fates of rural people in the great blizzard of 1888. One of the survivors of the storm introduces the story — which at times seems little more than a catalogue of deaths — saying, “Weather in Nebraska could be the wickedest thing she ever saw.” And the theme of the forces of nature and fate, the unavoidable and inexplicable voices that determine his characters’ lives, runs through many of Hansen’s stories.

Whitman from B1 poet. According to Frank-

Pound is saying Whitman paved the way for modernism, I was like, ‘Now I’m interested,’” Franklin said. “If I couldn’t have T.S. Eliot without Whitman, I’m interested.” Professor of English Christopher Busch, an American literature specialist in the English department who also studied Whitman in graduate school, said there is probably “no American poet more important than Whitman.” Whitman, he says, saw himself as consciously answering the call for a bard who would “sing America.” “Americans of all stripes, of all backgrounds and lives, find their places in his poetry,” he said. “He’s trying to include everything we can think of that is a part of American life into his vision.” Franklin said Whitman’s “vision of human equality is unparalleled in American letters.” Although in 1855 it was illegal to help an escaped slave, in the pages of “Leaves of Grass” Whitman does exactly this, poetically transgressing a law to make a then-radical statement about freedom.

an old lover in a surprising way. In fact, this may be the center of his work: the joy that breaks in and invigorates characters to bear the blows of fate. At times, though, all these shifts in genre, tone, and style can be bewildering; “Wilderness,” in particular, is a jarring piece of magical realism that swallows up its own meaning in a sort of fairytale involving books that are bottomless holes and members of love triangles who are also monsters to be slain. In his enthusiastic attempts to present the enigma of life in all its variety and vivacity, Hansen’s voice — and particularly his use of dialect — is not always steady. But Hansen’s work is bold enough to overshadow the occasional misstep. The final piece, “She Loves Me Not,” completes the picture of Hansen’s multifarious Midwest, painting the self-destruction of small lives — and seemingly senseless murders — in Omaha in bright red. This is Hansen at his boldest. There are murders, drugs, love triangles, and longings for affection, validation, and purpose thwarted. Nature is defied and fate is accepted. And at the end, there may even be a resolution: “I slung my arm around my exotic gorgeous dancer and gazed up at our overseers. Waved my farewell. Wishing them peace and happiness. Wishing them such love.” To prepare for Hansen’s visit on March 27 and 28, readers should start with the short stories here and in “Nebraska.” Hansen’s collection of essays on faith will give readers “A Momentary Stay Against Confusion” and open up discussion about the Catholicism that grounds his work. “Mariette in Ecstasy” is a brave foray into a convent turned upside down by miracles — with all the attendant theological complications. And for some fun and James, track down “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Richard Ford.” At first glance, readers won’t be able to take in the whole scene that Hansen paints with his letters. But Hansen’s work will inspire questions about nuns, desperadoes, eerie amusement parks, and rabid dogs — and about the pleasure, pain, and prayer that shines through all of his fictional portraits. And that is a start.

“This may be the center of Hansen’s work: the joy that breaks in and invigorates characters to bear the blows of fate.”

lin, examining the picture is a key to understanding the persona the author is attempting to communicate. “He’s in laborer’s clothes, he’s casual, and his hand is on his hip,” Franklin pointed out. “He wants us to think of him as a common man, someone who wears his hat indoors and out, who doesn’t bow to convention.” Although Franklin would eventually write his dissertation on “Leaves of Grass,” he disliked Whitman for a long time, finding him egotistical. It wasn’t until he read Ezra Pound’s poem “A Pact” (in which Pound acknowledges that anyone desiring to write poetry in the 20th century must first deal with Whitman), that Franklin decided to give him another chance. In the poem, Pound commends Whitman for readying the world of modern poetry for Pound and others: “It was you that broke the new wood,” he writes, “Now is the time for carving.” “When I realized that

Nature is not the only ominous agent in Hansen’s stories, and certainly not the most disturbing one. Hansen writes of serial killers, unfaithful spouses, and people whose lust for life has died even as they live it. The inexplicable acts of evil that people commit against one another are the real ghosts in Hansen’s stories. One wonders how much Flannery O’Connor Hansen has read (after reading the grotesque and haunting story “Playland,” one strongly suspects that the answer is “plenty”). But there are always glimpses of grace. Two of the best stories in “She Loves Me Not” are “The Sparrow,” a story about the strength and healing found through grief, and “My Communist,” a delightful story about the stalking of a Polish priest in California: the ending is “a big surprise, belief me!” Hansen cannot resist these moments of humor and hope; he is often hilarious, heart-warming, lyrical, and poignant, especially in the short piece “The Theft,” where a policeman returns to

“He takes equality to an extreme even the abolitionists would have been uncomfortable with,” Franklin said. “He says ‘I am the poet of slaves and of the masters of slaves’ — he insists on being the poet of both. He’s obsessed with union and bringing opposites together and making a poetic voice of shared commonality that the nation really needed.” Both Franklin and Busch encourage Hillsdale students who may balk at Whitman’s apparent egotism to give him a fair chance. As Franklin pointed out, the first word of “Leaves of Grass” isn’t actually “I” in “Song of Myself.” “The first word of the book is ‘America,’ in the first line of the prose preface,” he said. “With any great author, we’ve got to understand him on his own terms.” “I celebrate Whitman because he’s incredibly important,” Busch added. “I would encourage all students to go in with an open mind and try to read and listen to what the writer has to say.”


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One for the bunny, two for the show By | Stevan Bennett Jr. Assistant Editor Few hobbies can count fending off coyotes among their perils. For seniors Danielle Ciarelli and Kim Deichmann, however, the possibility is not out of the question. The two biology majors both bred, raised, and showed rabbits at various fairs and competitions throughout

grade school and high school, something they both said is far more complicated and rewarding than simply keeping a rabbit as a cute pet. Ciarelli got started breeding rabbits on her family farm in late grade school, when a family friend gave her a pair of lionhead rabbits. Her uncle suggested that they attempt to breed the rabbits so that they could show the offspring.

Senior Kim Deichmann bred, raised, and showed rabbits at various fairs and competitions throughout grade school and high school. Kim Deichmann | Courtesy

“We already did stuff through 4-H, and so this was just another thing to do,” Ciarelli said. “But then I really liked it, so it was like, ‘Oh this breed is cool, let’s get some of these ones,’ and it went from there.” Deichmann told a similar story about her start, despite growing up more than 800 miles from Ciarelli. “As a kid, I did a lot of 4-H stuff … and I always saw the rabbits and Senior Danielle Ciarelli bred rabbits competitively and plans to attend veterinary school. Danielle Ciarelli | Courtesy thought that they bits, you might only get half her sibling’s involvement, she is able. For the time bewere cute and would be fun to of a litter that can show.” even after moving to Hills- ing, she plans to go into some show,” she said. Both girls said they came dale from her hometown of form of scientific research af“I told my parents, and they to realize that — in addition Milford, Michigan. ter leaving Hillsdale. took me over to a breeder, and to being cute and fun to show “She is the oldest, so Although both Ciarelli and I picked myself out a bunny.” — rabbits were enjoyable to she kind of set the way,” he Deichmann said they enjoyed The whole process, how- raise because they actually said. “And with the way that their time raising rabbits, ever, is not as easy as it have personalities. Ciarelli she does it — always enjoy- not everyone has the time or may seem. In fact, judges at compared rabbits to “little ing it, having fun with them, space to do so. Both, howevshows look for very specific dogs.” protecting them if anything er, said people should considtraits particular to the vari“Some of my rabbits are comes after them — it got er getting rabbits of their own ous breeds of rabbits, such as just happy to sit there and them excited, and then she as pets, especially since they size and shape of body, face, cuddle, but some of my sis- could help them once they don’t take much more care and ears, according to Ci- ter’s like to just be playing were involved.” than a guinea pig or a hamarelli. In order to be competi- and running around all of the Danielle Ciarelli said she ster, but make significantly tive, breeders must be careful time,” she said. “The more has always loved animals and better pets, according to Dewhen deciding which rabbits you play with them though, that it has always been easy to ichmann. breed together. This can be the sweeter they are.” be passionate about them. As “There is so much more tricky — despite the idiom For Ciarelli, raising rabbits further proof of this, she plans variation in rabbits than you — due to the “temperament is a family affair. She is the to attend veterinary school af- may think,” Deichmann said. and moodiness” and delicate oldest of eight kids and her ter graduating from Hillsdale. “You can get anything from health of rabbits. sister and two of her brothFor Deichmann, moving the little tiny ones to the “Even though the saying is ers also show rabbits, each from Central City, Nebraska, huge, 16-pound Flemish rab‘breeding like rabbits,’ breed- focusing on a different breed. to Hillsdale meant that she bits. But they are pretty easy ing them isn’t that easy,” Ci- According to Ciarelli’s father could no longer raise rabbits, to care for, they are really arelli said. “... Even if you Mike Ciarelli, Danielle’s ex- but she said she would love to cute, and they have a lot of breed two show-quality rab- ample played a huge role in get another pet rabbit when personality.”

Funeral home gives students rent-free living By | Jordyn Pair Assistant Editor Michael Zabik’s room in an off-campus apartment is fairly plain. With deep purple carpeting and tan walls, the color scheme is hardly exciting. The Hillsdale College senior has hung two flags, Irish and Polish, as a nod to his heritage. A music stand with crumpled music faces a window, and a Bible sits on a small table. Nothing is unusual about Zabik’s room — except the location. Zabik lives in a funeral home: the Van Horn-Eagle Funeral Home in Hillsdale, Michigan, to be specific. The apartment, which he shares with a housemate, consists of two bedrooms, a living room, a full kitchen, a bathroom, and a dining room. The main office of the funeral home is down the hall. The second twist: He lives there for free.

Pouches from B4

ally historical landmarks. When the Federal Highway Beautification Act prohibited outdoor advertising within 660 feet of a federally funded highway in 1969, Mail Pouch stopped commissioning new signs. But because of the history associated with the existing signs and Warrick’s dedication to his craft, an exception was made for already-existing signs. Warrick continued to repaint signs — sometimes two a day — until his retirement. He died in 2000. Warrick’s daughter Lena Williams told the AP he was dedicated to barn painting throughout his entire life, regardless of whether he was being paid. “He would always say if you could find a job that you would do without being paid, that’s what you should do. I don’t think he really thought about it as work. It was just what he did,” she said. The three Mail Pouch barns still standing in Hillsdale County are on M-99, South Hillsdale Street, and the corner of South Hillsdale Street and Lilac Road. The fourth was located on Route 12 in Jonesville, but col-

“It’s a really nice place,” Zabik said. “It’s got a lot of amenities. It’s huge — more than enough for two guys to live very comfortably.” Zabik and his housemate, former Hillsdale College student Nicholas Baldwin, work at the funeral home to pay rent. They wash and clean the home’s two-car fleet of a minivan and a hearse, remove snow, and, when on call, occasionally help in the removal of a deceased person from a home. Zabik and Baldwin switch off which nights they are oncall. They also have the option to greet people at the door during visitations, a paid job that can sometimes have an emotional impact, according to Zabik. “It’s moving to see people coming together again,” he said. “Sometimes you hear people talking about how they have been a little bit removed from the goings-on of their family and somebody

Carleton from B4 that sold audiences on the young poet. When Harper’s Illustrated Weekly — one of the country’s two biggest publications at the time — published “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse” in 1871, Carleton’s readers were drawn to the story of a dignified farm wife who fell on hard times. The poem begins in Carleton’s signature homey voice: “Over the hill to the poorhouse I’m trudgin’ my weary way — / I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray — / I, who am smart an’ chipper, for all the years I’ve told, / As many another woman that’s only half as old.” The poem’s use of vernacular dialects was somewhat unusual at the time; Carleton told stories about proofreaders who tossed an early copy of one of his poetry submissions in the trash bin, thinking it junk mail from an aspiring “poet” who couldn’t spell. But it is this country talk that made his work a hit. After the success of “Poorhouse” and “Betsey and I Are Out,” Harper’s Illustrated Weekly published Carleton’s second

passing away has managed to bring the whole family together again, get people talking again.” According to Funeral Service Coordinator Marv Shull, the 19th-century apartment has its quirks. “Everything is a goodquality build, but it has the character older buildings get,” Zabik said. “It’s old enough it doesn’t have threeprong outlets — it only has two for the most of the building.” Zabik and Baldwin aren’t the first students to live in the home, however. The program actually started when its current owner, John Barrett, was attending Hillsdale College, according to Shea Dow, a funeral director at the home. Barrett was the first student to live in the apartment. He later attended mortuary school, bought the business, and continued renting to students. Dow, part of Barret’s ex-

tended family, said the duties of the students have changed since Barrett’s time. Students that were on call used to have to remain at the home, but with the advancement of cellphone technology, it is no longer needed. “They were more tied to being in the building,” Dow said. Even with reduced work, Dow said he feels the program benefits students. “I think what the students gain is a lot of involvement with and exposure to a lot of different people,” he said, adding that learning what families need can build confidence and communication skills. Zabik agreed that working for the home has impacted him. “It’s given me a different work ethic,” he said. “It’s encouraged me to be honest, work hard, and to be good to my employer.” Zabik is also now con-

sidering going to mortuary school, although his current plan after graduation is to work as a general manager in North Carolina. Regardless of how it impacts his career, Zabik said working in the home has given him a new gratitude.

collection of poems — his first, with typical Carletonian pluck, had been essentially self-published two years earlier — and sold 100,000 copies of the young poet’s “Farm Ballads.” This was followed by “Farm Festivals,” and then by “City Ballads” and “City Festivals” when Carleton moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1878 and then to New York in 1882. The poet enjoyed happy endings that still reflected the lives of the people, and so “Poorhouse” had a sequel called “On the Road from the Poorhouse,” and Carleton’s stories followed the rural people as they migrated into the city, just as he had done. In New York, Carleton started a magazine called Everywhere, and kept up a lecture schedule that nearly took him there, as he spoke and read his poetry in England, Canada, and throughout the United States. And it was as a lecturer and storyteller that Carleton shone; people came from farms, towns, and city neighborhoods to hear their poet tell stories that sounded much like their own lives. And they read his maga-

zine, too: though the publication was no huge success, it did allow Carleton to publish his own work, to travel, and to persuade the likes of Andrew Carnegie to give money to various philanthropic campaigns. His biographer Jerome A. Fallon noted that Carleton fronted a fundraiser for the hymnwriter Fanny Crosby when he heard she had fallen on hard times in Brooklyn. There would be no poorhouse for Crosby with Carleton around. And when Carleton returned to Hillsdale for a commencement address in 1892, the town overflowed with admirers. It is perhaps more this notoriety than the merits of his verse that kept Carleton’s poetry in the spotlight. Fallon said Carleton’s poetry was analogous to the popular but trite paintings of Norman Rockwell: “Some say that Will Carleton was not a great poet, but a journalist who wrote about the social issues of his time in poetic fashion. But Carleton reached millions of American minds and hearts, changing attitudes and behaviors in a way that few ‘great’ poets have ever done.”

And Carleton himself spoke humbly of the poem that brought him success with

“It makes you appreciate what you have more. It makes you appreciate being young and healthy, your family and your friends,” he said. “It sheds a new light on life that I feel people who are not around that regularly don’t really see.”

Senior Michael Zabik lives and works in a funeral home with former student Nicholas Baldwin. Jordyn Pair | Collegian

because he had been known so long that he had been accepted as an institution.”

“Some say that Will Carleton was not a great poet, but a journalist who wrote about the social issues of his time in poetic fashion. But Carleton reached millions of American minds and hearts, changing attitudes and behaviors in a way that few ‘great’ poets have ever done.” its story of hardship: “Many a more elaborate poem, with which was taken ten times the care, has failed to produce as much impression upon the public heart.” Perhaps, but the heads of many loyal readers of “Farm Ballads” would have nodded in agreement with the obituary that ran in Harper’s Weekly after Carleton’s death in 1912: “There is hardly an Englishspeaking home in America … where ‘Over the Hill to the Poorhouse’ and ‘Betsey and I Are Out’ are unknown … if he occupied a comparatively small space in the columns of the periodical press it was

Wikimedia Commons

Will Carleton’s “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse” was one of his most famous poems. Amazon.


www.hillsdalecollegian.com

B4 23 Mar. 2017

This Mail Pouch Barn off of M-99 is one of 84 in Michigan and four in Hillsdale County. Nic Rowan | Collegian

Faded history in 55 years and 20,000 coats of paint By | Nic Rowan Collegian Reporter

Anyone driving up M-99 from Jonesville has likely seen the faded Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisement painted on the side of a dilapidated barn. The sign reads “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco. Treat yourself to the best.” Such barns sit on roadsides all over the East Coast, South,

and upper Midwest. There are 84 in Michigan and four in Hillsdale County alone. But even though the signs have become iconic of a bygone era — especially after tobacco usage has become less popular in many parts of the United States — few people know that most of these barns, including the ones in

the Hillsdale area, were painted by one man: Harley Warrick. Warrick did not live anywhere near Hillsdale, or even in Michigan. He grew up in Ohio near Wheeling, West Virginia, and would drive around the country to paint and repaint Mail Pouch advertisements of barns in 13 states

from Michigan to Missouri to New York. According to the Associated Press, Warrick would paint without any stencils, first painting the “E” in “CHEW” and proportioning the rest of the barn on that letter. An assistant would fill in the blank space behind the letters with black lead-based paint. In this

way, Warrick painted about about 4,000 barns that needed a fresh coated of paint every four years. By the time of his retirement in 1993, Warrick estimated he had applied about 20,000 coats of paint to barns in his 55 years of work. “The first 1,000 were a little rough, and after that you got the hang of it,” he said in

a 1997 interview with the AP. The prevalence of Mail Pouch barns on roadsides is more than just an elaborate advertisement scheme, like the mile-marker countdown signs for the tourist-trap South of the Border off I-95 in South Carolina. They’re actu-

See Pouches B3

Will Carleton: Poet of the people

Compiled by Joshua Lee | Collegian. Graphic by Grace DeSandro | Col-

By | Hannah Niemeier Culture Editor

Will Carleton, 19th-century poet from Hillsdale, wrote “City Ballads” in 1878. Amazon.

In 1873, Will Carleton’s second collection of works, “Farm Ballads,” was published. Amazon.

After repeated requests from his readers, William Carleton, a 1869 graduate of Hillsdale College and internationally-recognized poet, editor, and lecturer, described the inspiration for his most well-known poem: “Over there to the west, in Hillsdale, there stood in the old days a county poorhouse,” he said. “Sometimes, I used to visit the inmates there and hear their troubles. And sometimes I used to see old people … who had out their property in the hands of their children, passing up the road on their way to the poorhouse on the other side of the hill.” The poem “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse” exemplifies the simple storytelling that would enthrall readers with the ballads and speeches of this Michigan native, a man who would make a career of speaking to and for rural people at the turn of the 20th century. Published in June 1871, the poem has a setting that is right out of Carleton’s childhood as the son of a Hudson, Michigan, farmer. Carleton enrolled at Hillsdale College in 1858 after being rejected by the Union Army at age 15, and then left college after a year when his sparse knowl-

edge of the classics and his finances bottomed out. But Carleton wasn’t finished. He became a teacher, earned money to pay for tuition, studied Greek and Latin in his off hours, and returned to Hillsdale a few years later. The second time around, the 19-year-old was a whirlwind: he composed essays in verse, joined literature and forensics clubs, formed a brass band, and wrote for out-oftown newspapers for pocket change. For his graduation, he composed a poem entitled “Rifts in the Cloud,” and was sent off with a triumphant tribute when the president of the college threw a bouquet of flowers. According to his later retellings, the gesture caught him off guard and knocked him over. Writing for newspapers tossed Carleton into politics, where he read his poem “Fax” at rallies during the vice-presidential campaign of a man named Schuyler Colfax. The 500-line poem warned voters to follow the “facts” and vote against the “Democratic rascals.” The pamphlet sold for 15 cents and paid for much of Carleton’s tuition for his senior year at Hillsdale. But despite his early successes in politics and oratory, it was his down-home voice

See Carleton B3

Economic-Themed Edition By | Jessie Fox Conner Dwinell

Which economist is your style icon? Conner: Murray Rothbard. Eric: It’s a tie between Janet Yellen and Paul Krugman.

Eric LaRose

Can you describe your fashion sense in economic terms? Conner: My wardrobe is a function of capital and labor: capital being the clothes I own and labor being how much effort I put into getting ready in the morning. Jessie Fox | Collegian

How has being an economics major shaped your style? Conner: It’s taught me how not to dress. Eric: It’s made my demand curve for blue apparel perfectly inelastic. What is your favorite economics pick-up line? Conner: Let’s play a game where going out with me is the dominant strategy. Eric: You enjoy monopoly power over my heart.

Jessie Fox | Collegian


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