Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 143 Issue 5- September 26, 2019
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Three receive distinguished alumni award, Conner named honorary alumnus By | Ben Wilson Collegian Reporter Alumni, students, faculty, and staff filled the Searle Center on Friday night to honor three distinguished alumni and an honorary alumnus at the 68th annual Alumni Awards Banquet. The recipients: Tom Conner, Thomas Shafer ’81, Megan Lacy Owen ’07, and Kate Bachelder Odell ’13, are all leaders in their respective fields and were given a plaque and the opportunity to speak to the crowd. Professor of History Tom Conner received two standing ovations while accepting his award as an honorary alumnus for his exceptional contributions to Hillsdale in his 36 years of teaching. “I already have two alma maters where I actually had to fulfill the academic requirements,” Conner said. “Please believe me when I say that my third alma mater is the one I’m most proud of.” Conner was listed in the 2012 Princeton Review’s “Best
300 Professors in the Nation” and has been voted Professor of the Year four times in his tenure at Hillsdale College. “This is actually the most satisfying award I ever could have wished for,” Conner said, “because it bonds me to a place I’ve grown to love and admire deeply.” A long line of students and alumni waited to take pictures and speak with Conner, or “Doc Conner” as he is known across campus. “It was very humbling and amazing,” Conner said. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world and really felt it tonight.” Kate Bachelder Odell received a Young Alumna Award, which recognizes a graduate from the last decade who excels in her field and is likely to build upon that early success. Her father accepted the award on her behalf, as she was in a Virginia hospital expecting she and her husband’s first child. Odell is an editorial writer at the Wall Street Journal, where she covers topics such as taxes, healthcare, and domestic policy. Odell got her
start in journalism at the college. She was a member of the Dow Journalism Program and served as the Opinions editor for The Collegian. Odell and her husband, Andrew, who serves in the Navy, met at Hillsdale. “It was really an exciting honor to be given this award, especially since so much of my life I feel I owe to Hillsdale,” Odell said in a video
Attendees applaud recipients of the alumni awards. Ben Wilson | Collegian
played for the crowd. “It’s like receiving an award from someone who gave you everything you have.”
Republican lawmakers gather at Mackinac Island, VP Pence makes special appearance By | Allison Schuster Features Editor Republican Party leaders from across the nation gathered on Mackinac Island the weekend of Sept. 20 to 22 for the Biennial Republican National Leadership Conference, where they discussed problems and solutions to national and state issues.
Local politicians — including Hillsdale’s United States House Rep. Tim Walberg, of the Seventh District, and Michigan House Rep. Eric Leutheuser — contributed to the discussion at the national level but focused on solving problems in Michigan. The main topic of discussion included the state budget
Odell moved to Hillsdale in the tenth grade when her father and Hillsdale College trustee, Chris Bachelder, accepted a position at the school. While she was apprehensive about attending the college at first, Odell grew to love Hillsdale. “I’m overjoyed that she came here because she benefited so much,” Bachelder said.
Megan Lacy Owen, the second recipient of the Young Alumna Award, graduated in 2007 with a degree in history.
Owen went on to study at the University of Virginia School of Law and clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals. After moving to Washington, D.C., and practicing at a private firm, she served as an advisor to White House Counsel Don McGhan on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. After his swearing in to the Supreme Court, Owen served as a law clerk for Justice Kavanaugh. “It’s wonderful to be home,” Owen said at the banquet. “It’s wonderful to recall the generosity and kindness of so many people who were so formative to my life.” Owen is one of seven graduates who have gone on to serve in the United States Supreme Court while Larry Arnn has been college president.. Arnn said he remembers Owen fondly. “Megan is a special girl,”Arnn said. “She always has been.” Thomas Shafer, recipient of the Outstanding Professional Achievements in Business award, graduated in 1981 and was honored for his success in
the banking industry. He serves as the president and CEO of Chemical Bank and has worked on 26 mergers and acquisitions. Shafer met his wife, Mary, at Hillsdale and has been a supporter of the school for years. “The school is living its mission every day wonderfully,” Shafer said. “The investment in the students, faculty, and campus create nothing but pride in alumni like myself.” Shafer triple majored in economics, business administration, and political economy. “I’m thrilled to be back on campus and honored to be here for this award,” Shafer said. “It’s a great weekend.” The three distinguished individuals join a prestigious list of past alumni to receive the award. From banking to law, the former Chargers are using the lessons and skills acquired in the liberal arts education of Hillsdale College. “I’m proud and I’m marveled,” Arnn said. “Look how they’ve grown up.”
VP Mike Pence speaks on Mackinac Island. Allison Schuster | Collegian
proposal, which will affect spending for roads. Leutheuser described conversations in Lansing right now as “interesting,” explaining what he said is a long process as the house tries to pass a budget.
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Hillsdale students seek help for mental health By | Ryan Young Collegian Freelancer As academic and personal ambitions continue to rise each year at Hillsdale College, more and more students are receiving counseling services. In 2012, there were 800 counseling visits in the course of the school year by students and staff at Hillsdale College’s Ambler Health Center. Last year, there were over 2,000. With six counselors on campus, that amounts to more than 115 total hours of counseling available per week. Brock Lutz, director of health services, estimates that 35% of campus, including some staff and faculty, come for counseling. The services available at the health center include individual and group counseling for issues such as pornography, substance recovery, family dysfunction, stress, and eating disorders. Most students, however, set up one-on-one meetings to discuss personal Follow @HDaleCollegian
struggles and goals, focusing mainly on time management and stress, according to Lutz. “I think that we have seen more anxiety and stress over the last couple of years,” Lutz said. “We are recruiting higher test scores, higher-functioning, Type A students who really want to do excellently and do everything, which is really challenging or impossible to do. Anxiety and stress tend to be the most pressing issues we see.” A Hillsdale student’s workload can become overwhelming and stressful, but Lutz said he provides a checklist that addresses the key to a healthy and productive life. “One of the places we start is the physical,” he said. “Getting exercise, moving, taking walks, just getting out, eating, and making sure you’re feeding yourself well, making sure you have balance in your diet, and then sleep.” The average college student gets about six to six-and-a-
half hours of sleep per night, which can lead to increased anxiety and depression, according to a study by the University of Georgia. With very little time spent sleeping at night, many students turn to naps as a form of rejuvenation. “I often don’t sleep well at night, so I find myself feeling particularly tired during the day,” freshman Russell Breaux said. “Sometimes I don’t have the energy to socialize, so the best thing I can do to relax is take naps.” Scientists and health professionals have studied the effects of napping during the day, and while some argue they are beneficial and a great form of relaxation, others discourage naps due to the disruption of the body’s natural sleep cycle. “One of the things I tell students that they don’t like is no naps,” Lutz said. “Don’t take naps because naps completely disrupt your REM
(rapid eye movement) sleep at night, so when you go to sleep and you might even be tired, your body does not hit REM sleep fast enough. What happens is you end up laying in bed, you are awake, you get frustrated, and then you don’t sleep or sleep in late.” In counseling, Lutz also encourages students to build a routine around sleep in order to limit stress and maximize productivity. “Get yourself to bed at 11 and wake up at 6 or 6:30,” Lutz said. “Go to bed at around the same time every night and wake up around the same time every morning because your body likes to get in a routine.” While getting oneself in physical shape with the proper sleep and a healthy diet is a major chunk of a person’s overall health, Lutz places spiritual well-being at the center of a healthy life. “I believe faith is the most important thing in a person’s
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life, but for some people, this is just the beginning stages of that journey,” Lutz said. “For everyone, they can think about what’s their purpose, where do they get their values and significance from, and those are deeply spiritual questions that everyone struggles to answer.” In order to address the emotional, social, behavioral, and mental aspects of a student’s well-being, Lutz begins by asking students about their beliefs and moral code. “Whether someone is a practicing Christian or a Jewish person or whatever else, still the spiritual domain is very important so we can have broad conversations with everyone like, ‘What are your morals? What are the values that you hold dear in your life? What do you want your life to be about?’” Lutz said. Lutz and the other therapists focus on what the individual student wants to discuss. The counselor’s job is
to listen and provide professional direction in an environment that allows students to freely express their struggles and get proper help. “We are completely confidential here,” Lutz said. “The only thing we can break confidentiality for is if a person is homicidal, suicidal, or psychotic.” Despite confidentiality, some students prefer to seek counseling off campus and choose to meet with Shari Mayote, a therapist who works in Hillsdale on Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mayote meets mainly with students who are entering college, but she said they are dealing with similar issues that she sees with college students.
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