Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 143 Issue 2 - September 5, 2019
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Arnn completes editing of Churchill biographies
The biographical collection is the largest of any historical person
By | Abby Liebing Associate Editor After decades of work, the 23rd and final volume of the “Churchill Documents” is being published this fall by Hillsdale College’s Churchill Project. Sir Winston Churchill’s son Randolph began writing the biography of his father 57 years ago, in 1962. He completed the first two volumes of the biography. When Randolph passed away, he bequeathed the biography to Sir Martin Gilbert, who was an Oxford historian and one of Randolph’s researchers. Gilbert then spent the rest of his life working on the biography, from 1968 to 2012. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn studied under and worked with Gilbert, and since 2012, Arnn has been editing the volumes. This definitive and official biography of Winston Churchill is the largest biography, of any single historical person, according to the Churchill Book Specialist. It is made up of eight narrative volumes, which Randolph Churchill and Gilbert wrote, as well as 23 volumes of documents. In total, it is 42,300 pages and 15.1 million words. Volume
22 of the series, “Leader of the Opposition, August 1945 to October 1951,” was released in July 2019 and the 23rd volume, “Never Flinch, Never Weary, November 1951 to February 1965,” will be released this fall. The Churchill Project, launched by Hillsdale College, has been a large part of the work on and publication of the Churchill biography and documents. “Since its inception, the purpose of the Churchill Project has been to promote a right understanding of Churchill’s words Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn poses with the completed volumes of Winston Churchill’s biographies. and deeds. The official biography Marketing Churchill Project, said in an Churchill Project is still dedbiography and of the articles has been one way icated to guarding the legacy on the website are the two – the most important way – in email. And though this is the final of a great man and exploring primary ways we intend to which we have pursued this volume of the “Churchill Doc- his history and career. carry the Project forward. But end,” Colin Brown, associate uments” to be published, the “Promotion of the official the future of the Churchill director of research for the
Project is bright and there is always more that can be done,” Brown said. The Churchill Project also has several student fellows who have worked on the project and research. Senior Tess Skehan, who became a fellow in August 2017, has done some editing, reading, biographical footnoting, and transcribing for the Project. And, as she has gotten to work closely with Churchill’s documents and personal writings, she has enjoyed seeing different sides of who he was as a person. Skehan noticed that often when looking back on historical figures people focus on them in their specific role or career or even try to tear them down. But, she got to see Churchill in many different lights besides just as a politician. He was funny. He was a father, a reporter, as well as a politician. “He became so much more personal. You get to see so many aspects of him,” Skehan said. Senior Zach Palmer, also a Churchill fellow since 2017, has had various roles help-
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College launches online course on biblical narrative By | Sofia Krusmark Assisant Editor
From left: Matthew Spalding, associate vice president at the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center; Carrie Severino, a legal scholar; and journalist Mollie Hemingway discuss Hemingway and Severino’s new book on the fall 2018 Kavanaugh hearings. Kate Grace | Courtesy
Journalism fellow releases new book on 2018 Kavanaugh confirmation hearings By | Carmel Kookogey Culture Editor When the government shut down in January 2019, Matthew Spalding had an idea. A few Hillsdale students could not starting their internships in the federal government in Washington, D.C. Spalding, Allan P.
Kirby Jr. Center Associate Vice President and Dean of Education Programs offered his students to help Hillsdale Senior Journalism Fellow Mollie Hemingway on her most recent book, “Justice on Trial.” “I literally had a body of Hillsdale students here, ready to work,” Spalding said.
A senior editor at The Federalist and former Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Fellow of Journalism, Hemingway has long been a friend of the college, Spalding said. The Federalist also records its podcast at the Allan P. Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Statesmanship, so Hem-
ingway was a familiar face even before the book project began. Co-authored by legal scholar Carrie Severino, “Justice on Trial” tells the story of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s fall 2018 confimation to the Supreme Court. Together with Severino, who used to clerk
After launching 24 online courses, Hillsdale has released the first biblical literature course in its history. It’s the Genesis story. The five-lecture online class was launched at the end of July — and it’s unlike anything Hillsdale has offered before, said Justin Jackson, professor and chair of the English Department and the class’ teacher. More than 10,000 people have enrolled in the class since its release. “We are known as a place where one studies the Constitution,” Jackson said. “So to have an English professor talking about the literary qualities of Scripture, and to do it seriously and academically is to say, ‘This is what we do on this campus, and we are liberal-minded enough that we can actually have students
who can take the class and appreciate it and grow from it.’” The college mission has four components: freedom, character, learning and faith. According to Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, the course does exactly that. “To call yourself a wholly thoughtful person, you’d have to do some thinking about God, and that’s what we think here at Hillsdale College,” Arnn said in the course introduction video. Kyle Murnen, director of online learning, said Hillsdale is a Christian college so theological courses have become essential to the online course library. “One of the central purposes of the college is to teach the precepts of the Christian faith,” Murnen said. “A close study of the first book of the Bible serves this purpose well.”
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Dawn Theater turns 100 opened in 1919 as a By | Rowan Macwan Collegian Freelancer vaudeville and silent movie house. Since then it has functioned as a theatre, an Downtown Hillsdale’s event venue, and a nighthistoric Dawn Theatre club. Long-time residents celebrated its centennial of Hillsdale remember the on Sept. 4. The city held a Dawn as the place of their ceremony outside of City first movies, first dates, Hall, across the street from senior proms, and friend’s the Dawn, to celebrate the weddings. start of construction. See Dawn A6 The Dawn Theatre
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New Marketing Director Ric Tombelli brings change for department By | Christian Peck-Dimmit Collegian Freelancer Imagine posting content for millions of judging eyes to see. That is just a small part of what Ric Tombelli does every day. Tombelli is the new director of digital marketing at Hillsdale, and despite having Follow @HDaleCollegian
worked here only a few short months, he and his team have been hard at work making sure the college’s brand stays strong and consistent. The school hired Tombelli in July, and six years of owning his own company proved itself valuable experience as he took over the many complicated facets involved in running Hillsdale’s Mar-
keting Department. One of those main facets is managing all of the social media channels that represent the college, a part of his job that he has emphasized. It carries a lot more weight than it does for the average college student, especially with the recent issues of free speech faced by many major social media platforms. “In theory,” Tombelli
said, “things that we speak about here at the college that are considered the bedrock of what we teach could be viewed by some of those platforms as speech that they no longer wish to promote.” This would be a step in the wrong direction for the college as a whole, he said, as social media plays a large role in connecting with Hillsdale’s international
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audiences. Though marketing may seem to be a relatively straightforward job, there is a great deal of time and effort put in to making sure that the school’s brand is promoted in a consistent, positive manner. “There’s the Hillsdale. edu site,” Tombelli said, “but there’s also the Halter Shooting Center, there’s the
online courses page, and Hillsdale in D.C. So my job is to make sure that those properties reflect the brand of the school.” Bryan Springer, another of the school’s new additions to the marketing department, helps to ensure
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