The Minister of Magic returns Renowned British actor Robert Hardy will present an acting masterclass Thursday evening in the Quilhot Black Box. B1
Class of 2016 among smartest in the nation According to national standardized test results, Hillsdale seniors rank in the 99th percentile from almost 300 schools. A2
Vol. 139 Issue 25 - 28 April 2016
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
History in frame
Hillsdale boasts rare photo of Frederick Douglass By | Macaela J. Bennett Editor-in-Chief About 150 years ago, when the popular pictures of African-Americans portrayed them as savages, black abolitionist Frederick Douglass used photography to transform their image. And though Douglass shared the 19th century with legends like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Walt Whitman, Harvard historian John Stauffer said Douglass surpassed them all in at least one category: he was the most photographed American of those 100 years. In a 2015 illustrated biography “Picturing Frederick Douglass,” historians Stauffer and Zoe Trodd explain Douglass’ impact on the abolitionist movement with his pioneering use of photography. To honor Douglass’ accomplishments and the legacy of his two speeches on Hillsdale’s campus, the Liberty Walk will soon add a statue of the acclaimed orator. But that isn’t the only important piece of Douglass history that Hillsdale holds. Page 20 of “Picturing Frederick Douglass,” displays a rare, full-length photo of him, which was taken nearby on Howell Street by local Hillsdale photography firm owned by Edwin Burke Ives and Reuben L. Andrews. This was the same day that Douglass gave a speech in Hillsdale’s chapel called “Truth and Error.” “Properly speaking, there was no such thing as new truth. Error might be old or new; but truth was as old as the universe, based upon a sure foundation, and could not be overthrown,”
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was photographed by Edwin Burke Ives and Reuben L. Andrews in Hillsdale after giving a speech titled “Truth and Error” on campus in January 1863. The photograph is held in Hillsdale’s archival collection. Hillsdale Library and Archives | Courtesy
See Douglass A2 Vivian Hughbanks | Collegian
33 students 2016
478 alumni
35 students 2015
in the D.C. area
46 students 2014
Hillsdale
summer WHIP in
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45 38 students students 2013
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—Compiled by Anders Hagstrom
College to auction Duesenberg Hillsdale to auction off classic car in July
By | Sarah Chavey Collegian Reporter In 1929, the Duesenberg Model J with a disappearing convertible top was one of the most luxurious cars available in the world. Eighty-seven years later, it’s both incredibly rare and still extremely valuable. And thanks to Eric Bardeen, a generous donor, Hillsdale College now owns one that will be auctioned off in July. The car was manufactured in Auburn, Indiana, and is one of only a few remaining Duesenbergs in the world, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Pat Flannery said. RM Sotheby’s will auction off the car during its July 30 classic cars auction. Auctioneers predict the car will sell for $1.2-1.4 million, and the money will go toward general purFollow @HDaleCollegian
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poses of the college. The school paid a bargain $400,000 for the car. The difference between the auction sale price and the portion Hillsdale College paid for it is Bardeen’s gift to the school. Bardeen did not specif y a specific purpose for the gift portion. “These cars were made during an iconic period of American history,” said Robert Norton, institutional advancement vice president and general counsel. “The degree of workmanship is truly fantastic. It’s true craftsmanship and innovation, which is hard to relate to today.” A former executive at Fiat
Chrysler and a car collector himself, Norton helped the college look for a gift like this. Vice President for Institutional Advancement John Cervini came up with the idea and arranged the donation. “It’s a beautiful car, and we are fortunate to receive such a generous gift to
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support the operaa tions of Hillsdale edi kim College from Mr. Eric i W Bardeen,” Cervini said in an m Co
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email. Bardeen donated the rights to the vehicle two years ago and gave it physically to the college in January 2016. “He’s a supporter of the college, and he has a lot of vehicles,” Flannery said. “He wanted to give it to us.” Right now, the car is being cleaned, refurbished, and waxed in Troy, Michigan, with a man known as “the Duesenberg guy in the world,” according to Flannery. It will be on Hillsdale’s campus for a photo shoot on May 4 and will be auctioned off from the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan. “The car’s going to be considered the premier car at the auction,” Flannery said. “They’ll start it up and get it running so people can hear it.”
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Douglass statue delayed until 2017 By | Breana Noble Assistant Editor
equality.” Wolfe and the college considered a number of poses for the statue, including one reminiscent of the photo taken during his trip to Hillsdale, which depicts Douglass sitting. They, however, decided that he would stand across from his old friend, Abraham Lincoln, at the 4 o’clock position when
Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk will have to wait longer than expected to receive its newest addition — abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass. A college committee selected award-winning sculptor Bruce Wolfe for the project in May 2015. Wolfe The newest addition to Hillsdale was not able to begin College’s Liberty Walk — abolitionwork as soon as exist Frederick Douglass — will be pected, but he plans unveiled on campus in 2017, just to start sculpting soon. shy of 155 years after his visit to Although Chief Staff campus in 1863. Officer Mike Harner said Wolfe projects the sculpture will be completed by looking at Central Hall from December, weather will delay the Civil War memorial. Wolfe’s concept also depicts the dedication until fall 2017. “It’s going to be very neat. the 19th-century orator holdThere’s a lot of excitement ing a book, an ode to his influabout it,” Harner said. “I think ential writings. Harner said he will not reBruce Wolfe views this as a lease any early sketches of the major work of a distinguished statue to the public because career.” The sculpture’s concept de- the design could change once sign depicts a younger Doug- Wolfe begins sculpting, and lass at about the height of his he wants the unveiling to be a oratory powers when he was surprise. In conjunction with the stat43, the age he would have been two years before speaking at ue, Hillsdale is also commemHillsdale College for the first orating the abolitionist’s life with the Frederick Douglass time on Jan. 21, 1863. “We’re very proud of the Scholarships. The college is decollege’s affiliation with the signing this full-tuition grant great Frederick Douglass,” specifically for high-achievPresident Larry Arnn said in ing, high-need students from an email. “He and the princi- inner cities, especially Detroit, ples he stated in that speech Michigan, and Chicago, Illihelped to form the devotion nois, Financial Aid Director of the college to freedom and R i c h See Statue A2
College responds to HLC changes in accreditation By | Micah Meadowcroft Associate Editor It is worse than it was, but not bad yet. That seemed to be administrators’ conclusion regarding recent changes made by the Higher Learning Commission to its accreditation process. In response to Department of Education mandates and in a culture of standardized tests and quantifiable results, the HLC has abandoned self-studies — essentially books written by schools describing their institutions submitted every ten years before a review visit — for a combination of processes the HLC calls “Open Pathway.” “The self-study as we have known it is finished,” Provost David Whalen said. “What they did is they replaced the accreditation process with a couple of accreditation processes having different degrees of frequency and intrusiveness.” In principle, Open Pathway is still a 10-year process. Within that decade, institutions must propose two “Quality Initiatives,” which much be approved by the HLC, executed, and then assessed. There are also self-reporting elements in years four and seven. Schools still submit a kind of self-study, but what once was a composed book has become an online series of “Assurance Arguments” supporting “Core Components” and “Sub-Components” to demonstrate fulfillment of five “Criteria for Accreditation” the HLC has set forth. “It used to be the sort of thing that one office could keep an eye on,” Assistant to the Provost Mark Maier said. “Once a decade, it would involve the rest of campus, and then no one else would have to think about it for another eight years. Now it involves a lot more people and the reporting is more regular.” Hillsdale’s reaccreditation is set for the 2017-2018 academic year. Some 20 committees
are producing topic reports with the HLC criteria and components in mind. Those topic reports will be assembled and delivered to criteria authors, who will take all the reports and distill them into Assurance Arguments. Once data has been entered and President Larry Arnn has signed off, the college will upload its complete report. A committee of peers from other HLC institutions will evaluate the report, and visit campus early in 2018 to review and spot check. “The Higher Learning Commission is attempting to make things less burdensome than writing a book,” Whalen said. “In fact, for a smaller institution like us, it’s probably about the same, maybe even a little more.” Whalen said the emphasis has shifted to metrics based on facts and data. “It’s not the case that most of this type of reporting isn’t being done already internally,” Maier said. “But it just adds a little bit more pressure on the institution according to these strict deadlines that are imposed on us.” The college is overhauling its General Education Assessment process — a move which administrators already intended but which also fulfills specifications as a Quality Initiative in the reaccreditation process. Assistant Professor of Psychology Colin Barnes is on the committee overseeing that initiative and has, along with Maier, gone to meetings with the HLC over the last few years. He said he thinks the Higher Learning Commission’s changes are motivated by federal interference and a growing obsession among educators with things being measured and a proof of improvement and change. “There were several of the higher ups in the Higher Learning Commission who made presentations, and there were certain things that they said, tone of HLC A2 Look for The Hillsdale Coll egian