Spring blooms as temperatures soar See story below
Vol.  135,  Issue  21  -  29  March  2012
Michigan’s  oldest  college  newspaper
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Heat spike sets records Literary  professors Sam Gilman Collegian Reporter
While  students  were  away  on  spring  break,  Hillsdale  College  faculty  and  staff  faced  record  high  temperatures.  On  March  21,  Hillsdale  County  joined  422  other  record  highs  across  the  nation  when  the  temperature  reached  86  degrees  Fahrenheit.  According  to  histori- cal  weather  data,  that  is  35  degrees  above  the  average  high  temperature  for  March  21  in  Hillsdale  County.  By  comparison,  the  record  low  for  March  21  was  set  in  1993,  when  the  temperature  dropped  to  minus  7  degrees.  The  high  temperatures  fol- lowed  a  national  trend.  The  National  Climate  Data  Center  has  called  the  months  from  December  2011  to  February  2012  “the  fourth  warmest  winter  on  record  for  the  contiguous  United  States,â€?  with  much  of  the  northeastern  United  States  experiencing  higher  than  normal  temperatures.  Though  the  warmth  that  week  brought  the  foliage  on  Hillsdale’s  campus  to  full  bloom,  it  “cer- tainly  posed  some  challenges,â€? Â
said  Timothy  Wells,  energy  education  New  Record specialist. Set on March 21, 2012 All  week,  windows  could  be  seen  thrown  open  in  Old  Record campus  buildings.  Set in March 1938 Mossey  Library  even  kept  both  sets  of  its  doors  open  for  sev- Record  high  eral  days,  freshman  temperatures  for  the  Anna  Chuslo  said.  month  of  March “We  had  both  sets  of  front  doors  open,  just  to  get  air,  and  it  was  still  84  degrees  inside,�  Chuslo  said. While  the  tem- perature  soared  and  Hall,  and  the  library. the  crocuses  and  daffodils  sprouted,  “None  of  the  buildings  had  air- Wells  faced  the  challenge  of  main- conditioning,  so  we  were  cooking,�  taining  the  interior  temperature  of  she  said. campus  buildings.   Part  of  the  challenge  lies  in  the  “Last  week  with  the  warmer  nature  of  the  campus  buildings,  temperatures  outside,  it  did  have  an  which  Wells  said  have  “unique  effect  on  interior  temperatures,  but  characteristics,  depending  on  the  we  just  managed  as  best  we  could.� purpose  of  the  building,  the  age,  or   Chuslo  said  it  felt  like  August  construction.� for  Michigan,  and  that  was  her  Despite  uncomfortable  heat,  description  of  the  external  tem- however,  “The  staff  across  the  perature.  Chuslo  spent  time  in  the  board  was  very  understanding,�  Grewcock  Student  Union,  Moss  Wells  said.
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Early  blooms:  local  signs  of  spring Sarah Leitner Sports Editor
Last  week’s  recent  warm  weather  in  Michigan  brought  an  abundance  of  blossoms  to  Hills- dale  College  campus. Some  of  the  blooms  that  can  be  seen  around  campus  include  apple  blossoms,  pear  blossoms,  and  magnolias. Damon  Glei,  owner  and  man- ager  of  Glei’s  Orchards  &  Green- houses,  said  the  trees  at  his  orchard  DUH EORRPLQJ IRXU WR ÂżYH ZHHNV ahead  of  when  they  normally  do.  Last  year,  the  trees  did  not  bloom  until  May  5,  though  they  normally  bloom  around  May  1. “This  is  on  target  for  blooming  earlier  than  we  can  ever  remem- ber,â€?  he  said.
Apple
Glei  said  the  earlier  the  blooms  are,  the  greater  the  chance  of  them  being  harmed  by  frost.  The  tem- perature  dipped  below  32  degrees  on  the  night  of  March  26,  but  he  said  there  was  not  any  noticeable  damage. “At  this  point,  we’re  worried  about  it,  but  nothing’s  happened  yet,â€?  he  said. Glei  said  the  orchard  has  always  gotten  away  with  not  having  any  protection  against  the  frost  for  their  orchards,  and  at  this  point,  they  just  have  to  wait  and  see  how  the  plants  will  hold  up  against  the  weather. “We’re  at  the  mercy  of  Mother  Nature,â€?  he  said. Some  of  the  Michigan  blooms  that  can  be  seen  around  campus  include  apple  blossoms,  pear  blos-Â
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Pear
Caleb Whitmer Copy Editor In  the  midst  of  lecturing,  assigning  piles  of  homework,  and  grading  papers,  some  Hillsdale  College  professors  are  also  authoring  their  own  books.  While  this  list  isn’t  comprehensive,  several  profes- sors  from  around  campus  sat  down  with  The  Collegian  to  discuss  the  books  they  are  working  on  and  open  a  glimpse  into  the  world  of  scholarship  outside  the  classroom. Patricia  Bart Patricia  Bart,  assistant  professor  of  English,  is  work- ing  on  a  documentary  edition  of  a  600-Âyear-Âold  manuscript  of  William  Langland’s  “Piers  Plowman.â€? A  documentary  edition,  Bart  said,  is  intended  to  discover Â
what  can  be  learned  about  language  of  the  period  and  the  writing  of  the  poem,  as  opposed  to  a  scholarly  edition,  which  only  addresses  content  of  the  text. “What  I  am  doing  is  repre- senting  to  the  scholarly  world  the  data  contained  in  the  object  itself,â€?  Bart  said. Bart  has  spent  long  hours  observing  color-Âdigital  photos  of  the  text,  and  reading  the  original  manuscript,  observing  it  under  ultraviolet  light. In  order  to  even  look  at  the  document,  let  alone  handle  it,  Bart  said  she  was  required  to  have  a  Ph.D. “Handling  this  thing  all  the  time  is  not  a  good  idea,â€?  she  said.  “You  can  read  it  to  death  easily.â€? Bart  said  that  by  reading  texts  of  Old  English,  research-Â
ers  like  herself  can  estimate  how  the  language  was  spoken.  2OG (QJOLVK VSHOOLQJ UHĂ€HFWV how  the  words  are  pronounced  more  closely  than  modern  English. “Proto-ÂIndo-ÂEuropean  was  not  written  down,  so  we  can  only  kind  of  guess  what  it  sounded  like,â€?  she  said.  “But  we  can  make  some  good  esti- mates.  They’re  estimates,  but  they’re  good  estimates.â€? The  main  objective  of  the  project,  Bart  said,  is  to  pres- ent  the  manuscript  in  the  most  accurate  way  so  that  others  can  base  their  further  research  on  her  book. A  chapter-Âlength  version  of  her  work  will  appear  in  a  separate  book  this  summer.  The  rest  of  her  work  will  appear  in  a  later,  stand-Âalone  book.
See A3
Q&A: Â MARK Â STEYN Â
On  Santorum,  “The  Hunger  Games,â€?  and  the  euro Canadian  writer  and  politi- cal  commentator  Mark  Steyn  is  awfully  concerned  about  America’s  future.  He’s  Hills- dale’s  Eugene  Pulliam  Visiting  Fellow  in  Journalism  and  will  be  teaching  a  two-Âweek  class  “How  to  Write  a  Column.â€?  He  shared  his  thoughts  on  how  much  of  a  weirdo  Rick  Santo- rum  is,  what’s  wrong  with  the  Hunger  Games,  and  why  there  is  nothing  like  a  good  game  of  polo  with  a  goat’s  head. In  a  piece  you  wrote  on  Rick  Santorum  called  “Weird  Politicsâ€?  you  describe  him  as  weird  because  he  has  traditional  values.  Are  people  who  are  traditional  really  considered  weird  today? It  was  interesting.  Anytime  I  went  into  an  ABC  show  all  the  people  said,  “How  can  Rick  Santorum  be  a  credible  presidential  candidate?  He’s  so  weird.â€?  Then  I  actually  asked  what’s  weird  about  him.  He’s  weird  because  he  believes  marriage  is  between  a  man  and  a  woman.  He’s  weird  because Â
the  family  is  the  basic  build- ing  block  of  society.  In  fact,  it  was  non-Âweird  for  almost  all  of Â
MARK STEYN
(Joe Buth/Collegian)
human  history.  What’s  interest- ing  to  me  is  not  Santorum’s  weirdness,  but  the  fact  that  so  much  of  what  he  says  is  now  presumed  to  be  weird.  I  think  he’s  right  on  the  basic  issue,  which  is  that  the  crisis  America  faces  is  not  primarily  an  ac- counting  problem  or  a  book- keeping  problem.  We’re  broke  for  a  reason.  This  country  is  the Â
most  broke  nation  in  history  because  it  is  not  the  republic  of  limited  government  and  self- reliant  citizenry  De  Tocqueville  observed  two  centuries  ago.  So  he’s  right  in  the  extent  that  WKH >ÂżQDQFLDO@ EURNHQQHVV LV D symptom  of  the  problem  not  the  problem  and  in  that  sense  , GRQÂśW ÂżQG 6DQWRUXP KDOI as  weird  as  90  percent  of  his  critics. You  mention  in  that  same  piece  that  the  economic  situa- tion  here  as  well  as  Greece  is  D UHĂ€HFWLRQ RI FKDUDFWHU Yes,  in  the  end  you  have  to  accept  that.  Nobody  un- derstands  that  the  euro  is  an  attempt  to  impose  a  cur- rency  in  disregard  of  people’s  character.  In  other  words,  the  euro  was  invented  in  order  to  pretend  that  Greeks  were  no  different  from  Germans.  Greeks  are  profoundly  differ- ent  from  Germans,  and  that  is  one  reason  Greece  is  insolvent.  Every  time  that  the  Greeks  go Â
See A4
Students  travel  to  India,  Bahrain  for  spring  break
In  News...
Sarah Anne Voyles Collegian Repor ter
Greek Week revamped
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soms,  and  magnolias. The  apple  blossom,  or  the  pyrus  coronaria,  was  named  the  state  ÀRZHU RI 0LFKLJDQ LQ DQG LV native  to  the  state.  Joint  Resolution  10  of  that  year,  the  resolution  that  DGRSWHG WKH VWDWH Ă€RZHU FDOOHG WKH apple  blossom  “one  of  the  most  fragrant  and  beautiful  species  of  apple.â€?  (http://www.50states.com/ Ă€RZHU PLFKLJDQ KWP
The  pear  blossom,  with  its  ZKLWH ¿YH SHWDOHG ÀRZHUV LV marked  by  its  unpleasant  odor  —  a  ¿VK\ VPHOO And  the  magnolia  typically  blooms  in  late  April  or  early  May,  though  the  warm  weather  has  prompted  the  early  blooms  this  year.
Faculty  books  span  politics,  culture
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While  most  Hillsdale  College  students  chose  to  stay  stateside  over  spring  break  and  go  to  a  beach  with  friends,  some  travelled  to  more  exotic  places. From  Ireland  to  India  to  Bahrain,  several  students  racked  up  travel  miles  and  incredible  experiences  touring,  visiting  family,  and  serving  as  missionaries  this  year.  Junior  Travis  Lacy,  sophomore  Lisa  Graham,  and  freshman  Rachel  Zolinski  travelled  to  Tenali,  India  with  a  team  from  Pine  Ridge  Bible  Church  in  Quincy,  Mich.  The  team  went  to  a  pastor’s  confer- ence,  worked  in  a  home  that  saved  women  from  the  sex  trade,  and  ministered  to  people  in  an  HIV  and  AIDS  clinic.  They  also  were  able  to  go  see  and  dedicate  wells  that  they  had  helped  fund. “It  all  went  really  well,  without  too  many  hiccups,�  Lacy  said.“Travel  and  everything  went  very  smoothly.� Sophomore Lisa Graham and freshman Rachel Zolinksi visited India over spring break with junior Travis Lacy for a missions trip with Pine Ridge Church. (Courtesy See A4 of Lisa Graham)