Hillsdale Collegian 12.7.17

Vol. 141 Issue 13 - December 7, 2017

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

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The Student Activities Board held anornament-decorating event earlier this week.

Regan Lasch | courtesy

College may avoid endowment tax, despite exemption loss By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief Hillsdale College still may avoid the Republican revenue package’s endowment tax, despite removal of a provision that would have exempted any college that refuses federal funds, such as Hillsdale, from the proposed tax.

Senate Republicans had amended the bill last week to increase the endowment size qualification for the 1.4 percent excise tax on private, nonprofit colleges and universities from the $250,000 per student threshold set by the House of Representatives to $500,000 per student. Hillsdale’s endowment is about $364,000 per student, making it too small to be taxed under the Senate’s revisions.

College President Larry Arnn said he had hoped to see the complete removal of the endowment tax from the bill.

“It does not make sense to me for the Congress to add a tax on to something that it is subsidizing so heavily,” Arnn said in an email. “If it does not like the way the colleges

are using their endowments, it should reduce the subsidy to them.”

The Senate passed its tax bill early Saturday morning and, on Wednesday, sent it to a conference committee where members of both chambers will meet to reconcile the differences in their two bills.

If the committee includes the endowment tax with a threshold lower than $364,000 per student, Hillsdale could have to pay up to $700,000 in taxes on its $548-million endowment’s income, according to Patrick Flannery, vice president of finance and college treasurer.

When asked how soon Hillsdale could grow its endowment to $500,000 per student, Flannery said he is waiting for the bill’s final language to comment further.

An amendment written by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, however, would have exempted any college that refuses federal money from the tax.

“The idea here,” Toomey said early Saturday morning on the Senate floor, “is that

Student fed approves funding for March for Life By | Emma Cummins Collegian Reporter The Student Federation approved the allocation of $4,000 to the Students for Life club, passed a variety of amendments, cleaned up its club list, and swore in new Student Federation President junior Natalie Meckel on Nov. 30.

The Students for Life club travels each year to the March For Life in Washington, D.C. This year, the club asked for $4,000 to cover the cost of the bus trip, an increase from the previous year.

The federation approved the request and gave full funding.

Students for Life President junior Kathleen Russo expressed her appreciation and described the great favor the federation did for the students.

“We don’t want to have to ask students to pay a large amount, because it is a service trip,” Russo said. “They’re going to serve their country by advocating for public policy that does good for human rights and such. To be able to keep the costs at such a modest amount is incredible for the cause and for students, and it’s something we want to be able to do for them.”

On Monday, the federa-

Toomey agreed that he believed Hillsdale would be exempt but added that other schools in America do not accept federal money and any institution could choose to do so and still receive the exemption. There are at least nine schools other than Hillsdale that do not receive federal funds right now, including Grove City College in Toomey’s home state, which the senator mentioned on the floor prior to the vote on the amendment’s repeal.

By the time of the debate, however, the Republicans had already amended the bill to increase the endowment tax threshold from $250,000 to $500,000 per student. The exemption, then, would not have covered Hillsdale nor any other school that refuses federal money right now, because their endowments currently are too small to qualify to be taxed.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, then proceeded to ask Toomey if he knew whether or not Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos has donated to Hills-

dale College.

“Do you know who the biggest donor was to the Hillsdale College endowment?”

McCaskill asked Toomey.

“Would that be the DeVos family, by any chance? ...It feels like this is a very limited provision written for a very special person.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, made similar remarks later, stating Hillsdale may be receiving the exemption because it “happens to be funded by one of the wealthiest families in America because they happen to be a Republican donor.”

Toomey said he did not know if the DeVoses donated to Hillsdale College. Although the DeVos family does have connections to Hillsdale, there appears to be no public proof that the Grand Rapids-based billionaires Dick and Betsy DeVos have donated to the school in recent years.

John Cervini, vice president for institutional advancement, told The Collegian that the college does not name donors without their express permission.

According to forms submitted to the Internal Revenue Services, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation have given to numerous colleges, including Calvin College, Cornell University, Davenport University, Ferris State University, Rollins College, the University of Michigan, and Wake Forest University. The foundation, however, did not list Hillsdale as a recipient in recent submissions and did not respond to requests for comment in time for print.

Betsy DeVos’ brother Erik Prince — the founder of the controversial private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, now named Academi — graduated from Hillsdale in 1992 and spoke on campus in October.

Additionally, Richard DeVos, Betsy DeVos’ fatherin-law, co-founded Amway Corp. with Jay Van Andel.

Van Andel’s son, Steve, was a 1978 graduate of Hillsdale and serves as Amway’s chairman with plans to retire at the end of 2018.

See Tax A2

Freshman Logan Baer and sophomore Charlie Adams ring the bell for Salvation Army, while freshmen Austin Coe and Issac Spangler donate.

Stefan Kleinhenz | COllegian

tion held a fundraiser with the proceeds from specialty drinks and hot chocolate at A.J.’s Cafe. The federation donated half of the proceeds to Domestic Harmony, a domestic violence shelter in Hillsdale,and the other half to the family of junior Julia Bosco, whose brother lost his sight in a shooting accident.

“I think these are two great causes as one benefits the Hillsdale community and the other recognizes our service to the student body,” Student Fed Vice President senior Maria Theisen said.

The federation also swore in junior Natalie Meckel as next semester’s federation president and freshman Brett Anger as the new Sigma Chi representative.

Meckel said she is ready to take the helm as the group’s leader but is thankful for the work that the federation has done this semester. She said she’d like the federation to become more professional.

“I know Andres Torres, a junior, did a fantastic job improving the campus image of Student Federation introducing more formal business procedures, professional behavior in our meetings, upping the dress code, things like that,” Meckel said. “I’m excited to keep promoting that,.”

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any college that chooses to forego federal funding for its students chooses not to be a burden on taxpayers that way, it is reasonable for us to respond by sparing that college of the tax on the endowment fund.”

Upon noticing the provision, Democrats latched onto it, making it a “metaphor” for the special-interest favors throughout the tax package, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Friday night.

As a result, “Hillsdale College” was trending early Saturday morning in the United States on Twitter, while inaccurate statements about the school were made on the Senate floor and on social media.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, was the first to bring up on the chamber floor that Hillsdale College would be the only school benefitting from the amendment. The allegation earned the provision nicknames on social media, including the “Hillsdale handout,” “hustle,” “earmark,” and “carve-out.”

Hillsdale showing early viewing of Churchill film ‘Darkest Hour’ By | Michael Lucchese Senior Writer Hillsdale College students will have the opportunity to attend an early screening of the new film “Darkest Hour,” starring Gary Oldman and directed by Joe Wright on Dec. 15.

In the film, Oldman plays Winston Churchill. It follows his early days as prime minister, including the fall of France and Churchill’s decision to continue the fight against Nazi Germany.

“It’s a film that captures the essence of Winston Churchill and the way he led his countrymen through their darkest

hour and into their finest,” said Soren Geiger, a research assistant in the president’s office. “People, I think, are drawn to these types of films, because they want to see what greatness looks like when up against the worst of perils — the invasion and devastation of one’s homeland.”

The screening will be followed on Dec. 16 at 11a.m. by a panel featuring College President and Churchill scholar Larry Arnn, the film’s producer Douglas Urbanski, and Gary Oldman.

“World War II is the greatest of the wars, and war is a characteristic human

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phenomenon. It reveals things can be seen nowhere else,” Arnn said. “The most important thing, in my opinion, is for people to understand that great turning points of history do not have inevitable outcomes.”

Since 2012, Arnn has directed the Churchill Project at Hillsdale College, which continues the work started by the late Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer.

“My favorite thing about the manner or way of the film is that it shows Churchill in action, able to move and think quickly, much afflicted and yet keeping and using his

wits,” Arnn said. “Too often he is played as a lumbering growler.”

Tickets to both the screening of “Darkest Hour” and the panel are free and open to faculty, staff, and students, Geiger said, but reservations are required. Those interested in attending should email Geiger at sgeiger@hillsdale.edu.

“One can see in ‘Darkest Hour’ that if you change this thing or that, everything would have been different,” Arnn said. “Hitler’s progress was arrested by human beings who made choices, who suffered, who fought bravely and narrowly prevailed.”

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$900 missing from College Republicans returned

A2 Dec. 7, 2017 Preschool students play games with a college volunteer at Mary Randall. Sonja Bindus | Courtesy

By | Jordyn Pair News Editor Nearly $900 that went missing from a College Republicans lockbox has been returned.

The lockbox used during the College Republicans Panera Bread Fundraiser early last month was inadvertently left unattended overnight in a downstairs cubby in the Grewcock Student Union.

The box contained checks, cash, and coins. A member of College Republicans leadership noticed the unattended box the following day and returned it to the Student Activities Office for safekeeping, where it was retrieved by club president Ross Hatley that afternoon. Hatley discovered the money was missing at that time.

Only the paper cash, totaling to $893, was taken.

The College Republicans reported the theft to the Hillsdale City Police as well as campus authorities. But on Saturday night, Nov. 4, the money was returned anonymously to security staff on campus.

This is the first time a major theft like this has taken place on campus, according to Dean of Men Aaron Petersen.

“Though it’s rare, we take things like this very seriously and want to take measure that things like this don’t happen again,” Petersen said.

The College Republicans posted a statement on its Facebook page on Tuesday detailing the theft and reassured members it is updating their fundraiser procedures to prevent another theft from happening.

“Basically there was a miscommunication involved,”

said junior Rachel Umaña, Hillsdale College Republicans vice president, who added that the group plans to ensure members remove money from the lockbox daily during fundraisers in the future.

Although police have closed their official investigation, Petersen said the college considers the investigation open internally.

The administration is considering all possibilities.

When asked what might happen if the perpetrator were a student, the dean said it could lead to disciplinary consequences.

“It could qualify for disciplinary action including probation or dismissal,” Petersen said, “but all that would depend on the particulars, including the student’s remorse and history.”

By | Philip Berntson Collegian Reporter

“Nathanael Cheng joined our team and really aided in presentation value and also our confidence in the courtroom.”

Nathanael Cheng, a junior and veteran of Mock Trial, said he was proud of the way Team 1107 performed last weekend.

“This is our first time competing at Yale, and a lot of the judges—many of whom are practicing attorneys or judges—had never heard of Hillsdale before, but they were all very impressed with our mastery of the rules of evidence, procedure, and ability to think on our feet,” Cheng said. “We definitely have our work cut out for us, but this is a solid end to the semester.”

In regards to Team 1106, attorney-witness pair Natalie Taylor and Konrad Ludwig scored individual awards for their performance as the prosecution in the tournament. Taylor, a junior, finished with a score of 18 ranks

while Ludwig, a freshman, snagged 16 ranks. Ranks are the individual points a team member can score. While they do not contribute the the overall score of the team, the team members are rewarded for their individual performance in the courtroom by the judges. The most ranks a player can score is 20.

“It was definitely a different caliber of competition.

All of the teams who were invited were either nationals teams or performed really well at opening rounds of championships,” Taylor said.

“It was great though, because we got some nationals quality competition during the invitational season.”

The next phase for the Mock Trial Team will be a restructuring. Teammates will be reshuffled into an A Team and a B Team, and case theory will be perfected in preparation for the upcoming competitive season this spring.

By | Jaquelyne Eubanks Collegian Reporter Mary Randall Preschool celebrated its 50th anniversary in October and will be celebrating it again with a reception after its annual Christmas program on Dec. 8.

“We’re inviting all of [the Women’s Commissioners] to come back,” Sonja Bindus, Director of Mary Randall Preschool said. “We’re just going to have this Christmas celebration-slash-50th anniversary.”

The school has been a staple in educating not only children of Hillsdale but also many college students for 50 years. It started in the basement of Mauck Hall in 1929 under the name Hillsdale College Nursery School. Founded by the college at the request of one of the college’s psychology professors and with the aid of the Women Commissioners, it was created to be a lab school where college students could observe child development in a natural setting. The school moved to its current building in 1967 and was renamed Mary Randall Preschool after the building project’s largest donor and Hillsdale College alumna Mary Proctor Randall, according to former Mary Randall preschool student Kathy Connor, who is also the retired director of the same preschool she attended.

Connor was a student there during its days in the Mauck basement. She remembers the impact the college students made on the learning environment when she was a child.

“The kids would always know when the students were coming, who their favorites

schools, including Grove City.

“Sen. Toomey has not heard from Secretary DeVos, her family, or her office on the broad issue of tax reform, let alone this tiny provision in the tax bill,” Kelly said in an email.

“Assertions to the contrary are complete fabrications.”

Later on the floor, Sen. Merkley also asked Toomey if he knew why Hillsdale does not accept government money.

“Is this Hillsdale College the same one that was sued for discrimination in the 1980s?” he asked Toomey, who said he was unfamiliar with Hillsdale’s litigation history. “Is it the reason this college has not taken federal funds is because they were sued for discrimination?”

Later, Merkley posted a video on Twitter, saying Hillsdale refuses federal funds “because it wanted to have permission to discriminate in selecting students,” that it “specializes in discrimination,”

and that it has a “license to discriminate.”

Hillsdale, however, was never sued for discrimination.

In 1975, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare changed its rule to make independent institutions that refused federal grants and subsidies, such as Hillsdale, subject to its regulations, including the anti-sexual discrimination law Title IX, because its students took federal loans to attend.

Hillsdale’s board of trustees resolved to fight the change, believing it to be an unconstitutional government overreach because the students were the recipients of the loans and not the college. After nearly a decade of litigation, the Supreme Court decided against Grove City College, which fought the change for similar reasons, and Hillsdale stopped taking student federal loans in 1984 to preserve its independence.

Although Hillsdale is not

required to adhere to Title IX, its founding document from 1844 was the first in the country to include a nondiscriminatory clause. The school’s mission promised “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education.”

Toomey noted this several hours later on the floor of the Senate before a vote to repeal the amendment, saying Hillsdale had been “unfairly maligned.”

Merkley’s office did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Early Saturday morning, the Senate voted 52-48 to remove Cruz and Toomey’s provision with the Democrats being joined by four Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Immediately following, the Senate voted to pass the tax bill 51-49. The House of Rep-

Mock trial finishes semester strong

Hillsdale College Mock Trial held their own against some of the American Mock Trial Association’s toughest competition this weekend at the Yale University Invitational. Both Team 1106 and Team 1107 finished with a score of 4-4, each splitting their ballots evenly in four rounds on the plaintiff and four rounds on the defense.

However, Team 1107 finished with a point higher in CS (Competitive Strength), scoring points for facing tougher competitors who had previously won rounds.

Both teams faced high-caliber teams, including Northwood University, University of Denver, Princeton University, and University of Philadelphia.

“Our round with Princeton excited everyone and it was a high pace round,” sophomore Lauren Eicher, a member of Team 1107, said.

Tax from A1

In 2013, Hillsdale named its graduate school of statesmanship in his honor, after Steve Van Andel donated toward its operations and scholarships.

College President Larry Arnn said he knew DeVos before she became education secretary and had at least one meeting with her in June since she filled the role.

Although there is no recent evidence to show the DeVoses have donated to Hillsdale, according to the Federal Election Commission, Betsy DeVos gave to Toomey’s campaign in 2010 and 2015, totaling $7,800 in donations.

The records showed her husband had donated several times, as well.

Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly told The Collegian that the senator received outside consultation from official representatives from relevant

For an update on the debate team, visit The Hillsdale Collegian online The debate team won first place at Otterbein University last weekend. Katrina Torsoe | Courtesy

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Mary Randall to celebrate 50 years were. The little boys couldn’t wait for the football players to get there,” Connor said. The college students also helped improve the preschool’s facilities. “They renovated the basement by making a new class - Maintenance and Playground Planning,” Connor said.

The interaction between the college students and the preschoolers has continued to play a key role. Hillsdale College senior Andrew Wilcox attended Mary Randall as a child and has volunteered there since his sophomore year of college.

“When it comes to volunteers helping out, I think a lot of other preschools may only have one or two extra aids,” Wilcox siad. “With Mary Randall, it’s awesome that it’s here on campus. We have at least five or six volunteers at all times throughout the day.

That extra help with the teachers, through the volunteers, is a huge part of the success of running a preschool.”

Since its founding, the psychology department at Hillsdale College has continued to conduct research in the lab school it founded.

“The preschool has been very supportive of the psychology faculty and students through the years,” wrote Kari McArthur, associate professor of psychology, in an email.

“I often have Introduction to Psychology students conduct demonstrations of Piagetian concepts with the preschoolers,” she said.

There will be a reception on Friday at Mary Randall after the Christmas program to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

In brief:

Bon Appétit to hold evening breakfast By | Brooke Conrad Assistant Editor To help students get through finals week, Bon Appétit Management Co. is providing an extra late evening meal on Tuesday.

The “Moonlight Breakfast” will take place from 8 -10 p.m. in the cafeteria and will not require meal swipes. It will have the usual breakfast items, including pancakes, sausage, eggs, and coffee.

Dinner that evening will close at 7 p.m.

Bon Appétit has never opened the cafeteria for an extra meal on finals week before, although Saga Inc. did before Bon Appétit came to campus.

“It was popular then. People I talked to gave positive reviews, and they’re excited for it,” Bon Appétit’s Marketing Manager William Persson said.

A lot of college campuses have this sort of event during the last week of classes or during finals week, according to Persson.

“It’s just a little special treat to you guys because we know you’re up late studying or running out of charger change,” Persson said.

1844 Society raises $200 for Founder’s Day By | Brooke Conrad Assistant Editor

Students gave a total of $196.88 to the 1844 Society’s Ransom Dunn scholarship on Dec. 4th during a 1844 Society fundraiser to celebrating the day of Hillsdale College’s founding in 1844.

The society set up a table in the Grewcock Student Union with hot chocolate and coffee, and a total of 17 students made contributions, resentatives voted on Monday either in person or online.

The Ransom Dunn to send its version of the bill scholarship is a peer-to-peer to a conference committee, scholarship, and every 1844 and the Senate did so on society member commits to Wednesday. giving $18.44 to the fund, as Matthew Spalding, associate vice president and dean well as a post-graduation gift of $184.40 over the course of of educational programs for three years. the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center This was the first year that for Constitutional Studies the society held a fundraiser and Citizenship in Washington, D.C, previously told The on Founder’s day, according to Director of Young Alumni Collegian that he had hoped and the 1844 Society Colleen to see the endowment tax McGinness, and she said next removed, or consideration year the society plans to also of an exemption given to hold an additional activity to schools that refuse federal celebrate the founding of the funds during the conference college. committee.

“It’s just a really personal Arnn said he was “apexperience because you’re palled” by the misinformation getting to help your current spread about Hillsdale College peers on campus with you,” on Friday night and grateful President of the 1844 Society to Toomey and Cruz for their junior Shelby Bargenquast service. said. “It definitely strikes a “Hillsdale has an old, chord to help students who treasured, and still practiced otherwise probably wouldn’t tradition of service to human be here.” equality,” he said. “Any other claim is a slander.”

Finals week panel offers advice By | Ben Dietderich Collegian Reporter A four-student panel sponsored by academic services offered advice for surviving hell and finals week on Nov. 29. About 25 students attended the talk which took place in the Heritage Room.

The panel consisted of seniors Hannah Niemeier and Andrea Lee, as well as sophomores Patrick Votel and Henry Brink.

Votel cautioned his fellow students not to overthink finals week and hell week, the week proceeding finals week when students typically turn in term papers and finish semester-long assignments.

“It would be ill-advised to take finals lightly, but it’s important to remember it’s just a test,” Votel said. “Something I’ve found very helpful is to take time out of the day, despite the stress, to have fun for an hour.”

For Votel, he said pickup

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basketball works as a healthy study break. Brink said candy helps him focus.

“Make sure you’re joy-giving not just joy-having,” Brink said. “I like to go to Walmart and buy some candy. It will cheer up your friends and keep you energized.”

Lee offered more academically-related advice. She said to remember for every hour you spend in class, two to three hours should be spent studying. For freshmen, she emphasized staying focused.

“Keep your extracurriculars limited the first year,” Lee said. “Separating your study and break time can also be helpful. Turn off your phone and don’t look at emails. It will make your break time more rewarding.”

Niemeier said she found it helpful to develop a personalized work schedule.

“I prioritize what things I do when I’m at 100 percent brainpower.” Niemeier said.

“Working on a paper at 11:30

p.m. at night doesn’t work for me. So I write in the morning.

Things I do late at night when I’m very tired are reading, transcribing interviews since I’m a journalist, and pulling notes together.”

For freshman Dominic Bulgur, the talk was the last of several talks sponsored by Academic Services he attended this semester.

“It was a really helpful discussion,” said Bulgur. “I thought there were a lot of good points especially about time management, taking good breaks and keeping your sanity.”

Votel ended his speaking time by encouraging students to make the most of the stressful days ahead.

“You can beat those classes,” Votel exclaimed. “Make war on all those tests. Turn all your essays into battles and think, ‘I’m going to win because this is annoying, and I will be done with it soon.’”

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The Weekly: No, Hillsdale Isn’t Discriminatory (517) 607-2415

Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor-in-Chief | Breana Noble Associate and Design Editor | Katherine Scheu News Editor | Jordyn Pair City News Editor | Kaylee McGhee Opinions Editor | Joshua J. Paladino Sports Editor | Stevan Bennett Jr. Culture Editor | Madeline Fry Science & Tech Editor | Madeleine Jepsen Features Editor | Jo Kroeker Web Editor | Chandler Lasch Web Manager | Kolbe Conger Photo Editor | Matthew Kendrick Senior Writers | Brendan Clarey | Michael Lucchese | Hannah Niemeier | Joe Pappalardo Circulation Managers | Finnegan Cleary Ad Managers | Danny Drummond | Matthew Montgomery Assistant Editors | Nicole Ault | Brooke Conrad | Josephine von Dohlen | S. Nathaniel Grime | Scott McClallen | Mark Naida | Nic Rowan | Crystal Schupbach | Anna Timmis 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 jpaladino@hilldale.edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.

Net Neutrality benefits corporations, not consumers

You can still enjoy ‘Stranger Things’ and dank memes without net neutrality By | Madeline Fry Culture Editor If the memes are right, a net neutrality regulation expected to be revoked next week is the only thing standing between you and an overpriced internet bill for unloaded emails and buffering episodes of “Stranger Things.”

But repealing net neutrality will not make your internet more expensive and sluggish. Neither will it crush competition and permit censorship. Most likely, the repeal will change very little.

It may even have a positive effect, expanding options both for internet service providers and consumers, so we can all enjoy our TV shows--and our memes.

Net neutrality has been the internet standard since the popularization of the web in the ’90s. It means that consumers pay an internet service provider (ISP), like AT&T or Comcast, a flat monthly rate to access all websites at the same speed. Under this unregulated standard, the internet has flourished.

Then in 2015, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Internet Conduct Standard and classified the internet as a public utility to ensure internet service providers would abide by its rules.

But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai now wants to abolish the regulation. On Dec. 14, the FCC will vote on a proposal to restore internet freedom, which would eliminate some regulations, repeal the Obama-era classification of broadband as a common carrier service (like the telephone), and turn regulation of the web back over to the Federal Trade Commission.

Despite the apocalyptic headlines (including predictions of the “end” of “the open internet”), the rollback would benefit consumers.

For one, it eliminates a superfluous regulation. The net neutrality rule promised to protect the consumer from problems that hadn’t occurred. Neither are they likely to occur in the future. In a recent op-ed for the New York Times, lawyer Ken Engelhart explains that competition already discourages ISPs from censoring content and encourages them to cater to the consumer.

“I worked for a telecommunications company for 25 years,” he writes, “and whatever one may think about corporate control over the internet, I know that it simply is not in service providers’ interests to throttle access to what consumers want to see.

Neutral broadband access is a cash cow; why would they kill it?”

Gerald Faulhaber, a business economics professor at

“Net neutrality will allow you to enjoy the content you love.” the University of Pennsylvania who served as Chief Economist at the FCC from 2000-2001, told me passing Pai’s proposal would reduce government interference and benefit the economy.

“We had a long time of the internet being just this marvelous thing, and the concept of saying, ‘We’re going to protect this marvelous thing by regulating it like a public utility,’ is crazy.”

Also, even if ISPs move to new models of internet access that include packaged offers rather than flat rates (you pay X amount for social media and X amount for email), ISPs aren’t going to swell prices.

They’re still competing with one another. If they charge you a monthly rate upwards of what Drake spends on tracksuits, other companies will compete for your business by lowering theirs. Even in a packaging system, the best package wins.

Plus, users who want limited access would pay much less than they do currently with a flat rate. Everyone would save money, even your grandma who pulls up the internet once a week just to check “the Facebook.”

And rather than sustaining corporate monopolies, repealing net neutrality actually benefits small websites. As it stands, companies like Google and Amazon are happy to pay the same rate for bandwidth as your favorite mommy blogger with a couple thousand followers.

ISPs such as Verizon oppose net neutrality regulations, and yes, Pai served as general counsel for the company in the early ’00s. But the potential motive is less important than the sure result: The consumer is the ultimate winner when this regulation is repealed.

Far from increasing prices and decreasing speed, repealing net neutrality will allow you to enjoy the content you love without stifling market competition. Net neutrality isn’t holding up the internet.

The competitive market is. So you can thank the economy, not the FCC, for your memes.

Madeline Fry is a senior studying French.

The opinion of The Collegian editorial staff

Waving around the 500page GOP tax bill, Sen. Jeff Merkley mischaracterized Hillsdale College on Friday night in a video posted on Twitter as he argued against an amendment that would exempt any college that refuses federal money from an excise tax on their endowments. “[Hillsdale] proceeds to not take federal funds, because it wanted to have permission to discriminate in selecting students,” the Democrat from Oregon said. “And so for this college, which is specializing in discrimination, they get a special tax provision to reward them.”

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, who introduced the amendment, said Hillsdale College was “unfairly maligned.” The amendment became the Democrats’ “metaphor” for special interest favors found in the bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday

night. Hillsdale was trending nationally on Twitter by early Saturday morning.

But if Merkley had done his homework, he would know the truth about Hillsdale College.

It is an institution founded by abolitionists in 1844. In Hillsdale’s founding articles, they included the first nondiscrimination clause in a college or university’s charter, which promised to educate people “irrespective of nation, color, or sex.” Hillsdale was the second college in the nation to admit women and the first to let them earn a liberal arts degree.

During the Civil War, Hillsdale had the largest percentage of students enlist in the Union military of any Northern college or university. Frederick Douglass visited twice, and Hillsdale unveiled a statue of him on campus this past spring.

In 1918, despite U.S. Army

orders, Hillsdale refused to segregate its Student Army Training Corp. That same year, it left the Free Will Baptists because of the denomination’s anti-black prejudices.

When the Tangerine Bowl invited Hillsdale’s football team to participate in 1955, it refused because its black players could not participate.

Today, the college holds color-blind admissions and does not collect any information on its students’ race, ethnicity, or religion.

The school also never was sued for discrimination, as Merkley claimed in the Senate. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1975 changed its rule to make independent institutions that refused federal grants and subsidies, like Hillsdale, subject to its regulations, including the anti-sexual discrimination law Title IX. Hillsdale fought the change, and after nearly a

decade of litigation, Hillsdale stopped taking student federal loans in 1984 to preserve its autonomy.

In 1976, Acting Director for the Office of Civil Rights Martin Gerry responded to a letter Hillsdale sent to HEW. “I welcome Hillsdale’s... commitment to continue operation on a nondiscriminatory basis,” he wrote.

So, no, Hillsdale does not specialize in discrimination.

It was practicing nondiscrimination more than 20 years before the United States banned slavery, more than 70 years before women could vote, and more than 120 years before Congress passed Title IX. What happened on Friday evening is a disgrace and a reminder to us all that whether you are a student, citizen, or U.S. senator, always do your research.

Hillsdale is conservative, not right-wing By | Michael Lucchese Columnist During the Senate debate over Hillsdale College’s tax status on Friday night, New Republic senior editor Jeet Heer ungrammatically tweeted: “Impossible to overstate how beloved Hillsdale is in USA right. It’s their ideal college & constantly has rightwing luminaries as guests.”

Heer is correct that Hillsdale College is openly conservative. But he and many of Hillsdale’s critics are confused about what our conservatism means. They seem to think that the college is an ideological boot camp, training a new generation of policy wonks and campus activists. This is not and never has been Hillsdale’s mission.

“Conservative” is a slippery word that means many things to many people. When seeking to define it, we must begin by asking what exact-

ly the conservative seeks to conserve.

At Hillsdale College, conservatism is not a catechism of policy prescriptions. It does not mean protecting particular tax rates or levels of entitlement spending — although these are important questions which are sometimes debated on campus.

In just the last few weeks, campus groups have hosted a series of talks on the Reformation from both Protestant and Catholic perspectives and a debate on what U.S.-China relations should look like in the future. One student club, Praxis, even brought in a speaker to make the case for increased immigration.

Unlike other colleges, these debates are still possible on Hillsdale’s campus. Blackclad gangs of radicals do not shout down our guests, and the administration does not police student speech according to the faddish standards of political corRussell Kirk taught at Hillsdale College as a distinrectness. Heer guished visiting professor of humanities. Wikimedia and Hillsdale’s leftist critics say that the college’s conservatism is stifling and discriminatory, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Students at Hillsdale are open-minded and willing to question their beliefs because of their conservatism, not in spite of it. Hillsdale is a place where young people choose

to learn from old books, and that’s what makes us conservative. We believe that the truly great things, the things most worth studying, never really change. They are permanent.

Russell Kirk, the late founder of modern American conservatism and former faculty member at Hillsdale College, explained that “By ‘the Permanent Things’ [we] meant those elements in the human condition that give us our nature, without which we are as the beasts that perish.

They work upon us all in the sense that both they and we are bound up in that continuity of belief and institution called the great mysterious incorporation of the human race.”

It starts even before students get to campus. Freshmen are asked to read Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” the summer before they begin classes. Then, every student is required to go through a demanding core curriculum which focuses on the great books — no football player, science nerd, or frat boy can escape life-changing encounters with Homer, Augustine, and Shakespeare.

Over time, the Hillsdale student accumulates a broad knowledge of the Western Heritage. But even more than that, Hillsdale initiates its students into a conversation with the greatest minds of human history. For the Hillsdale student, that conversation is not merely of antiquarian interest. It raises urgent questions which provide the very foundations of Western civilization and our way of life.

In 1938, as Nazi Germany prepared to conquer Eastern Europe, Winston Churchill gave an address at the Uni-

versity of Bristol. “When Civilization reigns, in any country, a wider and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people,” he said. ”The traditions of the past are cherished, and the inheritance bequeathed to us by former wise or valiant men becomes a rich estate to be enjoyed and used by all.”

Hillsdale’s students and faculty are interested in politics because they want to conserve education in civilization’s permanent things.Whether it is the Department of Education’s bureaucrats interfering with the college’s admission policies or Democratic Senators slandering our college on the floor of Congress, the government often tries to obstruct our ability to enjoy and use our civilization’s inheritance.

Heer and other critics were quick this weekend to point out how many of our students go on to careers in political life. The thing these critics miss, however, is that Hillsdale produces just as many doctors and teachers and businessmen working in their home states as it produces activists and staffers working in Washington. A Hillsdale education isn’t about politics — it transcends politics.

The graduates we send to D.C. do not go because they want to promote a partisan agenda. They go because they are conservatives in a truer sense of the word. They want to conserve the permanent things. If Jeet Heer understood that, perhaps he wouldn’t say that Hillsdale is merely the American right’s ideal college — perhaps he would say that Hillsdale is the ideal college, period.

Michael Lucchese is a senior majoring in American studies.

Tax exemptions aren’t subsidies

Exemption from university endowment tax isn’t a special interest deal

By | Brendan Noble Special to The Collegian Whenever the Twitter horde sets its sights on taxes or the budget, a stunning amount of misinformation follows. People have little to no understanding of terms many economists and politicians throw around constantly, and this became increasingly apparent during my discussions with others on Twitter regarding the tax exemption for colleges that do not receive federal funding, such as Hillsdale.

Behind all the rhetoric was the basic misconception that somehow a tax exemption is the same thing as a “handout.” People who equate tax emeptions and subsidies do not understand the basic principles of public policy. Not taking money isn’t the same as giving money.

Imagine two scenarios: one in which your company is tax

exempt and another in which your company pays a 25 percent tax rate on your profits but then receives a subsidy equal to the amount you were taxed. If your company makes

“Tax exemptions must not be confused with handouts.” $1 million in profits, then many people’s understanding would say both scenarios yield the same result.

Though the company technically receives all $1 million in both scenarios, the second has hidden costs for both the company and the government. The company must calculate all its taxes in the second scenario, making the company either divert some of its current workers or employ new workers in order to comply with taxation, thus increasing costs. The IRS then must process the taxes and do

its own calculations to ensure your company is complying with the 25 percent tax rate.

Another agency then must send the subsidy back to your company.

This bureaucratic roundabout process causes unnecessary costs for companies and the government. This scenario is realistic. Colleges that receive federal funding undergo a very similar situation with the implementation of the college endowment tax. They pay money to the government just to get money back. Colleges that don’t receive federal funding instead just pay taxes and receive nothing back.

This incentivizes colleges and companies to lobby for federal money because they going to get taxed anyway.

Tax exemptions often protect established interests and lobbyists. All of these policies distort the market, even though tax exemptions are more efficient than subsidies.

Know the difference between

the policies, but also know that the same power to grant exemptions and subsidies to favored groups allows the government to choose who wins and who loses.

If we want a thriving economy, the answer is not for the government to pick its favorites, granting special privileges, exemptions, and subsidies to companies who agree to hire more workers, build a factory in an area, etc.

Instead, we must reduce taxes for all and cut regulations while we’re at it. Let consumers pick who wins and who loses.

When companies must cater to consumers and not the government, the lobbyists will no longer control our economy. Tax exemptions must not be confused with handouts and subsidies, but they also must not be confused with the power of the market process.

Brendan Noble is a junior studying economics.

No. 1 on Princeton Review’s Best College Satire

Gon Appetit removes cups By | Jordanian Pear Cup Crime Reporter Gon Appetit Management Co. is putting its foot down.

The company’s general manager at Hillsdale College, Davis Apricot, announced last week that the dining hall is removing all cups from its dish rotation.

“We’ve had so much trouble getting people to stop taking cups and mugs that we’ve had to remove them entirely,” Apricot said.

Each mug costs $4.60, according to Apricot.

“That’s only a fourth of one our meal prices,” Apricot said.

“It’s just not sustainable.”

Students are also barred from bringing their own cups or mugs into the dining hall.

“It’s super inconvenient,” said junior English Maior.

“You either have to drink out of your hands or go without.

It’s barbaric.”

Senior and football player David S. Patrick said he hasn’t had any fluids in days.

“I can only get blue Pow-

erade here at Gon Appetit,” Patrick said. “If there’s no cups, what am I going to do?”

A small group of freshmen took up a protest in front of the Knorr Dining Hall door, waving signs that read “bring back our mugs.”

“I remember the good old days when we could take out as many paper cups as we wanted,” freshman Fred Shmeet said. “I miss that.”

The Health and Wellness Center said it has seen a spike in burns, due to desperate students trying to get coffee.

Nurse Nancy Drews warns students that despite the missing cups, students should not put hot coffee directly into their hands.

“I really never thought that was necessary to explain,” Drews said. “But here we are.”

Apthorpe said he might consider bringing the cups back if students can learn to “grow up and act like adults.”

“If they keep it up, we might have to take away spoons, too,” Apricot said.

Vol. 141 Issue 13 - December 7, 2017

@realParryLarnn Tweets from your college president...

Dems this week said @Hillsdale refuses federal funds so it can discriminate. Wrong! FAKE NEWS.

Asked student, “What is the Good?”

Student didn’t know. Sad!

We need to build a chapel and make Hillsdale great again! #good #true #beautiful The failing @HDaleCollision couldn’t even write a whole issue this week!

Crooked Breana has ZERO leadership ability!

A student shows off a favorite method for drinking water in the dining hall, now that there are no cups. Wikimedia Commons

Graphic | Katie Shoe

www.hillsdalecollision.com

College prepares for ‘biggest celebration’ yet By | Crooked Breana Frabricator-in-Chief It’s the most wonderful time of year at Hillsdale College, not because students are anticipating the annual celebration of their savior’s birth, but because college owner Betty VanAgua is coming to town.

“This homecoming for our beloved leader is going to be the biggest celebration Hillsdale has ever seen,” College President Parry Larnn said.

This year’s celebration is extra special, because not only does VanAgua come to campus as a billionaire benefactor but for the first time as the secretary of the U.S. Department that Shouldn’t Exist Anyway, or DSEA. “It’s always a pleasure to come visit my pet project,” VanAgua told The Collision.

Included in the weeklong festivities, which coincide with hell week, are numerous lectures from professors and guest speakers, the unveiling of a statue made in VanAgua’s likeness, and a large gala with

music sponsored by streaming service Dotify to celebrate her success, even though Hillsdale still remains excluded from the DSEA’s College Scoreboard.

“I really want to impress her, so the dress I’m wearing is more expensive than my prom dress, actually, more expensive than my wedding dress,” a senior sister of Kappa Kappa Glamma said.

VanAgua also will parade around to every student’s dorm room to greet them and ask them how they are, a tradition she has done since the school’s founding in 1844.

“It’s the best,” a Simpson Residence sophomore said.

“She brings cookies and makes everybody feel like they know her personally. We Snapchat all the time, and she loved our Mock Rock routine — #7peat.”

VanAgua said she herself cannot wait to leave her swamped office for a place she feels she can call home.

“Hillsdale College is the best school in the nation,” VanAgua said. “This celebration lets me feel like part of the family.”

“It’s always a pleasure to come visit my pet project”

Hillsdale College starts construction project, building to be determined By | Stevan Glass Sportsball Editor Hillsdale students can look forward to the newest addition to campus, just as soon as the college decides what it’s building.

Recently, the college started a new construction project on campus, although school administrators said they are not sure what is being built just yet.

“Well we hadn’t opened any new construction sites in a couple of weeks, so we thought it would be good to just create a big dirt pile, and then figure

things out from there,” Hillsdale College President Perry Larnn said. “We saw a need on campus, and we are happy to be able to fill it.”

There has been plenty of speculation as to what the new building will be — a dorm, a pub, classrooms, or maybe a second chapel — but only one thing is certain: Nobody knows anything about the project.

“It’s going to be so incredible and such a needed addition

to campus,” freshman Donny Crump said. “I mean, no, I

By | St. Brendan Clearly Senior Heritic

Jean Cavalier, a senior studying French and a devout protestant.

The tensions started on Reformation Day this year when a group of Lutherans started singing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” in the Knorr Dining Hall.

Protestants, newly bolstered in their resolve and community, barricaded St. Anthony’s Catholic Church to prevent anyone from entering the church to attend Mass for more than a week.

“We just couldn’t let that go,” said Mary Grace Romano, a sophomore and the president of the newly founded Hillsdale Militant Catholic Society.

“They insulted the Church and everything we stand for, and it was too much.”

Romano said that was what started the vitriol.

“We turned to more desperate measures to convert these heretics and get them back into the church,” Romano said. “We started to baptize people on the sidewalks while it was still warm enough. We also secretly switched grape juice with wine at some of the Protestant services.”

The Vatican, when asked, said in some cases, “unholy

things are done for the good of the Church.” They made no comment when asked about indulgences, but if the precedent set by Pope Urban II still stands, Hillsdale Catholics have nothing to worry about Other colleges in the area are not experiencing anything like this. In fact, they don’t understand why it’s happening.

Albion College President Dauri Mitzler described Albion’s campus as “more godless than devout.”

Albion Students for Alternative Ideas President Tripp Sloe, a senior, said he didn’t “know much about the Reformation,” but the idea seemed interesting. “I’m really interested in reform.”

Students at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University didn’t understand the question when asked what they thought of the Reformation.

“College is about the right balance between debate and community,” Hillsdale College President Barry Larrn said.

“And while debates get hot, and we encourage that, this is not the right way to settle things. This is not community — this is chaos.”

Although the project has no destination, the college did not

we are advancing here at the college,” Larnn said. “Having lots of construction equipment and big piles of dirt around campus are one of the best ways to do this.”

As is the case whenever advancements are made, there will be some sacrifices.

Specifically, students won’t have access to the Grewcock Student Union for at least two years. Students say this is a small price to pay for a much-needed improvement.

“In my first two years, eat-

“It takes some time to figure out what you’re building, so we really appreciate the patience. We do know that it’s going to be beautiful, or useful, or something. We are sure about that.” don’t know what they’re building, but I know we really need it. Right?”

start it in vain.

“Donors and friends of the college really like to see that

ing meals and hanging out in the union were huge parts of my college experience, but we know that we can’t have everything, and so we just have to trust the process,” junior Ben D. Knee said.

The college expects to complete construction by the end of 2019, or maybe 2021, give or take a couple of years.

“It takes some time to figure out what you’re building, so we really appreciate the patience” Larnn said. “We do know that it is going to be beautiful, or useful, or something. We are sure about that.”

Also in the news: Mock Rock goes off without a hitch Ken Bone selected as City council welcomes Hillsdale residents love new town slogan Commencement speaker Heijer Grocers to town Hillsdale reformation tension Freshman class greater than reaches 500-year high mark Aristotle, shame upperclassmen Tensions between Catholics and Protestants on Hillsdale College’s campus continue to rise after the fallout from Reformation Day antics erupted with attacks from both sides.

The two groups decided on a skirmish last week on the Facebook group Overheard at Hillsdale College, as both groups tried to display their extreme religiosity and devotion to the doctrines of their respective denominations.

A Facebook post, made by the Hillsdale Catholic Society on Friday, and confirmed by many Protestants in the comments called for a skirmish on Thursday afternoon in the courtyard in front of Central Hall. The post made a call to action for all Catholics to come out and defend their faith.

Protestants have also taken steps to fight back but are less organized.

“We don’t have the resources or the organization to fight them in the open, but we are going to try to attack with a more guerilla approach,” said Follow @HDaleCollision

By | French E. Fry Ancient Culture Editor As the college accepts the first round of freshman for the 2018-2019 school year, sources in the admissions office say they expect this freshman class to be the best group of students ever to attend Hillsdale, perhaps even the greatest 18-year-olds to walk the Earth.

“Let’s put it this way,” Director of Admissions Ed Mitt said. “If the next freshman class is Plato, you current students are Thrasymachus.”

The incoming class already has an average 4.5 GPA (unweighted), 3000 SAT average, and a flair for philanthropy: More than half of them have generously donated their kidneys to the underprivileged.

After 40,000 high schoolers applied to Hillsdale, the anticipated incoming freshman class of 400 students is being weeded out with an exclusive 1 percent acceptance rate.

High-school senior Perry Cocious, who recently received her early action acceptance letter, said she began the summer reading — when she was 5 years old.

www.hillsdalecollision.com

Actual photo of a member of the class of 2022.

Wikimedia Commons

“When I first read the ‘Nichomachean Ethics’ as a kindergartener,” she said, “I was inspired to found the two nonprofits I now serve as CEO, COO, and CFO.” High-school senior Kirk Russlands, the youngest research fellow at both the Lega-

cy Foundation and the American Endeavor Institute, said he already has ideas for improving Hillsdale.

“I think they really should stop secularizing,” he said.

“Maybe they should build a chapel.”

Look for The Hillsdale Collision

City News

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Local families adopting children on Nov. 28 pose with Judge Michelle Bianchi.

Jacquelyn Eubanks | Collegian

A5 Dec. 7, 2017

Drug treatment court expands program, begins rehabilitation By | Julie Havlak Assistant Editor

Finding ‘forever homes’ Hillsdale County participates in its first celebration of Adoption Day By | Jacquelyn Eubanks Collegian Reporter During Hillsdale’s first Adoption Day, seven children found new homes and “forever families.” Judge Michelle Bianchi presided over the event, reading reference letters vouching for the adoptive families, reading observations made by caseworkers, and allowing people to make statements about the adoptive families.

Local families gathered in the Hillsdale County Courthouse to finalize adoptions on Nov. 28. A reception was held afterward at Perennial Park Senior Center to celebrate the newly formed families.

When the children’s legal

names were changed and the orders of adoption were signed, the courtroom erupted with applause.

“It was very cool that we could do our adoption today,” said Hillsdale resident Michelle Michael, who adopted her ninth child — six of whom were also legally adopted.

This is not just a local event. According to Bianchi, November is nationally recognized as Adoption Month, and Adoption Day in Hillsdale was one of many adoption days across the country.

“It’s important to raise awareness for the needs for foster homes, foster families, and forever homes,” she said.

“Hopefully this will bring

Fair Board elects new manager By | Alexis Nester Collegian Reporter The Hillsdale County Fair Board of Directors recently named lifelong resident Lori Hull its new fair manager.

Hull, who grew up on a local dairy farm, received an Agricultural Communications degree from Michigan State University in 1988 and became involved with the fair after her children started doing 4H, a program in which youth complete hands-on projects in the fields of health, science, agriculture, and citizenship. She represented Adams Township on the Hillsdale County Fairboard for 10 years, then served as the office manager before being elected fair manager.

Tom Richards, president of the Hillsdale County Fair Board, said Hull was the only applicant interviewed for the position. Hull has already begun work on the budget for next year’s festivities. She has also signed contracts with vendors.

“Everybody on the board knew and liked her,” Richards said. “As president, I have been working with her closely, and she is doing an outstanding job.”

According to Hull, the most important part of the fair is preserving the agricultural tradition of the community. She stated that she finds agricultural education import-

ant, as each new generation becomes less and less aware of where their food comes from. Her most important role, however, is maintaining the long-standing, small town community traditions.

One of Hull’s biggest challenges as manager is maintaining the fairgrounds.

She said she is thankful for the volunteers who have helped her, giving the fair their time and hard work, during fair week and throughout the year.

“Maintenance is an ongoing process, but getting the funding to do all of those things is a huge challenge,” Hull said.

“Keeping the character of the fairgrounds is a big challenge, and none of it is cheap.”

Hull said that she would like to increase the fairground’s off-season usage, including hall and campsite rentals. The profit made from this helps provide funds for upkeeping.

According to Richards, former fairgrounds manager Mark Williams resigned after September’s fair for personal reasons. He compared Hull to Scott Dow, who served as manager for 18 years. Like Dow, Richard said, Hull has a passion for the community and for the fairgrounds.

“Lori brings a lot to the table,” Richards said. “She fair-minded and really important to us.”

“Lori brings a lot to the table.

She is fair-minded and really important to us.”

awareness to this need, and some in foster care will receive permanent families.”

There are currently 13,000 children in foster care in the state of Michigan, and only 1,900 were adopted this school year, said Megan Stiverson, a juvenile court administrator and expert on child abuse and neglect.

“Adoption Day makes an event that started off tragic into something joyful,” Stiverson said.

Bianchi said there are more than 140 kids in foster care in Hillsdale County alone.

“Many will go home to parents, but when it can’t happen, we need good families to step up,” she said.

To become a foster parent,

one must become a licensed foster care provider through the court system.

Of the adoptions that took place, five of the seven children went to unrelated foster care families. The other two were adopted by a stepparent and a relative.

“There is a great need for families to come forward and adopt,” said Jacque Marry, a caseworker for Fostering Solutions, an adoption agency in Adrian. She witnessed her 100th adoption on Tuesday.

Bianchi said she is looking forward to making Adoption Day an annual event.

“I’m overjoyed by the tremendous outcome,” Bianchi said.

Hillsdale County’s new drug treatment court program received nearly $500,000 from three grants this fall to help rehabilitate “high-risk, highneed” offenders.

The U.S. Justice Department provided most of the funds, awarding the program $400,000 to cover its expenses, according to treatment court administrator Brian Hansen.

The state of Michigan gave two grants totalling $37,200, and the states’ Highway Safety Planning also granted the court $66,000. Hillsdale’s community also donated to the treatment court.

The treatment court now treats eight participants with alcohol, heroin, and methamphetamine addictions, Hansen said. He said he expects the court to grow to 25 people and possibly as high as 35 people.

The push to introduce a treatment court was headed

by District Court Judge Sara Lisznyai, who took her place on the bench in 2014, when drug crimes in Hillsdale County spiked by almost 30 percent. They have only continued to climb, Lisznyai said.

“People would be put in jail that would be addicted to certain drugs or alcohol, and then they would get out of jail and go back to that lifestyle and go back to jail,” Hansen said.

The treatment court attempts to stop that revolving door by targeting prevention and recovery for addicts, unlike standard courts, which focus primarily on punishment. Probation through the treatment court includes measures such as a monitored curfew, random drug testing, surprise house visits, and therapy sessions for up to two

years.

“It’s more intensive than your typical probation. It’s not as fun,” Hansen said. “It’s actually hard work for them.”

One of the treatment court’s biggest successes was bringing the drug Vivitrol, which blocks cravings for opioids, into Hillsdale County, according to Molly Kaser, Vivitrol provider and CEO of the Center for Family Health in Hillsdale.

Even so, Vivitrol has only been used to treat two people for heroin addictions in Hillsdale County, with mixed results. One of the patients, after receiving her first shot of Vivitrol, used methamphetamine instead, according to Lisznyai. Such “slip-ups” are expected early on in the treatment, however, Hansen said.

“Recovery includes some relapse,” Lisznyai said. “It is not a situation where you can expect that somebody will start counselling and say, ‘I’m never going to use again,’ and it’s over. It’s going to happen.”

As part of the treatment courts’ efforts to prevent relapses, the Hope House in Jonesville provides therapy and counselling for those enrolled in the drug courts, according to Kelly Delaney, program director of the Hope House.

Past program graduates’ recidivism was less than half that of comparable groups who didn’t go through the program, according to Michigan’s Problem Solving Courts’ annual 2016 report.

“Our community does not have a coordinated response to substance abuse,” District Court Judge Sara Lisznyai said. “My hope is that this is going to be bigger than just the treatment court, that this is going to to turn into a structure that is available in the community.”

Water tower painted for the first time since 1997 By | Stefan Kleinhenz Collegian Freelancer The Hillsdale water tower has a new paint job, but not everyone is pleased with the makeover.

Former Board of Public Utilities director Mike Barber said the tower hadn’t been painted since 1997. Renovating it required sandblasting, both inside and out, and recoating it with a special epoxy paint.

In June, the city council unanimously voted to approve two bids for preventative maintenance and painting for the South Street water tower.

Seven Brothers Painting Inc. submitted the lowest bid, agreeing to complete the paint job for $266,400. The job was completed earlier this month.

Debate over the restoration began in early October when residents first voiced complaints, saying the money put toward its renovation should have gone to areas of greater need.

“We can’t pave the roads or sealcoat West Street, because it’s too cold, but we can paint a water tower,” Hillsdale resident Chad Ha said in a Facebook post.

Others agreed, claiming the city council cared more about the outward appearance of a water tower than they did the convenience and safety of roads.

Local Michael Mitchell said on Facebook that repainting the water tower is a maintenance item and it helps prevent corrosion.

“Clean safe drinking water is more important than roads,

ask Flint or Toledo how things go when you can’t drink or shower,” said Rob Cooley, another resident.

After the tower had been painted, residents questioned the look of the its new design.

Hillsdale resident Penny Swan said the new colors do not match anything else in the city.

“The council The Hillsdale water tower received a new approved the paintjob earlier this month. Facebook painting of the other Hillsdale ensignia. tower but not the “I feel it was a bad choice colors,” she said in a post on and decision, because it Facebook. matches nothing else in the Swan told The Collegian city,” she said. that the water tower should match the entrance signs and

Charger

DEC. 7, 2017

SWIM BREAKS TWO SCHOOL RECORDS By | Katherine Scheu Associate Editor When junior Anika Ellingson pushed herself out of the pool after winning the 200 breakstroke in 2:19.57 Saturday, she pushed through 19 hugs, washed down a few swallows of gatorade, and hopped back on the diving block 10 minutes later to

swim a season-best time of 2:14.38 in the 200 IM. Just a day before, Ellingson crushed the school record of a 1:02.49 100 breaststroke that she had set herself a year earlier.

It’s no wonder the G-MAC has named Ellingson its Swimmer of the Week for the second week in a row after the swim team dominated the three-day Calvin Invite in

Sophomore Allie Matti competes in the backstroke this weekend.

Zoe Hopkins | Courtesy

Grand Rapids, Michigan, Nov. 30 through Dec. 2.

“The evening felt great — everything clicked,” Ellingson said of her record-breaking 100 breaststroke. “My pullouts were fine, my turns were fast.

Everything just came together.

I saw that I was ahead on the third turn and I said, ‘OK, I can do this.’ I just really wanted to break my record.”

Ellingson wasn’t the only one to shatter a school record, however. Freshman Katherine Heeres swam the 100 backstroke Friday in 58.05 and finished seventh.

“Heeres is a very dedicated and hard working athlete,” assistant coach Zoe Hopkins said. “At Calvin, Heeres was ready to put her hard work to action. She showed great resilience with swimming the 100 backstroke three times in the same day and was consistently at her best.”

Heeres said her swim felt good when she was in the water, but the record-breaking score and her wildly cheering team surprised her as she finished the race. She channeled her performance at the team’s November meet in Chicago, during which she swam the 100 backstroke component of

Men’s basketball splits two tight games to open G-MAC season By | Mark Naida Assistant Editor The Chargers were up three points with 2:19 left in the second half against Kentucky Wesleyan College, when they missed back-toback free throws. After defensive stops both ways, Panthers guard Brandon Hatton hit a three-point shot and sent the game into overtime. When the final buzzer sounded, the Chargers had suffered a 75-68 defeat.

“Man, we really should’ve had that one,” junior guard Nate Neveau said.

Head coach John Tharp agreed.

“The bus ride back was quiet. It was a hard, hard loss,” he said. “You stew about it, and then you go back to work.”

After beginning G-MAC play with a 76-73 win on the road against Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, Nov. 30, the loss was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Obviously, we would have liked to get out of the road trip with two wins,” Neveau said. “We didn’t get the job done, but we learned from it. If you lose and you don’t learn anything from the loss, then you have really lost.”

Trevecca Nazarene came into the game with a 1-5 record but kept it close with the Chargers in both halves.

“It’s a tight gym, a hard place to play,” Tharp said.

In the second half, the Chargers squandered a nine point lead and a 10 point lead, leaving the door open for the Trojans who took a 60-59 lead with six minutes left in the contest. The Chargers regained the lead with a minute left. Down the stretch, Neveau and sophomore guard Dylan Lowry made clutch free throws to seal the victory.

Trevecca Nazarene connected on 47 percent of three-pointers to Hillsdale’s 33 percent, but turned the ball over 18 times, which the Chargers converted into 28 points.

Senior guard Stedman Lowry led the Chargers in scoring with 23 points and added 6 rebounds. Yarian and junior forward Nick Czarnowski each had 10 points. Czarnowski also hauled in 9 rebounds in the game.

Tharp said freshman Austen Yarian, whose 10 points marked his career-high, has improved steadily.

“Austen is rebounding the

Junior Gordon Behr is tied for second on the team with 3.8 rebounds per game this season. MaryKate Drews | Courtesy

ball at a pretty high clip for the minutes that he’s getting.

He is scoring the ball in the post when he gets opportunities,” Tharp said. “He is still not comfortable with us and how we run our motion.

He is a true freshman that is making strides.”

Two nights after the victory against the Trojans, the team traveled north to Owensboro, Kentucky to play Kentucky Wesleyan College, which finished atop the G-MAC last year with a 26-2 record. They lost 75-68 after two tight halves and a lopsided overtime period.

The Chargers lost the shooting battle, making 37.5 percent of their field goals and 21.4 percent from behind the arc. The Panthers, however, shot 50 percent from the field and hit 70 percent of their free throws.

Stedman Lowry led the Chargers offense with 15 points on 33 percent shooting. Czarnowski played heavy minutes and stuffed the scorecard with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

The Chargers scored 16 points off 19 Panthers turnovers shot but left points on the floor shooting 8 for 18 from the free throw line.

“We could’ve put the game away,” Tharp said. “We are not grooving right now. We are not at our peak.”

After a long road trip, the Chargers are excited to get back in action at home with their fans cheering them on.

Tharp said that moving forward, however, the Chargers need to play better if they want a shot to win their conference for the first time since the Chargers won the GLIAC in 2012.

“We feel like we let one go.

If we do things right, we can beat anybody. We are a fineline team. If we don’t play the right way, we can be beaten by anybody,” he said. “If we play hard and defend and improve offensively we think we can compete with anybody.

“We don’t fear anybody, that’s for sure,” Tharp added.

The team is back in action at home this Thursday against Malone University at 7:30 p.m. and again on Saturday against Walsh College at 3 p.m. And though finals loom, the team would love to have fans cheering in the stands.

“It would be great to have people show up,” Neveau said.

“We all understand this place with the rigor but maybe it could provide a good little study break if they need some time off.”

a 400 medley relay.

“I get really nervous because I put a lot of pressure on myself. That’s just who I am,” Heeres said. “In Chicago, I did pretty well in the 400 medley relay, so I was thinking about that.”

The team accumulated many personal and season-best times at Calvin only two weeks after they performed similarly in Chicago.

With such a tight turn around, the repeated success surprised both Heeres and Ellingson.

Hopkins credited it to changes the team has made this year.

“We have been putting more emphasis on mindset, team culture, and how to be the best teammate. Since swimming can become very individual, we have been working on coming together as a team and creating a strong support system,” Hopkins said. “This has shown to be very successful in the past two meets and being on deck has never been more enjoyable. Everyone is cheering, laughing, dancing, and just having fun competing.”

Sophomore Victoria Addis finished seventh in the 100 breaststroke with a season-best time of 1;06.82 be-

Freshman Hannah Wilkens swims the butterfly at this week’s meet at Calvin College. Zoe Hopkins | Courtesy

fore she finished ninth in the 200 breastroke with 2:30.35, another lifetime-best time.

Sophomore Suzanne DeTar placed tenth in the 100 freestyle with a personal-best time of 52.07. Sophomore Catherine Voisin pulled another personal-best time in the 200 butterfly for ninth place at 2:08.54. Sophomore Danielle LeBleu had two

season best times in the 200 freestyle at 1:56.01 in sixth place and in the 500 freestyle at 5:06.10 in fourth place.

The team said it hopes to build off of its strong performances in the past two weeks as it heads into into Christmas break and pushes forward to the February G-MAC championships.

EARLY G-MAC PLAY YIELDS MIXED BAG FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL By | S. Nathaniel Grime Assistant Editor The first two conference games of the season yielded mixed results for the Hillsdale College Chargers. On Nov. 30, the team dropped its G-MAC opener on the road against Trevecca Nazarene University, 68-57. Two days later, Hillsdale traveled to Owensboro, Kentucky, and defeated Kentucky Wesleyan College, 64-56.

Through six games, the Chargers are 1-1 in what should be a tightly contested conference, and they are 3-3 overall.

“These first six games have given us a really neat barometer for where we need to go and some things we need to work on,” head coach Matt Fritsche said. “We’re actively doing those things and those kids are really attentive to those things. I’m happy with our attitude. I’m happy with our effort. I love coaching this team, but I want to win more.”

Fritsche’s first season at the helm in Hillsdale has brought a strategic overhaul to the team’s approach on the court.

Junior guard Allie Dewire described the new system as focused more toward the action away from the ball.

“Last year, we were more of a ‘ball’ team. We would set screens, and it was more focused on who had the ball,” Dewire said. “This year, it’s more focused on off-ball, so moving without the ball, setting screens from people away from the ball. That’s been an adjustment, and I think we’ve responded pretty well.”

Against Trevecca Nazarene, Hillsdale got off to a slow start shooting and dug itself a 37-23 hole by halftime.

Second-half improvements made the game more competitive, but the Chargers were never able to narrow the deficit to closer than six points.

“We got down a little bit, and all of the times we were down, we could have made it up,” Fritsche said. “But we got a little rushed and a little anxious with our plays, which led to some turnovers, which just kind of snowballed on us.”

The Chargers out-rebounded Trevecca Nazarene 49-27, but the size mismatch alone wasn’t enough to swing the advantage toward Hillsdale. The Chargers shot just 35 percent from the floor and suffered 22 turnovers.

“We did well on the boards, but it was just other things like the turnovers and not playing our style of game that really took over,” junior forward Brittany Gray said.

“Rebounds can only help

you so much. It’s all the little things that, when you add them up, helps you win or lose.”

Junior forward Makenna Ott was on the floor for all but two minutes, and led Hillsdale with 20 points. Ott’s 15.2 points per game lead the Chargers this season.

Senior center Allie Dittmer grabbed 13 rebounds, and leads the team in rebounding this season. Her 10.8 rebounds per game are second-most in the G-MAC. “We just crash the boards really hard on the offensive end,” Dittmer said. “Some teams aren’t expecting that.

On the defensive end, we just put a focus on everybody hitting a body. Getting a box out, and every person hitting their own player.”

Controlling the boards has been a strength for Hillsdale, as the team boasts a plus-ten rebounding margin through six contests.

Dewire added nine rebounds, nine points, and dished out six assists.

“We’re just trying to move the ball a lot, get a lot of touches inside and outside the paint, picking the right shots to shoot, and not dribbling so much, but dribbling when it’s appropriate,” Dewire said.

“Just making the right plays more, and not trying to force plays.”

The Chargers turned their fortunes on Saturday against Kentucky Wesleyan. Hillsdale built a 25-point lead toward the end of the first half, and led 37-18 at halftime.

“I thought the first half was as good as we played all year,” Fritsche said. “The fourth quarter was good too.

We guarded really well in the fourth quarter. We didn’t make as many shots, but we took good shots.”

The Chargers shot 7 of 19 from three-point range, and made 13 of 16 free throw attempts. Hillsdale ranks third in the conference with a 38.6 three-point shooting percentage.

“When we slow down and play our style, our chemistry is great,” Gray said. “We have extra passes, we get wide open shots, and we’re all just having fun.”

Ott again led the way with 14 points, followed by Gray with 13. Dittmer, Dewire, and senior guard Maddy Reed each added nine points.

Freshman guard Jaycie Burger came off the bench to contribute six points against Trevecca Nazarene and five points against Kentucky Wesleyan.

“We started the season with some really tough games and we didn’t get to play as

deep into our bench as we wanted. But what they’ve done, we’ve been impressed with,” Fritsche said of the bench’s contributions. “To not play a ton, but to stay as engaged as they have is admirable. Those things are not easy to do.”

Hillsdale again turned the ball over 22 times, but limited the damage, as Kentucky Wesleyan scored just 13 points off turnovers. Still, Fritsche said the team needs to improve in terms of taking care of the basketball.

“We’re turning the ball over way too much,” Fritsche said. “It’s something that we just need to emphasize more in practice and do a better job of teaching it as well.”

Gray said opponents’ fullcourt press has been a challenge to overcome, but something the team will continue to work on and improve.

“That is one area where we really need some improvement,” Gray said. “Our coaches have addressed that right away. We’ve been really focusing on that. We’ve had our practice players come in and be really aggressive on our press attacks so we learn how to break it.”

Hillsdale has averaged more than 70 points per game to begin the season. Fritsche said his offense thrives when it adopts an unselfish mindset.

“We want to make sure the ball moves and that we don’t over-dribble,” Fritsche said.

“We’re a motion-centric team, so our plays aren’t all necessarily scripted. I want our kids to make good plays and good reads and good decisions, and make plays for each other. If we’re doing those things, we’re really hard to guard.”

After six road games to begin its schedule, Hillsdale opens a five-game homestand this week. Malone University (2-2, 1-1 G-MAC) visits Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena this Thursday for the Chargers’ home opener. Tip off is at 5:30 p.m.

“It’ll be a very good homecoming,” Dewire said. “Six games on the road is tough with all the traveling and not being on your own court.

We’re excited to get people out there to the game, get our own fans cheering. We’ve all been looking forward to this game.”

Hillsdale won’t have to travel for another road game until Dec. 30.

“The best thing about our schedule is we have finals week at home,” Fritsche said.

“We’re not Wayne State, so finals week means something here.”

Sports

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

A7 Dec. 7, 2017

MEN’S TRACK OPENS SEASON STRONG

By | Regan Meyer Collegian Freelancer

Fresh off the training of the fall track program, the Hillsdale College men’s track team displayed a strong showing at Saginaw Valley State University last weekend.

Seventeen Hillsdale athletes participated on the men’s side at the SVSU Holiday Classic. Head coach Andrew Towne said he had almost zero expectations going into the Classic. He explained that season openers are always an adjustment, even for the most seasoned of athletes.

“You really have no idea with the first meet, because we haven’t competed since May,” Towne said. “We’ve seen lots of improvement throughout the fall with most kids, but it’s a new environment. Even for a senior who’s competed for three years, when you have a six month layoff, competition is a new environment for them.”

While Towne’s expectations were practically non-existent, he said the meet gives the team a good benchmark going forward.

“It gives you a good idea of where our skills are at right now,” Towne said. “One of the things you want to see as a coach, whether it’s the fall, the first competition, between competitions, is you want to seem them improving. You want to seem them understanding what they did wrong and how to fix it. That would be my biggest expectation. I want to see where we are at and how we worked through things and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Though nobody compiled team results, Towne said he was pleased with many individual performances including, that of freshman Adam Wade, who took third in the 800.

“One of the things that was impressive about him was he’s a freshman, and even when

you’re an old man in the 800 every 800 meters is different,” Towne said. “People makes moves at different points, you have to cover surges at different points. There isn’t a set script for it. And even for an old guy, it’s tough to sort out what to do in a race. For a freshman, not only did he run fast, but I thought he managed the race really well.”

Wade says that his time of 1:54 in the 800 was his best ever at a meet.

“It was way faster than I was ever in high school,” Wade said. “So I feel pretty good about the training program and how that’s going.”

Towne was also pleased with senior weight thrower Daniel Čapek, who had one of the best openers in his career.

“I threw 16.95 meters,” Čapek said. “My PR is 18.06 meters, so there’s still room for improvement. I could have done better this meet. I just had problems with technique, but overall pretty good. I usu-

Hillsdale student athletes earn President’s Award By | Lillian Quinones Collegian Freelancer

Placed among an elite caliber of Division-II institutions, Hillsdale student athletes received the President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the second-year running.

The award recognized the academic success rate, which is the percentage of students who graduate within six years of enrollment in the period of 2000-17. Tying for the third highest score, Hillsdale was also ranked highest among the institutions awarded in the G-MAC; No GLIAC institution was recognized.

Head football coach Keith Otterbein wasn’t surprised

that Hillsdale athletes received the award again.

“The award reinforces the fact that our student athletes truly ‘walk the walk’ every day as defined by the NCAA as ‘Life in the Balance’,” Otterbein said.

NCAA’s ‘Life in the Balance’ initiative emphasizes the student athlete’s integration of academic and athletic performance, and community involvement. An approach in which Hillsdale student athletes dominate according to Don Brubacher, Hillsdale College Director of Athletics.

“Hillsdale College required student athletes to commit to a very high level of academic rigor long before the

‘Life in the Balance’ initiative was launched, so the balance between academic life and athletic commitments has not changed for our student athletes under this program,” Brubacher said.

Brubacher also noted that the award speaks to Hillsdale’s ability to recruit top student athletes. “The extraordinary education our students receive is certainly the primary factor contributing to our ability to recruit top athletes,” Brubacher said. “The fact that our student athletes then excel in our highly rigorous academic environment is an added benefit in our recruiting efforts.”

Volleyball falls to Findlay in regional play, ending first G-MAC season at 28-4 By | Michael Lucchese Senior Writer The Hillsdale College volleyball team lost for the first time since September in a season-ending loss to the University of Findlay during NCAA regional quarterfinals last week.

The Chargers finished their season with a 28-4 overall record, and the Oilers went on to a 3-0 loss to Rockhurst University in the next round of the tournament.

“Findlay played relaxed, and we played as a favorite,” Hillsdale head coach Chris Gravel said. “There is a big difference between the feelings of wanting to win and having to win. I hope we can learn from this and do better next year.”

Both of Hillsdale’s losses to Findlay this season happened on the road.

“We didn’t have the home court advantage this time,” junior right side hitter Paige VanderWall said. “On top of that, beating a team a second time versus a third holds different challenges.”

The Oilers opened the match by winning the first set 25-22. Then, the Chargers came back from the deficit to win the next two sets 25-16 and 25-22. Then, Findlay rebounded to win the penultimate set 25-22.

“We got in our own heads and didn’t perform at a high level,” junior outside hitter Kara Vyletel said. “But our team is young, so we have plenty of room to grow and a strong season to look forward to next year.”

The Oilers and the Chargers went point-for-point in the final set, but Findlay prevailed 16-14 in the end.

Throughout the match, Hillsdale’s offense put up a strong performance. Vyletel

led the offense with 19 kills, followed by freshman middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen with 12. Senior outside hitter Jackie Langer made 11 kills in her final match of college volleyball.

“Jackie is a phenomenal outside who will be missed on the court,” VanderWall said. “But she will be staying at Hillsdale next year, which is a huge blessing in the eyes of the rest of the team so we’ll still be able to grow and learn from her.”

VanderWall and Vyletel, the team’s top two attackers, were both named All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Tuesday.

Hillsdale’s offense, though, was not enough to overcome Findlay’s defense. They limited Hillsdale to a .207 team hitting percentage, and stacked up 12 blocks.

Sophomore libero Tay-

lor Wiese led the Chargers’ defense with 21 digs, followed by Langer with 18 and freshman setter Lindsey Mertz with 15. Van Wienen had three solo blocks, and the team had seven total.

Looking ahead to next year, members of the Hillsdale volleyball program are confident they will have a successful season “Next year, we’re going to have another well-disciplined team that will represent themselves, their team, and their college in the best way possible,” Gravel said.

Vyletel said that, because the team is so young now, she believes that they can look forward to more growth next season.

“We’ll be a stronger and older team,” VanderWall said.

“We’ve got talented freshmen and, more importantly, the same hunger to win we always have.”

Hillsdale College volleyball finished the season with a 28-4 record, after falling to Findlay in regional play. Todd Lancaster | Courtesy

ally tend to improve as the season goes, so it should go pretty well.”

When rehashing the events of the meet, senior captain David Chase cited the hard work the team put in during the preseason.

“I think the meet went really well,” Chase said.

“We opened up a lot stronger than we have in the past and I think that shows there is a lot of talent and a lot of hard work that was done this fall. I think this upcoming semester, once we get into a groove and we get used to competing then it’s going to be a very successful year.”

The team must now wait one month until its next meet at the University of Michigan on Jan. 13. The Wolverine Invitational will see the Chargers take on Eastern Michigan University, University of Cincinnati, University of South Florida, and University of Michigan.

Senior Daniel Čapek threw 16.95 meters in the weight throw this weekend. Todd Lancaster | Courtesy

WOMEN’S TRACK BREAKS G-MAC RECORDS AT SVSU By | Anna Timmis Assistant Editor The women’s track team broke conference records at Saginaw Valley State University’s Holiday Open. The team made its mark at its first ever G-MAC meet, taking first place in multiple events.

Senior team captain Rachael Tolsma won first in the weight throw that broke a G-MAC record. Sophomore Lorina Clemence took first in the 400-meter dash in 58.51 seconds, while sophomore Abbie Porter took third place.

Senior Chloe Ohlgren won third in the triple jump with her distance of 11.02 meters, the G-MAC’s second best.

Sophomore Kathryn Bassette also broke a conference record in pole vaulting, just 4 inches below her personal record.

“I was hoping to PR on Saturday, which would have been unusual for a first meet, but I knew I could do it,” Bassette said. “Competition is built on practice, so that was kind of disappointing that I couldn’t apply what I knew in practice.”

Bassette said she didn’t know until the next morning that she had broken a record, and said that another athlete broke the record soon after.

“A lot of people switching from GLIAC to the G-MAC are bringing really good athletes,” she said.

The freshmen certainly are bringing strength to the team.

Freshman Carmen Botha ran the 60-meter hurdles in 9.15 seconds, taking second place.

“I’m really proud of my roommate, who’s from South Africa, Carmen, she got second overall,” freshman Callie Townsend said.

Freshman Zoe Eby won the 200-meter dash in 24.67 seconds. She also helped her

team win second in the 4x400 relay, with seniors and Ashlee Moran and sophomore Abbie Porter.

Bassette noted the success of the freshmen on the team.

“That was really excited to see, both of our freshmen made finals,” she said. “It was really exciting to have that fresh energy.”

Townsend echoed that enthusiasm.

“It was just really exciting to be there,” she said. “I’ve never been to an indoor track meet before. I had never run a 60 hurdles before.”

She said she learned she needs to improve her start.

“When I qualified for finals I learned to fix that,” she said.

“I was pleased with how I

did.”

Bassette said that while losing seniors on the team was bittersweet, “the sweet side is freshmen coming in.”

Townsend said she was grateful for the upperclassmen on the team who led her and her fellow freshmen through warmups.

Wichmann called Tolsma “an amazing athlete and an even better role model.”

Bassette said the team is set up for a good season. ”It’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about the first meet,” she said. “It made me feel really confident for the meet. I like what we’re doing in terms of encouragement on the team.”

Senior Rachel Tolsma was named G-MAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week. Todd Lancaster | Courtesy

A8 Dec. 7, 2017

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Culture Rock band U2 released its latest album this week.

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With ‘Songs of Experience,’ U2 delivers great tracks in mediocre album By | Joe Pappalardo Senior Writer I miss the old U2, the rock ‘n’ roll U2, chop up the soul U2, set on their goals U2.

My thoughts turned to Kanye West’s “I Love Kanye” as Bono switched into autotune halfway through “Love Is All We Have Left,” the opening track on the band’s newest album. But, fortunately, this was one of the few self-indulgent moments on the 13-track menagerie.

U2’s “Songs of Experience,” their follow-up to 2014’s iTunes-invading “Songs of Innocence,” is the adult companion to the previous album’s reflections on childhood. Inspired by poet William Blake’s poem collection “Songs of Innocence and Experience” published in 1794, U2’s 14th album reflects

on love and mortality.

While the band fiddles with modern sounds, featuring artists like Haim and Kendrick Lamar, it only tweaks old formulas. Listening to a new album should not make the listener crave its predecessors. But that’s exactly what happens with “Songs of Experience.”

Before embarking on such a confusing journey, listeners should know U2’s newest work is one of their better efforts since 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.”

The direct companion to this album, “Songs of Innocence,” sounded almost too modern for the band, and its popularity came in part from a publicity stunt after iTunes customers criticized it for downloading automatically to their libraries. On the contrary, “Songs of Experience”

made a quiet Dec. 4 entrance on Spotify, bringing with it several fine additions to the band’s catalog.

Singles “You’re The Best Thing About Me” and “The Blackout” promoted the album, which features a range of sounds that echo the band’s previous work. Deepcut “Red Flag Day” has backing vocals reminiscent of 1983’s “War,” while the synths first made famous on their 1987 “Joshua Tree” album’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” appears on new tracks like “Get Out Of Your Own Way.” This song also has the pounding bass of 1997’s “Pop,” recalling the tail end of the band’s most experimental phase.

The problem here is that the list goes on. Fans can almost see the lines drawn from the tracklist to the band’s dozen albums prior to

‘As one having authority’

In the final round of Reformation discussions, scholars debate the authority of scripture and the church By | Hannah Niemeier Senior Writer Who run the world: Scripture or tradition?

It’s a question church leaders and laymen still ask 500 years after Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses, a watershed moment that led to the Reformation and the claim that Scripture alone, and not the authority of popes and church fathers, defines faith.

The question of Scripture’s relation to the tradition of the church grounded the third and final series of lectures on central Christian debates in the “This Far by Faith” Reformation lecture series Nov. 30 and Dec.1. Historians, theologians, and classicists from both traditions addressed the question in a way that reshaped the grounds for debate: Both Protestants and Catholics claimed they aligned with tradition in the way they used Scripture as an authority.

The “sola scriptura” principle grounded debates not only about the interpretation of Scripture, but about the supreme authority in the church as a whole, said Associate Professor of History Matthew Gaetano in his discussion of views of the pope after the Reformation: Was the Catholic church’s purported supreme authority the successor of Peter, or was he the antichrist?

“The basic question of whether Peter is the rock and whether his successors are supreme pastors of the faithful or not remains a central conflict in Western Christendom,” Gaetano said.

For Lutherans, Gaetano argued, opposition of the pope was originally moderate; they would accept him as the human leader of the church, as long as he would clean up his act. But if (and when) he claimed his divine right to lead the church and interpret the Scriptures, he defined himself, in their view, as the prophesied man who would take over the church for the devil in the end times, for a number of reasons.

“The claim that the Pope is antichrist may offend our 21st-century ears,” Gaetano

said. “But the notion of pope as antichrist for early modern Lutherans explained the hiddenness of the Gospel for so many centuries and legitimated the schism not from the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, but from the particular church of Rome.”

The sixteenth-century Catholic Cardinal Robert Bellarmine’s counter-argument, on the other hand, emphasized the unity of the catholic church and decried schism as diabolical: “Bellarmine, unsurprisingly, saw Peter, his successors, and the Roman church as the secondary foundation after Christ, the supreme pastor essential for securing the visible church,” Gaetano said.

Protestant and Catholic churches can strive for unity, however, by relying on the “sola scriptura” principle, said Kevin Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago.

Protestant and Catholic disagreements about tradition are based on differing views of the relation between “sola scriptura” and the traditions that interpret it. In the Protestant view, “Scripture is the appointed instrument through which God gives light,” Vanhoozer said. “Tradition is the lesser light, the moon to Scripture’s sun. What light tradition gives off is always and only a reflection of the sun. And yet, it is light.”

This hierarchy, Vanhoozer argued, allows Scripture to remain the supreme authority without being the only text that Protestants accept as useful for instruction in the Christian life; it is “sola scriptura,” not “solo scriptura.”

And when Protestants of different groups can again discuss their commonalities by both lights, they can transcend the “solo mia denominatio” mindset that often pervades American churches.

“The kind of Protestantism that needs to live on 500 years after the Reformation is not the caricature that emphasizes individual autonomy or corporate pride, but rather the catholic original that encourages the church to hold fast to the Gospel and to one another in Christ,” Vanhoozer said.

Unlike the caricature, Protestants have not discarded this lesser light in the past 500 years. According to Associate Professor of Classics Eric Hutchinson, tradition was an important battle to win after the Reformation. Far from claiming “solo scriptura,” they fought to prove that the church fathers were on their side.

“Antiquity was a contested field,” Hutchinson said.

“Partisans of Rome were eager to show that Protestants had no grounding in the ancient church, and Protestants, on their own side, were equally zealous to show the opposite — in great detail.”

The Protestant use of the church fathers, many reformers argued, is the one the fathers themselves would have supported: “Recognizing that history is messy and complicated, they did not attempt to argue for a consensus of the fathers on every point of doctrine, because they believed — correctly — that such a thing did not exist,” Hutchinson said.

Throughout the semester’s lecture series, students and professors have approached the central debates of the Reformation in much the same way that the Reformers approached the church fathers — as vital voices in a larger conversation about the Christian faith.

“This is not like a cocktail party celebrating the Reformation. It’s not like ‘We’re schismatic, now we can’t have theological debates and we don’t want to be in communion with each other,’” sophomore Henry Brink said. “I like how we approach it especially on an ecumenical and often very polemic campus: Let’s try to figure out what’s happened, and then why it’s happened, and what people have thought about what’s happened.”

Hutchinson’s assessment of the Reformers’ approach to tradition could serve for the motto of the entire lecture series: In their study of the church fathers, “their hope was that reasoned discussion around the rule of faith under the authority of the word would effect the transition from ‘credo’ — ‘I believe’ — to ‘credemus’ — ‘we believe.’”

the “Innocence + Experience” tour. Is this creeping sense of nostalgia appropriate or a buzzkill? As a collection of U2 songs, perhaps an EP, this album is a good listen. Taken as an official release, it feels like a tour of the sounds that once made the band popular.

For fans, this is generally entertaining, but for listeners who, like the band, are questioning its relevance today, it only gives them more questions.

The tracks on the album sound like a playlist of different eras rather than a single U2 album. Some of the touches of previous albums are chilling, others merely distract the listener from the album itself. A few songs have unnecessary instrumental changes as conclusions, and the Kendrick Lamar appearance that connects “Get Out

of Your Own Way” with “American Soul” ruins the former while adding to the aggressive sound of the latter.

Despite collaborating with the rapper, Bono’s lyricism suffers, especially on “The Blackout” where he lazily rhymes Ned with Fred and Zach with Jack.

Yet there are several truly enjoyable tracks on the album. Critics will relentlessly compare this project to its 21st century predecessors, but it produces songs that stand out even in the band’s 40-year catalog.

The vocalist brought renewed energy to the project after a door on his jet fell off mid-flight, almost killing him.

“I shouldn’t be here ‘cause I should be dead,” Bono sings on “Lights of Home,” which earned the fourth spot on The Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Songs of 2017. He also returned to

music amidst speculation that he couldn’t play the guitar after a 2015 bike accident. The album, despite its flaws, is a sort of homecoming for U2.

Although this project barely pushes the band’s sound any further than its previous efforts, if U2 intended to touch on all their previous sounds and set a capstone on a long career, it succeeds.

Nevertheless, if the band isn’t calling it quits yet, this is their first album to offer almost no indicators of where it might progress next.

“Songs of Experience” feels more familiar with each listen, as most albums do, but it plays like a collection of songs rather than a concerted effort.

The songs are good, but the sum of their parts is a confusing menagerie.

Choir to perform songs of the season By | Elizabeth Bachmann Collegian Freelancer The voices of 150 of the college’s finest vocalists will fill the sanctuary of College Baptist Church at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, as they serenade the audience with songs of the season.

Director of Orchestras and Choirs James Holleman will conduct the Hillsdale College Choir and Chamber Choir as they sing a combination of sacred and secular Christmas music, with a few non-seasonal pieces that fit stylistically.

“The bulk of what we do is accapella, and we have created

a tradition of acapella singing which is really true choral singing,” Holleman said.

Various students will have the opportunity to perform a solo within each choral piece.

Senior Sarah Schutte will sing the soprano solo in a new arrangement of “Away in a Manger.”

“It is very exciting to sing on the collegiate level, especially with the wonderful repertoire we perform,” Schutte said. “Professor Holleman does a fantastic job with the singers, and he works hard to make it a positive learning experience for us. He also really

helps the community since he works hard to know not just names, but voice types of the individual singers.”

Eager parents and students have already reserved all 450 seats for this Saturday, but Holleman encourages everyone interested to come, ticket or no ticket, as he and the rest of the music department are working in the spirit of Christmas to accommodate as many audience members as possible.

“It is just joyous,” Holleman said. “We are singing music of the season...It is a vocal celebration of Christmas.”

Fall art show highlights students’ creative triumphs By | Crystal Schupbach Assistant Editor Students and faculty gathered in the gallery of Sage Center for the Arts on Tuesday to celebrate students’ creative successes at the Fall Student Art Exhibit, featuring artwork in various mediums from drawing to sculpture.

The exhibit opened with an award ceremony where works of art won through both student votes as well as faculty choice.

Seniors Elise Clines, Isaac Dell, and Stephanie Rose won faculty recognition.

As a part of the student-choice awards, first place in the drawing category went to senior Stephanie Rose for her charcoal portrait “A Tired Gaze.” There was a threeway tie in the pastel category between two of senior Elise Clines’ pieces and sophomore Joanna Dell’s “Bearded Man.” First place in photography went to senior Rachel Reynolds for “Buongiorno,” a photograph taken in Volterra, Italy, on an excursion during her summer studies.

Reynolds said she followed the man around for a while, waiting for geometry, lighting, and engagement from him to be balanced and snapping photographs before she got the ideal shot as he was leaving a market. He was just turning around to laugh at some children, which explains his joyous expression.

“I was really happy with how it turned out — all the stars aligned for this one, and that’s what’s really difficult

Senior Rachael Reynolds won first place in photography for her shot of a man in Volterra, Italy. Rachael Reynolds | Courtesy

about street photography,” Reynolds said. “You have about three seconds to make all sorts of decisions.”

Junior Makenzie Self won first place in graphic design for her illustration of Lewis Emery Park in Hillsdale, combining photography and typography.

“It’s very engaging and emotional,” Teacher of Art Bryan Springer said.

Senior Isaac Dell placed

first in sculpture for his lifelike self-portrait.

“He captured his likeness but also his spirit,” Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis said. “A good portrait captures the spirit of the model. There’s a richness in the texture of his face.”

The exhibit will stay in Sage until Jan. 12, so students can enjoy artwork from “Bearded Man” to “Buongiorno” through next year.

A9 Dec. 7, 2017

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Science & Tech

Student contributes to fight against cancer By | Katarzyna Ignatik Collegian Reporter

This past summer, senior biochemistry major Luke Miller researched an anti-inflammatory drug that could possibly be used to treat pancreatic cancer — an effort he was inspired to join because of his little brother’s struggle with cancer.

“This is actually like bootson-the-ground research that is hopefully going to make a difference,” Miller said. “Cancer is so diverse and so complex that really any strides we can make in either understanding the mechanism or finding a compound that really helps is incredibly important.”

Miller worked under the supervision of Karen Liby ’94, who is now an associate professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University.

Liby said her lab focuses on studying drugs for the treatment and prevention of cancer, specifically those related to inflammation.

Although pancreatic cancer is a relatively simple type of cancer, it’s also one of the deadliest types, Miller said.

Depending on what stage at which the cancer is diagnosed, survival rates can range from 7 -10 percent, according to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. The survival rates are lowest, if the cancer has metastasized, or spread to different parts of the body.

According to the American Cancer Society, tens of thousands of adults in the United States are diagnosed with and die from pancreatic cancer every year.

Pancreatic cancer can often become drug-resistant and be difficult to diagnose because of its similarities to pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas.

Having pancreatitis causes a twelvefold increase in a patient’s risk of getting pancreatic cancer, Miller said, so inflammation plays a significant role in pancreatic cancer development.

“We’re trying to see if we can find a way to treat pancreatitis in a manner that prevents pancreatic cancer development or at least lessens the severity of the cancer when it develops,” Miller said.

Miller worked with a spe-

cific anti-inflammatory drug to see if it would be effective in treating pancreatitis and, by extension, pancreatic cancer.

This drug was previously tested to see if it would have any effect on Parkinson’s disease, but Miller said it didn’t work for that purpose.

“It’s an example of a drug-repurposing project,” Liby said of Miller’s research.

To test whether the drug would stop the body’s inflammatory response and cancer cell production, Miller used a live mouse model to see how mice responded to induced pancreatic cancer and inflammation and how the drug of interest could help alleviate the symptoms.

Miller said the inflammatory focus makes the drug different from traditional chemotherapies, which target rapidly dividing cells.

Miller had previously worked in a plant physiology lab for two summers but decided to apply for the cancer research opportunity for this past summer because of his little brother’s leukemia diagnosis.

“I really wanted to have an opportunity to work in a can-

Senior Luke Miller (right) and fellow researcher Quinn Hanses (left) work in the lab. Miller helped study a drug that may be used to treat pancreatic cancer. Allie Siarto and Co. | Courtesy

cer laboratory and contribute, because it’s since then become a huge part of my life and the life of my family,” Miller said.

“The thing about cancer is that as a family member, you feel so helpless when someone you know or someone you’re related to has cancer. You feel so helpless because you can’t do anything. So just finding a way to do something was really great.”

While he was not working on curing leukemia specifically, Miller said he still wanted to make a difference through working on other types of cancer — an opportunity made possible through the laboratory’s work ethic.

“They’re really dedicated to what they do and to helping people, trying to focus on getting new drugs, better drugs, on the market,” Miller said.

“And they want to do it for the right reasons. It’s not really for the recognition. It really is to help people and make lives better. You can see that when they talk about their work.”

Liby’s lab has worked with several other drugs that have potential for preventing and treating cancer, including a class of drugs called rexinoids.

Miller said working in a pharmacology setting has influenced his goals for after graduation. He said he is definitely considering doing something related to cancer biology and probably something even more fundamentally related to cell biology.

“Luke did a great job,” Liby said. “He’s exactly the type to do well in graduate school.”

The official results of Miller’s research from the summer won’t be published for a while yet, Liby said.

Nevertheless, Miller said he hopes research on this drug can continue. He said he was heartened by the work he saw being done in Liby’s lab.

“There are people out there who really do have a deep-seated desire to help, to heal people suffering from this disease,” Miller said. “And at least I hope that can be a comforting thought.”

An aircraft takes off from Ronald Reagan National Airport in front of Sunday’s supermoon. NASA/Bill Ingalls | Courtesy

Stargazing and supermoons: Astronomy over the weekend

By | Madeleine Jepsen Science & Tech Editor Although a telescope was necessary to see some of the celestial bodies in the sky during Friday’s telescope viewing, anyone on campus could see the first and only supermoon of 2017 during Sunday night.

Supermoons occur when a full moon appears larger and brighter than normal. This phenomenon occurs because of the moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth.

During a supermoon, the moon can appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter as it approaches the point in its orbit when it comes closest to Earth, according to a press release from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Two more supermoons will occur Jan. 1 and Jan. 31 next year.

Friday’s telescope viewing in Hayden Park, led by Assistant Professor of Phys-

ics Timothy Dolch, allowed students to see the waxing gibbous moon, the planet Uranus, and a cluster of stars in the Orion Belt.

“Dr. Dolch has us look at a bunch of different stuff, but my favorite thing this past Friday was the moon,” sophomore Myrica Wildes said in an email. “He had to put it under a red filter, as it’s so bright that it could burn your cornea.”

Junior R.J. Norton said the conversation while waiting for the telescope ranges from serious to silly, but the opportunity to observe celestial bodies through the telescope — and to get some fire-roasted s’mores — was a refreshing break from schoolwork.

“Telescope nights are a wonderful opportunity to step away briefly from the distractions of college life and engage in a truly timeless (but not mindless) activity,” Norton said in an email. “It tends to be peaceful but fun.”

either of the kinases and then attempted to infect the cells with HSV-2.

Based on whether the virus successfully infected and replicated in the cells, Frame was able to distinguish whether those kinases were needed for the virus to travel from the edge of the cell to the nucleus, where it would replicate.

“A lot of the research right now is kind of done assuming that a lot of the work done for HSV-1 will also apply to HSV-2,” Frame said. “A lot of the work done in the Triezenberg lab suggests that’s not the case, and that there are a lot of subtle differences that lead to differences in how you would treat the two different infections.”

She found that one of the kinases involved was also important for the HSV-2 infection process but was not involved with the pathway the researchers expected, suggesting that the kinase may be involved in a different pathway that is important for viral infection.

“That opens up two possibilities for us,” Triezenberg said. “One, that her experiments suggest there’s a new pathway we didn’t know about

— that’s always exciting — and the second is that there’s something about those experiments that gave us an incorrect answer. That’s where we need to focus more carefully: Can we really validate the results Madison’s experiment seems to be giving us, that this kinase is important, but not in the pathways we know about?”

Although the researcher team needs to do more work to determine which of these scenarios is true, Triezenberg said Frame’s research may have identified a new pathway that future anti-viral treatments could target.

“The work that she did really helps move us along,” Triezenberg said. “There are ideas that come out of her work that might suggest that we could find drugs that might work for one virus or the other. Nowadays, for a drug to be approved, you have to know how a drug works, and that second question Madison left us with is how it works. It means there’s a lot more work to be done yet before we could be confident in moving this forward for drug discovery.”

Student research suggests possible target for herpes treatment By | Madeleine Jepsen Science & Tech Editor Approximately 3.7 billion people worldwide — or 67 percent of Earth’s population — under the age of 50 are infected with the herpes simplex virus type one, which is known to cause cold sores around the mouth, according to the World Health Organization. An additional 417 million — roughly 11 percent of the global population — are estimated by the WHO to be infected with HSV-2, the sexually transmitted form of herpes.

Senior Madison Frame worked at Van Andel Research Institute over the summer to determine some of the proteins that may be involved in the process of cellular infection for HSV-2.

She focused on several protein kinases, which is a group of proteins that add phosphate groups to other proteins in the cell. This chemical modification can be part of a chain of protein signals that initiate different processes in the cell.

Frame’s work focused on identifying human proteins that the virus uses to infect

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Science in the news -Compiled by Madeleine Jepsen

cells, rather than the viral proteins themselves.

“We were specifically targeting certain human kinases that the virus uses to travel from the edge of the cell to the nucleus, where it replicates,” Frame said.

Her research in the Triezenberg lab, part of the institute’s Center for Epigenetics, focused on whether several kinases that were found to be important in HSV-1 infections were also important in HSV-2 infections. Doing so could help researchers develop treatments to manage symptoms or prevent further transmission of the virus.

The Triezenberg lab where Frame worked has focused on the herpes virus, although Frame said the larger body of research on herpes has focused on HSV-1, not HSV-2.

“We had done experiments a little while back asking which of the many human kinases are important for early steps of infection by HSV-1, and through the years and the various experiments we did, we had narrowed it down to two or three that we thought were really important,” said Steven Triezenberg, presi-

dent and dean of Van Andel Institute Graduate School and head of the lab where Frame worked. “Madison asked whether those two or three kinases were also important in early steps of HSV-2 infection.

Her results told us that one of them still seems to be important, but the other two, not so much, and that was kind of a surprise for us.”

Understanding how the

ing at different parts of the replication cycle and trying to understand how the virus and cell interact, and then another part of it was testing how these inhibitors worked in preventing viral replication and infection,” Coverdell said.

Currently, there are few treatment methods available to treat the symptoms of herpes infections, Frame said. Even though an infected

“We were specifically targeting certain human kinases that the virus uses to travel from the edge of the cell to the nucleus, where it replicates.” virus uses cellular processes for its own survival and reproduction will help researchers develop treatments for herpes viruses, according to Tatiana Coverdell ’17, who also worked as a research intern in the Triezenberg lab. Once researchers identify the important cellular factors, they can develop targeted treatments to work against the virus.

“There are basically two goals: part of it was just look-

person may not always exhibit symptoms, the infection lasts for a lifetime, remaining present in facial nerve cells.

Drugs that prevent the virus from infecting cells can help prevent the transmission and spread of the virus.

Frame studied several kinases that researchers had previously found to be important in preventing HSV-1 infection. She treated cultures of cells with drugs to inhibit

Dogs may be ‘smarter’ than cats, neurological study finds

Scientists recreate Galileo’s gravity experiment in space

Researchers develop ideas to combat America’s opioid crisis

Scientists observe millions of tiny crystals that help scallops to see

The first study to count the number of neurons in cats’ and dogs’ brains found dogs possess more brain cells in the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain associated with thinking, planning, and complex behavior. According to the study, dogs have about 530 million cortical neurons while cats have about 250 million, and the human brain has approximately 16 billion. The research was published in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.

Researchers used two cylinders within satellites to re-create astronomer Galileo Galilei’s experiment in which he allegedly dropped two different balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that they would fall at the same rate regardless of their composition. The new study, published in Physical Review Letters, helps confirm the equivalence principle in Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity in a more precise way.

Several research groups will present potential solutions to help reduce the opioid crisis in the United States at the upcoming conference of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

The presenters will discuss safer opioids with reduced side effects, interim treatments for people waiting to enter treatment clinics, and a comparison of the two main medications available for treating opioid addictions.

Using cryo-electron microscopy, scientists have observed how scallops assemble the millions of square, flat crystals that compose each of the mollusk’s 200 eyes. Their research, published in Science, shows how the mosaic mirror of the crystals allows the scallops to focus light from their surroundings onto the two retinas in each eye. The study implies that the scallops control the crystallization process of the crystals as their eyes form.

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Dec. 7, 2017

Graphic by | Jo Kroeker, Katherine Scheu

English in the ‘fishbowl’: Coonradt teaches prison inmates By | Hannah Niemeier Senior Writer The syllabus is standard for an entry-level writing class: the students read memoirs and analyze George Orwell’s essay on the “6 Rules for Writers.” They write rhetorical analyses and personal essays, and they take midterms and finals. But they do all this in what is called the “fishbowl,” a cluster of classrooms with glass walls and a prison guard always on patrol. The students are inmates in Cotton Correctional Facility, and their professor is Hillsdale College’s adjunct professor of English Nicole Coonradt, who teaches Writing 131 as part of the Prison Education Initiative (PEI), a program run through Jackson College.

“I’ve been teaching through PEI since 2015,” Coonradt said. “I was nervous my first day. It’s scary for anyone, when you have to walk across the yard. That’s the part I like the least. But I’ve never felt threatened or worried about being in the classroom.”

PEI offers area inmates a chance to earn an associate degree while serving time at prison. For Coonradt’s students, the program has given them a written voice with which to express and transcend the struggles that brought them to her classroom — and to craft excellent writing in the process.

Jackson College has

supported prison education programs since the early 1990s, PEI Director Bobby Beauchamp said. In 2012, the program was reborn in its current form, beginning at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility. Since then, PEI has added four correctional facilities, which now serve more than 600 students.

Coonradt’s writing class is a requisite for all students pursuing associate degrees, whether in arts, applied science, or business, the most popular major. Students often take the class with little high school or college-level experience in writing or the humanities.

But before she could transform her students’ writing skills, Coonradt had to adjust to the classroom setting in the “fishbowl.” She is currently teaching more than 30 students in two class sections on Monday and Tuesday night, and she has to come prepared.

“The thing about teaching in the prison that has been good for me is that it forces me to be on top of my game,” Coonradt said. “I have to be prepared when I go in, because there’s no, ‘Oh, I’ll send you an email or post it in Blackboard later.’ There’s no option for that, so I have to be ready to go and take everything that I need.”

From within the classroom, life often looks normal, Coonradt said. But throughout her three years teaching

at PEI, Coonradt has gradually pieced together glimpses of life beyond the fishbowl.

Students will sometimes miss class, and when she asks about their whereabouts, the answer will be a matter-of-fact: “Oh, he got rode out,” which, as Coonradt soon discovered, meant the student got moved to a new facility.

And the way into the classroom isn’t always easy, either. Coonradt remembers a student who, for his final portfolio cover essay, wrote about the beating he had to endure for members of an in-house gang to allow him to take the class.

In general, however, the biggest differences between her previous teaching jobs and her PEI one are logistical: “There is no technology, so the students don’t have access to computers or the internet,” Coonradt said. “Some students have word processors so they can type their papers, but most have to hand-write their papers. And actually, most of the students have beautiful handwriting. They’re conscientious about that, probably because they write lots of letters.”

At every penitentiary she has taught, Coonradt said she has found her students eager and dedicated; they often ask to keep the textbook after the class, and she photocopies sections. They are often wellread, too, as reading is one of the few leisure activities

allowed in the penitentiary.

This, along with students’ surprising willingness to share their life experiences, Coonradt said, brings depth to the classroom discussions. Even when class was cut short one week for an emergency lockdown, her students remained focused on their coursework.

“Though we didn’t have the time to discuss the assignment beforehand, all but two had drafts ready for peer review the next week, based on the packet I had given them,” Coonradt said. “When I talked about this with friends later, I thought, ‘This would not happen elsewhere.’”

And she often discovers through her own writing assignments that Writing 131 was, for students, about much more than fixing comma splices and learning how to write a memoir.

Her student John (a pseudonym), wrote a cover essay in 2015 that revealed the general opinion on Coonradt’s classes.

He said he jumped at the chance when, after 25 years of incarceration, he had the opportunity to participate in PEI. “It’s one of life’s greatest ironies, instead of a Michigan State University, I ended up in a Michigan State Penitentiary,” John introduced himself, and then relived his choice to take Coonradt’s class: “Around the middle of my second semester I began to hear talk of an instructor named ‘Coonradt’ …

The English 131 guys, specifically those in this Coonradt’s class seemed to be motivated by a level of urgency.”

John describes early struggles in the class: “‘My paper was called ‘P.K. the Great,’ but it should have been called ‘Thank Goodness for Peer Reviews,’ ’cause in retrospect it was terrible … But luckily someone who had taken Dr. Coonradt’s class a couple semesters earlier showed me what I needed to do. I cut out all of the unnecessary words and phrases (Orwell’s third rule) and ended up with a pretty decent paper.”

The most valuable experience in Writing 131, Coonradt said, is the peer review, which she said is a “humanizing experience, because it gives them a chance to give constructive criticism, which is strange to them at first.”

But she remembered one student wrote in an essay that the experience of learning together through the peer review helped them all grow: “More than the technical things, the value of the class was watching my fellow classmates turn into better men.

Who would have thought that learning how to write better could teach you how to live better?”

The PEI writing program has developed some excellent writers as well, Coonradt said. Three of her students placed in the Jackson College campus-wide Lyman Fink

Excellence in Writing Award, and three other winners (out of a total of eight) were from other PEI classes.

Coonradt may end up teaching in new fishbowls if her class continues to produce good writers.

The popularity and educational value of classes like Coonradt’s will allow PEI to expand to other facilities and expanded course offerings, Beauchamp said.

“PEI is optimistically striving to reach an enrollment of over 1,300 students,” he said. “To accomplish this, we are partnering with MDOC (Michigan Department of Corrections) to add three additional facilities to the program. Writing classes will definitely be added as the program grows.”

Regardless of where PEI goes next, Coonradt and the Prison Education Initiative have given inmates new direction and skills as they pursue an education that they can use now and later in life.

This dedication impressed Coonradt most when she learned how students were tutoring each other for PEI classes: The only available study spaces were picnic tables outside. It was winter. The tutors and their students sat outside in the snow and talked about ideas. Their pursuit of an education, a career, and a future kept them impervious to the cold.

Blue Christmas attendees lit candles to process their grief.

Jo Kroeker | Collegian

Finding place for sorrow amid Christmastime joy By | Jo Kroeker Features Editor The garlands adorned with red bows decked the balcony of College Baptist Church, but the golden stringed lights lacing them remained off.

The light from above only reached the fifth row of pews before receding. One by one, attendees emerged from the shadows and walked to the altar, where they lit candles, offered up silent petitions, and proceeded to Chaplain Father Adam Rick, who anointed their foreheads with oil and prayed for them.

“They’re lighting a candle as a symbol of Christ and airing out rooms in their soul that haven’t been aired out in a while,” Rick said.

Almost 50 people attended Monday evening’s Blue Christmas service at College Baptist, where they were reminded of the place for sorrow in the Christmas story and given a space to grieve amid the focus on joy and merriness that the holidays bring.

“With grief, it’s good to be able to do something with it,” counselor Brock Lutz said.

“I think we usually think of candles with light and hope; so to me, there’s a certain catharsis in the symbolism of it.

I appreciate that Father Adam prays right after that: We’re recognizing the pain, and then we’re going to someone to get prayer. We’re doing something very tangible.”

This is the second year the chaplain’s office and health services collaborated to bring this service to the Hillsdale community. Last year, less than 10 people came, Lutz said, adding that it was finals

week and five degrees outside.

This year, he said, they did a better job planning it to get it to students before finals.

In his homily, Rick mentioned two weighty days at the center of the Christmas season: The Feast of St. Stephen, which honors the first martyr on Dec. 26, and the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the sons of Bethlehem killed by King Herod on Dec. 28.

“Real sorrow, true, deep, abiding pain and injustice is also a part of the Christmas story, and neither the church nor the Scriptures themselves have ever intended to hide these from us in the name of a cheap veneer of happy Christmas,” he said. “I’m showing you a place in the story for your own grief.”

He also gave practical advice: Tell God about the pain and look to the examples of others, found in the stories of the saints and C.S. Lewis’ journals after the death of his wife published under the title “Grief Observed.” Rather than hiding difficulties, he encouraged, people should talk to others: Just talking it through may help others understand and lighten the load.

The five fraternity brothers in Delta Tau Delta that surrounded their brother sophomore Luke Grzywacz acknowledged that the time wasn’t about them but about him.

When Grzywacz went forward to light the candle, he did so for his mother, who died this June. He said lighting the candles reminded him of his trip to Germany in July, when he would light candles for her whenever he visited a church.

He said he really enjoyed

the service.

“It felt very peaceful, it was a strange feeling,” said Grzywacz, who couldn’t remember being anointed since his baptism and confirmation. “It’s a culmination of the whole service.”

It will be his first Christmas with her gone but the second without her at Hillsdale, he said.

“The sermon spoke volumes,” he said. “Going home... it’ll be a rough Christmas morning.”

Senior Paul Keenan said he was glad Grzywacz reached out. He said when people bring their suffering into the open, it draws us closer as a community and as a brotherhood.

“You have permission to mourn this holiday season, you don’t have to put on appearances for anyone else,” Rick said in his homily. “You have permission to be sorrowful. Jesus came into this world to meet you precisely here. You don’t need to put on a stiff upper lip, he knows you better than that, he knows life’s hardships, betrayals, with perfect, personal intimacy.

He experienced that himself.

He himself cried out to his heavenly father in pain: ‘Oh God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ God weeps with you this Christmas season: He’s here, he knows, and he cares. You have permission to grieve.”

Lutz said the church was welcoming in its privacy and solemnity — different from a Sunday morning, where people know they will be greeted.

“To me, what I think is encouraging about seeing lots of people here is that we were able to identify, ‘I’m not the only one who feels this way

during Christmas,’” Lutz said.

He said there is a benefit to seeing others who have lost someone this year or struggle with family hardships.

“There’s a strength in being able to say, ‘I’m not the only one suffering through this, and I can do something with my suffering,’” Lutz said.

As the Blue Christmas service drew to a close, the attendees sang “O Come, O Come, Immanuel.” The thin voices that cracked occasionally and the single piano held the sadness and anticipation of its singers. “Rejoice, rejoice, Immanuel, Shall come to you, O Israel…”

“The service is technically over, but the ministry that Brock and I and some of the other folks on campus provide is available any time people need it,” Rick said. “I think sometimes, people think, ‘I don’t want to come forward, I don’t want to be a burden,’ but that’s why we got into the line of work, so we could help people. We are eager to come alongside and help people if we can.”

A note from Lutz: We hope that students or staff who are suffering pain or loss at Christmas or any other time of the year can utilize the many services we have available on campus — one of our four counselors, chaplain’s office, the deans, or professors: Brock Lutz, counselor: Email: blutz@hillsdale.edu Phone: 216-789-9605 Fr. Adam Rick, chaplain Email: arick@hillsdale.edu Phone: 517-392-7994 Linda Snoes, administrative assistant of health services (to schedule an appointment with the other counselors): Email: lsnoes@hillsdale.edu

“The sermon spoke volumes.

Going home, it’ll be rough Christmas morning.”