Hillsdale College

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox university Hillsdale College is a private, conservative,<ref name="shining" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Christian<ref>Mission</ref><ref name=moral>Guidelines Regarding the Mission and Moral Commitments of Hillsdale College Template:Webarchive July 2010</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1844 by members of the Free Will Baptists.<ref name="Moore" /> Women were admitted to the college from its foundation, making the college the second-oldest coeducational institution in the United States, after Oberlin College (1837). Hillsdale's required core curriculum includes courses on the Great Books, the U.S. Constitution, theology, biology, chemistry, and physics.<ref name="shining" /> The college's mission statement identifies it as a "nonsectarian Christian institution".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since the late 20th century, in order to opt out of government mandates tied to funding, Hillsdale has declined both state and federal financial support. Instead, Hillsdale depends entirely on private donations to supplement students' tuition.<ref name=shining>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="scandal"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

Founding

Template:Conservatism US Members of the Free Will Baptist Church founded their denomination's first collegiate institution, Michigan Central College in Spring Arbor, Michigan,<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp in 1844.<ref name="Moore">Template:Cite book 588 pp.</ref>Template:Rp The state of Michigan incorporated the college the following year, during which the college enrolled 25 undergraduates.<ref name="Gilbert-Pioneer">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="presidents">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp The college was officially non-sectarian.<ref name="BaptistHistory1897">Template:Cite book</ref> Its first president was Daniel McBride Graham, who held the office from 1844 to 1848.

Edmund Burke Fairfield assumed the school's presidency in 1848, and in 1850, the college was chartered to confer degrees.<ref name="Gilbert-Pioneer" />Template:Rp<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp Black students were admitted immediately after the college's founding,<ref name="funding fathers">Template:Cite book</ref> and the college became the second school in the nation to grant four-year liberal arts degrees to women.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gilbert-Pioneer" />Template:Rp

Outgrowing its space by 1853, the school moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, in part to have access to the railroad that served the city. It received financial support from residents who wanted to develop the 20-year-old town.<ref name="Gilbert-Pioneer" />Template:Rp <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp Construction was completed and the school reopened as Hillsdale College in 1855.

Fairfield led Hillsdale for 25 years, from 1848 to 1869.<ref name="presidents" /><ref name="fairfieldobit">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1854, he attended the first convention of the new Republican Party with Ransom Dunn in neighboring Jackson, Michigan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fairfield served in the Michigan Senate from 1857 to 1859, and was elected that year as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. Hillsdale's early anti-slavery stance and its pivotal role in founding the Republican Party led to the invitation of several notable speakers on the campus, including Frederick Douglass (who visited the school on two occasions) and Edward Everett, the orator who preceded Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.<ref name="Gilbert-Pioneer" />Template:Rp On August 8, 1860, Hillsdale conferred its first degrees. On March 20, 1863, the Michigan legislature formally legalized Hillsdale's change of name and location.<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp

Later 19th century

In 1861, many Hillsdale students joined the ranks of the Union Army during the American Civil War. A higher percentage of Hillsdale students enlisted than from any other Michigan college.<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gilbert-Honor">Template:Cite book 88 pp.</ref>Template:Rp

In 1869, James Calder succeeded Fairfield as president. Calder served through 1871. During his administration, the commercial school opened, a theological department was established, and the college enrolled around 750 students.<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp He resigned to become president of Pennsylvania State University.<ref name="presidents" />

File:Hillsdale College photo.jpg
Hillsdale in the nineteenth century

Hillsdale's first president, Daniel McBride Graham, returned for a brief second term in 1871, notably rebuilding the campus after the catastrophic "Great Fire" of March 6, 1874.<ref name=Gilbert-Pioneer />Template:Rp<ref name=Moore />Template:Rp DeWitt Clinton Durgin, a Union College alumnus, was president from 1874 to 1884.<ref name="presidents" /> In 1878, the Hillsdale Herald was launched, becoming the second oldest college newspaper in Michigan, behind Kalamazoo College's The Index (1877). In 1896, this paper merged with The Collegian (founded in 1893) to become The Herald-Collegian, soon simplified to The Collegian.<ref name=Moore />Template:Rp In 1884, Spencer O. Fisher became the first Hillsdale alumnus elected to Congress.<ref name=Moore />Template:Rp

George F. Mosher served as president of Hillsdale from 1886 to 1901.<ref name="presidents" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Moore />Template:Rp During this time, the college grew in size and in 1891, the Chicago Herald wrote, "Hillsdale has a college second in standing to no denominational college in the country."

20th century

File:Greetings from Hillsdale, Mich. College buildings LCCN2013647154.tif
Central Hall in 1908

In 1900, Hillsdale ceased grazing livestock and removed the agrarian fence circling the campus.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent">Template:Cite book 320 pp.</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp It began an era of institutional growth and professionalization. In 1902, Joseph William Mauck became the college's sixth president, the first Hillsdale graduate to return as president of his alma mater.<ref name="presidents" /> Beloved by the college community and an early and outspoken advocate for women's suffrage, Mauck served for two decades.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One of the women's dormitories is named after Mauck. In 1907, the college amended its Articles of Association, no longer requiring the president and trustees to be Free Will Baptists. This led to a decline in the theological department's prestige but an increase in the number of Christian denominations represented on campus.<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:Rp

William Gear Spencer succeeded Mauck as president, serving from 1922 to 1932, when he departed to lead Franklin College.<ref name="presidents" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Under Spencer, Hillsdale acquired its 14-acre Slayton Arboretum, built new dormitories, constructed a new field house for its developing athletic programs, and, in 1924, chartered its chapter of Chi Omega.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:Rp

File:Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI).jpg
Central Hall, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1874

During the Great Depression, Willfred Otto Mauck, Joseph Mauck's son and also an alumnus, was selected as the eighth president, serving from 1933 to 1942.<ref name="presidents" /> Throughout this era, the college struggled financially, was forced to cancel its new construction projects, and cut the pay of its faculty and staff by nearly 20%.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:Rp<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp Succeeding Mauck, Harvey L. Turner became Hillsdale's ninth president, serving from 1942 to 1952.<ref name="presidents" /> Despite its financial difficulties, the college built a new library, had an undefeated and untied football team in 1938, and celebrated its centennial in 1944, when more than 1,000 alumni returned to campus for the commencement ceremony.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:Rp<ref name="Moore" />Template:Rp

J. Donald Phillips next assumed the presidency, holding the position from 1952 to 1971.<ref name="presidents" /> During his administration, Hillsdale constructed the Simpson and McIntyre Student Residences in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In these years, Hillsdale began to resist federal civil rights regulations, particularly Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, concerning affirmative action.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> In 1962, the college's trustees adopted its own "Declaration of Independence". It affirmed Hillsdale's stance against what it called governmental control.<ref name="Gilbert-Permanent" />Template:RpTemplate:Infobox historic site

A marker designating the college as a Michigan State Historic Site was erected by the Michigan Historical Commission in 1968.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

George Roche III became the 11th president of Hillsdale College in 1971. During the Roche years, Hillsdale became nationally known, in part because of its withdrawal from federal and state-assisted loan programs and grants. Colleges that receive federal funding are required by law to report data on racial integration as part of the US affirmative action student loan program. Hillsdale announced that it refused to do so, and the college's trustees instead stated that the institution would follow its own non-discrimination policy and "with the help of God, resist, by all legal means, any encroachments on its independence."<ref name=Gilbert-Permanent />Template:Rp

During Roche's presidency, the college dramatically increased its endowment, established the Center for Constructive Alternatives, and hosted prominent national speakers, including Ronald Reagan. It also began publishing Imprimis, a monthly speech digest.<ref name="presidents"/><ref name=Gilbert-Permanent />Template:Rp Russell Kirk taught at Hillsdale for one semester per year beginning in 1973.

Roche resigned his position at Hillsdale in late 1999, following a scandal surrounding the death by suicide of his son's wife, Lissa Jackson Roche, in the Slayton Arboretum on October 17, 1999. Hours prior to her suicide, Roche stated that she and her father-in-law had engaged in an on-and-off<ref name="Sex, lies and suicide">Template:Cite news</ref> 19-year sexual affair.<ref name="Horror at Hillsdale">Template:Cite news</ref> Married to Roche's son, Hillsdale Professor of History George Roche IV, Jackson Roche had been employed as managing editor of Hillsdale College Press for 14 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> President Roche denied the alleged affair, but was suspended by the College on November 1 and resigned his post on November 10th.<ref name="Horror at Hillsdale"/><ref name="Scandal Rocks a Conservative Campus">Template:Cite news</ref> Due to Jackson Roche's suicide and the ensuing scandal, the college's reputation suffered.<ref name="scandal">Template:Cite web</ref>

21st century

Larry P. Arnn has served as president of the college since 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hillsdale's K–12 Initiative developed a full liberal arts K–12 curriculum for use in the charter schools and its private school in Michigan, Hillsdale Academy. In 2021, Hillsdale K–12 released a Civics "1776 Curriculum."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2022, Hillsdale had schools following its K–12 liberal arts curriculum across 19 states and Barney Charter Schools in 9 states.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After several decades of maintaining a semester program in Washington D.C., Hillsdale established a permanent presence with the establishment of the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Massachusetts Avenue. The facility was dedicated on Constitution Day 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, ran the Washington center's speaker series at this time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2015, the Boyle Radio Studio at the Kirby Center was dedicated.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Hillsdale College George Washignton.JPG
A statue of George Washington on campus

In 2012, Hillsdale founded the Van Andel Graduate School for Statesmanship on its Michigan campus offering both an M.A. and PhD in Politics. Its first M.A. students graduated in 2014, and its first PhD students graduated in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed In 2020, Hillsdale founded the Van Andel Graduate School of Government on its DC campus offering an M.A. in government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2022, Hillsdale founded its Graduate School of Classical Education offering an M.A. in Classical Education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2013, Arnn was criticized for remarks about ethnic minorities he made while testifying before the Michigan legislature, against the 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." After being criticized for calling minorities "dark ones," Arnn explained that he was referring to "dark faces". He stated: "The State of Michigan sent a group of people down to my campus, with clipboards ... to look at the colors of people's faces and write down what they saw. We don't keep records of that information. What were they looking for besides dark ones?"<ref name="Dark Ones">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Michigan House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel condemned Arnn's comments, calling them "offensive", "inflammatory and bigoted", and asked for an apology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In response, the college issued a statement apologizing for Arnn's remark, while reiterating his concern about "state-endorsed racism", as Arnn called affirmative action.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2019, S. Prestley Blake donated his former home, an exact replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, in Somers, Connecticut to Hillsdale College. In May 2021, Hillsdale dedicated the property as the Blake Center for Faith and Freedom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2021, Hillsdale purchased land in Placer County, California for nearly $6M with plans for a new educational center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The college is at the center of a national political and cultural debate about K–12 curriculum, since it regards "history as politics by other means".<ref name="NBC News 2023 f092">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hillsdale College is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from The Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power, since Trump won the 2024 presidential election.<ref name="Mascaro-20234">Template:Cite news</ref>

Academics

Undergraduate admissions

In 2023, Hillsdale College accepted 20.6% of undergraduate applicants, the 79th lowest rate in the US.<ref name= collegesimply>Template:Cite web</ref> Admitted applicants had an average 3.93 GPA (over 60% had 4.0 GPAs) and, on average, scored 1430 on the SAT or 31 on the ACT.<ref name= collegesimply />

Rankings

Template:Infobox US university ranking

In 2025, Hillsdale was ranked 50th (tied) out of 211 ranked "National Liberal Arts Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Princeton ReviewTemplate:'s The Best 384 Colleges 2023 ranked Hillsdale as first for "most engaged in community service," seventh for "students love these colleges," eighth for "professors get high marks," and thirteenth for "students study the most."<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Registration requiredTemplate:Update inline</ref>

The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Economics (31)
Political Science & Government (31)
English Language & Literature (26)
History (26)
Finance (23)
Biochemistry (20)
Biology/Biological Sciences (20)

Graduate programs

As of 2022, the college offers three graduate programs: the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship, offering both an M.A. and a Ph.D. program in Politics;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government, based in Washington, D.C., and offering an M.A. in government;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Graduate School of Classical Education, offering an M.A. in classical education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Campus

File:Christ Chapel, Hillsdale College 10.jpg
Christ Chapel
File:Hillsdale College Delp Hall.JPG
Delp Hall and the Liberty Walk, facing Central Hall

Hillsdale's Template:Cvt campus contains multiple instructional and office buildings, 13 residence halls, seven fraternity and sorority houses, an athletic complex, a library, a music hall, an arts center, a conference center, a hotel, and a preschool.<ref name="Hillsdale College: About Hillsdale">Template:Cite web</ref> Hillsdale College also operates Hillsdale Academy, a private K–12 liberal arts school.<ref name="Hillsdale Academy">Template:Cite web</ref> The college opened the classical-style Christ Chapel in 2019, in a dedication ceremony led by Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The campus features the Liberty Walk, a walkway lined with bronze depictions of famous politicians including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Reagan.<ref name="shining" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Policies and funding

File:Hillsdale College-Heritage Room.JPG
The Richardson Heritage Room, housed in Mossey Library

In the early 1980s, a controversy over the school's admissions practices threatened federal student loans to 200 Hillsdale students. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives federal money. The federal government required colleges where students received federal funding to document their compliance with Title IX, but Hillsdale refused, arguing that the government could not deny federal funds to its students because the college received no direct federal funding and there was no allegation of actual sex discrimination.<ref name="6thCir">Template:Cite court</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) sought to terminate federal financial assistance to Hillsdale's students in 1978, an Administrative Law Judge denied HEW's request; both HEW and Hillsdale appealed to HEW's Civil Rights Reviewing Authority.Template:Citation needed

In October 1979, the Reviewing Authority rejected Hillsdale's arguments and the ALJ's decision, ruling that HEW could require Hillsdale to sign the Assurance of Compliance as a condition of its students receiving federal financial assistance. The college appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; in 1982, the Sixth Circuit ruled that government aid to individual students could be terminated without a finding that a college actually discriminated, but nevertheless upheld Hillsdale's refusal to sign the compliance forms because only its student loan and grant program is subject to Title IX regulation, not the entire college.<ref name="6thCir" />

In the related 1984 case Grove City College v. Bell, the Supreme Court required every college or university to fulfill federal requirementsTemplate:Sndpast and future requirementsTemplate:Sndif its students received federal aid.<ref>Template:Cite court</ref> As a result of this decision, Hillsdale withdrew from all federal assistance beginning with the 1984–85 academic year; Grove City College, the plaintiff in that case, followed Hillsdale's lead four years later.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning in the 2007–08 academic year, Hillsdale stopped accepting Michigan state assistance, instead matching with its own aid any funds that a student would have received from the state.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since 2007, Hillsdale's entire operating budget, including scholarships, has come from private funding and endowments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon is among the supporters of Hillsdale College; in 2016, readers who downloaded his autobiography could choose to make donations to the Military Scholarship Fund for veterans attending Hillsdale.<ref name="mancuso">Template:Cite web</ref>

Programs

Template:AnchorThe Blake Center for Faith and Freedom

File:Blake Center for Faith and Freedom 02.jpg
Hillsdale College's Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut. Built in 2014 as a home by Friendly's founder S. Prestley Blake, the replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello was donated to Hillsdale in 2019.

In 2019, S. Prestley Blake donated his estate in Somers, Connecticut, to the college. Following a lengthy battle over zoning issues,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the college has turned the estate into The Blake Center for Faith and Freedom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The center includes a replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Academy for Science and Freedom

In December 2021, Hillsdale launched the Academy for Science and Freedom in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The academy's stated goal is to "educate the American people about the free exchange of scientific ideas and the proper relationship between freedom and science in the pursuit of truth".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The academy called the United States' response to the COVID-19 pandemic "the worst public health fiasco in history" that "has unveiled serious issues with how science is administered". Scott Atlas, Jay Bhattacharya, and Martin Kulldorff, who helped found the academy, have ties to the Great Barrington Declaration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churchill Project

Hillsdale College hosts the Churchill Project, dedicated to the study of Winston Churchill. The Project promotes scholarship and “propagates a right understanding of [Churchill's] record” according to its website. The Churchill Project’s website has published 816 articles and other pieces as of 2024. Hillsdale College published and keeps in print Churchill's official biography by Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert, of eight volumes, with 23 companion volumes called "The Churchill Documents". College President Larry Arnn worked with Gilbert on this project, and edited the last six volumes after Gilbert's death. He also published "Churchill’s Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government" (2015). A sculpture of Churchill by Heather Tritchka, and a number of artworks by, about, or related to Churchill decorate many places on campus. The library holds a number of books by or about Churchill, some history classes include study of his work and legacy, and (as of 2024) there were twelve undergraduate Churchill Fellows.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Campus life

Athletics

Template:Main In 2018, Hillsdale College was named one of the best schools in the U.S. for student-athletes by Next College Student Athlete's 2018 NCSA Power Rankings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hillsdale was the fourth ranked school among all NCAA Division II colleges and universities in the U.S.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The NCSA Power Rankings, which recognize the best colleges and universities in the U.S. for student-athletes, ranked Hillsdale within the top 10 among all Division II schools for several sports including football, baseball, softball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, women's swimming and women's volleyball. Hillsdale men's track and field also ranked 97th overall (among all divisions).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Alma mater

Hillsdale's alma mater (college song) is "White and Blue". The words and melody were composed by Bess Hagaman Tefft, Class of 1937.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

Alumni

File:Bion J Arnold (cropped).jpg
Bion J. Arnold
File:Jared Maurice Arter.jpg
Jared Maurice Arter, former slave, writer, missionary
File:Joseph J. Cella official photo.jpg
Joseph Cella, former Ambassador to Fiji
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Chris Chocola, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
File:Elizebeth-Friedman.jpg
Elizebeth Friedman
File:Gardner 4332078515 e5c35fbe13 o.jpg
Washington Gardner
File:Moses A Luce.jpg
Moses A. Luce

Politics and law

Military and public service

Science and engineering

  • Bion J. Arnold, pioneer in electrical engineering and mass transportation

Professional sports and athletics

Academia and scholarship

Faculty

Active faculty

Former faculty

References

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