Hillsdale Collegian 3.29.18

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Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 141 Issue 23 - March 29, 2018

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Hillsdale College primed to purchase Mauck Elementary By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief Hillsdale College is on the verge of purchasing a closed elementary school from the local school district, which gave approval for the sale of the building last week. The college has offered $390,000 to buy Joseph Mauck Elementary School, a vacant building at 113 E. Fayette St. that closed in 2010. Its plans include investing approximately $5 million to

update the building and likely transform it into a center to connect with the public, Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said. “Likely we would use it for outreach initiatives; however, if we owned the building it would provide the college many options,” Péwé said in an email. “Space is needed.” Presented with the college’s offer, the Hillsdale Community Schools’ Board of Education voted unanimously March 19 to sell the building

so long as the transaction with the college is successful. Péwé said he still is negotiating details with Hillsdale Community Schools Superintendent Shawn Vondra. “A viable offer has been submitted by the college,” Vondra said. “The district’s Board of Education is pleased that Hillsdale College plans to maintain and use the building for college programs. There is a positive feeling about Hillsdale College’s plans for renovation and improvements

to the facility.” The college would fundraise to cover the costs of obtaining and updating the building, according to Péwé. As Hillsdale’s external presence and programs seeking to bring Hillsdale’s resources to the public grow, the college is finding itself limited in the space reserved for such initiatives in Moss Hall and the Dow Leadership Center. Purchasing the elementary school would address those present limitations, said Mike

By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief Hillsdale College is considering several offers to build a new satellite location, possibly in California. According to College President Larry Arnn, the college has received at least three serious offers to expand its operations to other parts of the country. Arnn said the opportunities come with significant dollar amounts attached and good motives behind them, as the college seeks to grow its outreach programs and efforts. “There’s a lot of opportunities for the college right now,” Arnn said. “There are a lot of dangers, too, but there are a lot of opportunities.” Since coming to the college, Arnn said he has received multiple offers every year of land for the college to use. “For many years, we’ve thought, ‘Simply impractical,’” Arnn said. “There are several now in various locations with a substantial amount of money attached to them and good motives attached to them. One year ago I decided the world was telling us something, that we should listen and think about it. We haven’t done anything except that: We are thinking about it.” Ideas for a new Hillsdale-affiliated location have

run mostly akin to the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. Arnn said the college has discussed various ideas for such a place, but is taking discrete and sensitive steps as it thinks about the prospects. Some examples he noted were an outreach or online education center or a center for the Barney Charter School Initiative. Such a building could hold seminars and hostel programming and attract homeschoolers, parents, and friends of the college. “There are millions of people interested in learning from Hillsdale College,” Arnn said. “It would create another place for them to come.” Phillip Kilgore, director of the Barney initiative, said such a facility would be helpful for holding regional training events as well as offering summer events and programs to middle and high school students. “The satellite facility would give extra capacity for the college during the summer since so many events are held on our current campus between mid-May and mid-August,” Kilgore said. Arnn also suggested a satellite facility holding a graduate school for a Masters of Classical Education program, which Hillsdale is interested in starting. He said that could

launch somewhere else and perhaps also on campus. “We know that there is a need for a quality master’s degree in classical education,” said Daniel Coupland, dean of faculty and professor of education. “We think that Hillsdale could do a good job of providing such a program.” For now, the college does not seem to be looking to open a second undergraduate college campus anywhere. Arnn, however, did note that the number of students as well as prospective faculty members looking to pursue a liberal arts education has increased over the past 15 years. “A lot has changed,” Arnn said. “We have a lot more high-quality students than we can admit. We have a lot more applications for jobs than we can hire. We increasingly find as we search that we wish we could hire more than one person.” Arnn also emphasized that if the college does create a new location, the goal is to make it self-sustainable, so as not to divert funds from Hillsdale’s mission as a college. Two of the offers would make money off the land donated. The third is supported by donors who have a high opinion of Hillsdale, but are not contributing financially right now, he said. “It would be surprising if it all comes together,” Arnn said. “It would be surprising, but by

no means impossible, if none of it came together.” Arnn publicly announced consideration of opening a new Hillsdale location during the Parents Weekend luncheon on March 17. At the time, he specifically mentioned one in California because the man making one of the offers was present at the time. Consideration for a satellite location comes with good timing, as the college currently is developing plans and goals for the next five years. In that, Arnn said he is optimistic about the future and is aware the college has been fortunate in the success of some of its endeavors that were not always a guarantee. Arnn teased that in about a year, he expects the school to launch another major fundraising effort. He said the college is laying out its steps to do that now. “We’ve never been rich enough to ask the question: ‘What might you do?’” Arnn said. “It’s ‘What do you need to do for the excellence of the college?’” For that reason, a new location affiliated with Hillsdale is under consideration, Arnn said. “I don’t think we’re going to make a decision about this,” he said. “I think we’re going to discover whether it is a thing to do or not.”

College considers satellite location

Margaret Scott, a resident of Hillsdale, has volunteered to help with the Women Commissioners rummage sale for many years. The organization voted to no longer hold the annual sale in January. Ronda Deer | Courtesy

Women Commissioners end annual sale

By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief The Women Commissioners will no longer holds its annual rummage sale, the group voted in January. In discussion for several years now, ending the tradition of the sale came to fruition in January, when the independent organization, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in September, voted overwhelmingly to find a new way to raise money for Follow @HDaleCollegian

the student scholarships it supports. Aging membership, decreasing profits, and rental and maintenance fees contributed to the decision. The group still is discussing what it will do to fundraise money to sponsor more student scholarships. “This does not jeopardize our scholarships,” said Ronda Deer, the group’s outgoing president. “They’re already in existence. We will continue to have fundraisers to continue to fund more scholarships.”

The annual fall sale dates back to the 1950s and gathered used belongings from the community for resale in a giant rummage sale. In recent years, it was held in the Biermann Athletics Center. The two-day event, which typically requires a full week of work for setup and cleanup, combined community outreach while also supporting college students. The Women Commissioners already support 36 students with scholarships. In recent years, though, the

group has seen diminishing returns from the sale that near $10,000 in less profit. “It used to be it was a real benefit to the community, because we didn’t have the Goodwill store and the Salvation Army store,” said Sue Hayes, co-chair of the organization’s Ways and Means Committee. “People who need it get it on a year-round basis. I don’t think the service is needed as much.”

See Sale A2

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Harner, chief of staff in the president’s office. The college is looking at moving entire departments and programs to Mauck Elementary. “There are a number of possible uses,” Harner said. “Office space has become a premium as departments have expanded in the colleges mission has grown.” Additionally, the 1.7-acre lot would provide much needed parking space for large

events such as homecoming and commencement, Harner added. The district has permitted the college to use its lot for that purpose in the past, Vondra said. Since Mauck Elementary closed, Hillsdale College has been looking into the possibility of purchasing the building, according to Harner.

See Mauck A6

Hillsdale College has offered to buy Joseph Mauck Elementary School for $390,000. Breana Noble | Collegian

The College Republicans held a five-person panel about the opioid epidemic’s effect on Hillsdale. Rachel Umaña | Courtesy

The College Republicans host opioid crisis panel By | Jordyn Pair News Editor For some, it’s a culture problem. For others, it’s overprescription. But all can agree: Opioid use is a problem in Hillsdale County. College Republicans held a panel of community members on Tuesday evening to discuss the local impact of America’s opioid epidemic. The panel included Republican Congressman Tim Walberg, Sheriff Tim Parker, District Drug Court Judge Sara Lisznyai, Director of Emergency at Hillsdale Hospital Donald Brock, and Director of Health Services at Hillsdale College Brock Lutz. Roughly 100 people attended, the majority of which were members of the community. Brock said in his 25 years in the medical field, he has pronounced 50 to 100 people dead from opiate-related causes. “This is something we need to focus on,” Brock said. Opioid overdoses are the main source of drug-related deaths in the United States. They were related to 42,249 deaths in 2016. Overdose deaths were five times higher in 2016 than in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also lists the increase of opioid-related deaths from 2015 to 2016 as “statistically significant.” The panel focused both on broad range issues as well solutions being implemented in the community. Walberg said one of the main causes of the opioid crisis is the breakdown of society. “We in society need to be concerned about people caught in this trap,” Walberg said. “We’ve gotten away from the basics of moral society. Some say leave it to the churches. No, we leave it to ourselves.” Parker added insight from law enforcement, saying that the crime rates in Hillsdale

County are “fueled by” theft to get money to buy drugs. “From the Sheriff ’s office standpoint, we are reactive more than proactive,” Parker said. Lisznyai explained that some local programs focused on rehabilitation, rather than just incarceration. One program in particular consists of a five steps, involving meeting weekly with Lisznyai and frequent drug testing. Although the program is new enough that it hasn’t seen any graduates yet, the longest-standing case of sobriety is 275 days. “The drug courts have proven to be one of the best approaches so far,” Walberg said. The panel also discussed fentanyl, a stronger opioid that is often mixed into other drugs. “Fentanyl seems to be the kicker that puts people over the edge,” Parker said. Fentanyl is deadlier than heroin. Fentanyl also puts officers and their families at risk. So much so that suspected drugs are sent away to a lab, rather than submitted to a street test, so officers are not exposed to the drugs. Granules can sometime travel home with officers, exposing family members to them. The panel stressed that there is hope, however. The use of drugs like Narcan and Vivitrol can help break addiction. Both drugs bind to receptors in the brain, blocking the effects of the drugs. “No euphoria, no effect whatsoever,” Brock said. “I think you’re going to see this become a real great drug.” Former addict Kristi Fraga, 42, attended the talk. Fraga struggled with addiction from 1989 to 2011 and spent six years in jail. “The culture views addiction as a character defect,” Fraga said. “I feel like it’s a societal defect.”

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