A day at the dark carnival An inside look at the Juggalo protest of the FBI classification in DC. that attempts to uncover who exactly the Juggalos are. B4
Researching hopelessness Senior Elyse Hutcheson researched the relationship between people’s self-images and negative life events. B3
Vol. 141 Issue 4 - September 21, 2017
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief
Hillsdale College is the best liberal-arts college in Michigan. That’s according to the 2018 annual college and university rankings from U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Hillsdale above any other liberal-arts institution in the state for the first time. Hillsdale was 71st on its list of 229 national liberal-arts colleges, rising 12 places from the 2017 rankings. Provost David Whalen said although Hillsdale’s performance is useful for introducing people to the college, the rankings cannot fully describe the college’s strength and excellence. Having students who graduate successfully, are cultivated in character and mind, love to learn, and understand what it takes to live in a republic are the college’s goal. “No ranking can hope to capture such things, but it can help attract attention to things that do matter,” Whalen said in an email. “These latter things are what we mean by ‘the best college in the United States.’ It would be nice if such were
recognized by high rankings, but it is not essential. What is essential is that we do superbly what we were brought here to do.” They ranked placed higher than Kalamazoo College, which fell from 68th in the 2017 rankings to 76th in 2018. Hillsdale ranked the best in Michigan in nine categories that U.S. News measured. It was the college’s graduation rate, however, that appears to have moved Hillsdale higher in rank, according to Director of Institutional Research George Allen. An 83 percent six-year graduation for the class of 2016, which U.S. News used in its 2018 rankings, helped Hillsdale to recover from a 16-place drop from the 2017 rankings. The class of 2015 had a 77 percent graduation rate. Dean of Men Aaron Petersen told The Collegian previously that that class’s rate was an anomaly because a larger-than-average number of students did not return. Hillsdale also saw improvement in seven other areas, including a peer assessment score based on feedback from other college administrators and standardized test scores.
The alumni giving rank also increased from 180 to 162, and Hillsdale’s faculty resources category, which includes class size and faculty salaries, rose from 112 to 98. Speculating on how the college could increase its rank, Allen said Hillsdale would benefit from decreasing class sizes, increasing alumni giving, and maintaining its high retention and graduation rates, high standardized test scores, and a low acceptance rate. Administrators in the student affairs office have expressed their goal is to make Hillsdale the best college in the United States. Associate Dean of Women Rebekah Dell, however, said that benchmark may not appear in rankings such as those from U.S. News. “Rankings are important, because it is related to the public at large,” she said. “We do value and pay attention to those, but they do not dictate the choices we make…At the end of the day, we want to produce intelligent, capable, happy students. Sometimes those can’t be captured in a percentage ranking.” In college honors based on
core curriculum standards and extracurricular opportunities as well as measures such as class size and faculty-to-student ratios, Hillsdale often fares well, too. Awarding organization Colleges of Distinction named Hillsdale a 2017-2018 College of Distinction for its engaged students, quality instruction, vibrant community, and successful outcomes. It will include the college in this year’s college guidebook for high school counselors, parents, and students. Dell emphasized the college’s work to improve campus by partnering with students through various initiatives, including its Student Leadership Workshop program, resident assistant meetings, and student groups that provide feedback on renovation and building projects. “We’re encouraged to be the best because of the great things we have to offer,” Dell said. “The college invests in all the things that help a student to grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially. We’re taking a very liberal-arts approach.”
Hillsdale considers adding master’s program in D.C.
(Top) Students dance to live music at the 2017 Garden Party. (Below) A live band provided the music for a night in the Arboretum. Matthew Kendrick | Collegian
City council decides against marijuana dispensaries By | Nic Rowan Assistant Editor There won’t be any medical marijuana dispensaries in downtown Hillsdale, at least not anytime in the near future. The Hillsdale City Council decided in a 6-0 vote (with two council members absent) to draft a motion to opt out of Michigan state provisions that allow individual cities to permit medical marijuana dispensaries and growing facilities at a meeting on Monday. This decision came following a public discussion of the topic at the previous council meeting, in which 76 percent of Hillsdale residents who spoke urged council to opt out of the
provisions, according to a poll taken by Councilman Patrick Flannery. Because the possession and distribution of marijuana is still a federal crime, the council has decided not to put local law enforcement at odds with federal law by opening the city to the drug, Mayor Scott Sessions said. “If you opt in, it’s almost impossible to get out,” he said. “If we continue to opt out, we can always opt in.” According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, the provisions passed by the state legislature last year will regulate and tax the industry in Michigan by creating five categories
of licenses — those for growers who can produce up to 1,500 plants, processors, transporters, testing facilities, and dispensaries. The dispensaries will be taxed 3 percent on their gross receipts, and that money will go back to the state and local communities. Representatives from Michigan State University came to Hillsdale earlier this year to provide training to the council and city employees on how to proceed if the city should approve the new provisions at this time. Councilman Bill Zeiser said it was these training sessions that convinced him that the city would not be able to han-
dle the administrative difficulties in regulating receipts and licenses for dispensaries that the new provisions would impose. “I do not want to involve the city in a headache like that,” he said. “I think the way things are heading, we’ll probably have recreational marijuana within the next few years anyway, but that’s not for us to decide.” Councilman Bruce Sharp echoed the rest of the council, saying the issue is best looked at when the marijuana issue is settled nationally. “Opting out doesn’t mean we can’t look at it in the future,” he said.
Barney Initiative plans to open four new schools By | Brooke Conrad Assistant Editor Hillsdale College plans to open four new charter schools next fall through its Barney Charter School Initiative. “Every community in the country has a need for — and a deficit of — good education,” Director of the Barney Charter School Initiative Phillip KilgoFollow @HDaleCollegian
re said. “If the objective of education itself in this country as a republic is to create an educated citizenry...then we’ve got to educate the entire citizenry. And public schools are how the country educates its youth; 89 percent of kids in the country go to public schools.” Since 2010, the initiative has helped establish a total of
17 classical charter schools across the nation, and it plans to establish four more next year in Gallup, New Mexico; Douglas County, Colorado; Falcon, Colorado; and Melbourne, Florida. Every Barney charter school begins through local school founders contacting the initiative. One of these founders, Ra-
www.hillsdalecollegian.com Katherine Scheu | Collegian
Hillsdale best liberal-arts in state
No more security In order to save money and time, the Hillsdale County Fair will no longer be hiring locals to work security at the gates. A6
chel Mason, is helping start the Gallup school, which is located near a Navajo reservation. She said she hopes to open with about 120 students and seven teachers. Mason moved to Gallup in 2010 with Teach For America, a group of educators who
See Charter A2 www.hillsdalecollegian.com
By | Nicole Ault Assistant Editor Hillsdale College may bring a politics master’s program to professionals at the heart of the American political scene, just a few minutes walk from the U.S. Capitol and Union Station. College administrators are still discussing plans and gauging interest in a master’s program at the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Statesmanship in Washington, D.C., Provost David Whalen said. He noted that administrators kicked off the conversation about the program even before the Kirby Center was established in 2010. “It’s in the planning stages, not launched,” said Matthew Spalding, associate vice president and dean of educational programs for the Kirby Center. “It’s part of a broader plan that has to do with how Hillsdale continues to radiate its teaching.” No definite plan for the program has been set in motion, Spalding and Whalen empha-
Washington, D.C.,” Whalen said. “Washington, D.C. is filled with people who are attracted to power in order to try to manipulate power for their own particular purposes. Wouldn’t it be preferable if at least some of those people had a deep understanding of the principles involved in a sound political order for a free, self-governing republic?” College President Larry Arnn said in an email that the program would be similar to the college’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship, bearing “less philosophy, more American politics, but much of both.” Spalding said the program would allow the Kirby Center to better fulfill Hillsdale’s educational mission. “If you think of expanding the teaching mission of Hillsdale, given the college’s emphasis on how to think about constitutionalism in the American system, it’s very natural that we would do this,” Spalding said. Arnn affirmed the college’s desire to educate people about
Hillsdale College is looking to start a master’s program in Washtington, D. C. Wikimedia commons
sized. The college has made no commitments and set no timeline for establishing it. But the sooner it happens, the better, Whalen said. Describing the desired program as a “Constitution-based study of statecraft,” Whalen said it would meet a need in D.C. for an understanding of the historical and philosophical underpinnings of politics. “It’s knowledge that is desperately needed, especially in
the U.S. Constitution. “The college likes to teach, and it is its job,” he said. “It likes to teach the Constitution. Though that document is not well-understood in the government, interest is keen, especially among the young. What a benefit if knowledge of how it is supposed to work were widespread in the government.” There’s a “substantial marSee Master’s A3 Look for The Hillsdale Collegian