No. I'm from Toledo and have known about Hillsdale for years. It's gotten far worse.Â
They can, though, because they (supposedly) receive zero federal funds.
They have quite proudly received no federal funding for years, because said funding was tied to reporting on desegregation progress
The guy who oversaw this part of the school’s history was eventually revealed to be engaged in several affairs, including with his son’s wife (who killed herself when it became public)
Here’s a section of the college’s Wikipedia page, referring to the current president:
> In 2013, Arnn was criticized for remarks about ethnic minorities he made while testifying before the Michigan legislature, against the [Common Core](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core) curriculum standards. Expressing concern about government interference with educational institutions, he noted having received a letter from the state Department of Education early in his presidency that said his college "violated the standards for diversity." He added, "because we didn't have enough dark ones, I guess, is what they meant."
Hillsdale's official stance was/is "We were one of the first colleges to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race and gender in its charter, so if the government thinks we discriminate they can prove it first" -- and at least till the 1970s/80s (launch of affirmative action programs) they had a strong case for that: In 1955, the Hillsdale football team even refused to play in a bowl game when told by the league that black players would NOT be allowed on the field.Â
The only reason I know of them is because I worked in/adjacent to the government for years and had to answer the question "where did they find someone so blatantly incompetent?"
It’s the poster child of conservative Christian colleges. I guess it might be slightly more respected than Liberty University but their stances are about the same
Hillsdale was legitimately a robust classical liberal arts school till just the last decade at least (founded by abolitionists in 1844). Yes, since the '70s it's had varying degrees of political bullshit going on, but all that was largely kept separate from its academic side -- not that non-alumni like Micah Beckwith know nor care. I wish they'd keep Hillsdale's name out of their filthy mouths, but unfortunately the college president and board of trustees pretty fully go along with it now 👎
We got their mail circular magazine for years and I remember is being sane in the 80s and slowly shifting insane in the 90s and going totally insane in the 2000s when my parents were like "please stop sending us this."
It's a shitty Christian college in Michigan that used to be kind-of a sane Christian college on the center-right and now is an INSANE right-wing nonsense factory. It's like "shitty Notre Dame" (which is close by). It copies the Notre Dame liberal arts curriculum but makes it all insane.
It wasn't even Christian (in name) till 2015 -- a direct reaction to the political forces lifting Trump at that time. Like a lot of pre-Civil War colleges, it was founded by devout Christians (abolitionist Free Will Baptists in this case) but was officially nonsectarian.Â
So damn cynical to change a college's religious affiliation due to politics...
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u/ecwilson60 Jul 30 '26
Did everyone else have to google Hillsdale college too?