Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 141 Issue 25 - April 12, 2018
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Ten teams competed in the Student Activities Board’s The Amazing Race: Hillsdale Edition event on Saturday. Matthew Kendrick | Collegian
Vice President Mike Pence to speak at commencement By | Breana Noble Editor-in-Chief Vice President Mike Pence has accepted an invitation to deliver Hillsdale College’s commencement address. “We are proud to have Pence, a man of principled public service, of strong constitutional views, and of deep faith at our campus,” College President Larry Arnn said in a statement. “We are glad to have him back for this culminating ceremony of college life.” The college announced on Monday that Pence’s address to the class of 2018 for its 166th commencement ceremony is at 2 p.m. on May 12 in the Biermann Athletics Center. His selection marks the end of a more than eightmonth search by the senior class officers and the college president’s office for a commencement speaker. “We get a speaker who in his public life, private life, and spiritual life embodies what we strive for here at Hillsdale College,” Senior Class President Razi Lane told The Collegian. “Mike Pence captures our mission, as a father, husband, Christian, and leader of this country. I couldn’t think of a better person to address the senior class than Vice President Mike Pence.” Associate Vice President and Dean of Educational Programs Matthew Spalding said Pence expressed to him recently that he has wanted to visit Hillsdale again and that he chose Hillsdale despite invitations from many colleges this year. “I think it’s wonderful and a great honor for the college,” said Matthew Spalding.“I’ve known him since he was a congressman and have great
Then-Congressman Mike Pence, R-Indiana, speaks on “The Presidency and the Constitution” on Sept. 20, 2010, in Phillips Auditorium. Hillsdale College | Courtesy
respect for him. He will give a serious and thoughtful commencement address. No one should have any doubts about that.” Students and faculty expressed enthusiasm for Pence to speak at commencement, noting it as an important moment for the college. “I think that it’s incredible for the vice president to come to a small school like Hillsdale and address the senior class,” senior Charlotte McFaddin said. “It’s a big deal, and I think it is a testament to the kind of institution Hillsdale is becoming.” Politics department chairman Mickey Craig agreed, observing that national leaders
are becoming more common on campus as Hillsdale’s reputation around the country grows bigger. That may be on purpose, economic department chairman Gary Wolfram said. “I think it says a lot about Pence associating himself with the college,” he said. “Very few schools with 1,500 students have the vice president come as the commencement speaker.” Although Pence’s speech at Hillsdale would mark his first visit to the college as vice president, he previously spoke on “The Presidency and the Constitution” on Sept. 20, 2010, in Phillips Auditorium, as a congressman. Less than
a year later on April 16, 2011, he participated in a town hall on “Economic Liberty and the Constitution” at the Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. For awhile, Hillsdale has hoped to bring Pence to campus. Arnn said he told Pence he wanted him to speak at the dedication ceremony of the Christ Chapel in 2019, because he “is a dignified figure and serious about his faith.” This year’s senior class officers, however, convinced him to invite the vice president to campus early. Additionally, Hillsdale alumni and students have worked with Pence in the vice
president’s office and when he was governor. Stephen Ford ’10 currently is a speechwriter for Pence. Last year, Pence addressed Notre Dame University in Indiana and Pennsylvania’s Grove City College, a private, liberal arts college that does not accept any federal money like Hillsdale. In them, he called for the graduating seniors to be servant-minded leaders who put to work the principles they learned at their respective institutions. “So I urge you as the rising generation, carry the ideals and the values that you’ve learned at Notre Dame into your lives and into your careers,” he said. “Be leaders in
Bands compete Friday for CHP spot By | Jordyn Pair News Editor Seven bands will compete on Friday for a spot onstage at Centralhallapalooza. The deciding event runs from 8 p.m. to midnight at Grange Hall at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds. The first band will begin around 8:30 p.m. Three student bands play at Centralhallapalooza each year, elected by an audience vote. Last year’s winners were My Dog’s Name is Keith, Deaf Davey and the Wineboxes, and The Electric Psychadelic Follow @HDaleCollegian
Pussy Cat Swingers Club. “I think it will be really close,” Director of Student Activities Ashlyn Landerr said. “Different bands have different followings.” This year’s competing bands are Penny and the Mandimes, The Wineboxes, The Village Idiots, Roos Roast, BANND, Trophy Wives, and Dick Whiskey and the Shortstacks. Sophomore Zane Mabry, who plays guitar for Penny and the Mandimes, said his band has a “more solid lineup” than last year.
“We have a good selection of music and a good energy onstage,” Mabry said. “I think we will be entertaining to watch.” Senior Callie Ring, who is performing with Trophy Wives, also played last year in a different band. This year, she wanted to get an all-female group. Even though she wasn’t entirely successful — only six of the eight band members are women — the band stuck with a girl-power theme for its music. “Usually when females are in the band, they’re singing,”
Ring said. “I wanted women on instruments.” Each band will play a 20-minute set, and the audience votes on which bands they’d like to see play at CHP. Landherr said she likes to see students get involved with the process of creating CHP. “It’s really cool to see students supporting students,” she said. Ring said they just want to have fun. “There’s a lot of really good bands,” Ring said. “Honestly, we’re just hoping to put on a good show.”
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See Pence A2
City Council exempts College Park from homeowner’s association By | Nic Rowan City News Editor
Junior Isabelle Parell sang in last year’s CHP Showdown. She competes again this year with BANND. Matthew Kendrick | Collegian
your families, in your communities, and in every field of endeavor, for the values you learned here at Notre Dame, and in these divided times, I urge you to take one more aspect of the culture of this historic institution into the mainstream of American life.” Prior to President Donald Trump selecting Pence as his running mate in July 2016, the 48th vice president of the United States served as the 50th governor of Indiana from 2013-2017. He implemented the largest tax cuts in the state’s history and advocated for more funding of preschools, voucher programs, and charter schools. Before that, Pence was in the U.S. House of Representatives beginning in 2001. By 2008, Esquire magazine named him in the top 10 best members of Congress because his “unalloyed traditional conservatism ha[d] repeatedly pitted him against his party elders.” Although Pence has made his way in Washington, D.C., he is a Midwest native, born and raised in Columbus, Indiana. Additionally, he attended Indiana’s Hanover College, a private, liberal arts institution like Hillsdale. After briefly serving as an admissions counselor at Hanover, Pence attended the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis and earned his juris doctor. He practiced law and then ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990. He later worked as president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a state think tank, and had his own syndicated radio talk show and weekly televised public affairs program.
Following Farmington Hills developer Thomas Duke’s request, the Hillsdale City Council adopted a motion to remove a homeowner’s maintenance requirement for the upcoming College Park housing development at the corner of West and East Fayette streets at the April 2 meeting. The ordinance requires owners of individual townhouses to enter into a homeowners association to keep up the exterior of the facilities — things like gardens, sidewalks, and parking lots. Duke proposed to the council that the city remove this requirement for College Park and instead allow homeowners to enter into an optional agreement with Hillsdale College. In the optional agreement, the college would take care of
snow removal on sidewalks and in the facility’s parking lot as well as the upkeep of its lawns. In turn, the homeowners would cede control of the parking lot to the college when there are school events. Duke argued that an agreement like this should be permissible to the council, because in his mind, College Park is not a condominium complex. A firewall is the only connection between the individual apartments, a “roof membrane” is the only unifier of the apartments into one building. “The owners will be smart enough that if in 20 or 25 years, we have a roof leak, we can work that out,” Duke said, in reference to the possibility of this shared element of the building suffering damage. Duke said he originally envisioned the College Park
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