Hillsdale Collegian 1.24.19

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 142 Issue 14 - January 24, 2019

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Michigan House to consider legalizing ballot selfies By | Jordyn Pair Associate Editor A bill legalizing the “ballot selfie” is set to be resubmitted to the Michigan House of Representatives after the bill died on the floor at the end of 2018. The change in law is due in part to a 2016 lawsuit filed by two Hillsdale alumni to protest election laws prohibiting taking pictures of marked ballots.

The lawsuit has currently reached “summary judgment” and could soon be going to oral arguments, according to

Steve Klein ’05, the attorney for the case. The case was filed on behalf of Joel Crookston ’06, who posted pictures of a marked ballot in 2012. Filing the case started a preemptive fight against prohibition of First Amendment rights.

If passed, the bill would allow voters to take photos of their marked ballot in the polling place, as well as of their absentee ballot.

“I would argue you have a First Amendment right to share to the world how you voted,” said Rep. Steven Johnson (R-Wayland), a sponsor of

the bill.

But the issue is slightly more complicated than that.

Assistant Professor of Politics Adam Carrington said the law doesn’t technically break the First Amendment, since the ban applies to all ballots, regardless of the party. The government must still provide evidence that there is a reason for restricting speech, though, Carrington said.

“Public voting can be and historically has been subject to intimidation, bribery, recrimination, and other problems. Such voting doesn’t truly Jordyn Pair | Collegian

do what voting is supposed to do: express the consent of the governed,” Carrington said in an email. “What Michigan or other states would have to prove constitutionally in court is that selfie votes would undermine this principle.

Given that doing so would be voluntary, it could be a hard sell to courts that right now lean hard toward claims to free speech.”

The bill was originally submitted in March 2017 and made it past committee in late 2018, but it was not able to make it to the governor’s desk.

Government shutdown keeps WHIP students from working By | Regan Meyer Web Content Editor The federal government shutdown is keeping some students in the Washington Hillsdale Internship Program from starting their internships.

Students who participate in the program typically intern full time while taking evening classes. While some students are interning at private organizations, 10

are employed by government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the State Department. Six furloughed students are waiting out the shutdown with work for the Kirby Center.

“We’re doing great at the Kirby Center and taking each day as it comes,” Cassidy Syftestad, internship program coordinator, said in an email.

Junior Madeline Hedrick was set to work in the State Department as part of the career transitions team. At first, Hedrick didn’t hear from anyone in the department and didn’t know if she still had work.

“I was going to have a temporary internship at the Kirby Center,” Hedrick said.

“But if the shutdown went on for months, what was I going to do? See WHIP A2

Hillsdale students nominated for college radio awards By | Regan Meyer Web Content Editor Radio Free Hillsdale may add to its growing collection of awards with the announcement of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Awards finalists. Eight shows were named as finalists for the awards, all in different

categories.

The individual radio stations are responsible for submitting their work to the ISB panel for reviews. Finalists in each category are from the top 10 percent of their category. The winners of the awards will be announced as finalists in March at the annual IBS International

Conference in New York City.

“We’re compatible to stations and programs that have been in the IBS awards for years,” said Scot Bertram, general manager of the radio station. “It’s an indication of how serious the students take their craft and how good See Radio A2

which point Klein said he would be open to settling, he said.

“We supported the law. It had strong bipartisan support,” Klein said. “It would put the Secretary in the position of having to change the rules.”

Johnson said that with the support of the new Secretary, the bill could be passed within two years.

“This is clearly unconstitutional,” Johnson said. “It is our job as elected officials to make sure laws don’t take away our rights.”

Q&A: Arthur Laffer By | Brooke Conrad Features Editor

A water pipe burst in the entryway of the Grewcock Student Union Monday morning. See A2 for coverage.

The law would replace current elections laws and regulations, which prohibit the exposure of marked ballots. Someone caught taking a photo of a marked ballot could be at risk of having their vote forfeited.

Klein said this is not only a violation of the First Amendment, but also of due process.

But a change in rules could come sooner, at the discretion of the newly-appointed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. A change in rules without a legislative change could do the same thing, at

Art Laffer is a prominent supply-side economist who served as a member of former President Ronald Reagan’s economic advisory board and as an adviser for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. He is well-known for developing a theory about the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues, now referred to as the “Laffer Curve.” Laffer is founder and chairman of Laffer Associates in Nashville, an economic research and consulting firm for global financial markets.

He has written several books, including “Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status.” He delivered a lecture at Hillsdale College on Jan. 21 entitled “Trumponomics: An Economic Overview of America Today.”

The story goes that you first drew your famous Laffer Curve on a restaurant napkin. Can you tell me more about that night?

It wasn’t the first time ever.

I had used it in my classes for years and years. It’s a very straightforward concept that government, like any price-maker, can overprice a product and therefore get less revenues, and can underprice a product and therefore get less revenues as well. Now there were a series of dinners in Washington on and around 1974 where I did use it with regard to Jerry Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” — his WIN program — where he proposed a tax increase that would stop inflation, it would increase revenues and all that. I tried to explain to my classmate Dick Cheney, who was my classmate at Yale, and Don Rumsfeld, a dear friend, that you might not get as much revenue as you think.

Now you might get more revenue, but you sure as heck won’t get as much as the tax rate increase. And you might

See A2 for coverage of Laffer’s speech.

Art Laffer, a prominent economist, spoke at Hillsdale College Monday night.

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even get less revenue. And that was sort of a revelation to them, because before that time, if you raised tax rates by 10 percent, they assumed revenues went up by 10 percent.

And we know that’s not true, that revenues will not go up by 10 percent. They may go up by 9 percent, they may go up by 6 percent, they may even fall, but they won’t go up by 10 percent.

There’s a napkin in the Smithsonian, from me, that I believe was a re-creation two years later of the curve at dinner that became famous.

Someone asked me to re-do it as a neatly-written one. If you look at the one at the Smithsonian, it’s very precisely drawn, very neatly done. That’s not the sort of thing you would do in a heated conversation at dinner on a napkin.

You were a member of former President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board. What was one of your favorite memories from working in the Reagan administration?

Let me be really blunt about it. There are a lot of economists who work for the government and get their pay-

check from the government, and once you do that you lose your independence, you lose your integrity. These people will rebut arguments they know to be true in order to curry favors with their political benefactors, and I have no desire ever to have that be the case. When I was with Reagan, he didn’t pay me. I was on the president’s economic advisory board. I spent lots of time with him. There were times when he was miffed by me and my answers. He didn’t like them. But nonetheless I didn’t have to change my answers. I could give him my unvarnished, clear views. And it worked out pretty well.

He was not naturally a tax-cutter. I know everyone tells you he was and all that. They tell you he was a free-market conservative.

That’s not true. Ronald Reagan as governor was the biggest tax increaser in California history up to that point in time.

He was the biggest spender on social policies of any governor up to that point in time. He eliminated almost all the anti-abortion statutes in the state of California. That was the governor of California. By the time he got to be president, he was the best president we’ve ever had. He learned by his mistakes, and he evolved in becoming a really great, great person and president. And I have loved him dearly. But don’t think of him as being born in a manger with a star up in the sky. He was a human just like you and me.

Were you involved in the creation of the new tax law in 2017 that took effect on Jan.1, 2018?

Yes, I was very, very, very heavily involved — with the House, with the Senate, and with the administration. It sort of reflects all the things I believe to be wonderful in economics. I couldn’t have imagined a better bill for three major reasons: First, it cut the corporate tax rate

See Laffer A3

‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’: Craftsmen design chapel to last centuries By | Grace Houghton Collegian Reporter The columns march down both sides of the nave, and are bare now after shedding their protective plywood cases. In the middle of a quiet Thursday afternoon, several workers are fastening a few last tiles of the coffered plaster ceiling with the help of a bucket lift, finishing another arc of dusty white panels lining the arched ceiling. Bunches of colorful electrical wires are looped on themselves at regular intervals along the ceiling, anticipating chandeliers.

Standing on the bare concrete of the choir loft 24 feet above the ground, the permanence of the structure is laid bare. The chapel is designed to last for 300 years, according to several project craftsmen. Christ Chapel has Follow @HDaleCollegian

provided a unique opportunity for the craftsmen, from chief architect Duncan Stroik to stonemason and foreman Donny Lambert, to showcase their skills. New classically-designed chapels with the high-quality material and interior design of Christ Chapel are rarely built in the U.S. today, often due to lack of adequate funding. For Weigand Construction Senior Project Manager Kent Gilliom, the opportunity to collaborate on a project like Christ Chapel with the other contracted crews, including those specializing in such specific trades as limestone masonry and cast plaster ceilings, is a “once-ina-lifetime opportunity.”

Five-ton limestone columns and matching campus brick

As he and his team painstakingly welded, stacked, and mortared the chapel walls, stonemason Donny Lambert repeatedly trekked between Bloomington, Indiana, and Hillsdale “to double-check and triple-check the dimensions on the print because all these stones are hand-carved.”

The massive limestone columns in the nave are cut with a lathe and each weigh approximately 10,000 pounds.

The limestone is sourced from Bybee’s Stone Company, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana. Indiana is renowned for the quality and quantity of its limestone, and Bybee’s Stone in particular has quarried, measured, and cut stone for sections of the Pentagon reconstructed after 9/11. The peach-colored outside brick, that, line by line, wraps the cinderblock inner

structure, is custom-made for Christ Chapel by Beldon Brick in Canton, Ohio, at $1.40 a piece, according to specifications from Chief Administrative Officer Richard Péwé.

The brick masonry dome and massive structural stone pillars in particular set Christ Chapel apart. According to chief architect Duncan Stroik, “you don’t see new churches in America built with interior stone columns after World War II,” and the same holds for brick domes.

Since five or 10 years may easily go by between building projects on campus, and brick color catalogues change frequently, Péwé repeatedly searches for the closest color matches possible in each college building project.

“The most important thing is that we selected something really close,” he said. “If you

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were to get brick that was fired in Colorado and custom pieces that were fired in Illinois, you’re going to get different colored bricks and we would not have been happy with that.”

In order to get both the desired color and the custom-shaped pieces, including the concave entrance facing Central Hall, Péwé ordered both custom and regular bricks from the same manufacturer to maintain consistency and control costs.

Though Christ Chapel nearly brushes Grewcock Union and the Dow Leadership Center, the principal design reference point for the chapel was Central Hall.

“They’re not brother and sister, they’re cousins,” Péwé said of Christ Chapel and Central Hall.

Concrete and essential systems Christ Chapel is one of the most difficult projects Weigand has ever taken on, according to Weigand Project Superintendent Mark Shollenberger. Not only is the small size of the building site an obstacle — only 8 feet to the Dow hotel and 27 to the bookstore — but the “complexity of the details” also demands the highest attention and skill from the architects and builders, Shollenberger said.

Weigand Construction, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, built the 70,000-square-foot Biermann Athletic Center for Hillsdale College, and the company even features the multi-use facility on its website as an example of its

See Chapel B3 Look for The Hillsdale Collegian

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News

January 24, 2019

Laffer: ‘Best is yet to come’

Economist praises Trump administration policies By | Allison Schuster Assistant Editor Fully equipped with feelgood jokes and self-deprecating humor, Arthur “Art” Laffer, economist and former economic adviser to President Reagan, spoke on campus Monday night.

Laffer is considered the “father of supply-side economics,” and is most well-known for the “Laffer Curve,” which can predict the ideal tax rate to maximize government tax revenue by modeling the relationship between the two.

His speech, “Trumponomics: An Economic Overview of America Today,” centered on the nation’s economic state under President Trump, a topic on which Laffer recently wrote about. Working with Stephen Moore, current economic advisor to president Trump, Laffer co-authored the book, “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.”

Sophomore Owen Macaulay chose to attend the speech after learning about him in school.

“After studying Laffer’s developments as a student, it was interesting to hear such a renowned economist give his thoughts about the current economic state of our country,” Macauley said In between his story about fighting a kodiak bear and joking about his own height, he focused strongly on outlining the five pillars of prosperity: flat tax, spending restraint, sound money, good regulatory policy, and free trade.

He considers the following pillars to be the fundamentals of economic success for any government, evidenced by the flourishing economy during the Trump administration.

The first pillar which he

emphasized was the necessity of a low-rate, broad-base, flat tax. This, he said, creates the lowest incentive to avoid reporting income. The broad base leaves room for the lowest amount of loopholes, so there’s less places to put money aside from taxes.

He praised the effort of the Trump administration specifically in regards to this pillar.

“It’s the best first term of any administration I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Although he thinks the greatest tax bill in history was President Reagan’s, which he worked on, it was technically created during Reagan’s second term.

Secondly, spending restraint is extremely important, Laffer said. Government spending is technically taxation since the government doesn’t create resources. This is where Trump is lacking.

“There’s been no change in government spending,” he said. “But with taxes, he’s done a great job.”

Other important pillars are having sound money, meaning an interest rate that is too low or too high, and good regulatory policy, the latter of which Laffer said Trump has outdone himself.

“There’s no place that Trump has been better than in regulatory policy,” Laffer said.

“This is the most amazing administration with energy de-regulation that I’ve seen.”

The fifth pillar is free trade, which is critical to prosperity, Laffer said. He views America’s free trade policy as a “work in progress.” Based off conversations with President Trump, he said he believes him to be a free trader, despite actions possibly indicating otherwise. Once again, he echoed his high opinion of the Trump Administration’s

economic achievement.

“Never in such a short period of time has the administration accomplished so much, even trade policy,” Laffer said.

Despite opposition from many conservatives, even some outspoken Hillsdale professors, Laffer said Trump’s position does make sense.

Many other countries have more protections and Trump’s tariffs are a way of getting their attention to bring them to the table for the ultimate purpose of a free trade world.

“He is a negotiator,” Laffer said. “I think he will be successful.”

Laffer ended on a glowing overview of President Trump’s economic accomplishments, stating that from a purely economic standpoint, no administration has ever done better. Focusing on the unemployment rate, growth rate, and tax revenue specifically, Laffer highlighted the Trump administration’s achievements with real-life examples of the tax plan benefits.

Sophomore Lindsey Mertz thought Laffer’s praise was surprisingly reassuring.

“His optimism about the U.S. economy is important for our generation to hear amongst negative voices crying out about U.S. debt leading to our destruction,” she said.

Laffer said he’s extraordinarily happy with how things are going, and he’s looking forward to see what else President Trump can do.

“I really believe the best is yet to come,” Laffer said.

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Radio from A1

formed,” which is hosted by junior Kiara Freeman and sophomore Isabella Redjai and produced by senior Jordyn Pair, is a finalist for Best Talk Program.

“It’s a very well-produced show,” Bertram said about Miss Informed. “There’s been a lot of planning and format over the last two years. They really work at the craft.”

Freeman has been hosting the show since its debut episode two years ago.

“This is only our second year,” she said. “I never thought talking about these stupid things that we’re just having fun with is something that people would really enjoy. It’s funny that people responded well to just me talking.”

Senior and WRFH Sports Director Cole McNeely played a role in both broadcasts named as finalists for the awards. His and junior Martin Petersen’s broadcast of Hillsdale Academy vs Bellevue is a finalist for Best Men’s Basketball Play-byPlay, and his and Tyler Creager’s ‘18 Hillsdale College vs. Findlay broadcast was nominated for Best Baseball/Softball Play-by Play.

McNeely said it’s good to see his team’s hard work pay off.

“We’re calling baseball game outdoors in Michigan in early March and April.

It’s not always fun. We’re in mid-30 degree weather,” he said. “Having some recognition for the effort we put into that is a good thing.”

WHIP from A1

furloughed government employee that is back at work. Junior Jackson Frerichs secured a position at the Security and Exchange Commision in the division of corporate finance. He was notified over break that the SEC internship program was suspended indefinitely because of the government shutdown. Frerichs spent his first few days updating different alumni profiles and verifying their contact information. Now he and other students are currently doing research projects for Matthew Spalding, associate vice president and dean of educational programs for the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center.

“I’m looking into Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his religion,” Frerichs said.

“What was he actually? It’s a lot less prominent than other presidents.”

Once the students are done with their research, they are to submit a memo to Spalding that synthesizes the information they’ve gathered.

“Everyone is crossing their fingers that shutdown will end,” Frerichs said. “The

Kirby Center seems fully equipped to make this a fulltime internship.”

Frerichs experienced how the shutdown is affecting D.C. firsthand when he went to visit his brother in Bethesda, Maryland.

“I took the metro and he picked me up,” Frerichs said.

“He said the drive usually takes about 20 minutes, but because of the shutdown it took about six. There are definitely shorter commutes.

The drivers are happy about it.”

Hedrick said just listening to her coworkers talk about their month off gave her a different perspective on the shutdown.

“My coworkers were talking about what they had done for a month off,” Hedrick said. “Some cleaned their attics and basements; others had trips that were prescheduled. They had to come up with something to do, and there’s a lot of doubt about whether they’ll receive back pay. I’m seeing the tangible effects. Even without the politics, there’s such a tragic human aspect to it.”

they’ve become in such a short amount of time.”

The finalists could have broadcasted at any point in 2018, and some finalists have since graduated. Sarah Schutte and Chandler Lasch, both class of 2018, are finalists in the Best Specialty Show and Best Show Promotional Poster categories for their program “Wait, What Happened?”. Citizen Talk, hosted by graduate students Juan Davalos and Lynette Grundvig, is a finalist for Best Public Affairs Program. Junior Benjamin Dietderich is a finalist for two categories for his interviews with Ben Shapiro and John Bolton. “Miss In-

I was really freaking out. It was a miracle nobody got frustrated with me.”

This past Saturday, Hedrick heard from her supervisor who said she could come into the office. She went back on Tuesday, which was the office’s first day back at work in over a month.

“My department has a pocket of money that will keep us going for two weeks,” Hedrick said. “The part of the State Department that does orientations is still closed. I’m not oriented, and I don’t have my government ID. I have to be signed in as a guest.”

After her first day, it was up in the air whether Hedrick would be able to return.

For now, she’s riding out the two weeks of funding with the rest of the department.

“I really hope the government reopens,” she said.

“We’re doing a month-long retirement seminar in March. If we’re gone again in February, we can’t put that together.”

Hedrick is the only

‘Unpredictable timeline’ for naming New Dorm By | Julia Mullins Assistant Editor Since opening for residents last semester, the women’s New Dorm still lacks an official name, and there is no plan for one as of yet.

Chief Administrative Officer Richard Péwé said representatives from Hillsdale College’s Institutional Advancement are reaching out to friends of the college who may be interested in making a donation for naming the New Dorm.

“It’s possible something could happen before the May 1,” he said. “There is no predictable timeline.”

According to Péwé, Institutional Advancement prioritizes the use of donations to meet unrestricted operating needs, then scholarship needs,

and finally capital project funding. Unrestricted operating needs include labor and utility costs, while capital project funding is used for building or improving facilities.

“Typically when at least half of the total cost of construction is gifted, that donor is honored,” Péwé said. “This new dorm costs $3.5 million, so naming would require a gift of at least $1.75 million.”

In the case of the New Dorm, Péwé said the college administration financed the construction, anticipating that a generous lead gift would be made.

“It’s a really great facility, so I bet we will encounter interest before too long,” he said.

Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Johnson said the

college does not place a time limit on naming new dorms.

“We are continually developing relationships with people who are interested in supporting Hillsdale College, and they all have different interests when it comes to designating their support for a project,” Johnson said.

Waiting months, if not years, to name a newly built dorm seems to be a common occurrence.

According to Public Services Librarian Linda Moore, who handles Hillsdale College’s archives, it took 11 years to name Simpson Residence and eight years to name McIntyre Residence.

Moore said construction on both Simpson and McIntyre residence halls began Feb. 20, 1965.

Simpson was known as

In brief:

Career Services to host trip to University of Michigan law school By | Ryan Goff Assistant Editor Career Services will be hosting a tour for interested underclassmen to the University of Michigan’s law school Friday, Jan. 25.

Ken Koopmans, executive director of Career Services, who will be leading the trip, said the day-long event will expose students to both the application process and the academic experience of a top 10 law school.

A top 10 is among the “crème de la crème” of law schools. Its graduates are actively recruited by the biggest and most notable law firms and go on to lead

distinguished careers in law.

All of the sitting justices on the Supreme Court graduated from a top 10.

Students will meet admissions staff, tour the campus, and have a Q&A with Hillsdale alumni currently in Michigan’s program before concluding with lunch and the drive back to Hillsdale.

Freshman John Biscaro said he’s excited to learn more about the possibility of going to law school.

“I hope to gain more insight about whether law school is the right path for me,” Biscaro said.

He also said he wants to see the atmosphere of a law school and what he’d be

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If interested in placing an advertisement in The Collegian, please contact ad managers Cole McNeely at cmcneely@hillsdale.edu.

getting into, both are things that can’t be judged from a law school’s website.

First-year law student Jacob Weaver `17 will be on the Q&A panel. He said he wants to explain the differences he’s found between Hillsdale and Michigan Law. “There’s a much narrower focus, a much more diverse ideological spectrum, and a significant emphasis on the application of the material you learn,” he said. “Law school doesn’t just train you how to be a lawyer, but it also trains you how to think like a lawyer.”

West Dorm from 1965 until Oct. 8, 1976 when it was dedicated as the Robert J. Simpson Residence.

“Simpson was a local man, a long-time benefactor and trustee of Hillsdale College,” Moore said. “He had been killed in a car accident on Aug. 27, 1976.”

According to Moore, McIntyre Residence was originally known as North Dorm or the dorm in back of Waterman Residence. McIntyre was dedicated Nov. 4, 1973 to honor Brouwer D. and Jane E. McIntyre.

“Brouwer had been a member of the Board of Trustees until his death in 1966, and Jane McIntyre was a member of the Board of Women Commissioners,” Moore said.

“They were longtime contributors to the College, and a

donation from the McIntyre Foundation was applied to the indebtedness of McIntyre Dorm.”

Péwé said donors sometimes do not want their names on buildings or they may want to honor an individual, family, foundation, or — in the case of the chapel — Christ.

“College President Larry Arnn makes all those agreements with lead donors,” Péwé said.

Although some students have expressed interest in referring to the New Dorm based on its location, Péwé said student leaders liked “New Dorm” better than “Union Street” or other names based on location. According to Péwé, the administration agreed to call the new residence hall “New Dorm” on a temporary basis.

“Giving it a more fitting temporary name may have stuck,” Péwé said. “It’s best to transition to a the permanent name – when the time comes – without resistance.”

New Dorm House Director and senior Rosemary Pynes said residents of the New Dorm are neutral toward its temporary name.

Pynes said she believes the temporary name will last even if the New Dorm lacks an official name in the next couple of years.

“It seems to me that the first name you give a place normally sticks as part of habit,” Pynes said. “For instance, students still call the dining hall ‘Saga’ even though Saga hasn’t provided the food for more than five years.”

Pipe bursts in student union Monday, causing downpour By | Jordyn Pair & Brooke Conrad Associate Editor & Features Editor

Cold weather caused a pipe to burst in the entryway of the Grewcock Student Union Monday around 11 a.m.

Water flooded the union entrance near Mossey Library, causing students to have to use the back entrance. Maintenance workers immediately began clearing the water from the doorway. Water was also seen in a downstairs maintenance room.

“I was in the room when it started flooding, so I got pretty wet,” junior Jake Sievers said in a Facebook message. “I don’t know if anyone else got spilled on.

As soon as I went through

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the doors, I pulled out my phone and started recording and that’s when the fire alarm went off.”

The drop in pressure caused by the cold weather caused a pipe within the emergency sprinkler system to burst and water to pour from the ceiling, according to Associate Director of Security Joey Kellam.

“It’s just the cold temperature,” Kellam said.

With the abundance of cold air in the high traffic area, the heating system just couldn’t keep up, Kellam added.

The accident set off the fire alarm system, causing students and staff inside the Knorr Family Dining Hall to evacuate the building.

Students waited outside for about ten minutes, according to Bon Appétit Management Company employee

Liz Maynard, until they were let in through the back entrance.

“I was in Saga grabbing a table when the alarms started going off,” sophomore Dennis Fassett said in a Facebook message. “We all thought it was just a drill because it always is, but eventually people started clearing out and we left too.

I went to grab my coat and bag in A.J.’s and saw the water and part of the ceiling fall from that area.”

Students were able to access the dining hall through the downstairs entrance until maintenance fixed resulting heating and water issues later Monday afternoon.

“Everything is good to go. Everything is taken care of,” maintenance employee Brian Frank said.

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January 24, 2019 A3

Students join March for Life in Washington By | S. Nathaniel Grime Sports Editor A record number of Hillsdale College students traveled more than 500 miles last week to Washington, D.C., to participate in the national March for Life. The annual anti-abortion protest drew a crowd of hundreds of thousands, according to reports.

Hillsdale College for Life faculty advisor and Professor of German Fred Yaniga said more than 140 Hillsdale students filled three coach buses last Thursday night for the eleven-hour, overnight trip.

Yaniga also said in his eight years of attending the March for Life, this year’s crowd was

the largest he’s witnessed.

The theme the March for Life adopted this year was “Unique from Day One,” and the slogan Hillsdale College for Life embraced was “ProLife is Pro-Science.”

“This message reinforces the fact that human life begins from the time of conception, from day one,” senior Kathleen Russo, president of Hillsdale College for Life said.

“On day one of conception, a baby has its own, one-ofa-kind DNA. Hillsdale is all about the pursuit of truth, and this year’s theme aimed to do just that.”

Vice President Mike Pence along with his wife, Karen Pence, addressed the

marchers prior to the demonstration, and famed political commentator Ben Shapiro joined members of congress from both the Republican and Democratic parties in giving speeches. President Donald Trump delivered a pre-recorded message to the crowd on the digital screen at the rally.

Pence called Trump “the most pro-life president in American history” during his speech, while Trump vowed to veto any bill Congress passes that “weakens the protection of human life.”

Despite support from the White House, it is unclear how many advances the pro-life platform will make in

Hillsdale College for Life took a record 143 students to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life. Roberta Briggs | Courtesy

Training program fast tracks students for substitute teaching By | Jordyn Pair Associate Editor A training program recently hosted by Hillsdale College means that around 40 new substitute teachers will soon be in Hillsdale County.

The Hillsdale County Intermediate School District, the Hillsdale College Education Department, and Career Services teamed to host a substitute teacher training program aimed at fast-tracking students into substitute teaching positions. The one-day program was free to students and paid for them to get a permit to substitute teach in Hillsdale County.

“There were several reasons for creating this program,” said Director of Career Services Joanna Wiseley in an email.

“It provides some local employment opportunities for students with at least 60 credit hours, on their own schedule.”

It also lets students gain teaching experience, as well as helps local school systems.

“There is a shortage of substitute teachers not only in Hillsdale County, but the

Laffer from A1

from 35 percent to 21 percent. The 35 percent was the highest corporate in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development — that’s 34 countries.

And we brought that down to 21 percent which put us in the middle of the pack. No. 2, we had 100 percent expensing of capital purchases, which really increases the internal rate of return for investments, productivity, output — it’s just an amazing thing. And No. 3, the U.S. has historically been the only country in the OECD to have a global tax system, and we put in a territorial system which gave us a level playing field for our companies to compete with foreign companies.

What do you think of President Donald Trump’s tariff

entire state,” Wiseley said.

The program came about when Jonathan Tobar, the director of instructional service for the Hillsdale County Intermediate School District, realized teachers were unable to come to other training programs because they could not find substitute teachers to cover for them.

“I instantly realized that this was a pain point for our districts,” Tobar said.

Tobar then began arranging to create a program that allowed students from the college to get their substitute teaching permit. The day-long program included training on classroom management, lesson plans, and unexpected tips for substitute teachers.

While the process to become a substitute teacher is normally lengthy, Tobar aimed to streamline the process so students could obtain the permit as quickly as possible. This included condensing the course to one day and bringing in people to take fingerprints — two things that can trip up interested students.

Local school districts in Hillsdale County donated money to help pay for the

course, meaning that it was offered free to students — bypassing another barrier.

The program graduated around 40 people, most of whom are in the final stages of receiving their permits.

Sophomore Caroline Walker will be teaching for the first time on Thursday, Jan. 24. Walker will be substituting at Hillsdale Middle School as a paraprofessional working with students with disabilities.

“It’s a little intimidating,” Walker said. “I’m really excited to learn classroom management and to grow in the different areas teaching requires of you.”

She said one tip she found helpful was to shake hands or fist bump students as they came in the door in order to gauge their emotions.

“You can know who you have to keep an eye on,” Walker said.

Tobar said this is a program they are likely to run again.

“It gives students flexibility to earn some money while doing something for the greater good,” Tobar said.

policies?

I don’t know what they are yet. I have talked with the president on several occasions, and he assures me that he is a freetrader, and I have no reason to doubt it.

He tells me that he’s using the pressure of tariffs rather than the actual imposition of tariffs to get them to the negotiation table, to negotiate a deal to get tariffs reduced worldwide, for the benefit of not only foreign countries, but also for the U.S. When he left the Group of Seven meeting in Ottawa, he said if you guys will all reduce your tariffs to zero, so will the U.S. I really believe he is a freetrader, but he’s using this as a negotiation tactic. And it scares me. I don’t understand negotiation tactics at all, and frankly, I hope it’s successful. I think it will be.

Free trade is very, very important for our country and

for other countries. It’s a key to prosperity.

Could you tell me more about your latest book, “Trumponomics”?

The book is a fun story about mine, Steve Moore’s, and Larry Kudlow’s interactions with the president during the campaign and during the election then after he was in office. The three of us had very intense relations with him. Larry Kudlow, who is masterful, is now head of the National Economic Council. Steve Moore is a wonderful writer and political pundit. We had a fascinating time working with him and this just sort of recounts all of that. It’s a fun read. It’s not a deep intellectual economic book.

You know, Trump is a very normal everyday human being. He’s a real person. And he’s — I think

terms of legislation in the coming congressional year.

The political power among federal lawmakers is split, with Democrats in control of the House of Representatives and Republicans in control of the U.S. Senate.

“I sense a steady pressure mounting on lawmakers to put into place regulations which will restrict abortion more and more,” Yaniga said. “I had a number of conversations with people at the march who were concerned about the possibility of quick changes being difficult to maintain.

Our society is still largely divided on basic issues in this discussion.”

Sophomore Megan Kerr, who attended the march with Hillsdale College for Life and has canvassed for the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony list in the past, pointed to the state of the federal judiciary as a reason for optimism.

“I think that we are in a great position of influence with a more pro-life Supreme Court, a pro-life president, and a majority in the Senate,” Kerr said.

“I’m hopeful that we can keep passing more legislation to protect the unborn, such as the Title X rule change.”

The Trump administration’s Title X proposal would block federal taxpayer dollars from going toward organizations that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.

Yaniga said in addition to advocating for protecting unborn children, he would like to see the pro-life movement take a “philosophical approach to the dignity of human life at all stages.”

“Developing a culture of life in this country and in

The rally at this year’s March for Life featured speeches from political commentator Ben Shapiro, Vice President Mike Pence, and both Democrat and Republican legislators. Roberta Briggs | Courtesy

this world will depend on teaching with conviction that all human lives have intrinsic value which cannot be extinguished, stripped, taken away. Babies are beautiful and easy enough to defend,” Yaniga said. “Defending the lives of others is less popular and more challenging, but absolutely necessary lest we begin to allow governments, institutions, or individuals to make choices about which people are worthy of life.”

Kerr also mentioned the

value in advocating for life at all stages, born and unborn.

She added that the protest was done in peace and with love.

“We want to exercise our rights to free speech and assembly, but we also see how radicals get so carried away in violence and suggestive behavior,” Kerr said. “We want to do the complete opposite.

We want to come in peace and show our love for babies, for the terminally ill, for all life.”

Phillips to become Plaster Auditorium By | Regan Meyer Web Content Editor Phillips Auditorium is the latest campus facility to receive an upgrade, but it’s not only Phillips’ structure that’s changing. The facility’s name will officially be changed to Plaster Auditorium once the renovation project is finished.

The Phillips project had been in planning stages for five years before the college began demolition in late June 2018, Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said. The Phillips Auditorium reconstruction is the second phase of the college’s plan to revamp the Knorr Student Center.

“Think of it as a new building just in the old location,” he said. “That’s what we did with the Searle Center, too. We tore it all apart, but it was the right location. We don’t want to build something separate, away from all the activity.

We want it to be useful for everybody.”

When the project is completed in early August, the name will change to the Plaster Auditorium. The Plaster Foundation has donated a fair amount of funds for the project. College President J. Donald Phillips, for whom Phillips Auditorium was named, will be commemorated with a plaque and bust in the lobby of Searle. Though there have been a few setbacks, Péwé said he believes the auditorium will be finished on time and on budget. an amazing person. I’ve never seen anyone with the strength of character of what Donald Trump has. I mean with these blistering attacks, how he can keep his cool is beyond my imagination.

Do you think socialism is becoming more popular in the U.S.?

In 1945 the highest marginal income tax was 92 and a half percent which had to be passed in legislative form by the House and the Senate and signed into law by the president of the United States. Can you imagine that? I mean these are Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. The liberal would say anything lower than 92 and a half percent is a giveaway to the rich people. And the conservatives would say yeah but anything above 92 and a half percent is

The Phillips Auditorium renovations are set to be finished in August 2019, at which time the facility will be renamed after the Plaster Foundation. Regan Meyer | Collegian

“The thing that slowed the process down was you have as-built drawings that go back to the late 60s,” he said.

“Until you tear it all out and see what’s there, sometimes there’s surprises. We had to go back and do some additional structural figuring.”

Péwé cited an increase in campus visitors for CCAs and speaker programs and outdated equipment as reasons for the reconstruction.

“Most of those speaker programs draw a bigger crowd than Phillips can accommodate, Péwé said. “It doesn’t really benefit us to have 700800-seat dining venue and an auditorium that’s too small.

Plus, it’s outdated.”

The new auditorium will seat 700, with 500 seats in the main space and 200 in the balcony. It’s double the size of any other auditorium on campus; the next largest, Markle Auditorium, seats 350. Director of Programs for excessive government. The world has changed and that rate has come down now to where it’s 37 percent. That’s a huge drop! The corporate tax rate was up to 80 percent, now it’s down to 21 percent, I mean, that’s amazing.

Unions used to control everything in this country; now we have a majority of the states that are rightto-work. If you look at the death tax, one state in 1976 did not have a state death tax. And they almost all of them have gotten rid of their death tax. It used to be against the law to sell products on Saturdays and Sundays. Discount houses — Walmart and Costco and all those — were illegal. So if you look at it, it’s amazing; we’ve been winning. We do have setbacks all the time.

We had Obama, which was a setback, but now we’re moving again. Socialism is

External Affairs Matthew Bell said the CCAs draw crowds of up to 500 guests. Once construction is completed, all CCA lectures will be given in the auditorium.

“The current format is just a temporary measure, and we thank everyone involved for their helpfulness in making CCAs a success,” Bell said in an email.

Plaster Auditorium will hold different events other than CCAs. Professor of Music James Holleman said he is excited to use Plaster for a variety of music events including jazz concerts.

“Dan Buskirk and Rockford Construction gave a generous donation to re-build the 7ft Baldwin Grand Piano that has been in Phillips Auditorium for years, as well as funds to purchase sound equipment for the auditorium. Once completely re-built, the piano will be a beautiful instrument once again,” Holleman said. not winning in America, believe me when I tell you that.

California’s tax rate under Reagan was higher than it is under Jerry Brown. Yikes!

In 1983 you earned the Father of the Year award from the West Coast Father’s Day Committee. Could you talk about balancing an intense work life with family?

It’s tough balancing an intense work life with an intense family life, but you’ve got to do it. I’ve got six children, I’ve got 13 grandchildren, I have three great grandchildren. They’re the love of my life, they’re my reason for living, they’re my everything. And I was really very proud most of all for the Father’s Day Committee for giving me Father of the Year. It’s a real tough balance, and if anyone tells you that it’s easy, then they haven’t done it.

A4 January 24, 2019

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The Weekly: Be wary of targeted attention (517) 607-2415 Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor-in-Chief | Nicole Ault Associate Editor | Jordyn Pair News Editor | Nolan Ryan City News Editor | Josephine von Dohlen Opinions Editor | Kaylee McGhee Sports Editor | S. Nathaniel Grime Culture Editor | Carmel Kookogey Features Editor | Brooke Conrad Design Editor | Morgan Channels Web Content Editor | Regan Meyer Web Manager | Timothy Green Photo Editor | Christian Yiu Circulation Manager | Regan Meyer Ad Manager | Cole McNeely Assistant Editors | Emma Cummins | Alexis Daniels | Abby Liebing | Allison Schuster | Calli Townsend | Isabella Redjai | Ryan Goff | Stefan Kleinhenz | Cal Abbo Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold

Last week, a video of a now infamous stand-off between a group of high schoolers from Covington Catholic High School and Native American protesters surfaced, leading to countless condemnations from members of both political parties.

When further context and additional details emerged, it became clear the boys were wrongly accused of targeting

The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, length, and style. Letters should be 450 words or less and include your name and number. Send submissions to the Opinions Ed-

Lessons from Covington Catholic HS By | Erik Halvorson Columnist This past weekend I joined hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers in our nation’s capital for the 46th annual March for Life. Per usual, this massive event received little to no attention from the national media. What did receive vast coverage, however, was an altercation between a group of students from Covington Catholic High School and a group of Native American protestors.

The first videos released by the protestors of their interaction were unsettling. They claimed that boys wearing “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) -hats-surrounded them, mocked them, and tried to intimidate them outside the Lincoln Memorial. Nathan Phillips — a well-known Native American activist — claimed these boys chanted “build the wall” and hurled racially insensitive remarks at him and his fellow protestors.

At first glance, the videos seemed to back his story and many, including myself, rushed to condemn the boys’ actions.

People from both sides of the political aisle took these short videos as evidence of racism, harassment or, at the very least, immaturity on the part of the students. Some went so far as to dox these teenagers in an attempt to ruin their college or future plans.

Others contacted Covington Catholic’s principal demanding these students be punished and expelled for their actions.

Eventually, the high school had to suspend class because of the litany of threats being levied from people around the country.

As the story went viral, however, it quickly became apparent that there was more to the story than what was presented by Phillips and his associates. A much longer video of the interaction soon surfaced, telling a very different narrative. This video showed that, unlike Phillips’ account, the adult protestor actually approached the group of boys and began beating his drum in their faces, not the other way around. Also contradictory to the initial narrative, a group of black nationalist protesters, known as the Black Hebrew Israelites, were the ones hurling racial and homophobic slurs at the high school students as well as the Native Americans far before the interaction

between Phillips and the high schoolers. Others were also heard shouting at the boys, “You, white people, go back to Europe, this is not your land.”

In a statement released by the Covington Catholic students, they presented a story that seemed to match the extended video much more than the narrative that was spreading on social media. The boys claimed that while waiting for their buses to arrive, they began singing school songs and yelling chants to pass the time and drown out the hatred the Black Hebrew Israelites were spewing. When Phillips entered their group they were confused as to whether he was joining them or not; a confusion they pointed to as the reason they clapped along with him — not because they were trying to mock him. Also consistent with the video, there are no accounts of “build the wall” chants, or any bigoted comments made by the boys.

Like many others, I was quick to pass judgment and condemnation onto people I did not know in a situation devoid of context. I was adamant and vocal that these students did not represent the pro-life movement and, in fact, greatly harmed the cause through their actions. As I gained perspective and saw the full-length video, I was embarrassed and infuriated. Why would anyone try to destroy the lives of teenagers over something they didn’t do? Are people really willing to go to such lengths to push a political agenda?

The unfortunate answer is a resounding yes.

Did these students act perfectly? No. Should we have expected perfection from them in such a strange situation? Probably not. Is this interaction evidence of racism from some MAGA supporting teens? Certainly not. Am I and those like me partially to blame for the explosion of this false narrative throughout the country? Likely, yes.

So let’s learn from our mistakes. Wait for all the facts to come in before passing judgment. Unfortunately, we live in a time where political agendas take precedence over reality.

Be part of the solution, not a part of the problem. Whether you are a journalist for a major outlet or simply an egg on Twitter with 100 followers, you hold more responsibility than you know.

“Wait for all the facts to come in before passing judgment.”

Erik Halvorson is a senior studying Economics.

The opinion of The Collegian editorial staff and harassing Nathan Phillips, the Ypsilanti native who led the Native Americans directly into the high schoolers’ group, banging his drum and repeating a traditional chant.

The Covington Catholic boys prove to be a valuable lesson in more ways than one, but perhaps the most valuable is this: Young people must be wary of unwanted attention, especially in this age of univer-

sal Internet access and social media.

Though the boys were wrongly accused of racism and harassment, the video of their rowdy behavior could be hard to walk away from — and through no fault of their own.

The media failed them. It forsook its responsibility to promote honesty and integrity and instead ran with a particular narrative to score political

points. But the point remains: Be on guard. Be prudent. Be wary of social media posts because that image will lurk and linger.

It shouldn’t have to be this way. Young adults should be free to make mistakes without the fear of unjust scorn. But this is a trend that is becoming all too common, and we must be ready to meet it.

Office Hours

The Roman Way: Be exceptional by cherishing exceptionality By | Dwight A. Lindley III Professor of English Our most profound learning experiences combine the thrill of novelty with the sense of familiarity, of going home.

They bring us by a new path back to something we already knew at some level. They deepen and light up the mineshafts of the soul. Now, it is strange to speak of a book on Western Civilization illuminating the soul, but this is exactly what happened to me when I read Rémi Brague’s “Eccentric Culture” eight years ago: the book revealed me to myself, in the sense that it drew together many fragments of my world view into a lovely mosaic.

I expected no such thing, and for a few reasons. First, the title, “Eccentric Culture,” does lead one to expect a life-changing book, so much as perhaps a musty old curiosity shop. In the original French, Brague’s title is Europe, la voie romaine (“Europe, the Roman Way”), and to tell the truth, this marks out the second reason I was not immediately excited about the book: it had to do with Rome.

Of course, everyone wants to visit Rome, eat its food, and look languorously on its ruins, but let’s be honest: civilizationally, literarily, philosophically, Rome just doesn’t have the cachet of Greece. Like all good Westerners since the early nineteenth century, I had been educated into a Graecophilic superciliousness toward Rome, but there again, isn’t a certain amount of this just natural? Who can move from

Homer to Virgil, from Plato and Aristotle to Cicero, without feeling like he has been sent from the dining room to the kitchen, to eat at the kids’ table?

Little did I realize, I was right where Rémi Brague wanted me. That is, his fundamental argument touts not Rome’s military or political greatness (as in the Aeneid), but rather the paradoxical greatness it achieved through littleness, or what we might call little-brotherness. For Brague, the best thing about Rome was that it knew it was not Greece, knew it was not the source, not the font. It was the little brother, profoundly conscious of lack, always in the shadow of the elder brother’s accomplishments.

As such it had to go ad fontes, back to Greece, for its education: this was literally the case for many sons of the Roman aristocracy, who were sent to Athens for training in rhetoric and philosophy, from the time of Cicero up through the early fathers of the Church.

In Christian Rome, it was not just Athens but Jerusalem that had to be returned to as a font or source: after all, God incarnate didn’t enter into history in Italy, but Palestine. What from one point of view looks like inferiority, though, is for Brague the secret of Roman civilization, both classical and Christian. “Roman culture is thus essentially a passage: a way, or maybe an aqueduct,” in which the recipient necessarily stands lower than the precious sources on which

it relies. Put differently, “the Roman Way” is the way out of itself to the other, where life-giving goods are available.

It is “eccentric” in that it is centered outside of itself.

Brague’s teaching was surprisingly fresh, and yet familiar in at least two ways.

First, it was familiar as an interpretation of what we in the West call renaissances. The early-modern European return to the sources is of course not the only renaissance, but a paradigm for many such rebirths, in the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth Centuries, and so on. As Brague now taught me, these returns to the sources were, in their form, Roman: at their best, Europeans, and more broadly, Westerners in general, have always known that they need to turn to sources outside themselves in order to grow: Athens and Jerusalem of course, but also other peoples, places, cultures, each with its own peculiar gifts and wisdom. Brague’s theory of Western Civilization, then, is a renaissance theory, but a humbler one than we often hear of: the West is not great fundamentally because of all its cities, laws, technological prowess, or gem-encrusted crowns, but because it has been able to recognize the goodness of what others have done. It has been great just insofar as it has been a civilization for the world.

This brings me to the second point of familiarity: Eccentric Culture also felt like coming home inasmuch as it was an expression of

the paradoxical logic of the Incarnation. According to St. Paul, God kenotically emptied himself, taking on human form among us. The first became last, and his greatness consisted in his humility, overturning the age-old power dynamics of the pagan world.

What Brague’s theory shows is that the Western cultural pattern of renaissance, the Roman Way, only attained its civilization-defining importance because it mysteriously expressed the self-emptying love of God. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, establishing his center, so to speak, outside himself. In that eccentricity, he is glorified, and just so, the West’s lesser glories have come in the degree to which to we have emerged from ourselves to prize our neighbors, wherever they may be. We have become exceptional by cherishing the exceptionality of others.

If Brague is right, then, the form of Rome is just as important as the content of Athens and Jerusalem. As I found in reading his book, we must lose ourselves in order to find ourselves. We must travel elsewhere in order to come home.

The editors invite faculty members to contribute to Office Hours, a weekly column dedicated to promoting relationships between staff and students through the giving of advice and stories. Send submissions to the Opinions Editor at kmcghee@hillsdale. edu.

Dear Pro-Lifers: It’s time to rethink advocacy illegal in America’s foreseeable By | Ben Dietderich Special to the Collegian future.

As Hillsdale students, we know all about the March for Life. Since 1974, thousands have marched down the National Mall in an annual protest of a 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. This year was no different, and like many previous years, Hillsdale sent a group to join the protest.

Students returning from the march should celebrate the recently released report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It shows that from 2006-2015 abortion declined 26 percent. Pro-lifers should also be wary. As abortion has plummeted in the U.S., the pro-abortion movement has become more enraged. They argue that those who wish to restrict abortion are declaring a war on women.

While this language may be harsh, pro-choice advocates are correct: As the pro-life movement stands today, its stated goals would restrict a women’s reproductive rights.

In 2019, this alone puts the pro-life movement at a massive disadvantage. It’s time the pro-life movement revisits how it advocates because any social movement that alienates half the electorate is bound to fail.

The pro-life movement’s battle cries haven’t changed since pro-lifers began marching 45 years earlier. To be pro-life today means supporting an end to both the practice and legality of abortion. But even with a pro-life president, two new conservative Supreme Court justices, and the possibility of a third in the next six years, abortion is unlikely to become

While the marchers have continued marching, America and the world around her has dramatically changed. Maybe here, in the heartland, America has retained some of her conservative social values, but everywhere else, it seems, abortion has become a publicly applauded activity.

To the horror of many, abortion has become a tweetable act, as displayed by the Twitter trend #ShoutYourAbortion.

It has also become near impossible to avoid shopping at chains that donate to America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. While some states have succeeded in rolling back gestation limits on abortion, others like New York have recently celebrated the legalization of abortion up until birth.

In Ireland, the pro-life movement faced a major blow last spring when the country’s own people voted to legalize abortion — an act that decades earlier would have been unthinkable.

While most of the developed world has been encompassed in a #MeToo movement that condemns non-consensual sex, they have also sustained a culture that increasingly sees little problem with non-consensual death.

In Oregon and a growing number of states, euthanasia is on the rise.

In Europe, these inhumane acts are even worse. Last year, National Review wrote that elderly Europeans had been lethally injected against their will because their own children didn’t want to take care of them.

In 2009, only three babies were born in Iceland with Down syndrome. The rest were aborted. The United Kingdom is not too far behind with its own Down syndrome rates either. Columnist George Will has been right to call what’s happening in Europe what it is: systematic genocide.

As the rest of the world has molded to the changing times, the marching pro-life Americans have refused to budge, and commendably so. This resilience is exemplary of the type of nation America has often been — a beacon of hope in a lost world.

Yet despite the strength pro-lifers have shown in standing their ground, it’s time to acknowledge the movement’s failures and focus on the humanitarian crisis at hand.

The pro-life stance, as it stands today, is on the losing side of a global cultural battle. To be pro-life today is to be against women, according to more than half the country. It is considered by many a position held by judgmental, ignorant deplorables who don’t understand the pains and sufferings of living in the real world.

Conservatives’ principles do not need to change, because what is good and bad in this world does not change. But, circumstances do. In these troubled times, I have one suggestion for the pro-life movement I have grown to admire since coming to Hillsdale: Don’t march to change the law. March to change hearts.

As any economics major will say: Laws don’t prevent immoral acts from occurring. In some cases, making something illegal only ensures greater harm in a black market.

Liberals often win culture wars because unlike conservatives, they don’t make their final ends always known or they simply don’t have one. They start small, with something easy to convince people to accept, like offering an oppressed group certain protections. Once society accepts that, they ask for more.

Pro-lifers should adapt a bit of their strategy. Abandon changes to the law that would infuriate half the country — a tyrannical majority can come from both sides — and instead work towards filling the void in a culture that numbs the consequences of giving up.

Celebrate those who overcome immense suffering.

Whether it’s a veteran who runs a marathon despite their legs having been blown off, a family member who overcomes mental health struggles, or a fellow citizen with Down syndrome living a fulfilling life, there are stories to be told.

By starting with the easily emphatic examples of what it means to be pro-life, you can start chipping away at the minds of those who decide politics based on feelings. Once they’re on the right road, the truth will become clearer, more ground will be gained, and the pro-life movement will have saved more lives.

The world is changing rapidly. Euthanasia is already at our doorstep and genetic modification is not far behind. If we’re going to hold on to any of our humanity, we best be prudent and get to work.

Ben Dietderich is a junior studying Political Economy and Journalism.

Opinions #ExposeChristianSchools is a chance to teach — and listen www.hillsdalecollegian.com

By | Nicole Ault Editor-In-Chief

The media flared up over reports last week that Karen Pence, wife of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, is now teaching at a Christian school that upholds traditional biblical views of sexuality and marriage.

Before long, #ExposeChristianSchools became a trending hashtag on Twitter. The Covington Catholic episode last weekend — in which the media over-hastily accused boys from the school of harassing a Native American — pushed Christian education further into a critical spotlight.

The shock-and-horror response toward Pence’s job from mainstream media was unwarranted: Immanuel Christian School, where Pence teaches, is much like other Christian schools of good reputation and is consistent with standard biblical teachings ascribed to by many churches. And Christian schools hardly form an underground cult; nearly 8 percent of American students go to

January 24, 2019 A5

religiously-affiliated schools, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

But many Christians’ responses in defense of Christian schools fell short, or even smacked of self-righteousness.

On Twitter, some responded with counterexamples of their own good Christian-school experiences. Others simply scathed the media for its ignorance of Christian culture and beliefs.

The knee-jerk response is a shame and a missed opportunity. For good or ill, the public eye is on Christian schools, and it’s offering a chance for them to educate the public on what they do well — and present Christian philosophy in a kinder light. It’s also a chance for self-reflection on their education methods and the tendencies to extremism that any close-knit culture can fall into.

Even from a secular standpoint, Christian schools have much to offer. A 2017 Gallup poll found that 63 percent of American adults gave church-related schools an

New York’s abortion law dehumanizes and destroys million American babies to By | Kathleen Russo Special to the Collegian death since 1973.

This time, however, the abortion advocates and This past Tuesday, on the Governor Cuomo have simply 46th anniversary of Roe v. gone too far. Tuesday evening, Wade, New York Governor on the governor’s command, Andrew Cuomo signed into New York landmarks were law what is arguably the least lit up in pink, in celebration restrictive state legislation of the future destruction of regarding abortion. The law innocent and helpless Amerremoves the legal protection icans — including the 9/11 of babies born alive during a botched abortion and removes memorial spire, splashed pink against a black sky. Below the threat of all legal prosestood engraved memorials to cution for abortion providthe 11 unborn American lives ers, which now can include midwives and other non-med- that were lost on that site in 2001. ical professionals. The new In his glee-ridden desire to law also allows abortion up promote abortion, Cuomo not until the moment of birth if only smited the memories of the health of the mother is these victims and their moththreatened. ers, but insulted the American The law is medically people and our inalienable unnecessary, according to pro-life advocate Dr. Anthony human right to life. It is one thing to Levantino publish and others, books or who have pass laws argued that promoting a C-section abortion, in late term but it is a pregnanvery differcies is ent thing easier and to hijack a safer than symbol of a two day American late-term spirit and abortion resilience procedure. and reAs purpose it pro-life to proadvocate mote the Lila Rose destruction pointed of Ameriout, a can lives. state that New outlaws York the death Magazine penalty for claimed criminals that New now allows York had the death finally penalty for “updated babies. But it’s archaic this sort of abortion cognitive law,” with dissonance the passage of Tuesday’s bill. is no longer shocking to those Yet, abortion advocates seem who still believe in the objecto be recycling the rhetoric tive value of human life. of pro-slavery politicians our The bill was pushed Hillsdale students bravely through both legislative stood against during the houses and signed into law Civil War. Cuomo claims that in under 24 hours, driven by the panic of “a federal govern- President Trump’s administration, allegedly intent on ment intent on rolling back overturning Roe v. Wade, “deRoe v. Wade and women’s fies American evolution,” yet reproductive rights,” accordemploys the same principles ing to Cuomo. The governor that freed slaves not so many demonstrates beautifully that years ago. scientific and philosophical Abortion proponents beproof that human life begins lieve that the pink landmarks at conception is no longer shine as beacons for women’s a consideration in the war rights. As a woman, I am games of the abortion ideolhorrified that my so-called ogy. The only mission now is freedom relies on the blood to win. of others. It is deeply evil to While absurd, the game believe that my freedom as itself pales in comparison a woman means that babies to the unbridled glee that lying on the abortion table seems to accompany every still breathing must be denied pro-abortion victory these medical attention. Women days. Watching the ceremomust reject the lie that they ny, you almost expect the must dehumanize others as politicians and onlookers to they were once dehumanized break out the left-over New to maintain their own “freeYear’s Eve confetti poppers and give a champagne toast to dom.” the perpetuation of a practice Kathleen Russo is a senior that has so far sentenced 61 studying American Studies.

“Abortion proponents believe that the pink landmarks shine as beacons for women’s rights. As a woman, I am horrifed that my socalled freedom relies on the blood of others.”

“excellent” or “good” rating, compared to 44 percent for public schools. Students at private religious schools score much higher on standardized tests than those at public schools, and religious schools excel with behavioral outcomes and narrow achievement gaps, according to the Council for American Private Education.

With smaller class sizes and teachers who supposedly share a faith that preaches loving your neighbor before yourself, Christian schools also — ideally — cultivate warm and even deep relationships among students and faculty.

Christian school employees and graduates can tout these qualities, if true. But they can also take a moment to listen.

Like any community caught in its own echo chamber from time to time, Christian schools are liable to fall to extremes.

Sometimes these extremes are harmless or even funny, but sometimes they become abuse.

On Twitter, the “expose” hashtag elicited responses ranging from uniform complaints (the skirt was an inch above my

knee!), to bullying over sexual orientation, to no civil rights coverage in history class. These complaints aren’t verified — nor widely applicable, necessarily — but they’re not unbelievable from schools that do uphold traditional views of marriage and focus on the Judeo-Christian heritage.

Christian schools would do well to listen and evaluate, insofar as they may be at fault. How do you deal with the kid who comes out of the closet, or the girl who gets pregnant? How do you teach other students, who are young and foolish and judgmental, to approach these peers? Do you give students an understanding of cultures and people unlike them?

The portion of Immanuel Christian School’s “Essentials of the Faith” statement so abhorrent to the media proclaims the school’s right to refuse admission to an applicant whose home environment opposes “the biblical lifestyle the school teaches,” including “participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexu-

al activity.”

Of course this is repulsive to mainstream culture — though for Christians, marriage between a man and a woman is a commonly-held point of doctrine. It is also not the only point of doctrine they hold; in the same paragraph, even, Immanuel Christian emphasizes that “contumacious behavior” and “divisive conduct” are also not part of a biblical lifestyle.

Those are much more acceptable to our culture.

Somehow, schools must uphold rigid and culturally-unpopular principles without degrading those who break them.

Some have succeeded at this balance, but many have not.

Christian schools should take pride in their biblical principles and academic strengths, but be wary that such an emphasis can destroy humility and push students’ identities into the wrong places. While holding a strong stance on sexuality, they must guide students away from self-righteousness and pride and teach them to recognize their own sin. They should teach God’s providence

but acknowledge the mental and physical hardships that some students face, which can be overlooked in private-school communities.

From the Christian school I attended K-12, the most lasting impact came from teachers who demonstrated kindness and self-sacrifice toward me and my peers. They care about our lives still. But I know that this counter-example does not negate all the complaints about Christian schools. And not all of my peers felt the same way about the school I went to — sometimes because of their own faults, but sometimes, perhaps, because the school could have tried to better understand them.

The greatest asset that a truly Christian school has is Christ and his love. Focusing on him in the midst of antagonism and scrutiny might soothe those who smell a cult and redirect those Christians who have gone astray.

Nicole Ault is a senior studying Economics.

The March for Life is not the place for graphic images By | Nolan Ryan News Editor Last week, I had the privilege of attending the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. for my third time with 142 other students through Hillsdale College for Life. Like other years I’ve marched, I was surprised by the age diversity. Everyone from the elderly to toddlers marched in peaceful protest against the evil of abortion.

And like previous years, I left with the same complaint: the use of graphic images at a certain stretch in the route.

As one walks down Constitution Ave., there is almost always a large video display of aborted children.

Bloody images of tiny arms and legs flash on the screen and it’s impossible to ignore.

I’m left with a sour taste, as well I should. The gruesome, systematic slaughter of helpless children is what we’re up against. But that doesn’t mean these images are appropriate to display at the March.

Created Equal, the prolife advocacy group that sets up this display each January, is known for taking smaller displays of these images to college campuses, hoping to spark conversation about what abortion really does to a human life. This can be an excellent asset to the prolife cause, especially since more than 2 million college students become pregnant every year, according to the national Students for Life.

College students are mature enough to handle the reality of abortion.

The March, however, includes family participants, often accompanied by young children. Parents shouldn’t

have to decide, on the spot, whether they want their children to see images of mutilated infants. Stepping on the toes of a parent’s right to decide what to tell and show their children about abortion is not at all a problem we should have at the March. The family is at the center of the pro-life movement, and groups Hillsdale College for Life sends a group of students to the March for Life like Created Equal each year to protest abortion. Nolan Ryan | Collegian ought to take that these images is few. case on the floor and asks if into consideration when Another argument is she can carry it off the train. they choose what content that the victims of abortion After tugging, she gives up they will broadcast to the deserve to be shown and and says it’s too heavy. hundreds of thousands of remembered at such events. “‘It would be a pretty poor demonstrators.

This is a noble thought, but father who would ask his litWill these images scar it doesn’t hold up. If we were tle girl to carry such a load,’” children for life? Probaprotesting a different human she recounts him saying. bly not, but that’s not the rights issue, perhaps sex “‘It’s the same way, Corpoint (though it’s possible trafficking, should we show rie, with knowledge. Some such images will negatively images of the crimes? Doing knowledge is too heavy for affect young children in so in a large-scale demonchildren. When you are oldthe moment). Groups that stration would be wildly er and stronger, you can bear use graphic images in the inappropriate, as it is in the it. For now you must trust context of the March are esMarch for Life. me to carry it for you.’” sentially saying they have the Created Equal should We shouldn’t force right to decide what kinds of children to bear a load of things children will see at the continue their outreach on knowledge they cannot yet March. You might say they’re college campuses. They’re doing great work for the handle, nor should we take merely exercising their First pro-life movement, and the away the right of parents Amendment rights. That college context is where their to bear that understanding case can be made, but this efforts will have the greatest for them. Anyone who’s freedom must be exercised effect.

But when it comes to been to the March knows with prudence and deliberthe March, it’s best to show that it’s a breath of fresh ation. more restraint on what is air for pro-lifers who are Created Equal’s website broadcast to the crowds. wearied by a world that lists a number of reasons Whenever I think about supports abortion. The use they choose to show these Created Equal’s images, of graphic images can be a images at pro-life events, inI’m reminded of a passage good reminder of how awful cluding the March. Graphic abortion is even to the most images are a good way to get from Corrie Ten Boom’s autobiographical story, “The pro-life people, but it should the truth across to people Hiding Place. ” Ten Boom, as be left for a different time who are both pro-life and a young girl, asks her father and place. pro-abortion, the group what “sexsin” is, and rather argues. That isn’t wrong, but than giving her a verbal anNolan Ryan is a junior the number of pro-abortion swer, her father sets his suitstudying English. individuals who will see

‘The best a man can get’: What we can learn from Gillette By | Haley Hauprich Columnist In its most recent commercial, Gillette dared to make the apparently controversial claim that men can do better at being virtuous, strong, and kind.

In the swirling conversation about the video online, two prominent negative reactions have emerged. The first has been touted by Piers Morgan, Brian Kilmeade, and other political commentators largely on the right, who say that Gillette’s commercial is anti-men, that “toxic masculinity” is not real, and that we should let “boys be boys.”

They believe the commercial does not target the wrongs of a particular type of man, but men as a whole. And in many ways, they’re right.

Gillette decided not to pick an easy target for the commercial — it took on the bullies, harassers, and predators, certainly — but it also took on the bystanders, the excusers, and the disregard woven into the very fabric of our culture. At the same time, it correctly identified that there are still good men out there, and that not every

man is irreparably lost to evil and lust. It challenged these good men not to stand for bad behavior, from its potential source in childhood to the established norms of individual men and society as a whole. Yet it is the commercial’s association of these predatory, intimidating, and complacent behaviors with masculinity itself that makes many on the right so angry.

Is this because many of them do not want to believe in the inherent sinfulness of human nature as a whole, or is it simply the “male” attribution of the sin that bothers them?

Many on the right gladly tout that there are inherent differences between men and women — so if we can broadly differentiate the genders’ respective virtues, is it so hard to believe that they also broadly have their respective sins? This is not to say that women are sinless and that every problem in society exists because of men. It is simply to say that the facts — that 1 in 3 women experience sexual assault, 91 percent of rape victims are female, and boys are more prone to physical violence than girls

— tell us that these particular problems addressed by the commercial are found in something inherently male. And yet despite providing positive models of great-hearted men who choose to do better, the commercial still gets slammed for recognizing that all of this is more widespread and innate in our sinful nature than many want to believe. It isn’t saying that, irrevocably and universally, all men are the problem. It’s saying that this problem is male.

Making even less sense is the second response to the commercial: that as a corporation, Gillette has no right to make moral claims or to pretend that its motives are anything other than financial gain. As Piers Morgan himself identifies, however, Gillette has come out against the very people who buy its products. This marketing tactic is bold and financially risky, and studies have shown that the commercial actually resonated far more with women than with its more targeted audience of men.

And yet, even if Gillette is simply a money-hungry

corporation, should we really care? For any source in our postmodern world to promote something as shocking and groundbreaking as virtue is a win we should be celebrating. Truth is truth no matter who says it, and if we genuinely want to move toward a society that eliminates sexual assault and bullying, we shouldn’t quash the effort to encourage men to be the best version of themselves.

At the end of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, a wise character named Lee tells a girl named Abra, “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

That’s a lesson for men as men, but also women as women and human beings as human beings. Paradoxically, it is only when we recognize that sin is inherent in our nature and woven into our society, and that as long as we pretend that there is no problem we can only make it worse, can we humble ourselves enough to choose to become “the best a man can get.”

Haley Hauprich is a senior studying English.

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City Council and County Commissioners discuss public safety proposals By | Josephine von Dohlen City News Editor Both Hillsdale City Council and Hillsdale County Commissioners are looking ahead to the next decade to budget well for public safety departments’ needs.

The City of Hillsdale Public Safety Commission presented a proposal of budget needs at Monday’s city council meeting, announcing the City’s fire and police departments throughout the next ten year, with budget projections totalling just under $1.5 million.

“These are not wants, these are actual needs for expenditures,” Police and Fire Chief Scott Hephner said at the council meeting. “They cover equipment, motor equipment, and building costs.”

According to Hephner, research went into the proposal to ensure that equipment is not being run to “catastrophic failure” by replacing the equipment at the appropriate time, he said.

“We’re replacing our equipment in a timely manner so that we don’t have to have an eight month period waiting for equipment,” Hephner said.

He hopes this will prevent him from standing before Council with immediate needs due to lack of funds in the future.

“We didn’t put any wants in here,” Hephner said. “We have to have a plan in place about these expenditures. I’ve had to come up here many times over the last year and a half and stand here saying, ‘I need a bunch of money, and we have to have this’.”

Finding an appropriate plan to fund the budget proposal was at the forefront of the public safety commission’s discussion, according to Hephner. He said they came up with three routes for gathering funds: finding money in an existing budget, reallocating funds from existing monies, and, finally, letting the public vote on a potential millage.

“We decided to recommend a fire safety equipment millage,” Ward 4 Councilman Ray Briner said. “Ultimately we thought that was the best route to go, as we know that we are bare bones as far as staffing goes and cutting from other departments isn’t likely.

That’s where we stand on it.”

Council was unable to come to a conclusion about the potential millage because proper language was not prepared, so discussion will continue at the Feb. 4 council meeting.

City Manager David Mackie said that if the voters approved of one mill, it would

generate about $127,000 to $128,000 a year, coming to about $125 million at the end of the decade.

“This is close to what we need,” Mackie said.

The City would work to both research and apply for grants to supply those additional funds.

“If the voters say they don’t want a public safety millage, then we would have to go back through the budget and bring ideas forward,” Mackie said.

Mackie said that in his discussions with the city attorney, he believes that the issue can be placed on the May ballot for voters, with enough time to get answers before the budget is completed for the fiscal year.

On Tuesday morning, Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners discussed a Hillsdale County law enforcement enhancement millage proposal for additional road patrol deputies at the sheriff ’s department. The plan intends to secure 24/7 road patrol.

After discussion, the board of commissioners approved of the proposal, asking for ¾ of a mill for five years. The proposal will appear on the May ballot.

Spangler’s moves to new location, keeps traditions By | Anna Timmis Collegian Reporter A local staple of Jonesville for over two decades, Spangler’s Hilltop restaurant recently moved across town to a new location. Now situated at 601 East Chicago Rd. on the east city limits, the restaurant sits 1.5 miles from its previous location.

With the move, Spangler’s has expanded its capacity for customers from 50 people to 80 people. With wide windows revealing a view of rolling fields across the road, the restaurant is well-lit and shining new. Dark-red wainscotting and black furniture complement the weathered wood floors and steel trim.

A family-run business, the diner has always remained with the Spangler family.

Mitch Spangler, the current owner, said his parents, Gary and Joyce Spangler, opened the restaurant in 1996. Since Mitch Spangler’s son has worked there for six years, the restaurant has three genera-

tions of family involvement.

“Each meal is individually prepared and cooked to order,” Spangler said.

Spangler’s is known for its from-scratch cooking. The home-style cooking extended into the atmosphere at the restaurant. During my visit, the waitresses asked detailed questions, making sure the breakfast was cooked just as I wanted it.

“We fresh-cut french fries, and all of our burgers are hand pattied from the butchers, not frozen,” Spangler said, adding that they have not shrunk portions in 20 years.

The restaurant draws patrons of all ages. A family with children sat close by, while an elderly couple were served pie at a table to my right, and a young couple chatted over coffee in the corner.

Spangler’s employee Elizabeth Magaña said that customers return often, not just because of the quality food, but because of the good customer service. She has worked for Spangler’s in the past

before returning for the past four months as an employee.

She said that every time she tries to retire, she comes back, noting the close and friendly nature of the restaurant.

“The environment is extremely supportive,” Magaña said. “It’s more like a family and team membership. We probably have the most supportive owner. He’s not just a good employer but also a good person.”

Customer Robin Esham has been coming to Spangler’s for years, and said she loves the new location.

“I come back because of the service,” she said. “The waitresses make you feel like family.”

Spangler’s offers daily specials, such as fish-fry on Friday nights, all-you-can-eat with spare barbeque ribs, and butterfly shrimp on Saturdays.

They serves breakfast all day and “good old fashioned comfort food just like grandma would make,” Spangler said.

Spangler’s Family Restaurant moved into a new location 601 E Chicago Road.

Collegian | Josephine von Dohlen

Hillsdale Hospital started releasing standard charges for procedures to comply with the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. Collegian | Josephine von dohlen

Hillsdale Hospital publishes prices to comply with Department of Health By | Joel Meng Collegian Reporter On Jan. 1, hospitals across the nation published price lists and charges for medical procedures on their websites to comply with a new transparency regulation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a subsection of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Hillsdale Hospital released a list of its standard charges on their website under “patient info” and “pricing transparency.” Patients can view typical charges for specific procedures.

A CMS spokesperson said the regulation was intended “to make the information available to individuals and let them make the decision that works best for them.”

Now, anyone can go to hospital websites and download lists of medical procedures with attached prices. But listing standard names and prices of medical procedures doesn’t provide patients with useful information about their specific needs.

“The descriptions are horrible because when those descriptions were built, it was more of an internal description, not knowing it would be going out to the public,” said Mark Gross, chief financial officer of Hillsdale Hospital.

Hillsdale Hospital’s price list includes such entries as “Atherosclerosis without MCC” for $4,694 and “Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy without C.D.E. with MCC” for $24,578.67. The average medical consumer may not understand these terms and stands even less of a chance of knowing which procedure he

or she may actually need.

“At the end of the day, that list is not going to help the typical patient,” Gross said.

But even if most people could understand the descriptions, they wouldn’t gain useful information from the listed prices.

“We wouldn’t want a patient to look at that list and see an item that’s $1,000 and expect to pay $1,000,” Gross said.

The hospital would consider the patient’s ability to pay the bill and would open its financial assistance program for the patient’s use.

Hospitals sometimes use their sticker prices as a negotiating point with insurance companies.

pitals in negotiations. Gross recommended patients speak directly to hospital staff.

“We have financial counselors who are available to help people understand their obligation with the amount they owe us,” Gross said.

But the CMS requirement that hospitals publish price lists could be a great step toward transparency and competitiveness.

“A requirement to publish standard pricing menus for these services online will allow patients to better plan financially and even shop around for better prices,” said Lindsay Killen, vice president of strategic outreach and communications at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

She said these factors create greater accountability to patients and empower individuals to have more control over their healthcare options.

But if prices would more accurately reflect out-of-pocket costs to consumers, price and quality could both improve.

Arthur Laffer, who sits on the boards of several medical companies, said in a talk at Hillsdale College on Monday that to lower prices and improve care, “We need to publish lists of prices for doctors and hospitals and need doctor performance published.”

Gross said that cost calculators where patients could input their insurance companies and the procedure they need could give patients accurate information on out-of-pocket costs.

“But I just don’t think listing all these charges on a website is helping the situation,” Gross said. It has the potential to confuse patients more.”

“But I just don’t think listing all these charges on a website is helping the situation,” Gross said. “It has the potential to confuse patients more.”

“It’s really the starting point for some insurance companies on how we get paid,” Gross said. “Some of our insurance companies pay us a percentage charge, so that’s really where the charges matter.”

Because insurance companies have different rates with different hospitals, there could even be a scenario where a patient pays more out of pocket at a hospital that has the lowest sticker price. If his or her insurance doesn’t have as good a deal at the hospital, the patient ends up paying more.

Sticker prices don’t accurately predict final costs that patients pay.

The prices, rather than describe accurate prices to consumers, serve to obscure true costs and aid the hos-

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Burgers Unlocked brings new flavors to worthy mission By | Austin Gergens Collegian Reporter Once a place of blazing buffalo wings and piping-hot pizza, House of Pizza and BBQ has transformed into a casual fast food joint, Burgers Unlocked, providing a high-quality burger in Hillsdale .

Key Opportunities, the nonprofit owner of the restaurant, decided to change the name and menu of the restaurant in late December to accommodate the staff, who have been training for their ServSafe Certification for the past couple years.

Burgers Unlocked’s staff is comprised of citizens of all backgrounds “with handicapping conditions or other disadvantages” that seek to work in food service, as stated on its website. The new burger joint is different from the House of Pizza and BBQ in that the program’s participants help with all stages of the food prep and behind the scenes work.

Previously, the House of Pizza and BBQ closed its doors on Mondays to allow the Key Opportunities participants to try their hand in the kitchen and acquire the skills necessary for a job in the restaurant business.

“Trust me, we miss the BBQ too,” Key Opportunities’ Youth Program and Public Relations Coordinator Stephanie Myers said. “But we’re very proud of the the changes we’ve seen. The changes open so many new opportunities for our people to work included

on the workforce.”

Myers shared that the ultimate goal for the restaurant is to prepare the Key Opportunities’ participants to be fully integrated into the food industry.

Head Manager Dustin Furlong shared his enthusiasm for the participants from Key Opportunities.

“Everyone is unique and they’re all geeked out to be here,” said Furlong. “They love doing something different and they’re never in a bad mood.”

Assistant Manager Gloria Thompson echoed the sentiment.

“These people make me smile all day long,” said Thompson. “It has been really refreshing because of how happy they are to be here and to learn.”

The workers are no longer confined to working only on Monday, but now assist Furlong’s team Monday through Friday.

“My favorite part of working for Key Opportunities is seeing the participants celebrate their successes and the feeling about making a difference by themselves,” said Myers.

The claim that Burgers Unlocked offers “customers something new” is not without basis. The restaurant distinguishes itself from competitors through its use of fresh ingredients.

“Our chicken isn’t grown with antibiotics, and the beef isn’t given growth hormones,” said Furlong. “It’s a little more expensive but we want the

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January 24, 2019 A7

Assistant Manager Gloria Thompson and Head Manager Dustin Furlong display the new Burgers Unlocked menu inside the new restaurant. Collegian | Austin Gergens

better product.”

He explained how their fries are fresh and never frozen. Instead, employees come early to wash and prep the fries only for the day of and one day in advance, in order to maximize freshness.

“There was some backlash from angry customers because we didn’t have anymore BBQ,” said Thompson. “But once they tried the new menu they were happy.”

The main entrees for Burgers Unlocked are a burger, coney hot dog, and

chicken sandwich. There are half a dozen variations of the burger and the restaurant offers a plethora of toppings including: lettuce, onions, and tomatoes, but they have some non traditional toppings such as: jalapenos, eggs, and A.1. steak sauce.

Unlike other restaurants, Burgers Unlocked don’t charge extra for additional toppings. With the exception of cheese, patties, and bacon, the toppings are free to add to your burger. The restaurant also offers the same home-

made BBQ sauce that the House of Pizza and BBQ sold.

Opening a new restaurant can have its challenges, but fortunately for Burgers Unlocked, Furlong brings his life long experience in the restaurant business including his employment under Wayne Babcock.

Babcock founded and owned: Chicago Water, Saucy Dogs, and Olivia’s Chophouse.

It was with Babcock’s help, that Key Opportunities was able to transform the House of Pizza and BBQ to Burgers

Unlocked in under a month.

“Wayne and I consult about the restaurant, but he’s mostly letting me grab the reins as head manager,” said Furlong.

“So far everyone has been really good about keeping things going smoothly.”

Furlong hopes that after his team and the Key Opportunities participants get accustomed to the menu, that he can add more items; perhaps even weekly specials.

Michigan Talent Investment Agency provides grants to local training programs By | Danielle Lee Collegian Reporter

The Hillsdale County Central Dispatch allowed The Collegian to send a test text to 911 to see how the system works. Collegian | Julia Mullins

Emergency texting launches in county By | Julia Mullins Assistant Editor Hillsdale County Central Dispatch is now capable of receiving emergency Textsto-911 when citizens are unable or it is unsafe to make a 911 voice call.

Director of Hillsdale County Emergency Management Douglas Sanford said the system to receive Texts-to-911 has been live and testable since the first week of Nov. 2018, and the public was notified about the system Jan. 1, 2019.

“We have wanted to bring this here for a long time,” Sanford said. “Over half of the counties in Michigan now have the capability to text, and we are glad we’re one of those counties.”

Sanford said when someone texts 911, there’s a special ringtone that goes off in the dispatch office. Next, a page opens up on the dispatcher’s computer screen, so the dispatcher can see who’s sending the text and what the message is.

At this point, Sanford said there has been no emergency use of the texting.

“I think we will see what every other county has found out,” Sanford said. “People really understand that they need to call, so they only text if that’s their only option.”

The City of Hillsdale Police and Fire Chief Scott Hephner said he believes the biggest benefit of Texts-to-911 comes from a law enforcement perspective.

“If you have an intruder in your house, now you can turn down your phone volume and send an emergency text without being noticed,” Hephner said.

Hephner also said anybody with a hearing or speaking disability can benefit from emergency texting.

“It’s an enhanced level of 911,” Hephner said. “These are all advancements to help serve our community.”

According to the City of Jackson’s Deputy Fire Chief, David Wooden, Jackson County is currently working on implementing a system

similar to Hillsdale County.

“We’re just a few months behind them,” Wooden said.

“It’s probably one of the biggest leaps of improvements, from an information technology standpoint, toward helping the safety of our communities.”

Sanford said he suspects a higher number of college students will use emergency texting compared to the general population due to relative age and technological expertise.

Additionally, Sanford said people are less likely to send emergency prank texts compared to emergency phone calls. Phones that are turned off or not on a contract, and even prepaid phones without minutes left, can still dial 911.

People cannot text 911 with phones under these same conditions.

“You can’t text unless you have prepaid minutes or a valid plan,” Sanford said. “Yes, you can certainly prank text us and try to do something, but we know who you are.”

Local companies will be able to continue and advance training programs thanks to a grant from the Michigan Talent Investment agency, totaling just over $200,000 in Hillsdale County.

Acme Mills LLC Fairway Products, $31,480; America Axle & Manufacturing, $18,690; Martinrea, $45,090; Paragon Metals Inc., $91,750; and Our Family Friend LLC, $16,130 were the five Hillsdale companies awarded this grant funding.

At the end of last year, Michigan Talent Investment agency granted more than $2.3 million to 67 companies within the Michigan’s southeast region. This funding was awarded by the Going PRO Talent fund and was invested in the companies’ training programs.

Nicole Bell, communications manager at Michigan Works! Southeast, said companies were rewarded different amounts based on the training plans they submitted in their application. The association counted the number of employees and individuals that need to be trained and developed a dollar amount from that sum.

“The goal is to hire and retain talent within our communities,” Bell said. “The Going PRO program awards those companies to retain and maintain that talent.”

Katrina Mosaher, human resources and safety manager at Paragon Metals, said that Paragon Metals has already started some of their new training, as well as an inhouse program. The in-house program is called Murata training and it focuses on using technologically-advanced tools, such as computer numerical control (CNC), robots, and mills, Mosher said.

“We can bring in people who have no CNC experience, people that were underemployed, or kids straight out of highschool and get them trained in a skilled position,” Mosher said. “They’ll then have the skills to move onto a

different job in our company.

They with CNC and promote from within.”

Chris Poling, training and safety coordinator at Paragon Metals, specializes in CNC training and helped develop a training cell for the company.

He worked with Mosher and the state of Michigan to create this plan improving the company’s training.

“I took a look at Paragon’s idle equipment and identified the skill gap,” Poling said.

“Then, I figured out what machines would be needed to fulfill those skill gaps.”

Poling said the training cell helped pinpoint the employees’ needs and provided them the training needed at a faster rate.

“This creates a more knowledgeable workforce and increases the employees’ confidence in making the right decision,” Poling said.

At Our Family Friend, Lori Peterson, vice president of operations, said they’ve already started their job training and will begin their in-classroom training this February.

“We’re constantly doing on the job training,” Peterson said. “Now that we’ve been awarded this grant, we can reduce some of the costs for training and implement new programs in February.”

This grant helped expand the training for caregivers, as well as their management team, Peterson said. Supervisory skill classes will be provided for the management team through Michigan’s Manufacturing Technology Center program, while CENA training will be given to caretakers through Heart to Heart healthcare.

“We make sure every caregiver that works with one of our clients has had an extensive on the job training specific to that client and that client’s needs,” Peterson said.

Dee Petry, owner of At Our Family Friend, said this funding will allow them to implement customized special training, such as training caregivers helping dementia patients. Two staff members are currently undergoing this training and Petry said this

will help elevate their skills for the long-run.

“We look forward to continuing more and more certifications that help provide some of the leading information on working with people who have brain trauma,” Petry said. “There’s a lot of specialized training that we can take part in with the offset costs covered by the grant.”

As searching for new employees becomes harder, acquiring skilled labor does so as well. With this fund, Mosher said the employees will be able to improve their job skills, Paragon Metals’ products, and their personal lives as well.

“It ensures we have good quality product and supports our community,” Mosher said.

“CNC positions hold higher wages and this will allow our workers to spend more, like purchasing their own home.”

This Michigan program helps Michigan citizens sustain a skill set to having the best advantage in finding or keeping a job, Peterson said.

With the difficulties of hiring, this program allows businesses to grow from within and invest more in the company and workers themselves.

“Ultimately the individual is the one invested in, and people are grateful for that,” Peterson said. “It’s a long view rather than a short view, and we grow our managers from our caregivers. The money coming from this grant allows us to make a greater investment.”

Applications for Going PRO Talent fund are open between Sep. 12 to Oct. 3, 2019, and awards are announced around late November to early December. Businesses cannot directly apply for this and requires recommendations from agencies in Michigan Works! The agencies’ business services’ staff evaluates and determines the businesses’ talent skills gap, deciding whether or not businesses are suitable to receive this federal funding.

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Hillsdale earns NCAA President's Award for fourth consecutive year By | Emma Cummins assistant editor Thanks to the academic excellence of the Charger athletes, Hillsdale College earned the NCAA President’s Award with an academic success rate score of 97. This is the fourth consecutive year the college has earned this award.

The rate by which Division II student athletes graduate within six years determines the school’s academic success rate. At a place such as Hillsdale, the challenge of achieving both academic and athletic success can be even more intense.

“The reason our academic success rate is high is because our coaches and our admission department and our faculty, who recruit students, all do an excellent job of describing the Hillsdale experience to recruits,” Director of Athletics Don Brubacher said.

“That of course will attract students who really want this challenge.”

Brubacher also said that when he interacts with recruits of all sports who are considering attending Hillsdale, he makes clear the challenges of being both an athlete and student at Hillsdale.

“If that’s something that’s exciting to you, then this is the place to be,” Brubacher said. “If that’s not what you want, then this isn’t the place for you.”

Head coach of the women’s tennis team and Senior Women's Administrator Nicole Walbright said that every year she meets with her team to set both academic and athletic goals.

“Our goals are very important to us and we talk frequently each week about meeting them,” Walbright said. “Academics come first, so when school gets tough we adjust practice time to ensure everyone has the best possible set-up to succeed.”

Brubacher also talked about prioritizing academics over athletics, especially in each coach’s approach.

“Every one of our coaches honestly promotes the notion that academics are the highest priority for our students here,” Brubacher said. “Coaches have a variety of different approaches to help achieve academic excellence with study tables, tutoring programs, and other efforts to help students achieve on the highest possible level.”

Walbright finds that her

athletes “do an excellent job managing their time.” In order to ease the stress, she tries to give each student athlete the full season calendar, but also does weekly grade reports and check-ins to make sure work is being completed.

“The goal of the department always centers around academic success for our athletes,” Walbright said. “We try as hard as possible to minimize missed class time and set up an environment to promote doing well in the classroom.”

Senior Sutton Dunwoodie, a member of the golf team, said he’s been able Only Bentley University in Massachusetts received a higher academic success rate than Hillsdale College to balance his time among all NCAA Division II athletic programs. ryan goff | collegian without sacrificing either of his obligations as an athlete and a student.

“Sometimes I can’t do the “The coaches prioritize our student athletes at Hillsdale Like so many student athletes other fun stuff I want to do, success in life,” Dunwoodie have shown a consistent comat Hillsdale, succeeding both but I love golf so it all kind of said. “Their ultimate goal is mitment to excellence. And academically and athletically balances out.” to have us graduate as better after receiving the President’s has been a manageable task.

According to Dunwoodie, men than we were when we Cup for the fourth consecu“I’ve never felt like I didn’t his coaches have done a good arrived.” tive year, they don’t appear to have enough hours in the day job prioritizing the team’s imWhether it’s going to class be slowing down. to do both,” Dunwoodie said. provement in all areas of life. or winning the G-MAC, the

Scoreboard

SWIM, from a10 training trip,” Voisin said.

Voisin swam her fastest in-season time in the 100 butterfly in 59.37 seconds, one second less than Indiana Wesleyan. Though she said she felt a bit discouraged about her 100 butterfly this season, Voisin said the win felt like a breakthrough. A new race strategy improved her swimming and she plans on applying the same one at the G-MAC meet.

“Usually it’s pretty difficult to swim fast in your best events during the season, because we train so intensely throughout the year,” Voisin said. “Our bodies can’t recover for small weekend meets.”

Sophomores Katherine Heeres and Emma Rao, senior Anika Ellingson, and Voisin teamed up to win the 200 medley relay in one minute and 51.93 seconds. In the 400 freestyle relay, the A-relay of Rao, sophomore Mary Vita, junior Danielle Lebleu, and senior Suzanne DeTar swiped second in three minutes and 50.31 seconds.

Against Saginaw Valley State, the Chargers lost 132.50-90.50 and recognized the team’s four seniors — DeTar, Ellingson, Tiffany Farris and Grace Houghton — on

MEN'S BASKETBALL january 19 Hillsdale 12 Findlay

Davis Larson Harrison Niego Austen Yarian Dylan Lowry

1 48 39 pts fgm-a 24 7-12 22 7-11 16 7-9 15 5-11

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL january 19 Hillsdale Findlay

Makenna Ott Brittany Gray Allie Dewire Lauren Daffenberg

1 19 21 pts 17 15 12 9

2 20 20 fgm-a 8-11 5-12 6-12 3-7

2 45 43 3pm-a 3-3 3-5 2-3 0-2

final 93 82 reb ast 7 2 5 0 7 2 4 1

3 10 16 3pm-a 1-3 3-8 0-2 3-7

4 15 12 reb 8 3 3 4

SWIMMING Madeline Breay swims during the 1000 yard freestyle on Sunday. christian yiu | collegian

Senior Day. “These two meets provided an excellent opportunity to see where we stand time-wise in our events for the conference meet,” Ellingson said. “They were a good mental and physical challenge to see how well our intense training has prepared us. We may be physically or mentally exhausted, that won’t change the fact that we have to be up and racing.”

With the upcoming meets at Olivet College and Ohio Northern University, Kirner

said the loss against Saginaw Valley is just part of the process. The meet highlighted which events need more practice and helped his athletes develop the mindset they need for the fourday championship in three weeks.

“All competitors offer different challenges,” Kirner said. “I would be happy with beating three out of the four opposing teams, which will give us a winning dual meet record for the season.”

Vita said the Chargers are

ready for these meets. Their hard training and attention to detail in their individual events has prepared them well for the competition their opponents will bring.

“We’ll be tired from training, but it’s important to execute our races well,” Vita said. “The race strategy is more important than the times, and we’re focused on working through these meets so that we can swim well at conference.”

january 18 events won 1. Hillsdale 7 2. Indiana Wesleyan 4 200 yard medley relay time 1. Heeres/Ellingson/Voisin/Rao 1:51.93 1000 yard freestyle time 1. Anna Clark 11:32.62 200 yard freestyle time 1. Katherine Heeres 2:00.79 100 yard butterfly time 1. Catherine Voisin 59.37 500 yard freestyle time 1. Katherine Heeres 5:29.71 100 yard breaststroke time 1. Anika Ellingson 1:05.40 400 yard freestyle relay time 1. Rao/Vita/Lebleu/De Tar 3:50.31 january 20 events won 1. Saginaw Valley State 10 2. Hillsdale 3 400 yard medley relay time 1. Heeres/Ellingson/Voisin/De Tar 4:00.62 200 yard butterfly time 1. Catherine Voisin 2:11.87 200 yard freestyle relay time 1. Heeres/Rao/Vita/De Tar 1:41.49

final 64 69 ast 2 2 2 0

score 133 71

score 132.50 90.50

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

score january 18 events won 150 1. Hillsdale 4 110 2. Ursuline 4 108 3. Findlay 5 69 4. Northwood 3 shot put distance 1. Nikita Maines 14.05m 1 mile run time 1. Maryssa Depies 5:06.58 400 meter hurdles time 1. Carmen Botha 1:06.24 4 x 400 meter relay time 1. Boehm/Eby/Porter/Townsend 4:06.04

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

From left to right, Katherine Heeres, Anika Ellingson, Catherine Voisin and Suzanne De Tar smile together after breaking a pool record in the 4 x 400 meter relay on Sunday. christian yiu | collegian

january 18 1. Findlay 2. Northwood 3. Hillsdale 60 meter hurdles 1. John Baldwin 1 mile run 1. Joey Humes 4 x 400 meter relay 1. Wade/Wyse/Schmidt/Pando

events won 7 4 3 time 8.50 time 4:16.14 time 3:29.02

score 183 124 91

Sports

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Men's Track and Field

Chargers looking forward after Conference Crossover By | Scott Lowery collegian freelancer While the Hillsdale College Chargers had a few strong individual performances at last week’s home Conference Crossover, they struggled to find success as a team.

Hillsdale finished third of the three schools represented at the meet.

G-MAC rival University of Findlay took the top spot, outscoring the Chargers in team points 183-91, while Northwood University, members of the GLIAC, took second.

While Hillsdale struggled to find a depth of success as a young, developing team, head coach Andrew Towne said he’s confident in the team’s pursuit of excellence.

“We’ve really stressed that there isn’t another 2019 track and field team. This is their team,” Towne said. “There’s a real focus on going through the process of becoming our best.”

In the field events, the Chargers saw improvement from some younger competitors. Most notably, freshman pole vaulter Ben Raffin achieved a Division II provisional mark with a height of 4.73 meters, setting a personal best for the second straight week. That height puts him

WOMEN'S, from a10 the ball and communication on the court, was less evident than usual down the stretch, senior forward Makenna Ott said.

“We just kind of had some panic situations. We made some mistakes under stress,” Ott said. “But I think as we go forward, having that experience is going to be really good for us in the long run.”

That experience of playing down to the wire against a quality opponent isn’t something the Chargers are entirely unused to. But having it happen again on Saturday was as much of a reminder as anything that to get over the bump against a premier team, laser-sharp focus and mistake-free basketball are of the foremost importance.

“It gave us the realization that we have to do that for every single game, even when we have two games in a week,” Ott said. “Findlay’s a good team, but we know we

CONFERENCE CROSSOVER FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 | hillsdale, mi

SCORE

Oilers 183 2. Northwood Timberwolves 124 3. Hillsdale Chargers 91 1. Findlay

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 | allendale, mi

2:00 P.M.

gvsu challenge

Ben Raffin clears the bar during the pole vault on Friday. Raffin set a personal-best height during the meet. scott lowery | collegian

in position to qualify for the national meet, and was good enough to place second on Friday.

On the track, freshman sprinter John Baldwin took can beat them, and we were right there with them.”

Ott led the Chargers with 17 points, making eight of 11 shots from the field and three of eight three-pointers. She also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots.

Senior forward Brittany Gray added 15 points, and senior guard Allie Dewire scored 12 points. Ott, Gray, and Dewire, the only trio of teammates in the G-MAC to average more than 12 points per game, continued to pace Hillsdale’s scoring attack.

Daffenberg sunk three three-pointers for nine points. She’s come off the bench in all 17 games this season, but is second on the team in three-pointers made and fourth on the team in points scored. Fritsche called her an “elite shooter”.

“I guess that’s kind of how I expected it — to play some minutes and come in to hit a shot when necessary,” Daffenberg said of her role this season.

Hillsdale has dropped three of its last four games after a season-long four game

first in the 60 meter hurdles, finishing in 8.50 seconds. Two other Chargers joined him in the top four, with junior Ian Brown taking third in 8.68 and sophomore Ryan Thomwinning streak from Dec. 13 to Jan. 3. Fritsche said his team’s goal remains the same as it was before the season began: to peak at the end of the year. The G-MAC tournament begins March 7.

“This is an urgent time for us, but I don’t feel pressed or panicky about it,” Fritsche said. “I know that our destiny is still in our own control.”

Since it’s unlikely the Chargers would be able to qualify for the NCAA Division II Tournament based solely on their record, that destiny would be a G-MAC tournament championship.

The Chargers, who won the G-MAC tournament last year as the fifth-seeded team in the conference, are currently in sixth place in the G-MAC despite being preseason favorites to finish first in the regular season standings.

The Chargers travel to Owensboro, Kentucky to take on the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Panthers have won nine consecutive games, and are 13-3 on the season and 9-1 in the G-MAC. Only

sen taking fourth in 8.74.

Hillsdale also put forward a strong effort in the 4x400 meter relay, where seniors Nathan Pando and Levi Wyse joined sophomore Adam Wade and freshman Jacob Schmidt. Wyse ran the fastest split of any competitor in the relay to help spur the team to a first-place finish with a time of 3:29.02.

In the 400 meter dash, Wade finished second with a time of 50.62.

Junior Joey Humes led the Chargers’ effort in the distance events, winning the mile race with a time of 4:16.14.

As the season progresses, Towne said he’ll continue to focus on developing his young team, both on and off the track.

“We’ve had a year-long emphasis on improving culture that’s a constant work in motion, and an emphasis on leadership development,” Towne said. “Those changes have been really palpable, there’s a genuine interest in others and in helping the greater good.”

Hillsdale faces another test this week as they travel to Allendale, Michigan for the GVSU Challenge on Friday.

Events begin at 2 p.m.

Cedarville University (14-3, 10-1 G-MAC) has a better conference record than Kentucky Wesleyan.

Without a signature win against a top-shelf opponent this season, tonight presents another opportunity for the Chargers. The Panthers are the G-MAC’s most improved team this season after going 11-11 in the conference in 2017-2018. Hillsdale beat Kentucky Wesleyan twice last year, including a 64-56 win on the road.

On Saturday, the Chargers visit the Trevecca Nazarene University Trojans in Nashville, Tennessee. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. against the Trojans, who are 6-10 this season and 5-5 in the G-MAC. Hillsdale split two games against Trevecca Nazarene last season.

“In this conference, you know that any game is up for grabs,” Daffenberg said. “The confidence is always there knowing if we play a good game, you can beat any team in the conference.”

January 24, 2019 A9 MEN'S, from a10 needed a shot.”

Junior guard Dylan Lowry made two jump shots in a row and with just under two and a half minutes to go, swelling the Chargers’ lead to six. Senior guard Harrison Niego added two points more with a smooth jump shot, and Lowry sank two free throws to put the Chargers up, 86-76.

With a minute left in the game, Hillsdale didn’t let up.

The Chargers went to the free throw line four more times, earning seven more points. They shot 95 percent from line in the victory.

“It was Coach Tharp’s first win there,” junior guard Connor Hill said. “It was pretty special just because all week Coach Tharp was saying this was the team that could do it and he believed in us and that played a pretty big role in us coming out on top.”

Tharp was right. This year’s Chargers had the right players step up in big ways to earn a victory over the 12th-ranked team in the nation.

“It was one of the best team wins we’ve ever had,” Tharp said. “It started the week leading up to it. Our scout team guys gave us a tremendous look to get our guys ready. We had great enthusiasm on the bench.”

Larson scored a career-high 24 points while maintaining that same effort under the boards with seven rebound. The performance earned him the G-MAC Player of the Week award.

Niego added another 22 points for the third time this season. Senior guard Nate Neveau’s recent elbow injury didn’t seem to stop him from commanding the floor as he led the Chargers with four assists.

Sophomore forward Austen Yarian came off the bench to add 16 points and seven rebounds.

Hill and Lowry scored 10 and 15 points, respectively.

Nine of Lowry’s 15 points came in the last three minutes of the game.

Tharp said he saw a lot of maturity in the way Lowry played. A year ago, if he didn’t start the game well, he wouldn’t have come back to make the big plays he did in Saturday’s game.

“He didn’t start the game very well, but then he kinda got in a rhythm later in the game,” Tharp said. “In the last four minutes, he made some plays on the bounce; made some floaters. He did an incredible job taking care of the ball; got some fouls and made the free throws.”

The Chargers struggled

to find a rhythm on offense to begin the game. It took nearly four minutes before Yarian gave Hillsdale its first two points. Larson said once Yarian made the first couple of baskets from the outside, and senior center Nick Czarnowski attacked the rim, it caused Findlay’s defense to shift, opening up scoring opportunities for the Chargers. By halftime, Hillsdale was up by nine.

“Coming in off the bench I kinda knew I had to give a lot of energy going in, especially when games aren’t going well really,” Yarian said.

“It helped the team because we have a lot of guys that can play and perform Being up by nine at half time, we thought, ‘We can actually do this. Let’s just go play our game.’”

Hill said a’ fast-paced, high-scoring offense wasn’t originally Hillsdale’s game plan, but the offense adapted well.

“Our game plan didn’t really work, because we’re a team that likes to keep the score low, and they scored a lot,” Hill said. “It was just one of those games where we couldn’t miss a shot. We didn’t plan on scoring that much. Sometimes the exact opposite of what you had planned is what you’ve gotta do.”

Adjusting to such an intense offense caused the Chargers to struggle a little on defense, but Larson said he’s hopeful for what they can do once they put everything together.

“I think that just demonstrates that we can beat anybody,” Larson said.

“The awesome thing is, we haven’t been at our full potential. If we put a full 40 minutes together of full offense and full defense, we can be pretty scary.”

This victory over Findlay is far from the end of Hillsdale’s season. The Chargers have 10 conference games remaining, including a weekend on the road starting with Kentucky Wesleyan College (7-8, 5-4 G-MAC) tonight at 8:45 p.m. The team will then travel to Tennessee to take on Trevecca Nazarene University (1-13, 1-8 G-MAC) on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.

Tharp said his team needs to stay focused on the games ahead and never be satisfied.

“It’s the idea that good teams are always searching for more,” he said. “They want more of that feeling they had on Saturday. They need to be confident, not cocky. We scored a ton of points, but we were not great defensively. We made a point that we can improve on that.”

charger chatter: Alex Oquist

Alex Oquist is a junior from Livonia, Michigan. He is a mid-distance runner on the men’s track and field team.

Q: How long have you run track?

Q: If you were to pick one other sport to play, what would it be?

AO: I started running track in middle school and continued through high school, but I primarily played hockey my whole life. Hockey in the spring dies down between March and June, and that’s when the track season is for high school. So it was either track or golf, and I knew I was better at track, so I decided to go with that and ended up having an amazing high school coach and some friends on the team, so I just stuck with it and progressed.

AO: Probably still hockey, because I played that from ages 5 to 18. So I miss it sometimes, just because there’s a lot of different areas as far as skills. In running, the training is all based around running, whereas in hockey there’s different training of different skill sets. So I think as far as practice goes, hockey practices were a lot different, maybe at times more fun than just running. I definitely miss playing, and I have a lot of friends who still play.

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time on the team?

AO: My freshman year here there was a core group of senior guys who were on the team — guys who I’m still great friends with today. We just made a lot of good memories at runs, or at meets, or just hanging out. Those were guys I was thankful to have my first year here, and that I try to be like for the younger guys on the team, especially now that I’m an upperclassman. The friends I’ve made on the team are amazing. I can’t imagine it a different way and I’m really thankful for that. When you grind with people day in and day out, it’s a different kind of friendship.

Q: Why did you choose Hillsdale?

AO: I had a lot of neighbors and family friends who were there or had graduated recently and they only had good things to say. The alumni network was very strong, and the education is obviously really rigorous but very good. Just honestly a bunch of good things from people who I really looked up to, so it was always kind of on my radar.

Then I visited the summer before my senior year and again during my senior year and really liked it.

Q: Do you have any hobbies that you like to do when you’re not busy with school and track?

AO: I like to watch soccer — that’s usually my weekend morning routine if we don’t have a meet. I also am in the investment club here. It’s a hobby on the side — just monitoring the stock market and researching different companies. I enjoy reading different training books about the methodologies of running. I think those are super interesting, because I’d like to coach high school track after I graduate, because I like coaching and I like running.

---compiled by Rachel Kookogey

Charger

A10 January 24, 2019

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Men's Basketball

Chargers upset no. 12 Findlay in statement win Win is Hillsdale's first on the road at Findlay since 2002 By | Calli Townsend assistant editor The score was 76-74. The Hillsdale College Chargers had to hold on to a two-point lead for four more minutes to do something they hadn’t done in 17 years. The last time they beat the Oilers at the University of Findlay’s Croy

Gymnasium was Jan. 24, 2002.

Hillsdale didn’t just hold on to their lead, however. The Chargers outscored the Oilers 17-8 in the remaining four minutes en route to a historic, 93-82 victory. The win propelled Hillsdale into a tie for first place with Findlay in the G-MAC standings.

“We really fought that en-

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 | findlay, oh

Hillsdale Chargers 12 F indlay O ilers THURSDAY, JANUARY 24

Hillsdale (12-5, 8-2)

93 82

| owensboro, ky at

at

8:45 P.M.

Kentucky Wesleyan (7-8, 5-4)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 | nashville, tn

Hillsdale (12-5, 8-2)

FINAL

5:15 P.M.

Trevecca Nazarene (1-13, 1-8)

tire game. They made multiple runs at us,” head coach John Tharp said. “At that four-minute timeout we challenged

[our guys]: ‘We fought for 36 minutes, there is no way we’re going to take a step backwards and let Findlay take this game.

We’ve got to attack.’”

With four and a half minutes to go, Hillsdale missed a layup. Findlay rebounded the ball and pushed it up the court for two points. That cut Hillsdale’s lead to two.

On the ensuing possession, the Chargers missed three more shots. The clock was winding down and they knew every opportunity mattered.

Sophomore guard Davis Larson snagged an offensive rebound and drew a foul as he put the ball back up. He earned two points at the free

throw line, and started what would soon be a Chargers scoring frenzy.

“We could definitely feel how intense it was,” Larson said. “Their fans get into it so much. There were old people standing on the baseline screaming at us and cussing at us. You could tell just by the environment how intense it was and how badly we

see MEN'S, page A9

Women's Track and Field

Maines breaks 27-year-old record in Crossover win

By | Scott Lowery collegian freelancer The Hillsdale College Chargers entered 2019 with high expectations in the G-MAC. After a dominant team performance on their home track, Hillsdale seems poised to meet those expectations, and remains serious contenders for another conference championship.

The Chargers finished first at the Conference Crossover with 150 team points, besting G-MAC adversaries Ursuline College and the University of Findlay by a comfortable margin.

Hillsdale was led by the performance of freshman thrower Nikita Maines.

In just her third collegiate meet, Maines set a school record in the shot put with a throw of 14.05 meters.

The distance breaks Melissa Aardema’s previous record throw of 13.82 meters, set in 1992. The distance also set a higher NCAA Division II provisional mark, increasing Maines’ chances of qualifying the event for the national meet.

“I figured I would do well but I didn’t think I would do so well so soon,” Maines said. “I think I can hand that success to my coaches and how much time they push us to put in.”

Maines has shown consistent improvement, both in the shot put and the weight throw, but she doesn’t want her success to end there.

“I just want to continue

to do better. I want to continue to keep breaking the record and keep making it higher,” Maines said.

As for other field events, freshman Alexie Day jumped for a season-best height in high jump, clearing 1.53 meters to take second place.

The Chargers also saw strong performances on the track. Hillsdale runners continued their dominance in the mid-distance events.

In the mile run, taking the first eight places. Sophomore Maryssa Depies led the way, finishing in 5 minutes and 6.58 seconds.

Sophomore Abbie Porter and freshman Amber Mango cruised around the track to take second and third in the 800m, respectively.

Sophomore Carmen Botha took first in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.24, with freshman Melanie Boehm and sophomore Calli Townsend taking second and third respectively.

Boehm, Porter and Townsend joined sophomore Zalonya Eby to take first in the 4x400 meter relay. The team finished in 4:06.04, rounding out a first-place team performance for the day.

“We’re all in this together, there’s no one left out,” Maines said. “We all have to keep pushing ourselves to that next level.”

The Chargers are back in action on Friday, traveling to Grand Valley State University for the the GVSU Challenge. Events begin at 2 p.m.

CONFERENCE CROSSOVER FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 | hillsdale, mi

SCORE

Chargers 2. Ursuline Arrows 3. Findlay Oilers

4. Northwood Timberwolves 1. Hillsdale

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 | allendale, mi

150 110 108 69 2:00 P.M.

gvsu challenge

From left to right, Stefanie Walker, Mary Vita, and Taylor Boyle prepare for the 200 yard freestyle on Sunday. christian yiu | collegian

Swimming

Final two home meets feature team win, pool's relay record By | Danielle Lee collegian reporter In the final two home meets of the season, the Hillsdale College Chargers beat Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday, but fell to Saginaw Valley State University the next day. Despite Sunday’s loss, the Chargers managed to break the Hillsdale pool record in the 400 medley relay.

The record-breaking relay team of DeTar, Voisin, Ellingson, and Heeres snatched first by three seconds against Saginaw Valley in four minutes and 0.62 seconds.

“The Saginaw Valley State competitors they were up to gave them just the edge to be at their best last Sunday,” head coach Kurt Kirner said.

Against Indiana Wesleyan,

SCORE

Chargers 133 2. Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats 71 1. Hillsdale

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 | hillsdale, mi

SCORE

1. Saginaw Valley State Cardinals 132.50 2. Hillsdale Chargers

90.50

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 | olivet, mi

6:00 P.M.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 | ada, oh

1:00 P.M.

Hillsdale vs. Olivet and Tiffin

Hillsdale vs. Ohio Northern and Case Western the Chargers won seven out of 11 events, and had multiple first and second place finishes across the board. Freshman Anna Clark shone, taking first in the 1000 freestyle in 11:32.62.

Since she’s been swimming more distance in her first year at college, Clark said she has grown to enjoy different race strategies. She plans on swimming the same event in the upcoming G-MAC champion-

ship meet, along with the 1650 freestyle and the 100 and 200 butterfly.

“I see it as a game or challenge,” Clark said. “In the 1000, I got an early lead and I knew I had to hold on to that and try to break away. I was able to do that, and I am very happy with my first individual collegiate win.”

Junior Catherine Voisin said she felt great about this meet. Last week was rough for her, but Voisin said she was still able to swim well regardless.

“I think that’s a testament to the hard work we put in the first semester and our winter

see SWIM, page A8

Women's Basketball

Fourth-quarter comeback falls short By | S. Nathaniel Grime sports editor

Ally Eads leads a pack of Chargers around a turn during the one mile run on Friday. scott lowery | collegian

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 | hillsdale, mi

The Hillsdale College Chargers couldn’t quite break through in a narrow 69-64 road loss to the University of Findlay Oilers on Saturday.

The defeat drops Hillsdale (8-9, 6-5 G-MAC) back below the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 18, when the team was 5-6.

The Oilers led by just two at halftime, 41-39, after a closely contested first half.

The Chargers scored only 10 points in the third quarter, however, allowing Findlay to take a 57-49 lead entering the final quarter. A 12-3 scoring run at the beginning of the quarter briefly put Hillsdale ahead, 61-60, but the Oilers ended the game on a 9-3 run to retake the lead and seal the

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 | findlay, oh

Hillsdale Chargers Findlay Oilers THURSDAY, JANUARY 24

Hillsdale (8-9, 6-5)

| owensboro, ky

at

at

64 69 6:30 P.M.

Kentucky Wesleyan (13-3, 8-1)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 | nashville, tn

Hillsdale (8-9, 6-5)

FINAL

3:00 P.M.

Trevecca Nazarene (6-10, 5-5)

victory.

“We had some empty possessions where we just didn’t get enough movement or enough screens where we didn’t get the same quality shots as we did early,” head coach Matt Fritsche said.

Fritsche said he was pleased with his team’s performance on defense throughout the game. The Chargers had an entire week

to prepare for Findlay, but rather than spending the extra time watching more film than usual, they capitalized on more opportunities to finetune their defensive approach throughout the week in practice.

“I think we’re going to plan on going forward with the balance we had last week, making sure we focus enough on ourselves, especially early

in the week on getting better,” Fritsche said. “We need to focus on our own improvement as much as anything. We’re all on the same page there.”

Hillsdale out-rebounded Findlay, 41-39, but the Oilers grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to the Chargers’ nine. Freshman guard Lauren Daffenberg said the Oilers’ second-chance shots down the stretch were pivotal.

“Late in the game, we gave up some offensive rebounds,” Daffenberg said. “But the biggest thing was we didn’t really play our game.”

The Chargers’ offensive mantra, which includes movement around and away from

see WOMEN'S, page A9

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

January 24, 2019

B1

Several inches of snow and ice pile up across Hillsdale County. Collegian | Carmel Kookogey

Culture

Hillsdale theater students win set design, dramaturgy awards By | Elizabeth Bachmann Collegian Reporter Hillsdale College theater majors and minors swept the American College Theater Festival in three categories Jan. 8-13.

Seniors Emma Trist, Jessica McFarlane, Shiloh Carozza, and Judy Moreno, and junior Madeline Campbell traveled to Wisconsin for the regional ACTF competition.

Trist competed and was selected as a finalist for her set design of “Harun and the Sea of Stories,” an Indian folktale

by Salman Rushdie.

“The show stood out to me because the entire purpose of the play is to emphasize the importance of imagination

and childhood and creativity,” Trist said. “It is a fantastical story: It goes from earth to this other planet. I had to make the set work for the two places.”

Trist said her design was theoretical, not realized, however she did create several scaled models, paintings, and ground plans to convey her vision to the judges.

“To start out, I came up with a bunch of words that described the show, and then choose one of those to focus the design on,” Trist said. “I chose a kaleidoscope. It was a very colorful design, and had giant oversized pillows over the set, it has three turntables and hydraulic lift incorporated into the design.”

ACTF has also invited her to attend the national competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in April.

McFarlane competed as a stage manager and director, and she advanced to finals for her direction of a scene from Caryl Churchill’s “Vinegar Tom,” a play about the 16th century witch trials in England. For her presentation, McFarlane wrote a 25-page book about the time, place, and politics that would have affected the play, and also directed a scene which she then presented before a panel of judges at ACTF. “I learned so much about myself as a director: I realized different places in my process where I could improve. But

the most valuable thing was the interviews, because I’d like to go into directing, and I had no idea how to talk about directing and articulate my process for professional directors,” McFarlane said. “This was the first time I had ever had an experience doing that, and now that I am applying for jobs and apprenticeships, it has been invaluable.”

McFarlane was also nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition for her performance in Hillsdale’s production of “Life is a Dream.” At the competition she played Satan from Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” and received positive feedback from the judges.

Campbell competed in

dramaturgy. According to Campbell, a dramaturge’s role in a production is to first compile an actor’s packet with information and research which actors should be aware of before beginning the rehearsal process. The dramaturge then creates lobby displays and a program note which provide the audience with the background they need to fully appreciate the show.

Campbell served as dramaturge for Hillsdale’s production of Calderón’s “Life is a Dream,” and submitted her work from that show to the ASTF competition. She won an award for her program note, which was inspired by Diderot’s “Paradox of the Actor,” which first recognized the

contradiction of theater.

“Theater is real in the sense that it’s right there and it’s right in front of you, but its not real in the sense that it’s a whole bunch of people telling a story,” Campbell said.

“You are just sitting here in this brick building and all of a sudden you are in 1600’s Poland, and there is something magical about that. If you take the time to sit back and think about it and let that wonder and dreamlike notion wash over you, then I think you are in a pretty good place to recognize what Sigismundo is up against in “Life is a Dream.’”

Q&A with visiting poet Ryan Wilson By | Carmel Kookogey Culture Editor Ryan Wilson is a poet and the current editor of Literary Matters, an online literary journal. Wilson’s first book of poems, “The Stranger World,” won the 2017 Donald Justice Poetry Prize, and his poems, translations, and criticism appear widely in periodicals such as First Things, Five Points, The Hopkins Review, The New Criterion, The Sewanee Review, and The Yale Review. Wilson is visiting campus Jan. 24-25 to teach a poetry workshop, and will be giving a poetry reading.

How long have you been writing poetry? What inspired you to begin?

I started playing with words and making little rhymes almost as soon as I learned to talk, and I was always writing little things, but I didn’t commit myself to writing poetry seriously until I read T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” during my Freshman year of college, almost twenty years ago. That poem struck me like a lightning-bolt.

Do you find literary critique to be a completely different skill from poetry, or do the two play off of each other?

The two go hand-in-hand.

If one wants to be a great musician, one listens—and listens critically—to a lot of music. If one wants to be a great basketball player, one watches—and watches critically—a lot of

basketball games. Similarly, reading lots of poetry—and reading it critically—helps one to develop one’s own craft.

What — or who — inspires your work today?

I’m a poet mostly of farm country and woodlands. The beauty of creation delights me to no end.

Modern poetry has a tendency to be free form, and often dark: is this a tendency that you have embraced, or have you tried to introduce a different tone with your work?

I’m not sure that “free form” is exactly accurate. The greatest poet of American Modernism, T.S. Eliot, who is often considered a pioneer of so-called “free verse” — “orvers libre” — writes, “Vers libre does not exist,” and goes on to add that “there is no freedom in art.” What he means is that all art is based on patterning.

While much modern poetry modifies traditional patterning, or invents new kinds of patterning, it’s not quite “free form.” Indeed, William Carlos Williams—who is often taken to stand in polar opposition to Eliot—writes similarly, “There is no such thing as free verse.”

Very often, the illusion of an absence of patterning is created by the poet’s using more recondite patterning. As W.B. Yeats writes in “Adam’s Curse”: “A line may take us hours, maybe;/Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,/Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.”

That is to say that the modern

poets tend to follow Ovid’s claim from The Art of Love: Ars est celare artem, “The art is to hide the art.” One wants a poem to seem like spontaneous speech, the way a magician wants a long-practiced trick to look easy.

As for modern poems often being “dark,” I suppose that’s so, although there’s a great deal of light in masterful poets like Marianne Moore, W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Richard Wilbur, Derek Walcott, and John Ashbery, as well as in some of our more brilliant living contemporaries like Mary Jo Salter, Brad Leithauser, and A.E. Stallings. Personally, I’m interested in utilizing a wide variety of patterns and in poems that wrestle with the angel as Jacob did.

With the younger generation increasingly encouraged to pursue careers in STEM, business, or medical fields, because of their greater perceived usefulness in the modern world, what defense would you make for writing poetry? How would you respond to those who suggest that poetry is not a viable occupation, or that it is not useful enough?

First, writing poetry and working in medicine or business are not mutually exclusive. William Carlos Williams was a physician, as is the fine contemporary poet C. Dale Young. The modern master, Wallace Stevens, was Vice President of the Hartford Insurance Company, and

the wonderful contemporary, Dana Gioia, was a Vice President of the Kraft Food Company. The poet doesn’t have to be a bohemian, although some poets choose to be bohemians because they find bourgeois stability a bit stifling.

While poetry can’t stop a tank, as the Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney once quipped, neither can virtue, yet we tend not to question the value of virtue. Without delving into theology, we might mention Aristotle’s concept of the “hexis,” which Aquinas translates “habitus.” The “hexis,” or “habitus,” of virtue is “the good seeking the good,” and the habit of virtue is, for Aristotle, its own reward. Similarly, the pursuit of beauty is, on a basic level, its own reward: there is pleasure in encountering beauty, and there is pleasure in making one’s life as beautiful as possible. (The Platonist would see the habit of virtue and the habit of beauty as inseparable.) I hope that we haven’t become so abstracted that we disdain the pleasure of beauty.

Moreover, people have an innate need for language with which to understand and to express themselves: the best poetry is nothing less than the greatest language recorded in human history. It affords us not only the pleasure of encountering beauty but also the opportunity to know ourselves and our world more fully, more intimately, not as ideas but as particulars. The

New legal drama humanizes life of Justice Ginsburg

By | Julia Mullins Assistant Editor Chris McCourry, director of jazz ensembles at Hillsdale College, is bringing Rafael Mendez’s legendary trumpet music to campus in an upcoming faculty recital.

“Mendez is kind of a hero of mine,” McCourry said. “He was a Mexican trumpet player, and he was just phenomenal beyond belief. He was one of the greatest soloists ever.”

McCourry will be accompanied by teacher of piano Brad Blackham and jazz drum set teacher Larry Ochiltree.

For the past 15 years, Blackham said he has done a recital with McCourry every year except one.

“I love collaborating with

‘On the Basis of Sex’ By | Julia Mullins Assistant Editor Ginsburg is best known for being the second female justice to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Her fight for equality and her role in American politics has greatly impacted the course of history. However, “On the Basis of Sex” offers a closer look into Ginsburg’s beginnings as a successful lawyer, and a deeper look into her personal life.

The movie, starring Felicity Jones as a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg, emphasizes the importance of Ginsburg’s relationships with her husband Martin (Armie Hammer) and daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny), focusing on Ginsburg’s role as a mother and a wife, outside of her professional career.

The movie begins in 1956, with Ginsburg stepping alongside a multitude of Harvard law students march-

ing to “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard.” Ginsburg appears wearing a bright blue dress and a smile, standing out among the marching crowd of somber-clad men in black suit jackets. This distinct contrast between Ginsburg and her male classmates sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

Many of the scenes in the first half of the movie follow a pattern of elevating male figures while casting doubt on the intelligence level of women, and after correcting a male classmate on her first day of classes, Ginsburg’s professor accuses her of being a filibusterer.

The movie depicts multiple ways in which various professors, and the dean of Harvard Law School Erwin Griswold, discouraged women from studying law or even pursuing a career. It even includes Griswold’s infamous question to the nine new female Harvard

Law School students at the Dean’s dinner: “How do you justify taking a spot from a qualified man?”

Echoing Ginsburg’s rallying cry for women’s rights, the movie acknowledges the climate of the era but does not get caught up in the weather of today. Its underlying political message is tastefully balanced with a focus on Ginsburg’s determined attitude and love for her family.

Jane, Ginsburg’s 15-yearold daughter who picks fights with her mother about wanting to attend rallies and the grades she received on essays, becomes the everygirl. Before Ginsburg inspired young girls across America, she inspires her own daughter to stand up for herself and for the rights of other women. In turn, Jane motivates her mother to continue the fight for justice.

See Ginsburg B2

Poet Ryan Wilson visits campus to teach a poetry workshop. Ryan Wilson | Courtesy

imagination is not an escape from reality but an entrance into the body of it.

While poetry may not seem as immediately useful as learning to perform life-saving surgery, self-knowledge and the love of beauty and the human community promoted by poetry are important parts of why we want to stay alive at all. In “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower,” Dr. Williams writes: “It is difficult/to get the news from poems,/yet men die miserably every day/ for lack/ of what is found there.”

What advice would you offer to young artists, whether writers, poets, or otherwise?

Don’t sell yourself short by taking shortcuts or avoiding the difficult. Believe in yourself so deeply that you can be as exacting and meticulous in the practice of your craft as the greatest masters were.

Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes and Michelangelo and Bach were people, just like you.

Chris. I’m in awe of his ability to be so outstanding in both the classical and jazz worlds,” Blackham said. “Most of the programs we’ve done usually have a mix of both.”

Blackham said the combination of styles that Mendez uses is full of energy and is very exciting to play and listen to. He also said that performing this can be difficult.

“The most challenging aspect of playing the pieces on this program is the ensemble of the piano and the trumpet,” Blackham said. “I really have to be on my toes to make sure I’m with Chris at all times.”

Blackham will be playing in four pieces for the first half of the recital.

“I’m really looking forward to presenting these pieces to the audience, because I know the audience will get a kick out of them,” Blackham said.

James Holleman, chair of the Hillsdale College Music Department, said the faculty recitals are an important part of the learning process for students, allowing them to hear their teachers perform and learn by example.

“Mr. McCoury has been

Faculty to perform Mexican trumpet music

See Trumpet B2

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Culture B2 January 24, 2019

For the love of fiction: Faculty favorites displayed in Mossey

By | Elizabeth Bachmann Collegian Reporter For a limited time only, members of the Hillsdale College community have the opportunity to peer into the lives and minds of their professors and faculty from the comfort of Mossey Library.

Librarian Brenna Wade spent part of her Christmas break investigating professor’s favorite books and arranging them in a display in the entrance to the library.

From Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to Cather’s “Death Comes for the Archbishop” to Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” the display features a diverse spread of 65 books submitted by 60 faculty members.

“Unless things have changed since I was a student,” Wade said, “students are always intrigued by what their professors’ interests are and what their favorite books are. To see them not just as a professor but as a person.

From a faculty perspective, it is interesting to see what your colleagues’ favorite books are.”

Wade mentioned that when she began the process of collecting the titles, Professor of English Michael Jordan

Ginsburg from B1

Martin’s love for his “ruthless Ruthie” humanizes Ginsburg, and also emphasizes her femininity in the movie.

Hammer and Jones’ chemistry feels most real when they overcome the challenges arising from Martin’s cancer diagnosis.

Yet, there is also a professional tension between Martin and Ginsburg, and several scenes show Martin casting a large shadow over Ginsburg in a professional environment.

The movie suggests that Ginsburg was not seen as an equal to her own husband. Despite graduating first in her class, many people viewed Martin as the more intelligent of the two. This odd dynamic becomes inspiring, as Ginsburg constantly pushes herself to be as good as a lawyer as Martin, or better.

also expressed interest in that faculty perspective.

Jordan said that at the beginning of every semester, he asks his students to complete a survey about the book that has given them a “combination of the most pleasure and edification.” He found that 85 to 90 percent of students’ answers were works of fiction.

Jordan’s interest in the subject was piqued by Sir Philip Sidney’s “Defense of Poesy,” an essay asserting that poetry, which can be taken to mean most fiction today, is the more apt teacher than either history or philosophy.

“I thought, Sidney is making a claim that poetry is superior to other genres in its power to edify, because it has the pleasing part of history, and then the universal of philosophy,” Jordan said.

Jordan said that, as a result, he was not at all surprised that 65 percent of submissions were fiction.

Of these, one of Jordan’s personal favorites is the Library of America’s edition of Flannery O’Connor’s collected writings.

“I admire Flannery O’Connor as a fiction writer, espe-

cially her short stories, and as a letter writer,” Jordan said.

“She is one of the best letter writers I know of, and is an essayist and a lecturer. And in all of these genres she is exceptional.”

Chairman of Theater and Dance James Brandon is another fiction lover, whose favorite book is “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,”

by Douglas Adams, which he discovered by chance.

“There was a time in junior high when I was always at the library, and if I was working on a project, I would wander over to the fiction section, pick up a book, and start reading it,” Brandon said. “I remember seeing the hardcover with the big ball of green and the guy sticking his tongue out and I thought, ‘What the h*** is this?’ So, of course, I had to read it.”

Brandon said that he was immediately taken by the novel.

“It is instantly engaging and funny. It was the first time I read humorous science fiction, and I loved it,” Brandon said. “I just loved the style, that British sensibility where you have these overeducated

Ginsburg’s most notable cases, fighting for women to be admitted to the Virginia Military Institute in United States v. Virginia in 1996, and for women to receive equal pay in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 2007, while not mentioned in the movie are examples of her great success as a Supreme Court Justice.

The movie falls short in its second half, however, by dramatizing the events leading up to Ginsburg’s first appearance in a real courtroom.

The movie’s interpretation of Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue doesn’t do justice to Ginsburg’s intellectual abilities. Even though Jones maintains her energy and poise during the court scene, the oral xargument presented is sloppy and logically weak.

In a Q&A session with

NPR’s Nina Tonenberg, writer Daniel Stiepleman admitted to dramatizing the court scene.

Stiepleman knew he had not accurately portrayed Ginsburg’s oral argument.

“Ruth Ginsburg never flubbed an argument in her life,” Stiepleman told Tonenberg.

At the end of the movie, a voiceover by Ginsburg herself, reading her oral argument in Reed v. Reed, redeems the movie a little. Unlike the botched court scene, Ginsburg’s actual voice is steady and powerful, reassuring the audience of her prowess in court.

Regardless of Stiepleman’s decision to dramatize the court scene, Jones’ excellent portrayal of Ginsburg captures her relentless spirit and commitment to defending justice.

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ is no spoonful of sugar

in the original Mary Popceiling, it’s a musical number By | Regan Meyer pins, and Angela Lansbury, where the ceiling becomes the Web Content Editor the voice of “Beauty and the floor.

Beast” character Mrs. Potts, The music in the films falls To produce a decent sequel each have small roles in the short of the classic. Though to any well-loved film is no film. The animated sequences the songs are well-written easy task. To release a sequel use two dimensional animaand carried marvelously by to a classic film 54 years later, tion, a nod to the older film the cast, no song comes close and still capture the magic and a departure from Disney’s to the caliber of “Supercaliand essence of the original contemporary, and often fragilisticexpialidocious”, “A film is award-worthy. Unforover-the-top, usage of 3D Spoonful of Sugar”, or any tunately for Walt Disney Picanimation. track from the original films. tures, “Mary Poppins Returns” Though Disney captures The choreography, howevfails to measure up to its 1964 the charm of the original film, er, is charming and inventive, counterpart. and the Lamplighters The film opens with dance sequence in “Trip London lamplighter a Little Light Fantastic” Jack (Lin-Manuel Miis reminiscent of “Step randa), who sings of in Time” from the origithe 1930s Great Slump nal film. and that good times It’s questionable are just around the whether any film could corner. Those feeling perfectly capture the the effects of London’s magic and whimsy Great Depression of the original Mary include Jane and Poppins. Perhaps DisMichael Banks, whom ney would have been Mary Poppins (Emily better off remaking Blunt) visited in the Mary Poppins, rather original film, and who than trying to pass off are now both adults.

“Mary Poppins Returns” Michael’s wife has as an original sequel. recently died, leaving Blunt misses the mark him to take care of his with her portrayal of three children alone, Mary Poppins, because with the help of his she seems to attempt sister Jane. to replicate Andrews’ To make ends meet, character in the sequel, Michael takes out a rather than interpreting loan from the bank, P.L. Travers’ character in but fails to make payher own way. ments and is in danger “Mary Poppins of losing the family Returns” is a trip down home on Cherry Tree memory lane for many Lane. Enter Mary Emily Blunt reprises P.L. Travers’ timeless characDisney fans, and therein Poppins, who whips ter in “Mary Poppins Returns.” | Flikr lies the problem. The Michael’s children into film was meant to be a shape and helps the family “Mary Poppins Returns” feels sequel, not a remake, making save their life on Cherry Tree more like a remake than a the plot points seem tired, Lane. sequel. It’s extremely derivarather than nostalgic.

The film is formatted like tive, reinventing plot points P.L. Travers was notoriousa classic Disney film, with from the classic.

Instead of a ly difficult to work with in the opening credits running over chimney sweep helping Mary making of the original Mary various watercolor scenes of Poppins, it’s a lamplighter.

Poppins movie. Perhaps DisLondon, as an overture plays.

Instead of a musical number ney should have remembered Nostalgic Disney stars Dick where everything floats to the Travers’ critiques for their Van Dyke, who played Bert

Faculty members’ favorite books are on display in Mossey Library for the month of January.

Collegian | Elizabeth Bachmann

people commenting on things in sort of wry and detached way.”

Assistant Professor of Philosophy Blake McAllister is one of several professors who submitted a non-fiction work, C.S. Lewis’s “The Great Divorce.”

“This book was instru-

mental in the maturation of my faith. It changed how I conceived of the final end of man and, accordingly, the purpose of our present state of existence,” McAllister said.

He added that the book helped him share what he learned with others.

“It also enabled me to help

others wrestle with doubts about God. After meditating on this book in college, I had five people independently confide in me that they were struggling to reconcile the goodness of God with the reality of hell. Ruminating on this book allowed me to respond effectively,” he said.

By | Cal Abbo Assistant Editor “You are just a puppet. You are not in control.”

On Dec. 28, Netflix dropped a surprise episode in its ongoing series “Black Mirror.” Since its inception in 2011, the series has often been compared to the 1980s science fiction show “The Twilight Zone,” which is famous for traversing moral issues through suspense and psychological thrill.

Black Mirror episodes are mostly long, standalone works with varying aesthetics (one episode is an entirely black and white, grisly post-apocalyptic journey while another takes place in a neon 1980s simulation where the dead can choose to upload their consciousness). The show tends to explore ethical dilemmas associated with using advanced technology.

The latest installment, titled “Bandersnatch,” is slightly different. It focuses on storytelling and adventure with clickable choices all throughout; users achieve different endings based on their decisions.

“Bandersnatch” centers on Stefan Butler in 1984, a young gamemaker working from home to create a choose-yourown-adventure video game that he calls “Bandersnatch” based on a popular chooseyour-own-adventure novel.

Butler wants to publish his game with a large developer and has completed a demo for a company named Tuckersoft, which employs the visionary gamemaker Colin Ritman, whom Butler admires.

At this point, “Bandersnatch” presents the user with the first choice: whether to sign with Tuckersoft — whose director offers Butler an entire team to help build the game — or not. Choosing to sign with Tuckersoft triggers a hard ending which concludes the storyline.

Almost every hard ending in “Bandersnatch” tells if the game is published and what rating it received. With this understanding, players might try to achieve an elusive 5/5 game score, for which there is only one ending. Other viewers might just choose the options they think will be the most amusing.

So, is “Bandersnatch” a video game or a movie? Last year, a raunchy, comedic

choose-your-own video game released in August 2018 called “Super Seducer 2” took the gaming community by storm.

The format of “Super Seducer 2” is virtually identical to that of “Bandersnatch,” but it was released and marketed as a playable video game, while “Bandersnatch” was released and marketed as a movie.

How does the entertainment world resolve this?

It doesn’t need to resolve it.

Neither item should fit itself into a predetermined box defined by art from previous decades. Ideally, those who want to play should play, and those who want to watch should watch. A large part of the work’s versatility comes from the different ways a user can experience and interpret it.

Besides pushing the boundaries of its genre, “Bandersnatch” explores issues and philosophies like determinism, mental health, parallel universes, an unreliable narrator, existentialism, and postmodernism, many of which are on-topic for “Black Mirror.”

After continuing to work on the game, Butler deals with these problems in sporadic and almost unrelated scenes, many of which can only be seen by choosing specific paths. In one scene, Butler struggles to finish his game and seeks help from Ritman.

Ritman determines that Butler is suffering from a game-maker’s version of writer’s block and gives him LSD for inspiration. This scene is the most exciting: Ritman rants about emotion, inspiration, determinism, time travel and parallel universes, while spouting conspiracy theories about the government drugging food and Pac-Man representing “Program-and-Control Man” as a metaphor.

“He thinks he’s got free will but really he’s trapped in a maze, in a system. All he can do is consume,” Ritman says about Pac-Man. “He’s pursued by demons that are probably just in his own head. And even if he does manage to escape by slipping out one side of the maze, what happens?

He just comes right back in the other side.”

This scene concludes with Butler listening to Ritman explain the infinite timelines on his balcony; none of Butler’s decisions matter, Ritman says,

because there’s always another timeline out there doing the opposite. Here, Ritman references a watered-down version of quantum multiverse theory in which every decision splits reality into a certain number of distinct, non-communicating parallel universes dependent on how many outcomes could have possibly arisen from the decision. In the context of the movie, this is literally true: millions of users will choose the choice opposite yours and experience a different reality.

Ritman tells Butler that one of them will jump off the balcony, and Butler (but really, the user) gets to choose who does. “How many times have you watched Pac-Man die? It doesn’t bother him,” Ritman says. “He just tries again.”

“Bandersnatch” plays off of the illusion of choice. Not only are Butler’s actions decided for him, but the user’s are also preprogrammed and extremely limited by the piece’s creators. Why can’t the user choose that neither of them jump off the balcony?

Ironically, this brings up a problem with the concept of choose-your-own entertainment in general: the plot will always be predetermined by content creators. The user isn’t truly choosing the adventure, but rather choosing in what order to see various unconnected scenes, sometimes without any effect on the ending. This could be an issue with the entire choose-yourown genre unless artists can find a way to craft the choices so that each one alters the following scenes in a specific way.

All told, “Bandersnatch” fails to move from a one-off innovative format to a work that could shape an entire genre. It relies too heavily on its new format to convince the user to trudge through what feels like unconnected and scattered scenes, rather than employing an engaging storyline with complex character development.

Are the problems with “Bandersnatch” specific to the movie, or applicable to the choose-your-own genre? Does this format have the potential to breach the most powerful entertainment sector ever known? Well, that’s for you to decide.

real consistent to challenge himself,” Holleman said. “He’s a really dedicated performer.”

McCourry said the second half of the recital will feature guest artist, Hammond B3 jazz organist Tony Monaco, who is also a B3 specialist.

McCourry explained that the B3 organ has unique characteristics that are not found in any other instrument, such

as the “Leslie speakers,” which spin around inside the cabinet and create the vibrato effect.

“Monaco is an opportunity for students to hear something they’re very unfamiliar with,” Holleman said.

McCourry will be playing a variety of pieces, including “The Virgin Macarena,” which he said he is looking forward to the most.

“I have copied Vince DeMartino’s candenzas, which I was never able to play before because they go so high,” McCourry said. “Now, I can do it.”

The recital will take place Jan. 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Markel Auditorium and admission is free.

‘Black Mirror’ changes the game

Trumpet from B1

Features Students receive professional training at Forge Leadership Academy

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Five Hillsdale College students attended the Forge Leadership Academy earlier this month. | Facebook

By | Austin Gergens Collegian Reporter This past winter break, several Hillsdale students attended the Forge Leadership Network in Washington, D.C. The network provides a venue for young adults ages 18 to 25 to gain a deeper understanding of politics, modern culture, and business through trainings, speakers, and career preparedness.

Several Hillsdale students have attended Forge Leadership summits over the years, including five attendees this past January 6-10. Lucy Meckler, Greg Bonvissuto, Alexis Nester, Bryce Asberg, and Frank Vitale attended the Forge Academy, also known as Forge 201.

Bonvissuto said he appreciated hearing from all the different speakers, particularly several Congressmen.

Chapel from A1

campus construction work.

Weigand’s projects range from the 1.1 million-square-foot Parkview Regional Medical Center campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to 149,000 square feet added to Vera Bradley’s Design Center in Roanoke, Indiana.

Gilliom said Weigand took on the chapel project not only because of its relationship with the college but also because the company “likes to pursue those projects that have an impact on the community for generations to come.”

Shollenberger heads the general construction (GC) team, which includes carpenters, laborers, and concrete finishers who poured the foundations and footings for the chapel. Though the exterior work of the masons is most obvious to the passerby, Shollenberger grapples with challenges less concrete, but no less essential — incorporating modern fireproofing, plumbing, and air and heating systems into a 200-year-old design. To the right of one staircase leading to the choir loft, clusters of PVC pipes are packed into the corner of the building, and ducts are tucked into a plaster detail behind the loft.

Meticulous measurements The chapel isn’t simply impressive from a distance; it’s precise to a fraction of an

“Congressmen Meadows and Jordan encouraged us to continue pursuing our goals and emphasized the importance of being a servant-leader,” Bonvissuto said. “Their insight was valuable and inspiring.”

Forge focuses on training students to make an impact across the culture, not just in religious or conservative circles.

“My favorite speaker at 101 was Stephanie Gray, a pro-life speaker who argued against abortion using only logical and scientific arguments,” said Meckler. “This appealed to me because I am not yet a Christian, and she concluded that abortion was wrong without the use of religious language.”

Founded in 2015 by Adam Josefczyk and Justin Powell, the program attracts young conservative college students and graduates from across the United States.

“I had heard about the Forge Leadership Network from some friends and then one of the co-founders, Adam Josefczyk, was on campus last year at a dinner hosted

by YAF and Career Services,” sophomore Bryce Asberg said.

“I was impressed with what he had to say and what Forge Leadership had to offer.”

Bonvissuto also learned about the Forge through the same dinner last year. He estimated that Forge 101 had about 80 to 90 participants while Forge 201 had nearly half that number.

“I’d say that I enjoyed the second program more because

Alvarez from

B4 Her car had broken down on her way to the reunion, but Alvarez said something was telling her “you’re more than halfway there, just keep going,” so she went to the it was a smaller group,” Bonreunion, met Alvarez, and the vissuto said. two began dating.

“The other programs build JoAnn now works at Bon on the Forge 101 summit,” Appétit, and Alvarez said they Asberg added. “It gets better eat lunch together almost as you go because you get to every day. know the people better and “It’s a rare occasion that we better.” don’t,” he said.

A large portion of the 201 Alvarez has also spent a lot program is the mentorship of time in the past coaching a aspect. Following the week in variety of sports from softD.C., Forge Fellows are paired ball to baseball to wrestling. with an older mentor in their He started out by officiating field of study to assist them baseball and then moved on in finding internships or jobs. to coaching both baseball and Additionally, they help teach softball for kids ages four or mentees how to network and five all the way to college-age. make lasting connections in He has even taken up their respective field. mentoring some athletes and Meckler applied and was helping them improve their accepted to the Forge 301 skills individually. One high program which will give her schooler in particular needthe opportunity to go to Israel ed his help with her softball with Passages, a program swing. After much diligent sponsored by the Philos Proj- work, Alvarez said, “It was ect and the Museum of the real rewarding when her mom Bible Foundation. called and said that she got Coming from a Christian her first homerun.” background, Asberg found Though his work schedule that the Forge program had keeps him busy, Alvarez said “a well balanced perspective he loves to fish in his free about how a Christian should time, especially in the sumengage in politics.” mer, and has even tried a bit “Forge and its speakers of ice fishing in the winter. He recognize that politics doesn’t also loves to read, work out, save anyone’s soul,” Asberg and spend time with his wife. said. “Only the gospel can do “My wife and I enjoy going that.” out to eat, we like to try differ“I came away with a greater ent restaurants — there’s not a appreciation for the fact that lot around here but whenever a free society such as ours is we travel we enjoy going out incredibly complex,” Bonvisto eat.” suto said.

Chris Stewart, a senior All three participants high- baseball player who works on ly recommend the program to Alvarez’s student equipment Hillsdale students regardless team, revealed a little bit of their major. about what it has been like to work side by side with Alvarez

January 24, 2019

B3

over the past three years.

“Alvarez is kind of a funny guy,” Stewart said. “When it’s just me and a couple of other workers, he can be funny, carefree, making jokes, but when it comes to the basketball court and preserving the field, he can put on his hard face and act real tough.

From a distance he might seem mean, but he’s really a nice guy and he’s been a really great person to work for.”

He went on to describe the relationship between Alvarez and another student on the team, Ryan, who has since graduated.

“Alvarez and Ryan used to go at it jokingly,” he said. “I think Alvarez would fire Ryan every week and then when the next game time came around, Ryan would always get the message, ‘Hey be here for setup,’ so that was always funny to watch.”

Pat Hornak, director of football operations and Alvarez’s best friend, says the two would share endless jokes on the many long drives to away games. They shared the same ones so many times now they don’t even need to finish the joke before they are both laughing at the memorized punchline.

Alvarez’s work, though almost entirely behind the scenes, is essential to the smooth operation of the many sports games that Hillsdale fans enjoy every season, according to Stewart.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize everything that Alvarez does,” Stewart said.

“When it comes to the sports complex, if something is wrong, Alvarez is the person who’s actually doing it all — a bunch of the little things that no one really realizes. Alvarez is behind all of it.”

The radiating brick designs on the front of the chapel facing Galloway Drive.

Grace Houghton | Collegian

inch. While masons typically have 3/8 inch spaces between bricks, trim, and decorative pieces, the margins for error in Christ Chapel are a 1/4 inch.

“That’s probably 5/8 inch,” Lambert said, holding his thumb against the grooves of an interior brick wall in the Dow Hotel. “I have about half of that.”

But even the dimensions of drab-looking cinder block structural frame were dead on, and those limestone columns rise with perfect quarter-inch joints between the massive drums; both are a testament to Lambert and his team’s rigorous execution of Stroik’s design.

The cornices separating the exterior walls of the chapel

According to project architect Tom Stroka, “Duncan G. Stroik firmly believes beautiful drawings result in more beautiful buildings.” Grace Houghton | Collegian

from the roof are decorated with hand-carved, toothlike dental molding and tiny pineapples on the tip of each corner. The molding mirrors that are on Central Hall and other campus buildings.

Another example of successfully-executed, meticulous craftsmanship is the radiating brick designs on the side of the chapel facing Galloway Drive. “Those were fun,” Lambert smiled.

Dozens of overtime hours Since work started in March 2017 on Christ Chapel, beginning with footings and foundations, Weigand crews including carpenters, laborers, bricklayers, operators, and cement masons regularly worked overtime hours, said Weigand project superintendent Shollenberger. Because there are so many teams working on such a compact site, some teams worked second shift simply because of limited space for men, materials, and maneuvering.

Gilliom said a lot of the time spent after-hours was for preparatory work. The limestone in particular requires “a lot of brain power and logistics to get it off the pallet and to have it ready to be installed in the wall.”

Other overtime hours were a result of schedule demands.

For example, “Rosema Corporation worked 10-hour days, in addition to weekends, to complete the critical ceiling framing in time for Innovative Cast to install the coffered ceiling panels. The ceiling panels are made with 70 percent post consumer recycled glass to ensure sustainability, recyclability, and mold and fire resistance. The pace of work hardly slowed down once the ceiling panels started going up. In the fall of 2018, workers from the Canada-based Innovative Cast

work “10hour days, seven days a week, only rotating two men to go home for the weekend in Canada every two weeks,” Shollenberger said in an email.

Making the designs into reality requires constant interaction between the builders Workers install the coffered plaster panels of the barrel ceiling. Grace Houghton | and architects, Collegian the corners of print after with frequent hand-drawn print in a douAn enduring legacy consultation from specialists, ble-wide trailer, which serves to resolve unforeseen issues. as remote office space onsite, Though Christ Chapel is “What you do not want to testify to Stroka’s intimate not eligible for architectural do is have an architect who knowledge of the building. awards until it is occupied, hands it off and says goodBut even after that, Stroka said per the conventions of the bye,” said project architect “You can’t predict everything,” architectural community, the Tom Stroka, who works for exceptional craftsmanship of Duncan Stroik, Architect, LLC and that solving construction problems is “part of the team its builders and designers is and drafted roughly a quarter effort.” already garnering attention, of the chapel prints as the Through shortages and and promises well for the project architect under Stroik’s setbacks, the relationship building’s reception. supervision.

Architect Aaron Holverson, The prints not only include between the college and the project architect for Gary W. Anderson Architects, a firm based in Rockford, Illinois that specializes in adaptive reuse and historic preservation projects, visited Christ Chapel while in Hillsdale to work on restoring the Keefer Hotel in downtown Hillsdale.

“We live in a disposable age,” Holverson said, explaining that on most campuses and even in most cities, the most expensive building in a community is “an office tower or sports facility.” builders has remained healthy But Christ Chapel is differeach tiny pencilled brick of ent, Holverson observed. the chapel, but measurements and efficient.

“The relationship I have “I think Christ Chapel will of every column, moulding, with Rich Péwé and Dr. Arnn be one of those spaces where and joint. Lambert said he’s — if I ever get a problem I just you step in and immediately never worked on a project call them on the phone. It’s in- have this feeling that the peowith hand-drawn prints until stant. I get answers. Anything ple who had this built valued Christ Chapel. we need, we got it,” Lambert what was done in this room.”

“Tom is on my speed dial,” said.

Lambert joked.

The neat initials “TS” on

“I think Christ Chapel will be one of those spaces where you step in and immediately have this feeling that the people who had this built valued what was done in this room.”

B4 January 24, 2019

Mangoes, mountains, and military coups:

Hillsdale’s missionary kids By | Cal Abbo Assistant Editor “It was not an average day,” John Somerville, professor of English, said of the South Korean military coup he witnessed while in the backseat of his parents’ Land Rover.

“But I wouldn’t trade that world for anything.”

Growing up in South Korea, Somerville is one of several Hillsdale students and professors who spent years of their childhood on long-term mission trips in regions from Latin America to East Asia, experiencing everything from military coups to volcanoes.

Somerville’s grandparents spent 24 years as missionaries in South Korea from 1916 to 1940. His parents decided to follow in their footsteps, moving in 1954, the year Somerville was born. Somerville’s father taught at a seminary school in Seoul while his children grew up in a missionary compound.

“When I was in first grade, there was a student revolution.

We lived just a few miles from the capitol building,” he said.

“I had a front seat view of the tear gas, the crowds in the streets. At the time I thought, ‘This is not that unusual.’ But thinking back, I realize most kids don’t watch revolutions these days.”

Besides the political instability, Somerville’s said his life was calm and consistent. Since there were many U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, he could access an English radio station, newspaper, and

television. “Since the G.I.s were from different backgrounds, they would have a mix of music,” he said. “They’d play country, they’d play soul.

On TV, there was a mix of different networks. No commercials, either.” Somerville said his biggest regret was not retaining the Korean language he learned as a child.

According to Somerville, many missionary kids use their childhood experience as a head start in a cultural or language study during college.

Kelly Franklin, professor of English, was a missionary kid who became fascinated with the foreign language he grew up with. He acquired a master’s degree in Spanish after a

adult would be really stressful.

I thought, ‘This is fantastic.’”

Franklin said he’s thankful for the opportunity to grow up in beautiful places like Costa Rica and Guatemala where mountains stood tall.

“In Guatemala, we lived within sight of an active volcano.

In the distance I could see, at night, a legitimate volcano spewing hot, red and orange lava,” he said. “I really loved the color of Latin America.

The textiles of the indigenous peoples are utterly beautiful.

The markets are very vivid.

There are a lot of beautiful sights and sounds that you get exposed to.”

In addition to the natural allure of Latin America,

relatively short mission trip as a child. The Franklins lived in Costa Rica for one year until they were assigned to Guatemala, where his father served as a support missionary, teaching missionary kids at the Christian Academy of Guatemala.

While he was there, Franklin also lived through a military coup in the third grade.

“The radio stations were all shut down. They played no news, only mariachi music,” he said. “As a kid, you’re not really aware of what to an

Franklin said he’s lucky to have grown up in a different cultural context that gave him a lot of perspective once he came back to the states.

“I encountered really desperate poverty as a young child, which is just pretty sad,” he said. “I definitely missed out on some American culture stuff, so when I came back as a fifth grader, I was a little out of touch. But that wore off after a year or two.”

Junior Gabe Listro spent three years in Peru as his parents served in a motocross

“In Peru, for men you shake hands and women you give kisses. So I grabbed his hand and shook it, and he said, ‘Yo, where’d you grow up?’ and I said, ‘In the jungle.’”

Gabe Listro, pictured in bottom row, first from left, along with other students from South America Mission Academy. Gabe Listro | Courtesy

ministry. “My family’s always been into racing motorcycles, and there was this church started by a famous motocross rider in Peru. My family worked with the church and also with a ministry to reach out to spectators and riders,” he said. “It’s actually the third biggest sport in Peru.”

Listro said his parents became Christians in college and felt called to be missionaries.

They moved to Michigan, where his father became a missionary pilot, but his family wanted more. “My parents felt that God wanted us to be part of peoples’ lives, not just bus drivers,” Listro said.

In Peru, he attended a Spanish-speaking school and lived in the community where his parents worked.

“I just look back at it as my childhood basically,” he said.

“If you look back to the early 2010s, you picture Katy Perry, right? I picture being in a mango tree in my backyard.”

Overall, Listro said he was happy to have the experience in Peru, despite the culture shock when he came back for high school. “I remember one time at a high school football game right when I got back, someone extended his hand for a high five,” he said.

“In Peru, for men you shake hands and women you give kisses. So I grabbed his hand and shook it, and he said, ‘Yo, where’d you grow up?’ and I said, ‘In the jungle.’”

According to Listro and Franklin, many missionary kids suffer from a phenomenon they called “third culture.” Children often feel like they don’t belong in America nor the country they grew up in.

Freshman Faith Linton, after spending nearly the last 18 years in Taiwan, said she felt this way. Every few years, her family would come back to the states on furlough to help raise money for their mission, but it wasn’t enough to keep her tied down.

“I think the thing about being a missionary kid is that you never really fit into either culture. English is my first language, so in that sense a lot of people would think I’m American, and I think of myself as American too,” she said.

“But when I would come back to America, I realized that everything was way different.”

Linton’s parents worked in Taiwan to plant churches and convert a population with virtually no Christian community. They struggled for a

Unsung heroes: With athletic events, Alvarez is ‘behind it all’

know where to go, and have all their equipment with them.

“My goal has always been to make sure visiting teams have the best experience they’ve had anywhere — and we’ve heard from some of the other equipment managers around the league they like the way we do things at Hillsdale,” Alvarez said. “They wish they could do things the way we do things for them at Hillsdale.”

Though Alvarez has always Rich Alvarez has worked as Hillsdale’s athletics equipment manager for 23 called Hillsdale years. Rich Alvarez | Courtesy home, he was born equipment bus and drive for in Abilene, Texas By | Elizabeth Johnson long distances wherever the into a family of nine children, Collegian Freelancer equipment was needed for one of whom currently lives Hillsdale College hosts the team — sometimes as far in Jonesville. He is still very hundreds of athletic events ev- as 13 hours away. Now he has close with all of his siblings ery year. These events require a team of 10 students, most and loves to spend time with much preparation, setup, and of them athletes themselves, his 17 nieces and nephews, coordination in order for ready to help him out with though he says it can get diffieverything to run smoothly loading and unloading the cult with so many conflicting and for teams, referees, and busses, as well as anything else schedules. fans alike to enjoy the event. he may need with his job.

Through his sister, AlvaBehind all of this is one Once at the game, he rez met and married his wife hard-working, unsung hero: makes sure the sidelines are JoAnn just a few years ago.

Rich Alvarez. ready for players and coachAlvarez told the story of how Alvarez has worked for es, setting up field markers, his sister, from the same high Hillsdale College as the headphones, extra helmets school graduating class as athletics equipment manager for players, and equipment JoAnn, ended up in charge of for 23 years. Most of his work for trainers. At home games, planning their class reunion. takes place behind the scenes Alvarez has a similar job. He Because she was living in at football, basketball, and makes sure the referees know Texas at the time, she asked volleyball games. He travels where their locker rooms are Alvarez to help out with most with the football team, driving and that they’re completely of the legwork in Hillsdale, the bus with the support staff ready, well stocked with ice and because he did so much for the team, which includes bags, heating pads, or anyto help, she invited him to student trainers, student film- thing else the referees might come along to her reunion. ers, and student coaches. need. He takes pride in priorJoAnn almost didn’t attend.

In years past, Alvarez itizing the visiting team and See Alvarez B3 would load and unload the making sure they’re greeted,

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long time, but Linton said she’s inspired by her father’s passion and persistence.

On their daily taxi ride, Linton’s father would try and strike up a conversation with the driver. Even though Mandarin is a much easier language, Linton’s father always spoke in Taiwanese, even though he isn’t completely fluent, because the drivers would appreciate it and open up to him more.

“The drivers would begin sharing deeper stories about themselves and talking about their life,” she said. “My dad always found some way to weave Christ into the conversation, telling them about lessons he learned from the bible, and stuff like that.”

Linton’s mother also found interesting ways to bring people to Christ. After receiving a “hate letter,” Linton’s mother invited the couple who sent the letter to church and eventually befriended them.

A year or two later, the woman became a Christian.

Several years after that, so did her husband. “They moved to the countryside to live with us. They’re helping us to plan a new church,” she said. “Now, they’re our best friends.”