Hillsdale will grant Charlie and Erika Kirk honorary degrees at commencement this May, College President Larry Arnn announced at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk Sunday.
“Erika doesn’t know this yet,” Arnn said in remarks at the service in Glendale, Arizona. “We are going to give Charlie and Erika the greatest respect a college can give — an honorary degree. Charlie, you see, has suffered enough. He’s gone to the Lord. He deserves his reward.”
More than 90,000 people attended Kirk’s Sept. 21 memorial service, following the murder of the conservative activist on Sept. 10. Arnn also announced that he and his wife, Penny Arnn, have established a scholarship for Kirk’s two children.
“My wife, who’s here with me today, and I have set up a scholarship in the hope that Charlie’s children will go to a good college,” Arnn said. “I have one in mind.”
Other recent recipients of honorary degrees from Hillsdale include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ’17 and psychologist Jordan Peterson ’22.
“I keep a list in my head of the six or eight young people — and I’m very privileged, I get to know so many inspiring young people — who are the best I ever saw,” Arnn said. “Charlie is the only one
who was never a full-time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list. We will miss him dearly. He can’t be replaced.”
Charlie Kirk began taking Hillsdale’s online courses after a brief conversation with Arnn, during which 19-year-old Kirk was unable to answer Arnn’s questions, according to Arnn. Kirk then asked Arnn what he could do
Simpson takes homecoming lead
By Christian Papillon Assitant Editor
Simpson leads the homecoming week competition after winning Wednesday night’s trivia contest on a tiebreaker question.
To break a four-way tie, judges asked competitors how far the Earth is from Mars at its most distant point. Simpson, with a guess of 232.5 million miles, was the closest to the correct answer of 249 million miles.
Sophomore and Simpson trivia team captain Thad Reudelhuber said the team found the answer with a last-minute calculation.
“We didn’t know the answer right away,” said Reudelhuber, who credited the estimate to teammates junior Andrew Hawken, freshman Isaiah Sebranek, and sophomore Luke Wilmington. “We calculated it because they knew the distance in astronomical units, and we just multiplied it by 93 million miles.”
The trivia event included other questions about Star Wars, astronomy, and space pop culture. Whitley finished second in the event, and Kalloway, a coalition of Galloway and Koon Dorms, took third. Off-Campus Coalition placed fourth, and Olds came in fifth.
Simpson currently leads
nalism fellow, attended Kirk’s memorial service and said that she believes it is fitting for Kirk to receive this honor.
“The fact Charlie never went to college has been pointed out often, but little has been said about how a man with no formal education made a career out of Socratic dialogue and testing the faulty assumptions of college kids that have arisen
to learn the answers.
“I said, ‘You have to suffer. You have to study. You have to think,’” Arnn said. “I never thought I’d hear from him again. Within a month, he got a hold of my cellphone number, and he texted me a copy of a certificate of completion of a Hillsdale College online course. He would go on to do that 31 times.”
Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist and a Hillsdale senior jour-
out of our corrupt academic institutions,” Hemingway said in an email to The Collegian.
“Hillsdale’s mission is to provide a quality education worthy of the Western tradition that Charlie came to powerfully articulate. As such, he is more than worthy of the college’s highest honor.”
Junior Nathan Furness began a Turning Point USA chapter for homeschool students in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He said that this honor-
the week with 385 points after finishing fifth in banner drop and second in the video competition. OCC is in second
other member of the Simpson trivia team, said this year’s homecoming is sentimental for him.
with 325 points, and Niedfeldt is in third with 300 points. Kalloway and Olds round out the top five, with 270 and 255 points.
Senior Sterrett Waltrip, an-
ary degree represents Kirk’s contributions to society.
“It is very special to see the connection that Charlie Kirk had with this school, and it is only right to remember it through an honorary degree,” Furness said. “This degree is not a measure of hours spent in a classroom, but of lives impacted.”
Students have the opportunity to sign a card for the Kirk family in the Grewcock Student Union until Sept. 30.
Olivia Pero ’25, a journalism fellow at The Daily Signal, was operating the camera for video interviews during Kirk’s memorial service and said that all the attendees she filmed recognized Kirk’s legacy and faith.
“Overall, people were expressing gratitude for the impact Kirk made on their lives, especially in the areas of ‘God, family, and country,’” Pero said. “I would describe it as a revival. When people were leaving the stadium at the end of the day, practically everyone I walked by was talking about God and the Bible. It was so beautiful. Something truly historical had just taken place in that stadium.”
Commencement is scheduled for May 9, 2026. The college has not yet announced a commencement speaker.
“Being a senior, homecoming this year matters more than most years,” Waltrip said. “To win trivia in the year it matters most and to be fighting to win it all again is awesome.”
OCC opened the week with a win at banner drop. Its banner depicts an Instagram post announcing the campus’ relocation to Mars. Olds Residence took second with a banner mimicking a film poster for an astronautical movie, and Niedfeldt placed third with a vintage comic book-inspired design featuring College President Larry Arnn’s Cybertruck.
“In my four years, these are some of the best banners I’ve ever seen,” senior and Simpson head resident assistant Nathan Rastovac said. “Every year it just gets better and better.”
Niedfeldt won Tuesday’s video competition by parodying the faked moon landing conspiracy. Simpson came in second with a video that took inspiration from the 2014 film “Interstellar.” OCC’s video, featuring a protagonist trying to shut down an evil robot, finished third.
Rastovac said introducing freshmen to the homecoming week festivities has been a blessing.
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Arnn speaks at Kirk’s memorial
Victoria Munro serving a ‘monster bag’ of cotton candy at May’s Concessions at the Hillsdale County Fair on Monday.
Lauren Bixler | The Collegian
Lee Harris teaches breaking news in lecture
By Elaine Kutas Sports Editor
Radio stations should always be prepared for emergencies, no matter their size, Lee Harris said in his Sept. 18 talk “Covering Breaking News: Preparing for the Unexpected.” Harris was the morning news anchor at 1010 WINS in New York for 30 years, during which he covered the Sept. 11 attacks on live radio.
“One of the reasons I liked working in the morning was that there was very little breaking news,” Harris said. “You can kind of write the show and stick with it, and very little happened in the morning except that one time.”
Harris talked about the importance of everyone working for WINS understanding that if there was an emergency, they would also be reporters on the situation regardless of their official title at the or-
ganization. He said that on the morning of 9/11, the first person who had eyes on the attacks was a sales employee.
“One of the first sets of eyeballs we had on it was a woman by the name of Joan Fleischer,” Harris said. “She was not a trained journalist, but she had a balcony overlooking the scene, and we went to her many times as we tried to position our reporters at the scene.”
Part of being a radio broadcaster is learning how to deliver information objectively and clearly and without opinion, according to Harris. During this specific event, though, Harris said Fleischer’s now-famous account suited the situation.
“At 9:59 a.m., the south tower fell, and it was Joan who was on the air with us,” Harris said. “I think in the end, even though she was not a reporter, we were better off with her on the air because she told the story in a way
that a reporter would not — a reporter would have felt the need to keep their emotions under control, and Joan did a better job of conveying the horrors.”
Harris also shared tips about how newsrooms and radio stations should prepare for an emergency.
“The basic rule of thumb is that you should be prepared to go 72 hours on the inside without a lot of help,” Harris said. “You’re going to be potentially staying at the radio station and sleeping at the radio station while trying to work through the situation.”
Scot Bertram, general manager at Hillsdale College’s WRFH 101.7 FM, said he brought Harris to campus to educate those interested in radio about what to do when faced with an emergency and breaking news.
An emergency can be the most important story we cover, according to Bertram.
“We are limited in some
ways because we’re not a full-power radio station, but as a station that serves the community, we should be ready to step up, provide information, give guidance, and help people through the kind of emergencies that can occur,” Bertram said.
Junior Storm Drexler said he appreciated the talk and the practical advice for his podcast and interest in radio.
“I liked his take on honest journalism and the civilian angle,” Drexler said. “I thought that was a really unique perspective about removing your journalistic bias and thinking about things as more objective, and what a regular person would view the situation as is very valuable.”
Pi Phi to host Mr. Hillsdale competition
By Martha Kennedy Collegian Reporter
Men of campus will present their style, charm, and talent next week to compete for the title of “Mr. Hillsdale” at one of Pi Beta Phi’s annual philanthropic events.
“Mr. Hillsdale” will return Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. in Plaster Auditorium. Proceeds from the beauty-pageant-style event will benefit Pi Beta Phi’s national charity, which promotes children’s literacy according to junior Samantha Otting, Pi Beta Phi vice president of community relations.
“Mr. Hillsdale is definitely a big part of campus lore and campus culture,” Otting said. “It’s also a good way to support something that’s really important and affects everyone, because if none of us knew how to read, none of us would be here at Hillsdale.”
Men from dorms and fraternities across campus will be judged based on four categories: dress, a pickup line, a Q&A segment, and a talent showcase, according to junior Gia Coulthard, Pi Beta Phi chapter president. This year’s judges include Cameron Moore, assistant professor of English, Dennis “Gate Guy” Cook, and a third judge who has not yet been finalized.
“It’s so entertaining because you don’t know what the guys are going to say, or what their talent is, or what pickup line they’re going to throw at us, so it’s very exciting to see everyone’s anticipation,” Coulthard said.
Proceeds from ticket sales, which
are $5 in advance and $7 at the door, will go directly toward putting books in classrooms and providing grants to schools in need, Coulthard said.
Pi Beta Phi will also fundraise in the week leading up to the event through “Penny Wars” as they table in the Grewcock Student Union. During tabling, people across campus can vote for their favorite contender by donating cash or detract votes by donating pennies, Otting said.
Sophomore Chris Ambuul, last year’s “Mr. Hillsdale” winner, said contenders should leave their nerves behind and just have fun.
“If you go up there to have fun, it’ll be a lot more enjoyable for you and other people,” Ambuul said. “I was smiling the whole time, I was geeking out, and the guys were cheering me on. It was so fun.”
Coulthard said the support of the community is one of her favorite things about the event.
“It’s really special seeing how the guy’s dorms and communities come to support them,” Coulthard said. “It really shows the strong sense of friendship and community across campus.”
Former NC chief justice discusses free speech
By Lauren Bixler
Assistant Editor
Chief Justice Mark Martin, the founding dean of High Point University School of Law, visited campus Sept. 17 to speak on the crisis of free speech in this country and the necessity of good lawyers to preserve the First Amendment.
“To maintain freedom and liberty, you need to have lawyers who are committed to those propositions. Because freedom and liberty can slip away very easily, almost without notice, over time,” Martin said. “And lawyers are the architects of maintaining freedom and liberty in a nation with a written constitution.”
Martin served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, as an associate judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and as a dean and professor of law at Regent University School of Law. He is currently the founding dean of High Point University Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law, which accepted its first class in 2024.
One of the primary reasons behind the institution of High Point University’s law school is the crisis surrounding the First Amendment, according to Martin.
“One-third of college stu-
dents believe that at least under some circumstances, it’s okay to confront speech that they do not like with violence,” Martin said. “I know not anybody in this room feels that way, but those are the metrics we’re dealing with in free speech in America. Frightening. What are the implications of this?”
He asked the question while pointing to a photo of the late Charlie Kirk.
“Should I say more here? A husband, a father — someone who simply shared his opinions on the key issues of the day — a tragedy that all of us know that shouldn’t have happened,” Martin said.
speech, we’re literally just like sheep being led to the slaughter,” Martin said. “Once free speech is taken away, it is no longer ‘we the people,’ it’s ‘we the government.’”
To protect this understanding of American principles and the legal role in safeguarding our freedoms,
sity School of Law Jay Shively, who visited the campus alongside Martin, echoed the necessity of a law school like High Point.
“To maintain freedom and liberty, you need to have lawyers who are committed to those propositions. Because freedom and liberty can slip away very easily, almost without notice, over time.”
He said that free speech is paramount to our nation and was a priority for the American Founders. It should be understood as a key pillar in how we read and interpret the Constitution, particularly as citizens and especially as lawyers, according to Martin.
“Let’s start with the father of our nation, George Washington. He said, without free
Martin started a law school.
“I looked around and I saw that the law schools had become more and more separated from the bench of the law, so we’re training lawyers who become lawyers and who become judges, but yet we’ve grown alienated from the bar and from the bench,” Martin said.
Associate Dean of Admissions at High Point Univer-
“And so if you go to a law school where you’re indoctrinated to one particular view, it really makes you less equipped to be successful and to accomplish things that you can accomplish as a lawyer,” Shively said. “So part of our goal here, in creating a space where free expression is encouraged, is to help our students figure out how to operate practically, pragmatically, in a place where they are trying to be effective for themselves or for their clients.”
Junior Faith Senne, who attended the talk, said she would consider High Point when applying to law schools because of its value-driven education model.
“The points about free speech showed the importance of finding a law school
that holds your values,” Senne said. “He told us that High Point Law, like Hillsdale, values free speech and accepts students based on merit — not demographics like other law schools might do.”
Both Martin and Shively drew comparisons to High Point and Hillsdale for the dedication to free speech and creating an environment where all are welcome to be tested in the rigor and validity of their ideas. But most importantly, Martin said, the school’s mission is incomplete without Christian faith.
“So what are the values of High Point University? Nothing without providence. We’re a God, family, country school, and we’re a safe place for everybody,” Martin said.
To close, Martin reiterated the necessity of well-principled lawyers. He said the lawyer’s pen becomes a weapon, but it is up to them to decide how they wield it.
“Good lawyers can preserve, and indeed even save our republican form of government,” Martin said.
“Seeing all the new freshmen, not just from Simpson, but all the other dorms, get into it and get excited and get hyped, not just in banner drop, but also in the videos and hearing the leaders discuss how their mock rocks are coming, everybody’s super invested in it,” Rastovac said.
He also stressed the importance of participating in volunteer hours during the week.
“I think it’s a great way not only to do something good for homecoming, but to serve a community,” Rastovac said. “At the end of the day, this is a community-building week. As much as it’s a competition and there’s points involved, it’s also a recognition of all the hard work that our students put in and the sacrifices that they make.” Volunteer hours submitted before 5 p.m. Thursday will count for homecoming points. The week will continue with a Minute to Win It competition in Plaster Auditorium Thursday at 7 p.m. Volunteer hours will be announced at Hayden Hype Night Friday at 7 p.m. Homecoming week will conclude with Mock Rock in the Dawn Tibbetts
Sophomore Chris Ambuul won last year. Courtesy | Lucy Jansen
Photos Courtesy | Rachel Marinko
Hillsdale welcomes new financial aid director
By Catherine Maxwell Senior Editor
Hillsdale College welcomed a new director of financial aid last month, as former director Rich Moeggenberg becomes the director of Hayden Park.
Jimmy Criswell has 20 years of experience in college financial aid at schools such as Dallas Baptist University and Criswell College in Texas. He said the biggest difference between Hillsdale and his previous schools is Hillsdale’s refusal of federal funding.
“All the other schools have had federal aid, but that’s one of the big things that attracted me here,” Criswell said. “We came here for a challenge, right? Everybody here, they’re doers, they’re taking their work seriously. The students are taking their education seriously. They take their faith seriously. They’re involved in the community. It’s really been spectacular.”
Moeggenberg will stay in the financial aid office for about six
months to help with the transition,
Criswell said.
“I’m not going to learn everything I need to know in six months, but it’s a very good starting point,” Criswell said. “And then, obviously, he’s going to be still with the college, just in a different capacity, so I’ll still have him as a resource to reach out to.”
Criswell said he wants to build on Moeggenberg’s legacy within financial aid.
“He’s really done something, and he’s created a culture of gratitude here,” Criswell said. “I want to continue that.”
Criswell said he will also continue Moeggenberg’s open door policy.
“I want students to feel comfortable. We’ve got to operate in the best interest of the student,” Criswell said. “I want to be there for whatever their needs are, to meet them.”
Moeggenberg has worked at the college for 30 years, spending 21 of them as director of financial aid. While Moeggenberg will continue to assist in financial aid for a few months, he is also taking over as director of Hayden Park following the retirement of “Wild” Bill Lundberg.
“I’m excited to continue to serve the college,” Moeggenberg said. “I’m gonna be down at Hayden and still work with the Student Activities Board and athletics, and still be able to see students who are going to
he should be out at Hayden full time in January. In the meantime, his priority is helping Criswell adjust, Moeggenberg said.
“He’s a proven leader, a great guy, philosophical fit, strong Christian man,” Moeggenberg said. “It’s a great scenario, but there are a lot of tasks. It’s a unique job here at Hillsdale College, because of the way we’re funded.”
Moeggenberg said he thinks the transition will go well as Criswell adapts to Hillsdale’s financial aid procedures. The biggest change will be adjusting to the college’s lack of federal funding, which Criswell’s previous schools all received.
“We came here for a challenge, right? Everybody here, they’re doers, they’re taking their work seriously.”
change the world in the future.”
He said the Hillsdale community has welcomed him and his family to the area. When his portable storage containers arrived late, Moeggenberg helped them settle into their new home.
“Mr. Moeggenberg got people to help me unload. He brought some of his personal belongings so that I could sleep on an air mattress in the rental home until the PODS came,” Criswell said. “Look at this guy: barely knows me, willing to give me any personal belonging he has to make me comfortable and feel part of this place. And that’s been my experience here with everybody.”
Retired lieutenant general discusses geopolitics
By Vivian Stewart Collegian Freelancer
Major points of conflict have remained the same since the advent of sailing, said retired Lt. Gen. Rick Waddell on Sept. 23 in Lane Hall.
In his lecture, titled “Around the World,” Waddell spoke on global hotspots prevalent in American economics, foreign affairs, and news headlines.
“We have, as a nation, at least two courses of action. Do nothing and do something,” Waddell said.
Waddell, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves and Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale’s Center for Military History and Strategy, served active duty in the Army for 12 years. This week, he is teaching a one-credit course titled “U.S. National Security Strategy” at Hillsdale.
Waddell began the lecture by speaking about international trade tensions in the South China Sea.
“In a worldwide sense, there’s about $5 to $6 trillion of international commerce that flows through this maritime choke point,” Waddell said. “Do you really want to cede all of that to one country?”
He addressed America’s concerns surrounding China’s naval expansion and pressure on Taiwan.
“Disruption of this area has a massive economic impact to the entire globe,” Waddell said.
Waddell described America’s practices of “strategic ambiguities” and deterrence.
While critics might advocate for reduced American intervention in the Pacific, Waddell explained that American military presence in Guam, Japan, and other countries, deters acts of war.
Waddell spoke about the start of prolonged military involvement in the Middle East following withdrawal of American troops from Europe at the close of the Cold War. He also outlined
the strategic focus on nuclear facilities in Iran, and Israel’s actions against Gaza and Syria.
“Part of this is buying time,” Waddell said. “The Israelis have always used the phrase ‘mowing the grass.’ They take an organization, whether it’s Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and they knock them back two or three years, and they get two or three years of respite, and then they have to do it again.”
He noted the reapplied European sanctions, the dampening of potential Iranian retaliation, and the politics of the Ukraine and Russia war.
“It’s reminiscent of the Western Front of World War I,” Waddell said. “The difference is, when you look at World War I, they’re standing shoulder to shoulder down in the trench with their bayonet pointed up waiting for the whistle to go over the top. Now, you can’t get people closer than about 50 meters to each other in these trenches, and there’s normally about two of them hunkered down and hoping the drones don’t find them. This has become drone warfare.”
Students interested in international business, foreign affairs, and military strategy attended Waddell’s lecture.
“So much of what happens in geopolitics is outside of our control in the hands of a few people and it’s fascinating to see how one wrong word can set so many things in the wrong place,” freshman Joel Lee said.
Junior Lenny Fritz believes that American citizens should be informed about foreign affairs.
“It’s the duty of every citizen to be well educated on what’s going on in the world and to understand what America is doing out there, because at the end of the day we have a vote in our government and it’s important to make that count,” Fritz said.
Moeggenberg said he will work with maintenance to manage the park, as well as with the athletic department, club sports, and the Student Activities Office. The position is a good fit, Moeggenberg said, because he enjoys hunting, fishing, and watching sports.
“This is my happy place in that I’m still able to serve the college,” Moeggenberg said. “I feel good about the future of the financial aid office, and I look forward to making Hayden a pleasurable experience and making it run smoothly.”
Although he has not officially started as director of Hayden Park, Moeggenberg said he has been involved in various meetings. He said
“There is a learning curve. I had the opportunity to spend a year with my predecessor, who was here for 30 years, just like me,” Moeggenberg said. “Mr. Criswell is brighter than I am. I don’t think this needs that much in transition, and it’s a pretty good situation where, if he needs support, I’m still going to be here.”
Graduate student Gannon Hyland ’14 said he has known Moeggenberg for 15 years.
“Rich Moeggenberg is a phenomenal director of financial aid because he doesn’t see the student or the student’s parents as a source of income,” Hyland said. “He understood his job as stewardship, and he valued each student as a real person with God-given dignity.” Hyland said Moeggenberg has
driven international students to Jackson to take care of government documentation, let students hunt on his property, and has let students stay in his basement if they needed housing.
“Whenever he goes out of his way to help you out, he always says, ‘It’s the least I can do,’” Hyland said. “I’m fairly confident Moeggenberg’s ‘least’ far exceeds the ‘most’ of others. I can’t think of many other people who routinely witness what it means to be a Christian more than Rich Moeggenberg, and I can’t think of a more fitting legacy for him.” Moeggenberg said he is grateful to continue working for Hillsdale.
“I don’t really know anything else, and I’ll say again, I feel blessed that this is home,” Moeggenberg said. “I love serving, giving fatherly advice. Students give me hope.”
GOAL awarded grant to further community service
By Thomas McKenna Editor-in-Chief
The Hillsdale County Community Foundation awarded $25,778 to GOAL earlier this month, providing financial support to the college’s volunteering program for the eighth consecutive year.
“It enhances what the program is able to do for those people,” said Rachel Marinko, director of student programs at the college. “It enables the volunteers to show that they care in a very tangible way. It’s definitely a huge asset to GOAL and what we’re able to do in the community.”
The foundation is the GOAL program’s largest source of funding, according to Marinko. The money will support 19 of GOAL’s 26 programs, which applied for funding from the foundation earlier in the fall semester, said Mindy Eggleston, program director at Hillsdale County Community Foundation.
HCCF began supporting GOAL programs in 2018, with a grant of about $15,000, Eggleston said. Since 2022, HCCF has given the college group more than $20,000 each year.
“We’re very grateful for this partnership — to be able to work with the college and
the GOAL program — and for all of its benefits to our community,” Eggleston said. The grant will allow the programs to acquire new materials and equipment as well as buy supplies for events, Marinko said.
“Without this funding, they definitely would not have the impact on the community that they’re able to have,” Marinko said. Programs will also use the money to support training for student volunteers at organizations such as Domestic Harmony, a women’s domestic violence shelter, Eggleston said.
A Few Good Men — a group that does yard work,
home repair, and other service projects — will buy new chainsaws and replace yearly supplies with its money, Marinko said. It will also support prom and bowling events for GOAL’s Hillsdale Buddies program.
“Special needs people in the community can come to Buddy Bowling and get to bowl a couple of games for free because of the Hillsdale County Community Foundation,” Marinko said. “It’s a big staple in the special needs community in Hillsdale.”
Q&A with retired lieutenant general
By Ellie Fromm News Editor
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Rick Waddell is a Hillsdale College Center for Military History and Strategy Distinguished Fellow visiting campus this week to teach a one-credit course titled “U.S. National Security Strategy.” He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy West Point, the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Webster University, and Columbia University, where he earned a doctorate in international relations. Waddell taught in the social sciences department at West
Point for three years. He served active duty in the U.S. Army for 12 years and is now in the U.S. Army Reserve. Waddell was the White House’s Deputy National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018.
Q: Why did you come to Hillsdale?
A: I’ve known about Hillsdale for at least about 40 years. I started getting Imprimis in the late ’80s. So, I’ve had an impression of Hillsdale, but my impression was probably more like an Ivy League school, so much larger. Still small, but
larger than it is. One of the journalists I traveled the world with is Joel Gehrke [’11, a former writer at the Washington Examiner], Jason Gehrke’s [a Hillsdale assistant professor of history] brother. He said, ‘You really ought to go to Hillsdale.’ And I said ‘Well, sure,’ and Dr. Gerke is also an Army reservist, as I was. January of 2024 I came out and gave a lecture and then Hillsdale asked me if I would be one of their distinguished fellows for military history and strategy. So I guess I came here via journalism.
Q: What draws you to Hillsdale?
A: The intellectual content. Imprimis dealt with issues that, frankly, a lot of other journalists’ publications of 37 years ago would not deal with. I was impressed with what I found here, it was high quality but in small numbers. There’s a saying out there that you ‘punch above your weight class,’ and Hillsdale certainly does that.
Q: Why did you become an engineering officer in the U.S. Army?
A: U.S. Military Academy West Point was the nation’s first engineering school, and part of that is the military.
When it was time for me to choose, I could have chosen infantry or aviation or armory tanks, but it seemed to strike me that I should, traditionally, choose engineering. I was less on the construction side and more on the combat engineer side.
Q: What was your favorite experience while serving in active duty?
A: I got to go to a lot of places, a lot of places few Americans get to go. I went to North Korea once on a diplomatic mission, so I’m probably one of the few American general officers or admirals ever to go to North Korea since the Korean War.
Q: What is your favorite thing about America?
A: It’s a land of opportunity. It doesn’t matter whether you come from the mean streets of the city or from a small town in a rural area, we regularly have people that produce things that change the world, and sometimes they’re not all that well educated.
Criswell and his wife, Cassandra; daughter, Kierstin; and son, Jett.
Courtesy | Jimmy Criswell
Courtesy | Jimmy Criswell
Courtesy | Rick Waddell
Opinions
Bring back the banned stunts
By Francesca Cella Collegian Reporter
When a twenty-year-old figure skater landed a backflip on one foot earlier this month, he marked the one year anniversary of the backflip’s return to the rink. Ilia Malinin, reigning U.S. and world figure skating champion, inspired several other athletes to train the stunt after he incorporated it into his routine in the 2024 Lombardia Trophy.
Malinin showed what can happen when athletic govern-
Erika
Kirk offers us a turning point
By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor
“That young man … I forgive him,” Erika Kirk said.
In a powerful speech before 90,000 people, Charlie Kirk’s widow forgave the young man accused of killing her husband. No one would have blamed Erika Kirk had she chosen to stay silent at the memorial service on Sept. 21. Her husband had been dead, and their children fatherless, for 11 days. Many in the audience may have expected her to swear vengeance, not vow forgiveness.
But Erika Kirk forgave: a choice more striking than any we’ve seen from right or left in recent years. We have the option to either follow the example of Kirk — and her God — or continue the self-destructive spiral of retaliation that has become the standard in American public life. The option we choose will dictate the future of our nation.
In her mercy, Kirk exemplifies a magnanimity we are unaccustomed to seeing, especially in such a public setting. More often than not, cultural commentators speak bitterly about those with whom they disagree. Politicians attempt to use the law against rivals to exact revenge as well as justice. Even in day-to-day life, we take the actions of one person to fuel, often unjustly, our dislike for whole groups.
Gradually, we become conditioned to see mercy as weakness — as antithetical to justice and strength, our national values under this presidency. Erika Kirk is our reminder that this view is mistaken: that mercy heightens strength and justice, and is necessary for either to function properly.
Standing before a crowded stadium, Kirk fought through tears to say aloud what most could not even say within their hearts.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” Kirk said. “The answer we know from the gospel is love, and always love.”
An unforgiving “justice” will tear us apart, personally and nationally. The saying goes, “An eye for an eye makes the world go blind.” As hard as it must have been for Kirk to forgive her husband’s murderer — and to continue to do so, daily — she restored sight to herself and her family, as well as all those who followed in her example.
Kirk’s speech offers her country a turning point. The entrenchment of both sides in equally deep echo chambers has rendered the culture war stale. Bitterness in political discourse is the norm. Even at Hillsdale, it’s all too easy to adopt an us-versus-them attitude toward life, assuming moral superiority for oneself. The ceaseless and futile fighting is making no one happy — gleeful, perhaps, but not happy.
Forgiveness comes with a cost, as anyone watching Kirk’s face that day could see. But we need it badly. The vision of American life our forefathers imagined is impossible without friendship and goodwill. For that, we must become merciful.
Hillsdale forms us for the outside world. We would be amiss if we did not spend these four years practicing mercy where it feels the most demanding: after disagreements, misunderstandings, and betrayals.
As George Eliot once wrote, “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts.” May we learn from Erika Kirk’s historic act so that our unhistoric acts be merciful, so that we may grow into forgiving people.
Caroline Kurt is a senior studying English.
Surya Bonaly fell during her routine, eliminating her chance of winning a gold medal. In the remaining minutes, Bonaly intentionally violated the rules and performed a backflip, landing on one skate, undermining the ISU’s reason for prohibiting the move.
Bonaly received a deduction for performing a banned move and was the last figure skater to attempt a backflip in the Olympics.
Although Bonaly’s score would not have been much different without the penalty,
ing bodies loosen their rules: His trick became permissible only two years ago, when the International Skating Union lifted the ban on backflips. Other sports should follow its lead and bring back the banned stunts. Let’s see the double flip in cheerleading, the Korbut flip and curtain vault in gymnastics, and the Detroiter in figure skating.
After American Terry Kubicka successfully landed a backflip in the 1976 Winter Olympic Games, the ISU banned the move because it was too dangerous and did not follow the figure skating standard of landing on one skate.
In the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, French figure skater
she should not have lost points for completing an athletic feat that followed the guidelines of figure skating.
Athletic committees overstep their bounds when they ban certain moves from sports because of a perceived risk. If athletes are willing to attempt a trick, they should not receive a penalty for undertaking a challenge. If anything, judges should award athletes for pushing their bodies’ limits and expanding the range of a sport.
Artistic sports such as figure skating, rhythmic gymnastics, and competitive dance demand an openness to innovative feats. They’re performance sports intended to show the strength and beauty of the hu-
man body. That’s why they’re often performed individually: It’s easier to observe athleticism in a single body.
Ball sports are different ––teams need hard and fast rules to remove as many complications as possible. The point of the game isn’t to look impressive: It’s to score.
But in artistic sports, coaches and athletes design routines that emphasize the particular strengths of an athlete. The genre of routine music, style of dance, and type of stunts are tailored to each competitor. Elaborate costumes, jewelry, and full faces of makeup further highlight the athlete’s body.
Some athletes go so far as to develop their own moves.
Nine-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles has performed four improvised stunts, including the Biles II on floor, which involves a double flip and a triple twist, displaying her athletic ability with a creative performance.
While not every figure skater may be able to land a backflip on one skate, athletic committees should allow athletes to judge their own abilities. If a competitor is willing to hurl her body upside down over a sheet of ice and land one-footed on a thin metal blade, let her try it. It’s a chance for the athlete to display her skill as a figure skater and poses a risk only to herself.
Similar to the backflip in figure skating, the Interna -
tional Gymnastics Federation banned the Korbut flip, named after Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut, who performed it on the uneven bars in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.
The Korbut flip, also known as the dead loop, involves the gymnast standing on the bar, jumping into a backflip, and catching the bar with her hands.
The FIG said the stunt was too dangerous and had a high risk for injury. Although Olympians are not permitted to perform this stunt because it’s too dangerous, YouTubers have posted videos of themselves completing the Korbut flip.
Maybe few athletes would include these daring stunts in their performance routines, but there’s no way to know until it’s permitted by the rulebook. There’s little motivation for an athlete to train a stunt they cannot perform without receiving a deduction when there are dozens of other legal moves.
The fact that Malinin successfully performed the backflip in an international competition less than a year after the ISU lifted the ban demonstrates how eager athletes are to take on new challenges. Bring back the banned stunts. Let’s see what our athletes can do.
Francesca Cella is a junior studying English. Illustrated by Maggie O'Connor.
Take safety seriously, students
By Jayden Jelso Collegian Reporter
The assassination of Charlie Kirk has made clear that conservatives in the public square face real threats, even on college campuses.
Hillsdale’s security team is the perfect group to prepare campus for how to respond to potential threats, as many members are ex-military and ex-law enforcement. They are so well-trained that they are often recruited to train other law enforcement officers. In fact, they do offer training for students and faculty, but too few take advantage of it.
This is an indication that students don’t take their safety as seriously as they should. Security is not at fault for campus’ unpreparedness. It’s the fault of students who don’t utilize what security offers. This is why training, even if it’s just an hour-long lecture, should be mandatory.
On Tuesday last week, Joe Kellam, director of security and emergency management, sent an email acknowledging Kirk’s death and the concern of students and their parents. It advertised a 10-minute “Active Assailant Preparedness” video that would play in the Searle Center on three separate days. The video explains the “run, hide, fight” protocol and gives tips on how to respond to an active threat.
While the video is in -
formative and encouraging, there is an unfortunate problem. Only six students showed up to Sept. 16 night’s showing. About 20 showed up on Sept. 17 and only 10 to the one on Sept. 18.
Students are often told that Hillsdale’s campus security team is more than prepared to handle active security threats on campus. While trust in security is strong on campus, many students and faculty don’t know how to react during an active assailant situation.
Personally, I feel safe on campus, yet no student should use security’s preparedness as an excuse to be flippant and unprepared. We must prepare ourselves for unexpected threats. Preparedness is like an insurance policy: it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
We need active shooter drills at least once a semester to complement the 10-minute video. If elementary school students must do regular drills, college students should as well. Only then can students and their parents have full confidence in their safety — security can best do its job when students themselves are prepared for campus threats.
Some students have expressed reservations about lockdown or other emergency drills simply because they don’t want to do them. It’s annoying. They have better
things to do. Yet a 45-minute, once-a-semester annoyance could save lives.
Security has put safety measures in place. Dorm and classroom doors have safety locks. The college’s emergency response guide, posted on bulletins around campus, lays out precautions for an active shooter situation; “Leave the area as quickly as possible” and “turn cellphone to vibrate” are among the instructions listed. The RAVE Guardian app is the primary communication tool used by security and allows the office to send out notifications, chat one-on-one with students, and respond to panic-button alerts.
Yet students don’t go through any sort of safety training, nor do they participate in any emergency drills, aside from the occasional dormitory fire drill. Many people who should know how to respond to emergency situations don’t know how to at all.
Additionally, some of the people for whom active threat training is most important — professors overseeing classrooms full of students — have confessed to not knowing what to do if an active shooter situation arises.
During resident assistant training the week before move-in, RAs are given two one-hour lectures from security on gun violence procedures. They are told, in
an active-shooter situation, to use safety locks on doors and to ensure everyone shelters in place inside. They are instructed to follow the common “run, hide, fight” protocol in an active shooter situation. They get handson training, like using a fire extinguisher and a lesson on how to administer CPR.
The question that must be asked is: why don’t regular students receive this as well? While students and faculty have no doubt that the security team is, in fact, the best of the best, we can’t use it as an excuse to remain unprepared. Videos and written safety instructions can only go so far. The lack of training, even minimal training, is a serious problem. The best way to prepare students and faculty for dangerous situations is to run drills, regardless of the comparatively minimal inconvenience.
Charlie Kirk was a symbol for conservative youth. He died advocating for us. During his time on this earth, he made it a point to express that Hillsdale is the best place to forge American citizens.
We need student-preparedness for active threat situations. Charlie would want that for us, too.
Jayden Jelso is a junior studying English.
Michigan should protect MelCat
Critical deadline approaches to save key library loan service
By Eleanor DeGoffau Collegian Reporter
President Donald Trump has threatened many things this year, but I never expected him to endanger my essays.
If an executive order Trump issued earlier this year takes effect, the main source of funds for MelCat, Michigan’s interlibrary loan program, will disappear, and with it, MelCat at Mossey Library. Hillsdale students will not be able to request essential books for research papers from other libraries.
Additionally, a Michigan budget bill approved by the state House in August does not include a directive to earmark these federal funds for MelCat, according to an announcement by the Michigan Library Association. Even if the federal funds survive, MelCat could be cut by our own state representatives and be gone by September 2026, when the funds expire.
As the deadline to finalize a state budget approaches on Oct. 1, Michigan state legislators should replace all federal library funding with state funds and ensure Hillsdale students are not limited by the size of our library, only the size of our imaginations.
Trump issued an executive order March 14 eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the agency which distributes funds for state library programs. A federal judge soon put the executive order under a preliminary injunction, reversing the directive until the court decides whether or not to permanent-
ly block the order. Until then, the future of MelCat is uncertain.
Reducing the size of the federal government and reducing inefficiencies is great. But taking away funding for a service essential to Hillsdale students and faculty? Not so great.
Through MelCat, anyone with a library card can check out a book from over 400 participating Michigan libraries. Michigan received $4.8 million from IMLS in 2024 and put 75–80% of those funds toward MelCat and the state’s digital library, MeL, with the rest of the money going to local libraries.
At Hillsdale, MelCat grants students access to physical copies of books Mossey Library might not have. Although we are blessed with an abundance of excellent books, we still lack the physical space at Mossey Library to shelve tomes like “On the Heart,” an influential book on cardiology by ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates.
As a result, Hillsdale College loves MelCat. Since 2023, the latest year of complete data, Hillsdale borrowed 8,219 books through MelCat, according to Mossey librarians. Additionally, Hillsdale contributes almost twice this amount of books to the MelCat system — we have loaned 15,359 books since 2023.
Library Director Maurine McCourry said these numbers demonstrate how essential MelCat is to Mossey Library. “I've been here 25 years now, and so I was here when
This homecoming, cheer on club sports
By Charles Hickey Collegian Reporter
Have you ever thought that all Hillsdale students are either nerdish bookworms who could be blown away by a strong gust of wind or varsity athletes just looking for the easiest professor? There is a third group of students on campus. They play club sports.
Students who play on a club team are weapons both in the classroom and on the field, defying campus stereotypes and shattering glass ceilings — and teeth. Watch a club game, and you may find out that your classmate Cornelius Foureyes is actually a skilled soccer player.
These student-athletes might not have funding or facilities, but they’ve got passion to spare. Hillsdale students, faculty, and alumni should make time this homecoming to support that passion and cheer for a club sports game.
This weekend features a riveting slate of club sports action. First: a soccer doubleheader on Friday night under the buzzing Hayden Park lights. The women’s team kicks off against Western Michigan University at 6 p.m., followed by their male counterparts, who will face Grand Valley State University at 8 p.m. Both clubs expect entertaining matches. Club president Madison Gilbert stressed there will also be free food available.
Next, on the Hayden Park grass, this year’s unbeaten rugby team takes on conference rival Xavier University at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday — which leaves
we came on MelCat,” McCourry said. “And from the very beginning, it has been extremely popular here. Everybody uses MelCat. Without it, we would have a hard time functioning.”
In the short term, Trump’s executive order jeopardizes the existence of MelCat at Hillsdale. However, in the long run, Michigan has a chance to make this a situation that improves the MelCat system overall rather than damage it.
With the risk of losing federal funds for MelCat, state representatives should appropriate state funds for the service in the upcoming budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Because MelCat is a state-run, local program, funding should come from Michigan, not from the federal government.
Brenna Wade, public services librarian at Mossey Library, said local services like MelCat should be funded by more local governments to reduce dependence on politics in Washington.
“Something like MelCat, which is a state resource, should be provided by the state,” Wade said. “Especially now that federal money is uncertain. But if the state could give the same amount of funding, it makes sense for that to be a state resource, because it provides the state a service.”
Ideally, funds for MelCat should be appropriated this week in the upcoming budget bill instead of waiting for MelCat to shut down, and then distributing funds. According to Wade, if MelCat is shut down, it is much harder to start it back up again.
“If you dismantle it, it'll be almost impossible to get it back up and running again,” Wade said. “It's very complicated, and changing access to databases is a lot easier to turn off and on, than it is to turn off and on the whole infrastructure that goes into MelCat.”
Thankfully, the state librarians are currently pushing for these funds in congress.
Wade said she has heard from meetings with the state librarian that policymakers are interested in completely funding MelCat if the federal funds fall through.
“They are really committed to keeping MelCat in some form,” Wade said. “They see MelCat as being the biggest value to the state.”
Getting state funding for this program will not be easy. Michigan spent more than $13.5 million on public library support funds in 2024, so adding another roughly $5 million to this budget would increase it by more than 35%. This might necessitate increased state taxes or reduced funds for other programs. Legislatures should find creative funding solutions, such as creating a MelCat or library-themed license plate and have proceeds contribute to MelCat.
MelCat is worth the budget crunch. Every dollar spent towards MelCat is a dollar spent for academic, intellectual, and creative freedom for people across the state of Michigan.
Eleanor DeGoffau is a senior studying physics.
Arnn remembers Charlie Kirk
By Larry Arnn College President
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn spoke at the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 21 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, giving these remarks.
I have one short story to tell you about Charlie, my friend. He became a friend of mine because I interrogated him one time. Nineteen-year-olds are my specialty. I asked him some questions he couldn’t answer — and he was already becoming famous — and I noticed his reaction.
He said, “What should I do?”
And I said, “Well, you have to suffer. If you want to grow, you have to suffer. It’s hard to learn — into the night, crack of dawn in the morning. Start with the Bible, read the classics, and study the founding of America. In those places, you will find that there’s a ladder that reaches up toward God, and at the bottom of it is the ordinary good things that are around us everywhere. If we can call them by their names, they have being. The beings of the good things are figments of God. You will find that article in Aristotle. You will find it in the Bible. You will find it in Madison and Jefferson.”
“How do I learn that?”
he said. I said, “You have to suf -
fer; you have to study; you have to think.”
I thought I’d never hear from him again. Within a month, he got ahold of my cell phone number and he texted me a copy of a certificate of completion of a Hillsdale College Online Course.
He would go on to do that 31 times.
I keep a list in my head of the six or eight young people — and I’m very privileged, because I get to know many inspiring young people — who are the best I ever saw. Charlie is the only one who was never a full-time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list. We will miss him dearly. He can’t be replaced. A good thing is a thing that has being. An assassin is not a thing that has being. The assassin must give up his humanity to destroy something that has being. Charlie lives on. The assassin will die.
My wife, who’s here with me today, and I have set up a scholarship in the hope that Charlie’s children will go to a good college. I have one in mind.
And this May the 9th — Erika doesn't know this yet — we are going to give Charlie and Erika the greatest respect a college can give: an honorary degree. Charlie, you see, has suffered enough. He’s gone to the Lord. He deserves his reward.
Thank you.
Jaywalkers, look both ways
Henry
Fliflet
Collegian Reporter
you plenty of time to catch the football team’s latest attempt to return to .500. While rugby may seem strange and foreign, all you really need to enjoy the match is an appreciation for a bone-crushing tackle, a wicked side-step, or an eminently likeable forwards coach like this reporter.
If that isn’t enough to convince you to come and root like mighty Casey was advancing to the bat, perhaps it would help to recall the strongly-held Hillsdale conviction that your future spouse could be hiding just behind the corner flag.
Ladies, if you want a man with too much brain trauma to question your impulse SHEIN purchases, look no further than the rugby team. While their below-average intelligence may seem to be the result of Tylenol absorbed in utero, let me assure you that they earned their low IQ the old-fashioned way: concussions!
Men, if your taste runs toward women who put the bonita in joga bonita, consider investing some sweat and toil into a handheld “Go Women’s Soccer” sign — it may pay dividends.
But if you’re not in the market for a homemaker or house husband, don’t let that stop you from enjoying homecoming. Grab your spirit gear, paint your face blue, and cheer on club sports.
Charles Hickey is a sophomore studying the liberal arts.
I almost died on the first day of this semester.
As a naive transfer student, I sauntered out onto Hillsdale Street in front of an oncoming Ford F-150, wheel wells rusted high up into the bed and aftermarket exhaust growling, on the assumption he would stop for me. Not so.
Far be it from me to live out the stereotype of the transplanted coastal Californian endeavoring to alter the social and legal fabric of his new community into a crude imitation of his home state.
Still, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the pedestrian-driver relationship here in Michigan. In my few weeks here, I’ve realized that it represents one of the most pressing safety concerns facing freshmen, as well as one of the most profound cultural divisions between students.
On Sept. 10, Dean of Men Aaron Petersen, Associate Dean Jeffery Roberts and Head of Security Joe Kellam addressed the bright-eyed men of the freshman class with the usual orientation information: Email courtesy, the importance of physical fitness and respect for the fairer sex, and how to get the most out of academic services.
Then they brought something up that spoke to my direct lived experience.
Community members, it turned out, were calling in dozens of complaints about students walking into the street in front of them.
I realized that I was one of those people. Back home, north of San Francisco, a pedestrian must only stand on the sidewalk and cast his
eyes across the ribbon of asphalt to have any car stop for him to cross at his leisure. No need for a crosswalk — the weight of authority rests with the jaywalkers.
It’s a simple system, conducive to strength ening the social order through the sub mission of the greater force — two tons of rolling steel — yielding to the weaker, namely, 145-pound me. I prefer this system, if not the legal structure of it. In Michigan, drivers are bound only to yield at designated cross walks.
“Michigan drivers seem to have no regard for human life,” said freshman Isaiah Sasser, from Oregon. “You know, they don’t share the liberal values of my home state, which I disagree with, but I guess those values did keep
me from getting plowed over and turned into a fine red mist on the street.”
Automotive crashes are responsible for more than 40,000 deaths annually in the U.S., and pedestrian death rates increased 50% between 2013 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in Michigan specifically, pedestrian deaths rose 61% from 2012 to 2022, according to Bridge Michigan. Not all students on campus share my ironclad conviction that the drivers are to blame for their approach to vehicular safety.
“You know what the real problem is? It’s the condition of the roads here in Michigan that are to blame,” said Michigan local and fresh -
man Jordan Nelson. He said that he thinks the roads have conditioned drivers to be passive, fatalistically oblivious to potholes and pedestrians alike. “Besides, what do you think makes sense? Of course you should get out of the way of the F-350.”
Other students echoed his sentiment.
“I’m from New Jersey, man,” said freshman Cayden Gibello. “We don’t even try to cross the street.” The Hillsdale ethos aspires towards self-governance. I’m disinclined to recommend that the scope of the law here should change, or that the faceless machine of regulation be given more authority. Instead, I’m merely suggesting that those blessed with means of vehicular conveyance tap the breaks every now and then, when a skittish freshman runs, rabbit-like, in front of them.
As Hillsdale begins to feel more like home, I can appreciate the shared experience of life here with my classmates, as well as the beautiful diversity of thought I find among them; such as those who wish to live and those who, it seems, wish to be hit by a truck.
Among Western Heritage papers and the ever-present debates on the wisdom of Protestants dating Catholics, I’ve learned another simple but powerful lesson: here, the admonition to look both ways means you have to wait if you see a car coming.
Strength rejoicing in the challenge, it turns out, doesn’t mean taking that F-150 head on.
Henry Fliflet is a ____ studying the liberal arts. Illustrated by Maggie O'Connor.
City News
‘Gate Guy’ endorses Bentley for mayor of Hillsdale
By Charles Hickey Collegian Reporter
Dennis Cook, known to students as “Gate Guy,” endorsed Ward 3 Councilman Matthew Bentley for mayor of the City of Hillsdale in an Instagram post this summer.
“I try not to talk politics or religion too much,” Cook said. “A little bit goes a long way.”
The city’s planned “road diet” prompted him to endorse a candidate, Cook said. The plan will add bike lanes and slim down Broad Street from four to three lanes, with the middle lane serving as a left-hand turn lane. The city council voted 5-3 on Aug. 18 to move forward with the plan. Cook said he supports Bentley because the councilman opposes the road diet.
“The road diet’s a huge issue,” said Cook, who has be -
come well known on campus thanks to his friendly supervision of a construction crossing zone. “It’s going to add a lot of time that my coworkers don’t get to see their families, that they’re just sitting in the streets. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. People say it’s for tourism, but how much tourism can we really have?”
Bentley said he first met Cook while going door-todoor as part of his mayoral campaign this summer.
“It’ll be great when that construction project is done,” Bentley said. “But it’s nice to have Dennis here in the meantime. He’s great. He talks with everyone and knows so many names and faces.”
Bentley is running against Scott Sessions, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2017. Students registered to vote in Hillsdale can cast a ballot Nov. 4.
The road diet would slow traffic, contribute to a more pleasant experience of downtown, and create more visibility for downtown businesses, according to Luke Robson. Robson owns Hillsdale Renaissance, a real estate development and property management firm that owns more than a dozen buildings in the downtown area.
Bentley said the “ill-conceived and poorly executed” road diet would only advantage downtown business owners.
“I try not to talk politics or religion too much. A little bit goes a long way.”
“No traffic plan will be perfect, but we can certainly improve upon what we already have,” Robson said on his Substack this summer. “The proposed road diet is good, maybe even great.”
“There would be a few very specific winners, and a broad swath of the population who would pay the cost,”
Bentley said on his Substack.
Cook, who lives in Hillsdale, said the city’s people have often been ignored by the city council — a trend Cook said he hopes Bentley will reverse.
“During city council meetings, Hillsdale people will
speak up and the majority will say ‘don’t do something’ and the council still just does it,” Cook said. “They don’t listen to their constituents. They just do whatever they want to do.”
Cook said Hillsdale’s high taxes are an example of financial misgovernance by the city.
“They tax us as much as they possibly can, maxing out all these millages, but we still don’t have any good roads,” Cook said.
He said he sees the city’s special assessment districts — which charge residents who live on deteriorating roads designated for repairs — as another problem.
“They want to charge the citizens on some streets $5,000 per household to fix their roads,” Cook said. “You’re already taxed an exorbitant amount, and now you have to come up with five grand,
Camp Hope to become permanent homeless shelter
After meeting a 14-day deadline, the camp will move to a former storage building
By Sydney Green Collegian Reporter
After meeting the deadline to bring its facility up to code, Camp Hope is preparing to transition into a standalone nonprofit under the new name HOPE Harbor.
While the homeless shelter’s day-to-day operations will remain the same, the change will allow it to operate independently from Hillsdale Community Thrift, which has supported it financially since 2023. The shelter will now be located in a
former storage building behind Hillsdale Community Thrift.
“There’s already a board of directors, and we’re in the filing process now,” Camp Hope Director Missy DesJardin said. “This will take the financial burden off of Hillsdale Community Thrift.”
DesJardin faced a deadline on Sept. 16 to bring Camp Hope’s operations into compliance with zoning regulations.
DesJardin is converting the storage building behind Hillsdale Community Thrift into a transitional living facility; the
tent where tenants are currently staying will be used for storage.
“An engineer came to inspect the building and is drawing up all of the blueprints for all the future renovations and expansions we need to convert this into a transitional living facility,” DesJardin said. “Currently, it can house around 16 people, but we are hoping that, with the expansion, it will house around 30 tenants.”
The expansion will allow for a larger kitchen, an additional bathroom, and larger sleeping arrangements. DesJardin said
she hopes to receive the building plans and get the paperwork finalized within a week.
“It’s been a long, emotional couple of weeks.”
According to DesJardin, Camp Hope is still operating because of the help of its landlord, Bill Vanengleburg.
“Bill, who owns this property, has been such a huge supporter,” DesJardin said. “When our funds are low and we are late on payment, Bill always helps us. We literally would not have made it to where we are today without him, and I am so grateful to him.”
Vanengleburg has been renting the property to DesJardin since 2017 and said he applauds her work in the community.
“Missy is a fantastic person and I know she means really well, so I have enjoyed supporting her through this in any way I can,” Vanengleburg said. “I know there is a need and a lot of people who are less fortunate than myself, and Missy really goes to bat for them.”
HOPE stands for Hillsdale Opportunity Promoting Empowerment.
“The ‘harbor’ comes from Hebrews 6:19-20 where it talks about Christ being an anchor for our soul,” DesJardin said. “This is going to be Christian-based.”
According to DesJardin, the progress over the past two weeks is a testament to the strong and supportive community nearby.
“It’s been a long, emotional couple of weeks,” DesJardin said. “No one likes uncertainty, especially when you have this many people to take care of, many of them vulnerable adults, but we have been able to move along in the right direction.”
Keri Stewart, president of the board of directors for HOPE Harbor, has been helping out at the shelter since its founding.
“I am very, very invested in the people of Camp Hope and now HOPE Harbor,” Stewart said. “We want to help people who are unhelped, for whatever reason, every step of the way. I think HOPE Harbor will be able to provide the consistent stability and resources they need to become healthy and successful individuals.”
which most people don’t have. That’s robbery in my book.” Cook said Bentley’s lack of career ambition is another reason for the councilman’s appeal.
“I like that he’s not looking to further himself in office,” Cook said. “He just wants to be the mayor, so he’s not going to kowtow or do what certain parties want him to do so he can raise himself up. He’s just here for the people of Hillsdale.”
Bentley expressed appreciation for Cook’s endorsement and said that his goal as mayor would be to increase political responsibility.
“I intend to hold the city council accountable as a body, and senior staff, as there has been precious little accountability,” Bentley said.
Hillsdale History
Sept. 2, 1971: Quincy manufacturing plant destroyed in a massive fire that could be seen from Hillsdale.
Sept. 3, 1836: The first train from Toledo to Adrian.
Sept. 14, 1840: First moves made in creation of a local school district.
September, 1840: Hillsdale County Native Americans are forced to move west by the United States government.
Sept. 22, 1814: Chauncey Washington Ferris, a “father of the City of Hillsdale” is born.
Lyme disease cases spike in Hillsdale County
Diagnoses have nearly quadrupled in the last year, according to local health officials
By Gemma Flores Assistant Editor
As reported cases of Lyme disease have nearly quadrupled in Hillsdale County in the last year, the Ambler Health and Wellness Center on campus has seen new cases for the first time in several years. In the 2024-25 monitoring year, Hillsdale County has reported 18 cases, up from four cases in 2023-24 and five cases in 2022-2023, according to Kris Dewey, the health education and promotion supervisor for the Branch-HillsdaleSt. Joseph Community Health Agency.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can manifest as a bullseye rash, fever, and muscle aches. It is contracted from a bite from an infected tick. Despite having seen no cases of Lyme disease from
2022 to 2024, Kirsten Mapes, a staff nurse at the campus health center, said they has treated several cases over the past year.
“It is thought a tick which has been attached less than 24 hours is unlikely to transmit Lyme,” Mapes said in an email. “Thus, it is very important to check for ticks daily after outdoor activities, especially on children.”
Dewey said a possible explanation for the rise in cases across the county is the warm weather.
“Ticks normally like warmer weather. We had a warmer spring, and that allowed the tick population to present itself a little bit earlier this year,” Dewey said.
“I would refer people to the resources that the Department of Natural Resources has, along with the state, in regards to prevention,” Fry said. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates of Lyme
the strongest presence of Lyme disease in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, with New York and Pennsylvania having the highest rates. However, the Midwest, particularly Minnesota and Michigan, is also a hotspot.
“Ticks normally like warmer weather. We had a warmer spring, and that allowed the tick population to present itself a little bit earlier this year.”
Assistant City Manager Sam Fry said he doesn’t think the city has any specific plans to aid with the prevention of Lyme disease.
disease have been climbing in the last couple of years. In 2020, the rate of infection hit a historic low of 5.5 cases per 100,000 people. In 2023, the latest year data is available, that number jumped to 26.9. Typically, CDC data shows
To prevent contracting Lyme disease, Mapes said, apply insect repellent and wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and closed-toe shoes. When returning from a tick-friendly area, make sure to check yourself for bugs.
“We recommend that you shower soon after you’ve been outdoors,” Dewey said. “Aside from allowing you to clean your skin, it allows you to conduct a full body check.” Dewey stressed the importance of being thorough when checking for ticks, as the likelihood of infection increases the longer a tick goes unnoticed.
“Use a mirror to check body parts if you can’t necessarily see them all,” Dewey said. “Especially under your arms, in and around your ears, inside your belly button, behind your knees, between your legs, and around your waist.”
The threat doesn’t stop with humans, however. Pets, according to Dewey, can easily transmit Lyme disease to their owners.
“Make sure that you’re checking pets for ticks,” Dewey said. “Pets can also bring ticks into the home, and then those ticks will leave the pet and come to the humans in the household. It’s best to talk to your veterinarian about tick and flea prevention.” Mapes recommends contacting a doctor at the first sign of symptoms. The earlier treatment is started, Mapes said, the easier recovery will be.
“A blood test is readily available and helps to determine if you have Lyme disease,” Mapes said. “Treatment in general consists of an appropriate antibiotic for a period of time based on what stage of Lyme disease you have. It is important to treat Lyme disease, as this can lead to more serious symptoms if left untreated.”
Compiled by Alessia Sandala City News Editor
175th year of the ‘most popular fair on earth’
By Lauren Bixler Assistant Editor
A live animal birthing tent, antique tractors, rides, elephant ears, and a country-music concert have attracted local and out-ofcounty fairgoers to the 175th Hillsdale County Fair this week.
“We love this community. It’s the last fair of Michigan summer, so it’s kind of a last little farewell to our season,” May’s Concessions Owner Quinton Mayhanagian said. “It’s just kind of a special place.”
In addition to the exhibitions and competitions at the fair, the grandstand, which displays the slogan “the most popular fair on earth,” was built in 1872 to host crowd-attracting events.
In a change from the typical fair event schedule, this year began with National Tractor Pulling Association tractor pulls on Sunday and antique tractor pulls on Monday. The NTPA tractor pull usually takes place on the last day or two of the fair, but this year it kicked off the week. Tractor pulling is an event where tractors are attached to a weight sled that gradually increases its weight, and the pull ends either when the tractor runs out of track or the weight of the sled overtakes the tractor’s ability to pull it.
On Tuesday, there was a TNT demolition derby, an event where drivers intentionally ram their cars into each other until only one vehicle remains operational. This event will also close off the fair Saturday night.
Wednesday featured the TK Pro Rodeo for the sec -
ond time, which is a professional com petition consist ing of eight total events, including barrel racing and bull riding.
Thursday will showcase a returning event, the “Thunder Thurs day” truck pull, a motorsports event where heavily-modified and horsepower-boosted trucks pull a heavy sled to determine the strongest vehicle and most skilled driver.
Lastly, on Friday, the fair will host a live concert featuring Tyler Farr, a country artist with over 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. He will be joined by guest artists Jason Cross and Hayden Ladd for a onenight-only performance.
The first Hillsdale County Fair was held in October of 1851 on the Courthouse Square in the City of Hillsdale, according to the fair website. After spending years jumping between locations in Hillsdale and Jonesville, the current grounds were purchased in
1860, where permanent buildings such as the Flower Hall, the Livestock Exhibition Center, and the oldest grange building in the Unit-
ed States now stand. Over time, the fair increased its capacity.
The fair’s concessions are as rich in generation -
New Asian takeout service coming soon
By Francesca Cella Collegian Reporter
An Asian takeout dining business called Akitsu Kitchen will open Oct. 2.
Vincent Cañete is renting the Dawn Park Catering Kitchen, located in the same building as Rough Draft, where he will cook dishes representative of various Asian cuisines available within 10 minutes of purchase.
Cañete said he is opening Akitsu Kitchen to expand the cuisines available in Hillsdale.
“Everyone’s been saying it: Hillsdale doesn’t have any good food,” Cañete said. “But I would argue to go even further. There isn’t any diversity in Asian cuisine. What I wanted to do is to make it limited, to provide authentic food, so that every week or so you can look forward to the opportunity to try something of great quality.”
Akitsu Kitchen will have a menu in Rough Draft listing the two dishes of the week available for purchase in a $15 single-portion takeout box. Cañete said Akitsu Kitchen will only serve specialty dishes.
“Cooks have the chef’s special that they can be passionate about,” Cañete said. “My menus are literally all chef specials.”
Emma Lindley, wife of Associate Professor of English Dwight Lindley, said Cañete has helped her cook for several events, including a sushi party she hosted for her extended family.
“I had wanted to do something special for them because they’re all from New England or from Los Angeles, and they were meeting in Hillsdale, and I felt that we didn’t have a lot of fancy stuff,” Lindley said. “But Vincent did a fan-
tastic and highly impressive sushi party. They loved it.”
Lindley said Cañete judges the flavor of food just by reading a recipe and adjusts it to improve the taste.
“The nice thing about Vincent is he always does extra,”
sionate about cooking, always watching cooking shows,” Cañete said. “The first job I ever got when I was 16 was as a sushi chef. The kitchen was willing to take me because I begged them, and from there it just took one guy giving me
Lindley said. “He’s thinking, ‘What are the textures? What are the flavors?’ I love cooking with him because I know he thinks about things: what’s going to go with what, what would be interesting here, what’s a good contrast?”
Although Cañete never received formal culinary training, he said he’s been cooking as long as he can remember. “As a child, I was very pas-
a shot to gain enough experience to continue to pursue something.”
Since then, Cañete said he has spent six years as a sushi chef and several years as a line cook. After exploring many careers, Cañete said he has returned to cooking because it allows him to connect with people.
“I was a mechanic, I was in the film industry, I was an
al traditions as the other cherished attractions, according to Mayhanagian of May’s Concessions.
“We’ve been in business since 1921 — I’m a fourth-generation of May’s Concessions and taking over for my dad. He’s been coming to this fair for at least 40 years,” Mayhanagian said.
Mayhanagian said he intends to honor the generations of May’s Concessions before him.
“I would say, just maintaining our recipes for our caramel corn and our caramel apples — they have been the same recipes for over 100 years,” Mayhanagian said.
At Mary’s Elephant Ears stand, Caiden Bauer said he is taking over the business and honoring the tradition of his grandmother by carrying on the family name.
“I’m Mary’s grandson, and I inherited this business,”
Bauer said while holding a giant “elephant ear,” a large piece of fried dough commonly sold at fairs.
David Town, the founder of the live birthing tent, said the tent is at full capacity, which is more than plenty to handle while explaining the birthing process to passers-by.
“This area is quite popular. A lot of the families go through — that’s what it’s for: the kids,” Town said. “I pop out and see parents explaining stuff to the kids, and I try to narrate the birthing process.”
Town said the mission of the tent is to preserve the memory of agriculture for people who grew up removed from it.
“This basically started as an education to my city cousins — who are four generations removed from the farm — to show them what life’s like on the farm and the miracle of life,” Town said.
The mission of the tent aligns closely with the heritage of the fair, which began with a group of farmers who desired to share the advances in agriculture and preserve its traditions, according to the fair website.
Some of the events have undergone changes over the years, said Historical Society member Nancy Whitson.
“We used to have sulky harness races here with the horses. It was very entertaining and something that a lot of people enjoyed, and that of course has been gone now for a couple of years,” Whitson said.
Vietnam War veteran honored for service
electrician, I was a welder — I was a number of different things,” Cañete said. “This was the one type of job where I was actually able to share something with people. Sure, you can share by building a balcony or something, but this is something that you can give consistently and make people happy.”
Senior Augustine McCormack said he hadn’t tried much Indian cuisine before he sampled Cañete’s Indian butter chicken over the summer. McCormack said Cañete’s food stands out for its rich flavor.
“If you want a quality meal, you’re missing home, feeling homesick, go get it and take it out, have it with friends, or just have it by yourself,” McCormack said. “It is a very mature taste, and you’re like, ‘This tastes like something my mom made.’”
A mother of nine, Lindley said she is glad to have another food option in Hillsdale.
“There was a time when our family really needed takeout,” Lindley said. “The twins were just born, our family is all far away, and my mom was like, ‘We’d really love to help. Can we just give you money for some meals?’ I was like, ‘You can, but there’s a limit to how much pizza we can eat.’ There weren’t any good options.”
Cañete said Akitsu Kitchen will go the extra mile to serve a better meal.
“Everything’s made from scratch,” Cañete said. “I’m not using a can of pureed tomatoes. I’m buying fresh tomatoes and pureeing them. I’m not using ginger powder. I’m buying whole ginger and mincing it up. It’s literally some of the freshest food you can get in Hillsdale.”
By Samantha Mandel Collegian Reporter
Hillsdale County honored retired U.S. Army Major Brian Peacock as Veteran of the Year at a Sept. 22 ceremony.
Peacock has been a member of the Jonesville American Legion for over 40 years and currently serves as the first vice commander of the Jonesville Post, according to Jenny Spahr, chair of the Veteran of the Year selection committee.
“He is always giving back,” Spahr said.
Peacock serves the community by visiting veterans in care facilities, transporting them to VA hospitals, and being active in the Legion honor guard. He is also involved in volunteering for raffles and delivering Christmas packages to troops.
Peacock said he first became active in the Jonesville Legion after buying a raffle ticket and receiving a call from then-Commander Bob Snow.
“He told me I had won a prize, and then he told me about the Jonesville Legion and invited me to stop by,” Peacock said. “I did stop by, and I was impressed with the number of members that attended, all the work that they did, all the help that they gave to other vet erans, all the help they gave to the commu nity. It was incredible. They made
me feel at home. And I owe them for this honor.” State Rep. Jennifer Wortz presented the award on behalf of the county.
“Oftentimes, Vietnam veterans came home and were never recognized. They returned at a time when the country was divided,” Wortz said. “It’s not about debating the war — it’s about thanking these men and honoring them for the sacrifice and commitment they gave to our country.” Wortz said Peacock’s life of service after the military was just as commendable.
“Like so many veterans, Brian came home, raised a family, and kept serving his community,” she said. “That’s what makes this award so meaningful.”
According to Spahr, Peacock has many interests outside of serving his community, including maintaining the family property, making maple syrup, reading, camping, and riding his Harley.
Peacock closed his speech by recognizing the families of veterans.
“Veteran families are often ignored,” he said. “They are the ones who suffer. They are the ones who miss their loved ones. They are the ones who support the veteran after they’re released from service. I owe so much to my family.”
Vincent Cañete cooks for his new food service, Akitsu Kitchen. Francesca Cella | Collegian
Scenes from the 175th Hillsdale County Fair. Lauren Bixler | Collegian
Brian Peacock receives his award from State Rep. Jennifer Wortz. Samantha Mandel | Collegian
Action Shooting & Shotgun
Chargers host action nationals, compete with donors
By Daniel Johnson Collegian Reporter
Hillsdale’s shooting sports had an active day at home with the Hillsdale action shooting team placing second in two categories in the Hillsdale College and Springfield Armory Collegiate Championship, and the Hillsdale shotgun team competing with donors at the Klix Memorial Sporting Shoot, Sept. 20. The action shooting team took second in the nation in both the limited and limited optics categories at the Ailes Action Shooting Range in a competition overseen by the United States Practical Shooting Association on Saturday. The team competed against eight collegiate teams including the U.S. Naval Academy, with
nine of 12 Hillsdale athletes individually placing top 15 in both categories.
Junior and team captain Kayla Mullin took first in the limited division. Junior Clara Bozzay took fifth in the same division, while junior Jianna Coppola, freshman Joseph Beecher, and senior Christina Lewis placed 13th, 14th, and 15th, respectively. In the limited optics division, junior and team captain John Beecher led the Chargers with a fourth-place finish. Seniors Joseph Grohs, Jonah Kirstein, and Brendan Burnham rounded out Hillsdale’s top finishers, placing sixth, 10th, and 13th, respectively.
“There are tons of successes,” John Beecher said. “But we didn’t get everything we wanted.”
According to Beecher, the team was disappointed not to place first, but proud of how they handled adversity together.
“There were definitely some hiccups that I was not expecting,” Beecher said. “But I was really proud of how we recovered, really proud of how we encouraged each other as a team, kept each other accountable, and in the end it came down to scores that were really, really close.”
According to Mullin, this tight competition is part of a rivalry with the U.S. Naval Academy and Texas A&M teams that has deep roots going back to when the team competed in the Scholastic Action Shooting Program.
“With A&M and Navy both, we have a little rivalry going on,” Mullin said. “At SASP, the
as well as two blanks. The letters around the border indicate the first letter to appear on that end of the corresponding row or column.
competition we used to shoot at, us and A&M kind of traded off year-to-year, so it's just the same at this one.”
Both Beecher and Mullin were optimistic that the Chargers will take back the winning title next year.
“I think we’ll definitely come back next year,” Mullin said. “It was so close.”
Mullin added that despite being a loss for the Chargers, the championship was a success for action shooting as a whole.
“We wanted to win for sure,” Mullin said. “But the goal of this match is to get as many schools here as possible, to get the word out that USPSA is moving into the collegiate area.”
At the John Halter Center the same day, the shotgun team sharpened their skills at the Klix Memorial Sporting
Clays Shoot. The shoot involved 10 teams of four donors and one Charger athlete shooting together.
According to freshman David Texas Ardis, the shoot was a fundraiser meant to connect donors and athletes in friendly competition.
“The fundraisers paid to have a squad at the shoot,” Ardis said. “We were able to participate and shoot with our donors.”
Freshman Henrik Kiledal’s team won the day with a combined score of 424. Senior Kyle Fleck’s team came in second with a score of 397, and junior Madeline Corbin’s team took third with a score of 374.
According to head shotgun coach Jordan Hintz, the shoot was organized in honor of a longtime supporter of Hills-
dale’s shotgun program.
“Tom Klix was an alumni of the college and one of the earliest donors to contribute funds for a sporting clays station to the course at Halter,” Hintz said. “He passed away a few years ago.” Hintz added that the shoot was a success for both athletes and donors.
“Overall the shoot went well,” Hintz said. “I think the attendees and team members had fun. We shot decently well.”
According to Ardis, the athletes were able to hone their skills at the match.
“We had a lot of high scores,” Ardis said. “I was lucky enough to shoot 100 out of 100, and we had some other 96s and 97s. It was good practice for the team too.”
Hillsdale boasts podium spot and new school record
By Ameera Wilson Collegian Reporter
Hillsdale men’s golf team finished runner-up to Grand Valley State University in the Ulndy Fall Invitational Sept. 22-23, breaking the team’s previous record score by 15 strokes.
The tournament was held at Broadmoor Country Club in Indianapolis and had a competitive field with 14 teams attending. Five of Hillsdale’s players competed and together shot a 282281-273=836, passing up the record of 851 that was set last April.
year,” Kelly said. “The team battled through some very wet weather on day one and then played really well on day two. I thought we took a nice step forward this week.”
All of Hillsdale’s players had strong performances, each either matching their previous records or setting new personal bests.
“The whole team contributed,” Kelly said. “Robert
Junior Oliver Marshall finished 16th and sophomore Jackson Piacsek tied for 18th with junior Ryan O’Rourke.
The team placed well even with the poor weather.
“The first day it rained basically the whole time, to the point where there was a delay to let the course dry,” Thompson said.
“There were for sure some strong teams to watch out for,” junior Rob Thompson said. “GVSU is really good. Missouri S&T finished T5 at nationals last year, Gannon made nationals last year as well, and there were a few other solid teams. Definitely better field than the last event.”
Head coach Luke Kelly said the team was ready for the competition and performed strongly.
“We felt like we were well prepared and ready to keep our momentum rolling from our first tournament of the
Thompson’s 64 (-8) in round three was a standout.”
Each member of the team was in the top 20, and two players were in the top 10.
Thompson finished seventh shooting a 71-73-64=208.
Freshman Parker Stalcup also placed in the top 10 and tied for eighth with a 70-6871=209.
Marshall said the team felt pretty strong following their season-opening win and expects continued success.
“We felt pretty good coming in, especially after the win at the last tournament,” Marshall said. “Overall, I would say we performed pretty well and everyone contributed nicely. Going forward I think we should be pretty good this year and will look to keep up the good play.”
Kelly said the team is in a good place and simply needs to continue moving forward.
“Nothing changes, just need to keep working and keep improving every day,” Kelly said. The team will return to Indiana to compete at the Midwest Regional Preview in Peru Sept. 29-30.
Team expects strong season
By Lucy Billings Collegian Freelancer
The Hillsdale swim team is gearing up for its competitive season this week with its annual Blue and White intrasquad meet at home Sept. 27.
The team has only one senior and six new freshmen, according to head coach Kurt Kirner. Despite the team’s proportionally young age, Kirner said it is one of the most individually talented teams he’s coached at Hillsdale.
“We’re getting really good kids in,” Kirner said. “We’re young, yet experienced enough to challenge for a conference title.”
The team also welcomed a new assistant swim coach, Maddie London, this semester. Junior team captain Inez McNichols said London brings a great change of pace to the team.
“Her energy and ambition have already made a difference at practice, and she’s been a great help in pushing us to get serious about our goals,” McNichols said.
McNichols said the freshman class has integrated wonderfully and demonstrated a really impressive work ethic.
“I’m excited to watch this group of girls we have grow into a real, cohesive team this year,” McNichols said. “We are going to value support, respect, and hard work.”
Junior captain Alyson Early said the small size of the team could be an advantage.
“It’s good and just means we get to be closer to each other,” Early said.
Early said the closeness of the team helps her focus on those around her.
“I’m doing this for them,” Early said. “This isn’t just for
me. Then I feel less pressure on myself, but I also feel uplifted by the women around me.” Both captains said they were excited for the upcoming season and focused on growing as a team and pursuing their fastest times.
“We have some really fast girls coming onto the team, and I think that’s going to push everyone,” Early said. McNichols said she is eager to get started.
“I’m excited for meets to start but because I really do think that they start to unify us — around competition as well as shared adversity,” McNichols said.“The bonds that we get to take with us after the season is really the best part of it all.”
The Chargers will be traveling over fall break to Oberlin, Ohio for its first competition in the season Oct. 10-11.
Sophomore Jackson Piacsek competes in the rain. Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
NFL, stop changing the rules
By Robert Matteson Collegian Reporter
President Donald Trump says the sport we watch on Sunday afternoons is “sissy football.”
The NFL has instituted a new kickoff rule this season in hopes of reducing the number of injuries and increasing the number of kickoffs returned in the game. The new rule is unnecessary, and the league needs to rescind the rule immediately.
Football has always been a violent sport. In Medieval Italy, men played Calcio Storico Fiorentino, a mixture of football, rugby, and wrestling. The games included fists and fighting, and people loved it.
Last week,Trump took to Truth Social to address the latest kickoff rule in the NFL.
“The NFL has to get rid of that ridiculous looking new Kickoff Rule,” Trump said. “How can they make such a big and sweeping change so easily and quickly. It’s at least as dangerous
as the ‘normal’ kickoff, and looks like hell. The ball is moving, and the players are not, the exact opposite of what football is all about. ‘Sissy’ football is bad for America, and bad for the NFL!”
Trump is referring to a new rule that prevents any players other than the kicker or the returner from moving until the ball touches the “landing zone,” touches the endzone, or is caught. The kicking team lines up along the opponent’s 40-yard line, and the receiving team lines up between their own 30 and 35 yard lines. The landing zone consists of the area between the goal line and the 20-yard line.
The NFL did not need to make such a silly change to fix either problem.
Kickers kick the ball further today than they ever have in the game. So, to increase the number of kickoff returns, move the kickers further back. Historically, kickers have kicked from their own 35-yard line. This means kickers could have been
moved back upward of 35 yards before it was necessary to implement a radical new kickoff rule.
Football is an aggressive game. It always has been. Like Trump suggests, the new rule changes the sport altogether, a sport that Americans love. Regardless of whether the football players are five yards or 30 yards apart, they are still going to run at each other and hit each other. It is what they do. To increase the safety in an inherently violent game, football players could wear extra pads.
Football players do not play football because they want to be safe. They play because they love the extraordinary physicality that is required of them. They do not want to be seen as “sissies”; they want to be looked at as the biggest, baddest, and strongest men alive.
NFL, stop messing with the rules and let the men play the game they love.
Thanks for the added safety
By Joshua Mistry Collegian Reporter
The National Football League finally cracked the code on kickoffs.
For years, kick returns have been one of football’s most frustrating plays — either the kicker boots it through the end zone for an automatic touchback, or onlookers hold their breath waiting for someone to get destroyed in a high-speed collision. It was boring when nothing happened, terrifying when something did.
The league introduced a new approach last season that tackles both problems at once. The biggest shift is that nobody can move until the ball either hits the ground or gets caught by the returner. That simple rule change eliminates those downfield sprints where the coverage team was building up a full head of steam before colliding with return
teams. No more human missile situations.
It also introduced the concept of a “landing zone” last year, a space between the goal line and the 20-yard line. If the kick doesn't land there, the return team automatically gets the ball at the 40. This is the league saying, “stop trying to kick it out of bounds or way too deep, we want actual returns here.” Kickers now have to thread the needle instead of just blasting it as far as possible.
This year the league also altered the touchback rule, with kicks landing in the end zone now placed at the 30, and kicks landing in the “landing zone” that roll into the end zone placed at the 20.
All these rule changes were on a trial run basis last season but are now permanent.
Return teams now have time to set up legitimate plays. Instead of just hoping someone can break a tackle
and maybe get lucky, they're running coordinated blocking schemes, reverses, and trick plays that make kickoffs feel like actual football again. Prior to the rule change, 21.8% of kickoffs were returned, and this rose to 32.8% in 2024. This jump shows that teams are actually engaging with the play instead of avoiding it. Even better, injuries are way down - the concussion rate dropped 43% from the average over the last few years, and lower-body injuries on kickoff plays dropped by 48%.
Week one of this season was the real proof of concept though. Seventy-five percent of all kickoffs were returned, something that hasn’t been done in 15 years. Players are safer, fans are more entertained, and kickoffs actually matter in field position battles again. The NFL nailed it. Kickoffs are back to being real football.
Allison Kuzma is on track to make Hillsdale history
By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor
According to her coach, sophomore Allison Kuzma is on pace to make school history.
“I think she will walk out as one of the most, if not the most decorated, long distance runners here at Hillsdale,” said head cross country coach R. P. White.
Mere weeks into her second year at Hillsdale, Kuzma won her first meet of the season, the Hillsdale Cross Country Invite, at Hayden Park on Sept. 5. Kuzma finished the 5K race in 18.20.3 with a 50 second lead.
“The goal was to start pret-
ty conservative,” Kuzma said. “My goal was to lead the team through a little bit of a slower mile, and then finish strong. So I was able to execute that pretty well.”
At the Michigan State University invitational Sept. 12, Kuzma finished 18th individually with a PR of 21:02.3, the fastest time by Hillsdale women’s cross country since 2023.
According to one of Kuzma’s mentors on the team, senior Anna Roberts, Kuzma doesn’t just excel individually. She contributes greatly to team culture.
“From the start, she’s changed our program for the better,”
Roberts said. “She’s been a really good example for all the girls of how to balance being a top-level athlete with doing school and social things and pouring into others and taking care of herself and making time for her faith.”
Roberts calls Kuzma one of the most humble people she has ever met. Roberts said a defining example of Kuzma as a teammate is what Kuzma does after a race.
“Immediately after she finishes — even a couple of weeks ago at Hayden, when she won the race — she turns around and starts cheering on her teammates as they’re finishing, asking them how their race went, never mentioning that she had just won,” Roberts said.
It’s a common experience, Roberts said, for Kuzma’s friends and teammates to have to ask her about her accomplishments to get her to mention them.
“She’s proud of herself and proud of her accomplishments,” Roberts said.
“But she’s really good at not making everything about her.”
Kuzma says she appreciates the team aspect of her sport.
“At the end of the day,
you’re the one running, but there is so much more of a team aspect to cross country than you think,” Kuzma said. “Knowing that your teammates care a lot about a meet helps push you internally — knowing that you are all working together for the same goal.”
It was the team aspect that drew Kuzma to Hillsdale in the first place. Though Kuzma first considered a larger school with a Division I program, her mom recommended Hillsdale as a place that aligned with their family’s values. When Kuzma visited bigger schools, she said she felt lost.
“As soon as I walked onto Hillsdale’s campus, I felt a lot of peace about it,” Kuzma said. “It was God speaking to me and letting me know this was my place.”
On her visit, Kuzma met Roberts for the first time.
“She showed me that running is something you work hard and do, but it’s also not who you are,” Kuzma said. “Obviously, we love our sport, but it shouldn’t be all-consuming like I saw in the other schools I visited.”
According to Kuzma, she can see the fruits of her sport in everyday life.
“The ability to push my body
and overcome all that suffering has allowed me to be more confident in the classroom and in meeting people,” Kuzma said.
Kuzma said she hopes to make nationals this year, especially as a team.
“We have really good freshmen — very talented athletes, but also they mesh so dynamically with the team culture,” Kuzma said. “We’re just so much closer this year. Individually, I hope to make all-American for cross country.”
White said he has high hopes for Kuzma’s sophomore season and career at Hillsdale.
“She’s extremely humble, and I think as long as she continues to
Charger Chatter
What's your best conspiracy theory?
That being near a charging phone causes some sort of sickness or disfunction.
What's the opposite of what you want to be when you grow up?
A salesperson.
What is one hobby you’ve always wanted to try?
I think pickleball would be pretty fun.
Compiled by Martha Kennedy
Robert Thompson, Golf
If you could star in one Pixar movie, what movie would it be and who would you play?
Lightning McQueen in Cars.
If you could bring anyone to Hillsdale to teach a class, who would it be? Elon Musk to teach a class on AI.
What is the most underrated thing about your home state of North Carolina?
Probably the weather because I took it for granted until coming to Hillsdale.
acknowledge and actualize her potential, she will do tremendous things,” White said.
Photo Courtesy| Hillsdale College Athletic Department
Kuzma at the 2025 Hillsdale XC home opener. Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
Kuzma finished third in the NCAA Outdoor Track Nationals 10k. Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
Football
Chargers start conference play with away loss
By Christian Papillon Assistant Editor
Senior kicker Jude Barton booted a 25-yard field goal for the first points of his college career, but the Hillsdale football team suffered a 26-9 loss against the Ashland University Eagles Sept. 20, placing the Chargers 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
“Jude has worked really hard and has come a long way since last year,” head coach Nate Shreffler said. “There is a tremendous amount of competition at that spot, so we’ll see what happens moving forward.” Barton was recruited last
year from the Hillsdale men’s club soccer team and joined the football team mid-season his junior year.
The Eagles opened the scoring with a touchdown late in the first quarter.
Hillsdale had a chance to draw even when freshman tailback Ben Ngishu scored a touchdown on a 23-yard run, but Ashland blocked Hillsdale’s extra point attempt to hold its 7-6 lead.
The Eagles capitalized on several Charger mistakes throughout the game, including a third-quarter fumble recovery that extended Ashland’s lead to 20-6.
After forcing a turnover on
Women's Tennis
Fall invite brings tough competion
By Sophia Douglass Collegian Reporter
The Hillsdale women’s tennis team won 15 of their 39 matches at the Chargers Fall Invitational Sept. 19-20. The Hillsdale players battled against competitors from the University of Findlay, Walsh University, and Wayne State University.
Both junior Ane Dannhauser and sophomore Briana Rees made the semifinals of the A singles bracket. Rees fell to Malak Arafat of Wayne State in her semifinal match, while Dannhauser continued to the bracket’s championship before losing the match after three intense sets.
Both Chargers in the B singles bracket won a match in the consolation bracket, with freshman Dimitra Papastavrou beating her competitor from Walsh University in two sets while sophomore Julia Zlateva defeated her opponent from Walsh University after winning 10-8 in their intense third set.
Freshman Esther Sura took third place in the C singles bracket, and senior Megan Hackman took third in the D singles bracket after defeating one player from Wayne State and another from Findlay University. Hackman said that this first chance playing conference teams has made her excited for the spring.
“Everyone is adjusting well and the team is looking good,” Hackman said. “We are excited for the spring and I think we will have a strong season, especially with our new freshmen.”
Sophomore Emma Palus won the D bracket consolation title, beating one player from Wayne State and another from Walsh University.
In the A doubles bracket, Dannhauser and Rees finished in fourth place, defeating a team from Walsh State. Meanwhile, Palus and Sura scored a 6-4 win in the B bracket against another Walsh team.
“We did better at this invitational than at the previous one,” Palus said. “It’s tennis, so someone will always win and someone will always lose, but we need to push ourselves for this next competition.”
The Chargers’ next competition will be the ITA Midwest Regional in Caledonia, Michigan, Oct. 4-6. At this event, the top Division II teams from the Midwest will be competing for regional titles and a spot in the ITA Cup, the NCAA Division II singles and doubles national championship, which will take place Oct. 16-19 in Rome, Georgia.
“We just need to work on getting our stamina up,” senior Bella Spinazze said. “Fortunately we will have three days of matches in two weekends. They will help get our physical and mental stamina up to where it needs to be before the start of the spring season.”
downs, Ashland scored a field goal with 3:20 left in the game to move the game to its final result.
The Ashland defense controlled the Chargers’ passing game, holding the team to 49 passing yards with five sacks.
Ngishu led the team with 141 rushing yards on 20 carries.
to continue, which should help the passing game.”
Sophomore receiver Andrew Konieczny said the team is ready to move on to the next game.
“We have shown glimpses of really good things, so we know what we are capable of.”
“The running game took a step in the right direction,” Shreffler said. “I expect that trend
“We have to keep playing to our strong suits and not beat ourselves,” Konieczny said. “We can't linger on the outcomes of previous games and take it one game at a time.”
Junior receiver Shea Ruddy said the Chargers are going to work on having the passing and running games compliment one another.
“We’re going to try and use the running game we have to open up the pass a little bit more this week,” Ruddy said.
“We have good concepts. We just need to use them.”
Shreffler said he saw positives from the team on defense.
“Defensively, we did a solid job minimizing Ashland’s big plays and made it difficult for them to run the ball,” Shreffler said. “Generating turnovers and improving our defense against the quick passing game will be a point of emphasis this week.”
Konieczny expressed confidence that the team will continue to improve over the course of the season.
“We have shown glimpses of really good things, so we know what we are capable of,” Konieczny said. “If we can continue doing those good things we will be successful as a team.”
Hillsdale has finished with at least a .500 record in conference play since joining the GMAC in 2017.
The Chargers will next face Kentucky Wesleyan University during its annual Homecoming game Sept 27. with kickoff at 2 p.m.
Conference games open on home court
By Grace Brennan Assistant Editor
The Hillsdale volleyball team lost its first two in-conference games Sept. 19-20 in the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena, now standing 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
On Friday night the Chargers lost to the Ohio Dominican University Panthers, and on Saturday afternoon lost against the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets. In both games the Chargers lost three of four sets.
The Chargers had a rough start on Friday, but fought back in the third set with 19 kills, winning the set 25-18. The Chargers led the fourth set with three service aces but after a back-and-forth with two kills from senior Adi Sysum,
Pierce said. “We became a lot more aggressive while serving, made more plays defensively, and our hitters were finding open spots on the court to score, helping us to pull out the second set win.”
Set three was dominated by the Chargers 9-0 until the Yellow Jackets took over at point 10 for an exciting back-and-forth. The set was an even 19-19, but in the end the Yellow Jackets won set three.
The Chargers were strong in their aces and blocks, but couldn’t overcome the Yellow Jackets’ 65 kills compared to Hillsdale’s 48.
Junior Emory Braswell led the Chargers offensively. She finished set four with 14 kills, 12 digs, and two service aces, and sophomore Caroline Lanicek added 12 kills and four blocks.
the Panthers went on a 7-0 run, winning the match.
The next day, the Chargers faced the Yellow Jackets, winning set two 25-22, but taking the loss for sets one, three, and four.
Junior Chloe Pierce said the team has been focusing on consistency in their aggression from set to set, something that will help them as they look forward to future games.
“In our second match against Cedarville, we really found momentum and didn’t let up,”
“I’m grateful to have been able to lead my team in kills, however I know there is still more I can give to my team,” Braswell said. “I’m thankful for another week of practice where we can work hard together and find more ways to score.”
Head coach Chris Gravel said the team kept high spirits throughout both games and are all the more determined to perform better in the next game.
“We played hard, but we’re better than what we showed,” Gravel said. “So we can make
great plays, but we haven’t reached that consistency yet.”
Sophomore Ava Caggiano went to Saturday’s game against Cedarville and said she enjoyed seeing the Chargers give their all.
“They definitely stayed motivated till the end,” Caggiano said.
The Chargers are going to give special attention to their offense this week in practice, according to Gravel.
“We’re going to have some
very specific things that we’re going to work on, as far as offense, so that we can put the ball away more,” Gravel said. “Right now, we need to generate an offense that can score more points quickly.”
Hillsdale will travel to Midland, Michigan, to face off against Northwood University on Friday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m., competing for “The Jack” All Sports traveling trophy, an annual award given to the champion.
Freshman Esther Sura reaches to keep ball in play. Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
Culture
Ballet Hartford performs classics and originals
By Grace Brennan AssistA nt Editor
The sounds of Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos” filled Markel Auditorium Sept. 20, introducing the dancers of Ballet Hartford. Choreographed by Artistic Director Claire Kretzschmar, the dance immediately captivated the audience with Ballet Hartford’s first performance at Hillsdale College.
Ballet Hartford is a nationally and internationally acclaimed ballet company located in the heart of Connecticut.
The department of theatre and dance invites a professional dance company to perform once a year as part of the Professional Artist Series, according to Assistant Professor of Dance and Director of Dance and Tower Dancers Holly Hobbs.
Kretzschmar visited Hillsdale College last spring to teach Tower Dancers a master class about the ballet she choreographed, the “Raffaella Ballet.” According to Hobbs, the department decided to invite Kretzschmar back, this time with Ballet Hartford, to perform “Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos,” “The Sleeping
Beauty Wedding Pas de Deux,”
“Concerto for Harp,” and “A Ceremony of Carols.” Kretzschmar choreographed both “Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos,” and “A Ceremony of Carols.”
“Given Claire’s exceptional dance experience as soloist with the New York City Ballet, we felt that it would be an honor to bring the company to Hillsdale College,” Hobbs said.
Tower Dancer and sophomore Lily Jane Turner said she was very excited to see Kretzschmar perform, and that she loved having her as a guest dance instructor in the spring.
“Her love for ballet is intoxicating. She made everyone feel beautiful,” Turner said.
Kretzschmar danced “Concerto for Harp” solo, while the rest of the ballet was performed by principle dancers, corps de ballet, and apprentices.
According to professional dancer of Ballet Hartford, Jayda Hazelett, member of corps de ballet, the performance showcased Ballet Hartford’s most classic pieces.
“This specific performance is a mixed repertoire, mixed pieces that our director Claire
Kretzschmar has choreographed,” Hazelett said. “So this is a sampling of Ballet Hartford and our original works.”
Before the performance, Hazelett said she hoped the audience would take the performance as a gift and leave feeling happier because of it.
“Hopefully the audience re-
nata Two Pianos,” was cute and polite, according to Turner.
“Because it was Mozart’s piano movement, it was very sprightly piano, all their movements were focused on their feet,” Turner said. “There was a lot of emphasis on the footwork of point, dancing really cute and prancing around.”
“I think dance has this way of communicating to an audience, taking them out of whatever kind of day they had and lifting them to this beautiful place.”
ceives it as a gift, because we love to do it and give it to people,” Hazelett said. “I think dance has this way of communicating to an audience, taking them out of whatever kind of day they had, lifting them into this beautiful place. In our case, this performance is pretty joyful. So hopefully people will leave feeling rejuvenated.”
The first piece, “Mozart So-
The second piece was “The Sleeping Beauty Wedding Pas de Deux” performed by principle dancers Maggie Bucko and Daniel Cook. The “Pas de Deux” is a classic ballet which tells the story of Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré’s wedding, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The performance was exceptionally captivating as the two moved in perfect unison, beautifully
showcasing what Ballet Hartford is capable of, according to Turner.
The “Concerto for Harp” performance, danced by Kretzschmar, was both lighthearted and sorrowful, according to Turner.
“It was very up and down emotionally,” Turner said. “It started out very light and happy with the pink background, and she was smiling, but then it turned purple, and the music got almost sad, and her smile stopped, and she kept looking down. She looked more contemplative, but then it got happy again, and the piece ended with a resolved note.”
Turner pointed out that Kretzschmar was not dancing on pointe, and said it helped create the light atmosphere.
“I think it added to the piece because she seemed to be walking on clouds, and she looked very unrestrained,” Turner said. “It was also not noisy, which I think made the whole performance less stiff, which was warm and inviting.”
The last piece, “A Ceremony of Carols,” set to a choral composition, is a Ballet Hartford classic, according to Hazelett.
Junior Maria Grazia Stroik said “A Ceremony of Carols” was a beautiful representation of religion expressed in dance.
“In ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ there’s faith, there’s religion behind it, the nativity, and the story of Christ,” Stroik said. “It’s also used with contemporary music, and music that has vocal and choral music in it, which was really interesting. And I think it’s an important tool that people don’t necessarily see, the correlation between dance and religion.”
Tower Dancer and junior Victor Fernandes said he was very pleased to see Ballet Hartford perform.
“It was a wonderful, high caliber ballet. It was great to see on Hillsdale’s campus,” Fernandes said.
Ballet Hartford’s performance well represented the standard of classical ballet, according to Stroik.
“I thought the performance was a beautiful representation of what classical ballet should be,” Stroik said. “And I’m so glad that Ballet Hartford was able to have the opportunity to come to Hillsdale College.”
Behind the scenes: how the winners raised their banners
By Grace Brennan AssistA nt Editor
Seniors Cecilia Jansen and Maria Schmid didn’t start painting the Off-Campus Coalition’s banner until Saturday. But by Sunday night, they had created the winning work of art for the first event of this year’s homecoming competition.
The top five teams in this year’s space-themed Banner Drop were announced Monday, ranking in order from first to fifth: OCC, Olds, Niedfeldt, Kalloway, and Simpson.
Jansen and Schmid came up with the @hcadmartians Instagram theme of OCC’s banner on the porch of their off-campus house, West Wing. They knew if they could cover all the bases the judges look for yearly, they could place.
“There’s always so much controversy surrounding banner judging, so I wanted to make sure that our banner incorporated all the aspects the judges were looking for: creativity, neatness, theme incorporation, and overall impression,” Jansen said. “I figured if we came up
with a creative enough idea, we’d be able to nail the rest of the categories with strong composition and good craftsmanship.”
With some dedication, they
got the banner done in time for the midnight drop Sunday evening.
“We nailed the bedsheet to my housemate Maria’s wall and hung up newspapers to protect the wall from the paint,” Jansen said. “We used a projector to trace the outlines of the composition and freehanded the rest of it. I’d say overall the banner was a process of procrastination, tears, and just the right amount of cuss words.”
According to junior Lyndi Klacik, the Olds banner took inspiration from the 1960s Space Race. She said they wanted a theme recognizable but also creative and new.
“For our final design, we decided on a movie poster style
with fun elements like the disco ball UFO,” Klacik said.
Olds Residence women gave up entire afternoons to work on the banner and spent more than 100 hours painting, Klacik said. They did not face disasters while making the banner, but on the way up the hill, they thought their banner would be destroyed by the rain.
“When it came time to bring the banner up to the union, it was pouring outside,” Klacik said. “Lightning was flashing, and we thought the banner would get soaked. We threw a fuzzy robe over it and booked it to the union. We came in fully drenched, but the banner was safe, and we have a memory we’ll never forget.”
The Niedfeldt Residence
banner, which took third place, was created in 30 hours by junior Caleb Ostella and other residents of Niedfeldt. According to Ostella, the theme of the banner was inspired by space comics from the 1960s and ’70s.
“I debated a lot of other ideas, such as ‘Interstellar,’ ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ and ‘Star Wars,’” Ostella said. “But I ultimately found the comic book idea to be more unique and interesting.” Ostella said the process behind creating the banner was adaptive.
“I designed the banner digitally, doing some photo-bashing and normal painting techniques, and free-handed the design onto the banner with a marker,” Ostella said. “I used some random objects in the Niedfeldt basement as straight edges — a screen door and a picture frame, I think — taped the lettering and various larger blocks, then painted it using acrylic in parts refining it as it progressed.” Ostella said the process was well worth the time. “I really enjoyed working on the banner with my dorm mates, and am proud it represents Niedfeldt this year,” Ostella said.
Students reveal their work at banner drop. Courtesy | Gabe Beckwith Freshman Josiah Manna paints the “Kalloway” banner.
Courtesy | Mason Settergren
Senior Cecilia Jansen poses with OCC’s banner.
Courtesy | Cecilia Jansen Olds Girls put the finishing touches on their banner. Courtesy | Lyndi Klacik
C U L T U R
New Twenty One Pilots album ‘Breach’ breaks records
By Fara Newell Collegian Freelan C er
Twenty One Pilots’ latest album “Breach,” is a resounding success. In its first week, “Breach” is record-breaking and recognized for its creative excellence. Although the sounds are new and inventive, “Breach” is full of echoes from past albums, making the album both exciting and familiar.
Twenty One Pilots released “Breach” on Sept. 12 hitting the No. 1 ranking on Billboard 200. “Breach” streamed 200k units, which not only superseded the success from the band’s hit album “Blurryface,” but topped debut number from any other rock album this decade, making “Breach” the most successful rock album of the 2020s so far.
“Breach” also sold 72k vinyl
records, Sept. 12-18, making it the top-performing vinyl sales week in the modern era.
“Breach” is 12 tracks of maximalist rap/rock with gritty lyrics and explosive, genre-blending production. Songs range from rap-heavy, electronic anthems like “The Contract,” to moody, painful ballads like “Cottonwood.”
Twenty One Pilots’ latest album includes funky songs like “Robot Voices” and a 14-yearold song called “Downstairs.”
“Breach” concludes a decade-long story that duo Tyler Joseph and Joshua Dun have been telling since “Blurryface.” The story arc in past albums focuses on the theme of repeated cycles, and consistently uses upbeat tunes despite deep, heavy lyrics, and “Breach” is no exception.
The second track, “RAWFEAR,” has a bouncy,
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Play’ is unremarkble
By Isaiah Sasser Collegian Freelan C er
British popstar Ed Sheeran’s new album “Play” is dull, and does not make use of his full talent. Yet it became an instant success when released Sept. 12, now his ninth record to hold the No. 1 spot in the United Kingdom and No. 5 in the United States.
The initial track is similar to that of Sheeran’s 2017 album “Divide.” The leads of both albums are both upbeat, rapbased tracks with similar refrains. The first track of “Divide,” “Eraser,” is punchier and has better flow, while “Opening,” from “Play” has less adventurous production and feels more tame.
pop-leaning beat despite its frightening title. It falls in line with the band’s tendency to write heavy lyrics alongside upbeat tunes, and includes the theme of repeated cycles. In “RAWFEAR,” Joseph says that life moves in cycles, “never slowing down.” The line “learning all that really matters is a flow and painful lesson” in the bridge indicates that Joseph reconciles himself to accept the pace of life, though he fears it.
tion of “you tore me up more than you know” in the bridge speaks to the pain of grief and the aching desire to tell a loved one how much they are missed.
Joseph wrote the ninth track, “Cottonwood,” about his grandfather’s death, but the song is relatable to anyone who has experienced loss.
The heartfelt, haunting repeti-
“I look back in time through a telescope/ I’ve been catching my reflection looking” from “Cottonwood” seems to be the anthem of Twenty One Pilots’ latest album. Joseph makes sure that his listeners look back in time with him; the album satisfies longtime fans by weaving in callbacks from their previous music.
The album opens with “City Walls,” which includes a memory held by longtime fans. In the outro, Joseph
screams “entertain my faith,” which is an exact quotation of an emotional lyric in “Holding Onto You,” a song from Twenty One Pilots’ second album, “Vessel.”
The lines “My tattoos only hurt when meaning fades/ I think my skin got worse with good intentions,” in the eighth track, “Center Mass,” repeats sentiments from “Doubt,” a song in “Blurryface,” which says “want the markings made on my skin/ to mean something to me again.”
By coupling old references and new beats, Twenty One Pilots succeeds in giving the new album a personal feel.
“Breach” concludes with the final track, “Intentions.”
At first glance, “Intentions” is a contemplative song that hints at the band’s theme of repeated cycles: “I am starting all over again.” However,
in true creative form, Twenty One Pilots wrote a surprising twist into their final track. The song reverses the piano and backing vocals from “Truce,” a song from the 2012 album “Vessel.” The songs are mirrors of one another; when “Intentions” is reversed, it plays the piano and backing vocals from “Truce” with impressive clarity.
In the lyric “I look back in time through a telescope/ I’ve been catching my reflection looking,” in “Cottonwood,” Joseph seems to say that in hindsight, he can see that his sights have always been set on this ending. The callbacks laced throughout the albums bounce the listener back and forth from past to present, inviting fans to look deeper and speculate what meaning each callback contributes to the new songs.
MacDonald delivers hope in dark times
By Daniel Johnson Collegian r eporter
After the first six tracks, the album begins to blend together. The final five songs in particular drag the whole work down. These tracks would be fine as background music at a wedding, but not for much else.
Other songs in “Play” are upbeat, such as “Azizam,” standing out for its particular catchiness. “Azizam” is notable for its Eastern influence, as well as the tracks “Sapphire” and “Symmetry,” which both feature Hindi refrains.
Another early highlight, “Old Phone,” evokes classic Ed Sheeran balladry, acoustic guitar driven with feel-good chords. The track offers a reflective assessment of nostalgia, with Sheeran singing of the titular old phone and its associated memories of being “best left there in the past, where it belongs.”
“Kukushka” by
Viktor Tsoi and Kino
When I taught in Kyiv and Moscow, on weekend evenings I would see young people in parks or on street corners, someone with a guitar, and this was nearly always one they played. Pensive and haunting, it contemplates life and fate.
“Will I lay like a rock or burn like a star?”
The exception is the eighth track, “A Little More,” an invective breakup song built over a vibey backing track. Sheeran takes some rare risks with “A Little More,” and the variance in song structure and general sound goes a long way.
Thematically, the album feels unfocused. About twothirds of the runtime is occupied by slow ballads about his relationships, while the other third is fit for dancing at the club.
This is to be expected for a typical Ed Sheeran album, but “Play” differs from his earlier work because none of the songs are particularly memorable. “Play” has no equivalent to “Castle on the Hill,” “The A Team,” or even “Bad Habits.”
The production, songwriting, and vocal performances are very bland, especially compared to his earlier work. Sheeran manages to make a perfectly listenable album, but fails to outdo himself or push the envelope in any way.
Conservative rapper Tom MacDonald released a moving single titled “CHARLIE” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The lyrics are mournful but hopeful and MacDonald delivers a song that deserves the acclaim it received.
The song departs from MacDonald’s typical musical style which includes heavybass, rap, and mild profanity. “CHARLIE” is a soft acoustic ballad expressing MacDonald’s deep admiration and sorrow for Kirk and his family matching the song’s contemplative and emotional themes.
The opening lyrics sum up the tragic situation: “Shot down and he was barely 31… He left behind a wife and a daughter and a son.”
MacDonald gets straight to the point in the opening verse, and it almost catches you off guard. The lyrics remind us
how simply awful this event is. A young man, hardly in his thirties was murdered by a deranged leftist. But the assassin didn’t just kill a political pundit; he killed a son, a father, a husband.
MacDonald also balances his sadness with political fatigue. He sings: “And I’m so tired of the hatred and the narratives… They shot and killed the father, sent a message to Americans.”
The weighty subject of Kirk’s death combined with the soft beat of the drums and strumming of the guitar creates a stark musical contrast. It is firm in combating what he believes to be dangerous politics, but remains solemn. After all, MacDonald wants to make sure the song remains a tribute to Kirk as much as anything else. And he walks the line very well.
Later in the song, MacDonald’s lyrics reinforces his fatigue: “And I’m so tired of the left and all the wokery... Scared
I might be next to die when I’m just buyin’ groceries.”
These lyrics pull at the heartstrings. MacDonald, brings out the emotion in his voice, and confronts the listener with a hard decision. There is a tension in what he says and what he seems to believe: one the one hand he advocates for free speech. On the other hand, he wonders whether free speech is safe. The lyrics show that politics in America are reaching a boiling point. Still, his harsh words and counternarrative lay over a soft, almost pleasant beat, holding in tension mourning, anger, and fear. He asserts that there is no room for ideas or discussion in a world where individuals think that it is virtuous to assassinate and openly celebrate the deaths of their political opponents. If this open celebration of Kirk’s death goes on without consequences, conservatives really will be in danger even at the grocery store.
Professors’ Picks: Charles Steele
“The Master and Margarita”
Associate Professor of Economics
Tiger”
MacDonald closes with the lines, “Pray that God will take care of us… And I can’t just be quiet, so I gotta be brave/ ‘Cause this is America, lately it’s scarin’ us/ But one good man can change it all in a day.” Finally, the tension between the lyrics and the music beneath finds a sort of resolution. While things are bad now, and while MacDonald seems to believe things will get better before they get worse, he maintains the hope that America could once again become a great place if those who love it are willing to fight. MacDonald does an excellent job in celebrating Kirk’s legacy with the heartfelt lyrics that steer clear of sap. The ambient guitar and drums almost make it feel like Kirk is sitting there, right alongside the listener. It is a eulogy, a warning, and a call to hope that many Americans need right now.
Tom MacDonald released his single the day Kirk died.
The album cover for “Charlie.”
Courtesy | Apple Music
by Mikhail Bulgakov
visits Soviet Moscow in the 1930s. Pontius Pilate agonizes over the crucifixion of Jesus. A novelist (the Master), suppressed by Soviet authorities, vanishes, and Margarita, his lover, desperately hunts for him. Bulgakov winds these disparate threads into a single tale. Another great work that could not be published until well after Stalin’s death.
Steele on a hiking trip. Courtesy | Charles Steele
The album cover for “Play.” Courtesy | Spotify
The album cover for “Breach.” Courtesy | Spotify
Compiled by Cassandra Devries Collegian RepoRteR
FEATURES
‘A time machine’: Dawn Theater to welcome original 1925 Wurlitzer
By Moira Gleason Executive Editor
A 100-year-old theater pipe organ — bells, whistles, and cymbals included — will return to its original home in Hillsdale’s Dawn Theater this fall.
“It’s in original condition. It’s never been messed with,” said John Ourensma, professional organist and former Director of Music at Hillsdale First United Methodist Church. “It needed total restoration, but it hadn’t been hacked up and added to
to replicate an orchestra that could be played by one person,” said Chicago-based pipe organ conservator Jeff Weiler, whose company restored the organ for the Dawn. “In addition to some very orchestrally-voiced organ pipes, there were things like a xylophone, a glockenspiel, drums of all kinds, cymbals, and some effects that were specifically included for the accompaniment of silent films. That could be birdwhistles, doorbells, horse hooves, fire gongs.”
The pipe organ is one of more than 20,000 produced be-
or ruined to the point where it couldn’t work again. It just needed some loving TLC.”
The Wurlitzer pipe organ was originally installed in the Dawn Theater in 1925 but fell out of use and was removed by the 1940s. It will soon return to its original venue after two additional installations, several moves to different storage facilities, and a three-year restoration process.
“These instruments were the voice of silent film, and they were intended basically
tween 1910 and 1943 by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company in North Tonawanda, New York, according to Weiler. Common during the inter-war period, theater pipe organs were used to accompany silent films and vaudeville shows. When it returns to the Dawn, the instrument will be one of only about a dozen Wurlitzer theater organs still working and installed in their original venues.
The instrument places the Dawn firmly on the national cultural stage, Weiler said.
“If you were a teenager in the
’20s, the rage of the day was going to the silent movies with a whiz-bang theater organist going at it,” Ourensma said. “They were like rock stars of the day, and it’s really hard for us 100 years later to really get a sense of what that was like. We think it’s just old-fashioned history, but at the time, it was the rage.”
The pipe organ spent most of its lifetime in storage but never left Hillsdale County. With the rise of “talkies” in the 1930s, the theater had no use for the organ. The organ was donated to Hillsdale College in 1944, ac-
2004. Not knowing anything about it, he contacted Ourensma.
“Horton called me and said ‘Hey I’ve got this organ and I don’t know what to do with it. What do you think?’” Ourensma said. “And I went over to look at it, and I was stunned that it was a classic Wurlitzer pipe organ.”
After further research, Ourensma and Horton determined it was the same organ that had been installed in the Dawn in the ’20s. Soon, the Dawn wanted it back.
cording to Hillsdale Collegian archives. It was installed in the top floor of Central Hall, which was used by the Tower Players for theater performances at the time. The organ eventually ended up in storage until the 1970s, when Hillsdale local and organ enthusiast Jerry Jordan purchased it from the college and set it up in his barn in Jonesville.
After another few decades in storage, Hillsdale resident and then-owner of the Dawn Theater Jeffrey Horton bought the instrument from Jordan in
The Friends of the Dawn, a volunteer organization that facilitates fundraising and programming for the theater, received a significant grant from the Hampson Albert Sisler Foundation for the restoration and reinstallation of the organ. The project was also supported by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Though it is the smallest organ his company has ever restored, Weiler said the process involved a deep cleaning of the entire instrument and meticu-
lous refurbishment. “This instrument will function and sound exactly as it did a century ago. That makes this a time machine,” Weiler said. “When you go and hear it, you know that you’re experiencing the same sounds, the same musical tonalities, that people would’ve experienced 100 years ago.”
He said his company used materials and techniques when restoring the instrument that will allow the instrument to be restored again 75 years from now and preserved for future
centerpiece of downtown Hillsdale, according to Friends of the Dawn Chair Mary Wolfram.
“We think this is really special that we have the original organ, and it’s really going to maybe drive other events,” Wolfram said. “We hope it becomes a draw for the venue.”
Wolfram said a digital playback system will allow the organ to play on its own during events, similar to a player piano.
Ourensma, who taught organ at the college for four years, said he looks forward to trying his hand at the theater organ
generations.
After meeting its final fundraising goal over the summer, the theater is working to finish preparing the space for the organ. The building must be renovated to accommodate the organ console and pipes on both sides of the stage as well as a blower and a windline in the basement. The components of the percussion chamber were installed in the Dawn earlier this year.
Restoring the organ to its original glory is part of a larger project to make the Dawn a
and would like to see Hillsdale College organ students learn to play it as well.
In the spring, the Dawn hopes to invite professional organists to perform and to welcome school and community groups for educational concerts. The venue also plans to screen silent movies accompanied by the organ.
“It’s a one-man orchestra, really, and I think people will be just stunned to hear it,” Ourensma said.
Lee Harris is a radio broadcaster inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2024. Harris first went on air at 13 to do school reports on WGBB-AM on Long Island. Harris spent 30 years working with station 1010 WINS, which at one point amassed the largest cumulative audience of any locally-hosted radio program in the country. He is now CEO of RadioRedact. Harris visited campus Sept. 19, 2025.
How did you get on air at age 13? What was it like doing radio at such a young age?
I often say it’s a little weird to be doing in your 60s what you were doing at 13. It was a local radio station on Long Island where I grew up. At night, they would have some local high school and junior high school kids come in and do a thing called School Scope, and you would tell what was happening at the school: “We had a fire drill on Wednesday and Friday. It was franks and beans for lunch.” It was pretty pointless, except the idea was that you would tell your friends, “Hey, I’m going to be on the radio,” and they would tune in. And it would elevate the audience of this otherwise not-very-listened-to radio station.
Why did you pursue radio?
At the time I was looking into this, there weren’t a lot of other options in terms of what you could do in media. I did
have an underground newspaper in elementary school, so I guess I always had some inclination for being a media mogul, but radio was something you could kind of “fake up.” A bunch of friends and I had little FM transmitters that would cover maybe a block, and we took it very seriously. We built studios, we learned engineering, we learned programming, we learned management to a degree. So by the time I got involved with college radio, I had already worked in commercial radio and knew how to build a radio station.
In that group of classmates, several of them went professional, from bedroom radio to the Radio Hall of Fame. It was a common story back then. It wasn’t legal, by the way, technically speaking — these were literally pirate radio stations, and a few of them did get shut down by the Federal Communications Commission, but we always kept our power pretty low.
What happened when you were on air in New York City on the morning of 9/11?
It started out as a very ordinary day, as they always do. Then at 8:46 a.m., we got on the police scanner — we listened to police radio in the newsroom — “small plane hits World Trade Center.”
Well, all right, that’s pretty good as stories go. We did not yet understand it was an airliner — we thought it was a Cessna or a Comanche or something. So we get on the air with that. Then the second one hits at 9:01 a.m., and we
know what’s going on. I think my major contribution was to two things. One, when the second plane hit, and I was live on the air, and I said, “We are under a terrorist attack.”
Of course, nobody in a position of authority had said that yet or would say it for quite a while, but just deducing clear skies, two planes, 15 minutes, there was no other rational explanation. To myself, I said, “If somehow you are wrong, nobody will remember, but I don’t see how I could be wrong.” And I wasn’t. The other thing I think I did that was helpful is I kept a pretty calm demeanor on the air.
Did crime reporting in Chicago and New York City weigh on you?
I will tell you exactly the ex-
tent to which it weighed on me. I thought that the information was valuable to people, because it told you where you could go and where you couldn’t go. If you heard every morning that five people were shot in East New York, you probably figured you should stay clear of East New York. So when I stopped working on the morning show on WINS in 2023 and got a day job, I was a little astonished at first — I was taking the subway to work and standing there going, “Hey, how come nobody’s pushing me in front of the train?” Then I get out at Grand Central and go, “Why isn’t there a gun battle going on out here?” And I lived in the city, so I should have known better, but I was astonished by the normality of life, day to day, taking the subway
to work compared to what we were reporting on the radio. Now, the things we reported on the radio happened, and they were often tragic, but the reality was that they weren’t the entirety of life in New York, but they were the entirety of the newscast. And so you might get the impression that you were living in a war zone.
How did working around the country prepare you for working in New York City for 30 years?
I think it was extremely helpful, because a lot of people I’ve worked with were native New Yorkers who had never worked outside the market and had very little knowledge of how the rest of the country operated and thought. The general assumption was that everybody in the rest of the country was like New York, only dumber, particularly in the middle of the country. So having worked in the Midwest for the most part, and Southwest in the case of Phoenix, and having been a radio station owner operator in Wisconsin, I had a very different viewpoint when I came back to New York. So initially, people who didn’t know me thought I was some hick from the sticks because I had some of these viewpoints.
The best example of this would have been in 2016, the morning when Donald Trump was declared president-elect. I walked into the newsroom at about 2:30 in the morning, maybe 10 minutes after the announcement was made, and you would
have thought a bomb had gone off in that room — people were walking around, shell-shocked and dazed, and nothing had prepared them for that possibility — whereas now, if you were paying a little attention, it was pretty obvious that this could be, not would be, the outcome.
Are reporters in New York close-minded?
Well, it’s insular; it’s a bubble. When I started at 1010 WINS, there was an editor who had been there quite a while, and she gave what I thought at the time was a tremendous rule of thumb: nobody from listening to you on the air should be able to tell how you’re going to vote. I thought that was brilliant guidance. Then a few years later, I realized, you’re a news anchor in New York — everybody knows how you’re going to vote most of the time. Good rule, except because of the business you work in and the location of that business, your business is known to the general public because there’s a lot of hive mind.
How did you hear about Hillsdale?
I think most of my awareness of Hillsdale came from listening to the radio, because the college has done a tremendous outreach job to like-minded people. So by advertising and also doing advertisements on talk radio, I became very aware of Hillsdale, Dr. Arnn making appearances, and other people from the university. In my world, Hillsdale is very prominent.
The Wurlitzer console nearing the completion of restoration in the workshop. Courtesy | Jeff Weiler
Calvin Stockdale, Aidan Sullivan, and Toby Washburn (left to right) pose with the organ’s instrumentation. Courtesy | Mary Wolfram
A close-up of the console short key rail showing second touch stops and tremulants.
Courtesy | Jeff Weiler
Compiled by Megan Li and Lauren Bixler Features Editor and Assistant Editor
FEATURES
Sophomore spends summer on the trails at world’s largest youth camp
By Skye Graham Social Media Manager
Hours away from civilization, sophomore August Enman spent his summer in the rugged and mountainous backcountry of New Mexico.
Enman worked as a counselor at Philmont Scout Ranch, the world’s largest youth camp, which spans 140,177 acres of mountainous terrain. His particular campsite, Whiteman Vega, was the northernmost camp at Philm-
while on 12-day treks.
Enman’s job also included preparing trails for bikers to ride on, which took hours of physical labor.
“Trail maintenance was the most physically demanding part of my job,” Enman said. “We chopped a lot of trees, moved boulders, raked the trail, repaired holes, and moved fallen trees off the trail whenever there was a storm.”
Camp Director Thomas Frazier, Enman’s supervisor, said the trails that Enman
ont, located in the Carson National Forest. Whiteman Vega is one of around 35 staffed campsites that offer lodging and programming for visitors.
New groups of mountain bikers passed through the campsite every day. As a counselor, Enman took them on bike rides through the backcountry. Because Enman’s camp was far away from the ranch’s home base, most people stopped at Whiteman Vega
helped repair had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
Whiteman Vega had been closed for approximately five years until this summer, making maintenance on the trails incredibly time-consuming.
Enman and his colleagues helped conserve the bike trail near the ranch and did stream restoration for McCrystal Creek, a stream that flows adjacent to Whiteman Vega. The U.S. Forest Service allows the
ranch to use the land in exchange for these conservation efforts.
“Over 750 Scouts and advisors were able to enjoy all that the Whiteman flow trail has to offer,” Frazier said. “August did four miles of raking and helped with the reconstruction of multiple beams. Six fallen trees and countless overgrown scrub oaks were all removed from the trail in part due to August’s efforts.”
Frazier said Enman had a “work hard, play hard” mentality all summer, even while performing difficult physical labor.
“He would go out of his way to get the physically demanding chores done that nobody would want to do, often without being told,” Frazier said. “His engagement with the Scouts was above reproach. He had a special way of being able to connect with each Scout ensuring no one felt left out in both his individual interactions and lead-
ing group rides.”
Enman said his work at the camp was difficult but rewarding.
“The biggest thing I learned was the importance of taking initiative,” Enman said. “Things started working so much better when everyone started getting things done rather than waiting for someone to ask us to do it.”
Since Whiteman Vega was one of the most remote camps in the area, counselors had to communicate with family and friends through mail. Enman said he had a hard time adjusting to life without cell service.
“Contact with anyone outside of the camp was almost impossible,” Enman said. “It was really hard to keep up with my family and keep up with world events. There’s isolation that comes with being in such a connected world and not having that anymore.”
Enman said his time at the camp was fulfilling and he plans to return to the same
location next year to do the same job.
Enman said his favorite part of the job was helping campers have enjoyable experiences on the trails.
“A lot of them had never mountain biked before,” Enman said. “You get to introduce them to the hobby in such a cool way. I mean, it’s the mountains of New Mexico. They’re beginner trails, so they’re very safe.”
When they weren’t taking bikers on rides and doing
expected emergencies, including bicycle crashes.
“The hardest part of our job was dealing with injuries when participants would crash and get hurt,” Lutrell said. “We would have to perform first aid on them in the backcountry, hours away from the nearest city or cell service.”
As he settles back into campus life, Enman said the values he learned — hard work, leadership, and dedication — will stick with him beyond the trail.
maintenance, counselors at Enman’s location completed daily chores like fetching water from the well, making breakfast, and cleaning up around the campsite.
“I’d wake up a little before eight in the yurt, which was our common area,” Enman said. “I’d get my daily chores out of the way.”
One of Enman’s coworkers, Aidan Lutrell, said part of the job included handling un-
“I really lived in the present,” Enman said. “I was able to get eight hours of sleep every night, read my Bible more, and do things that I wouldn’t normally do when I have access to the internet.”
Quick Hits with Patricia Craig Aeschliman
Compiled by Malia Thibado Collegian Freelancer
In this Quick Hits, Assistant Professor of Classics Patricia Craig Aeschliman talks Renaissance polyphony, dictionaries, and her family’s new pet cat.
What do you believe is underrated about your subject?
Everything, to be honest. Classical Greek and Latin literature is undervalued. Reading it in the original was the foundation of Western education for centuries, and Latin was spoken in university classrooms for so long that the foundational literature in nearly every discipline is in Latin, from mathematics to psychology. Few people keep this in mind.
Are you a cat or dog person?
Certainly a dog person! But recently, through unforeseen circumstances, my family has acquired a cat, who hid himself in the undercarriage of our car, survived a ride down
M-99 unscathed, and has since endeared himself to us quite effectively.
What’s your favorite genre of music? Why?
Country music to get me smiling or dancing; Renaissance polyphony to help me pray and appreciate the beauty of man’s marvelous attempts to praise God.
If you could teach in any room on campus, what would it be?
Any room where the projector screen lands squarely on a whiteboard (so that I can mark it up).
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Peanut-butter-filled pretzels. Beach or mountains? Why?
Mountains! Sand and too much wind, an ocean either cold or hot, or the potential
for jellyfish stings can ruin a beach trip. Mountains allow for solitude or companionship, views of varied landscapes, exercise as you hike, exploration, learning about flora and fauna, and more.
What’s a non-serious lesson you learned in college that you would pass on?
Learn to use a dictionary.
Do you prefer large cities or small towns?
I actually prefer a mid-size city, one that has city amenities but minimal traffic.
If you didn’t teach classics, what would you do?
I’d like to be a special education teacher. Unless perhaps I could make it as a professional singer.
Aeschliman with her daughter, Antonia, hiking by the Potomac River this past summer.
Courtesy | Patricia Craig Aeschliman
Enman (back, right) poses with other Whiteman Vega Camp counselors.
Courtesy | August Enman
Camper takes in a sweeping view of the Carson National Forest.
Courtesy | August Enman
A view of Whiteman Vega, the northernmost camp at Philmont Scout Ranch. Courtesy | August Enman
