Grocery Store:
Victory:
Basketball:
Aldi to open Hillsdale location in March.
Don’t tire of ‘too much winning.’
Gohlke signs with NBA G League team.
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Mercy Franzonello | Collegian
Courtesy | Maggie O’Connor
Courtesy | Charles jordan
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Vol. 148 Issue 15 – January 23, 2025
Arnn buys ‘a robot you can ride’
Arnn said he “was charmed by” the Cybertruck. Catherine Maxwell | Collegian
By Catherine Maxwell News Editor When Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn graduated high school, his dad gave him “an old, used Dodge Dart.” On the last day of Christmas break, he bought a Tesla Cybertruck. “It’s a robot you can ride,” Arnn said. “Rides like a dream.” Arnn said he has driven the Cybertruck around campus and to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. But he said the car self-drove to Ann Arbor “without making a mistake.”
“When you’re in a parking lot, the empty spaces come up, and you touch one of them, and it will parallel park or back in perpendicular, as the case may be,” Arnn said. “Isn’t that ridiculous?” When this reporter rode in the Cybertruck with Arnn, the snow interfered with the self-parking. But the self-driving truck navigated hairpin turns, stopped at stop signs, and avoided pedestrians and other cars. Arnn said he saw the Cybertruck’s introduction in 2019, when a video went viral of Tes-
la CEO Elon Musk accidentally smashing the truck’s supposedly unbreakable windows. But Arnn said he “was charmed by it.” The truck is the type of vehicle one might drive on Mars, Arnn said. Falling somewhere between a rocket and a pickup, “it’s like a Modernist house suddenly appearing in a neighborhood of neo-Colonial mini-mansions,” said Wall Street Journal Auto Columnist Dan Neil. The angular frame and stainless steel body disguise an almost-indestructible undercarriage and an engine that hits
60 mph in under three seconds, according to Tesla. “I got to looking them up and reading about them for sport, and I ran across the claim that an electric motor is more efficient converting energy to force than an internal combustion engine, and significantly more,” Arnn said. “And if that’s true — and I checked around and think it’s true — then it’s got an enormous advantage.” He said the truck drives well thanks to its tight, back-wheelpowered turns. All of the truck’s controls are in the rectangular steering wheel and the large, iPad-like screen. The truck comes with side and rear-view mirrors, which are detachable. So far, Arnn has kept them on. “These have to be there for regulatory reasons,” Arnn said. “It’s not legal to sell a car without them, but it’s legal to drive a car without them. So Musk leaves it up to you.” Dog Mode keeps the truck at a comfortable temperature for a pet, and Camp Mode lets the truck power utilities, such as a tent that fits in the truck bed. “I think it won’t power the food truck, because I think there’s not quite enough amps, but I’m gonna test it,” Arnn said. Arnn said although he knew he wanted one, it wasn’t until he received a referral with a slight discount that he “took a notion” and bought one. Will Dunham ’07, senior vice president at the American Investment Council, accompanied Arnn to pick up the Cybertruck in Bloomfield Hills, near Detroit.
“We usually get coffee when I’m in town — once a student of Dr. Arnn, always a student — but this is what he happened to be doing, so I did it with him,” Dunham said. He said the truck is so quiet on the inside that it’s easy to forget how loud it actually is. “The Cybertruck is like a zen garden on the inside and an urban-warfare tank on the outside,” Dunham said. “It makes sense, on a lot of levels, that Dr. Arnn would be attracted to a giant, polarizing gadget made up of elemental shapes and materials.”
“The Cybertruck is like a zen garden on the inside and an urban-warfare tank on the outside.” Arnn said he admires Musk as well as the Cybertruck. “I know Elon Musk a little bit, and I think he’s really odd and great in some important ways, maybe a little crazy,” Arnn said. “He always over-promises and then delivers more than others.”
City to hold August mayoral election By Thomas McKenna City news Editor The city council voted to hold an August special election for mayor even as Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino said the move likely breaks the city charter’s rules for filling vacancies. “There is no possible interpretation where this is a regular election. I’m sorry. I don’t see it at all. I’m pretty sure we just violated the charter,” Paladino ’18 said immediately after the 6-2 vote Tuesday night, with Councilman Jacob Bruns (Ward 1) and Matt Bentley (Ward 2) in the minority. Despite his misgivings, Paladino voted in favor of the motion. He said in an interview last week he did not want to appear to be avoiding an election. “I’m happy to stand for an election,” Paladino said. The city charter states midterm vacancies should be filled at the “next regular state election” — the 2026 statewide elections, according to Paladino.
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CA fire: from Students celebrate Inauguration flight to fight By Avedis Maljanian Collegian Freelancer ALTADENA, Calif.—My family’s phones screamed with alerts at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7: The nearby Eaton fire required the immediate evacuation of our Altadena neighborhood. We’re used to wildfires in California and our neighborhood is often afflicted by the foul smell of smoke, but this night was different from anything we’d seen before — and it would change our lives forever. We initially assumed the message to be a precaution. When we saw the flames racing toward us from the mountains above our neighborhood, however, we realized the fire was more dangerous than we’d thought. Inside the house, chaos reigned. My mother dashed around and grabbed old pictures of me and my siblings, wailing about saving her babies. My sister threw clothes into a suitcase, wondering aloud what someone packs in this situation. My
father collected important documents. My 88-year-old grandfather stumbled around his room in shock. I packed some clothes, spare batteries, and emergency food for myself and the family, then helped my grandfather pack his own clothes and pictures of my late grandmother. After 30 minutes, we left the house in three cars, with my sister at the head and me driving my grandfather at the rear. Gridlocked traffic inched south, cars raced north. Triple-digit wind gusts, collapsed power lines and trees, and minimal visibility added to the peril of the drive. My family was driving to our pastor’s house, but at their advice, I left the convoy to head to a friend’s house. As I drove onto the freeway, we got stuck behind a massive car crash. A vehicle in the traffic jam stalled in front of us, hampered by a fire truck responding to the crashed vehicles.
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Trump supporters and security line the streets of D.C. Kamden Mulder | Collegian
By Kamden Mulder Features Editor WASHINGTON, D.C.— Frigid temperatures forced the second presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump
indoors on Monday and compelled Hillsdale College’s chapter of College Republicans to cancel its trip for 35 students to Washington, D.C., but students and alumni flocked to the nation’s capital anyway.
The inauguration was planned to take place outside of the Capitol building, with ticketed and unticketed supporters packing the National Mall. On Friday, however, President-elect Trump can-
celed the outdoor event due to expected cold weather and moved the ceremony inside the Capitol.
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