Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Vol. 139 Issue 3 - 17 Sept. 2015
Hillsdale omitted from White House schools list ^ Senior Christy Allen shares her thoughts on the second 2016 GOP primary debate during nationally syndicated radio host Mark Gallagher’s live broadcast from Hillsdale College. < Gallagher comments on the debate from the Grewcock Student Union on Wednesday evening. Carsten stann | Collegian
Who do you think won the debate?
Who would you vote for tomorrow?
23% 58% 18% Ben Carson
Marco Rubio
Carly Fiorina
Hillsdale policies don’t change after Supreme Court gay marraige decision Mar-Vo moves in, ‘breathes life’ into abandoned mill
Brendan Miller | Collegian
By | Tom Novelly Assistant Editor At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, the FW Stock & Sons Mill officially became a Mar-Vo Mineral Company factory, made possible by a substantial subsidization from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The subsidization, given by MEDC to Hillsdale City Manager David Mackie in the form of a giant check, amounts to more than 75 percent of the total cost of the property. The Community Development Block grant from the MEDC contributed $82,685 of the $105,000 mill resulting in a total cost of $23,315 for MarVo. Councilwoman Emily Stack-Davis said the grant will encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners to invest in Hillsdale, despite it being an isolated area. “Economic development grants do a great job of helping business gain a foothold in a new environment,” Stack-Davis said. “The grant promotes economic growth in rural areas and gives new businesses a reason to stay. For me, I first saw a mill, but the grant helped this new company see an opportunity.” Mar-Vo Mineral Company CEO David Wheeler — the inventor of nutritional supplement products for livestock and deer, the main products of MarVo — cut the camouflage-colored ribbon with his family and co-workers, officially becoming the first business owner to occuFootball wins big Chargers beat Lake Erie 52-29, their biggest offensive output at home in five years.
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py the mill in 12 years. “We are both thankful and excited about this opportunity,” Wheeler said. “The chance to take over and save such a historic piece of Hillsdale is great. It’s great having the property, but there’s still plenty of work to do.” The company, based out of Osseo, Michigan, will continue production at its current facilities until it can move the entire operation to the new site in January. Wheeler said he is excited to utilize the mill’s massive space, which offers escalated production capacity. “We now have almost 10 times the space to work with,” Wheeler said. “The best example I can show for how much of a benefit this facility is, is that we went from having one very true loading dock to eight of them in great condition. Also the gravity-fed grain bins on the roof are ideal for the type of production we are doing.” Wheeler, who has been trying to buy the factory for several months, said the MEDC grant expedited the process. “The grant from the state made the proceedings go much quicker,” Wheeler said. “Without the money it would’ve made the process go much slower. Now I don’t have to focus on acquiring the facility as much as I can focus on renovation and cleaning it.” The mill housed numerous businesses — including the Doughnut Corporation of America and General Mills — since it was built by F.W. Stock Mar-Vo, A7 GOP Debate A breakdown of GOP primary field statistics and student analyses of last night’s debate. A5
The federal government recently released a comprehensive guide to colleges and universities in the United States—but Hillsdale College is conspicuously absent. Last week, the White House announced the new database of graduate employment and student loan statistics from every institution of higher education in the country. The “College Scorecard” is designed to help prospective students “identify which schools provide the biggest bang for your buck.” President Barack Obama said, “Americans will now have access to reliable data on every institution of higher education. You’ll be able to see how much each school’s graduates earn, how much debt they graduate with, and what percentage of a school’s students can pay back their loans—which will help all of us see which schools do the best job of preparing America for success.” But Hillsdale College, ranked 17th in Kiplinger’s recent list of Best Value Liberal Arts Colleges, is not listed in the database, which is a project of the U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the White House. The Department of Education defended its omission of Hillsdale College, saying it doesn’t confer enough four-year degrees. “Hillsdale does offer bachelor’s degrees,” Denise Horn, assistant press secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, told the Collegian. “However, because the plurality of degrees it awards are certificates, not two-year or four-year degrees, it was not included on the Scorecard at launch.” Grove City College, another school known for refusing to take federal funding, was also excluded from the list. There is one “Hillsdale” college in the database: Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, located in Moore, Oklahoma, with
195 undergraduate students. According to the graduation requirements listed by the college registrar, Hillsdale offers two baccalaureate degrees, “each based on the completion of four years of study in the liberal arts.” The Department of Education doesn’t agree that those specifications make Hillsdale a four-year institution. “Hillsdale is a predominantly certificate degree granting institution,” Horn explained. “At launch, we focused our attention on predominantly two- and four-year degree programs. We will be exploring ways moving forward to account for shorter degree programs and to incorporate them onto the website.” Though Hillsdale does not accept federal funding, the college does submit some data to be included in analyses of accredited ranking companies such as U.S. News and World Report, which use data from the federal government to generate rankings. “At least under the current administration,” said College President Larry Arnn, “they refuse to receive it unless we include data about race of students and other things that we have never collected, that is, we have not collected this data for more than 170 years.” While information covering the ethnicity of the student body is one of the data sets listed in the “scorecard,” there are many schools with certain sets of data listed as “unavailable.” “We may be the first institution of any kind anywhere to commit in its charter to admit students ‘without regard to race, sex, or national origin,’” Arnn said. “Never mind that. The federal government demands that we count our students by the color of their skin.” The White House declined to comment. “Hillsdale College, 1844. United States Department of Education, 1979,” Arnn added. “The latter has never been very good at history or even current affairs.”
Hillsdale admits students based solely on their academic achievements, resume, writing Before Obergefell v. Hodges, samples, and interview, accordGeorgia had a ban on same- ing to Associate Vice President sex marriage. After Obergefell of Admissions Doug Banbury. College deans afv. Hodges, this ban firmed their commitwas wiped out and Because of ment to caring for all the University of students on campus. Georgia extended our status “One of the things healthcare benefits I’m reminded to do to same-sex cou- as a private is to be on the lookples. Similar situaout for anyone who is tions also played out institution, hurting or struggling at public universithey can’t and to make sure ties in Kansas and my office is meeting Texas. impose those needs as best In a 5-4 ruling as it can,” Dean of handed down on Obergefell v. Men Aaron Petersen June 26, the Supreme Court ruled Hodges on us. said. “There’s really a ministry out of this that same-sex maroffice, developing riage is protected under the Constitution, overturning state the minds and improving the bans in 13 states, including hearts.” Michigan. Since going into effect this summer, Obergefell v. Hodges has significantly impacted America’s legal system, forcing institutions throughout the country to change their policies pertaining to marriage. Hillsdale College maintains its traditional, religious position on marriage and has not had to change any policies because of the decision. It’s unlikely that future college policies will be affected, according to Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. “Because of our status as a private institution, they can’t impose Obergefell v. Hodges on us,” Péwé said. “We didn’t do anything other than stay consistent.” The college continues to only provide spousal benefits to heterosexual couples, said Janet Marsh, executive director of human resources, and employee healthcare plans have not A runner gathers color during last year’s Color Run, hosted by Campus Recreation. This year’s event will changed as a result of the June be Saturday, Sept. 19 at Hayden Park. Rachael hille | Courtesy ruling. Any changes in the college’s health care policy would have to be made by President Larry Arnn and the board of trustees. Campus Recreation will a.m. and the race will begin at For more information and to While the school has a fairly host its annual Color Run 5K at 11a.m. Registration will cost sign up, email Rachael Hille at restricted policy on health care Hayden Park this Saturday, Sept. $10 for students and $20 for rhille@hillsdale.edu. benefits, its admission policy is 19. non-students, and a T-shirt will very open. Registration will begin at 10 be included with registration.
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Color Run at Hayden this Saturday
Anders Kiledal | Collegian
Dave Wheeler cuts a camoflauge-colored ribbion, offically welcoming Mar-Vo Mineral Co. into Stock’s Mill and the community. Hailey Morgan | Collegian
By | Evan Carter Web Editor
By | Vivian Hughbanks News Editor
Downtown mural This summer, Hillsdale gained new wall art celebrating town’s railroad era. B1
State Police Locate Missing Child Michigan State Police found a child who was missing for 14 days. A7
Photo Courtesy Sheila Butler
Who would you vote for tomorrow?
U.S. Department of Education calls college a ‘certificate degree granting institution’
See the college master plan Check out sketches of future campus rennovations.
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