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The old Mauck Elementary School continues to be renovated and has received a new name. Carmel Kookogey | Collegian

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 144 Issue 17 - February 4, 2021

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Renovated Mauck Elementary receives new name By | Carmel Kookogey Editor-in-Chief A little more than two years into its overhaul from abandoned school to educational hub, the old Mauck Elementary has acquired a new name: The Stanton Foundation Center for American Classical Education. The 1930s-era building, which was out of use for eight years before the college purchased it in 2018, will be named for the Stanton family, which has supported Hillsdale College since the 1980s, according to Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Johnson. “The Stantons have a strong interest in education, including K-12,” Johnson said in an email. Hailing from Jackson, Michigan and Solvang, California, the Stantons are involved in

the Hillsdale County “Teacher of the Year” award, which is administered by the Hillsdale County Community Foundation, according to Johnson. The family has also made significant contributions to the general operations of the college, the Barney Charter School Initiative, and endowed the “David J. and Laura Stanton Scholarship,” Johnson said. The college awarded the Stantons with honorary degrees in 2017. Immediately after Hillsdale purchased Mauck, the softball team put the school’s gym to use as a hitting barn, where the women still take their swings today. In 2019, the college began to renovate the building into office space for the rapidly-expanding Barney Charter School Initiative. The third floor renovations were completed and ready for BCSI employees to be the first to move

in by March 2020 — just in time for the global COVID-19-related shutdowns. “I wasn't here at this point, but the BCSI staff moved over right before COVID hit,” said Catherine Johnson, assistant to the provost for K-12 education. “They had all their desks and things and everything was just there and then they told everyone to go home. So even though I didn’t start until July 6, they had only been back in the office for two weeks when I started.” BCSI was the first group to move to the Stanton building, but it won’t be the last, according to Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. “The goal was to take pressure off of outreach — marketing, institutional advancement, Barney Charter School Initiative, online learning — all these areas

that have grown tremendously in headcount in recent years,” Péwé said. “On campus, our offices are pretty much full. This building, because it’s close to campus, the academy, and the athletic facilities, was the perfect solution.” The building was scheduled to be completed in 2020. While the third floor is finished and boasts five full-sized classrooms in addition to office space, a kitchen, and bathrooms, the second floor is about halfway done, knee-deep in painting, lighting and a stash of original wood paneling which will be returned to the walls eventually. In the basement, the remains of an old cafeteria, abandoned classrooms full of dust and chalk, and the gym-turned-hitting barn remain mostly untouched. “That will be the next project to tackle,” Péwé said.

Péwé said the task of maintaining the original character of the school, which was built in 1939 through Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works funding, has slowed the renovation process. Elements such as medieval-style criss-crossed wood panes, glass, art fixtures, and much of the original floor tiles on the second floor will be preserved in the final product, Péwé said. Initially, Hillsdale College planned to invest approximately $2 million in renovations on the 9,000 square foot building, which it had purchased for $395,000. The final cost may be closer to $1.6 million, said Péwé, because college maintenance workers have offered themselves to work overtime on the project, coming in early or staying late after doing other repair jobs around campus.

CCA speaker identifies flawed education system as breeding ground for elites By | Allison Schuster Associate Editor Many Americans have forgotten that a republic requires a certain type of education to maintain the American way of life, according to Williams College Professor of Political Science Darel E. Paul, and the nation is reaping the consequences. The first Center for Constructive Alternatives of the semester, titled “The Liberal Arts and Education Today,” focused on the essence of a liberal arts education and its relationship to liberty, by contrasting it with the modern American education system from the perspective of educators, authors, and journalists. Paul spoke on Feb. 2 about political correctness and its impact on modern education. Today, America’s system of higher education serves to produce an elite class, he said, while claiming to develop leaders. “Jefferson advocated a system of education that would cultivate not only the population in general, but also the elite who would occupy the most prominent positions in society,” Paul said, referring to America’s third president. “The general objects of this law were to provide an education adapted to the years, to the capacity, and to the condition of everyone and directed to

their freedom and happiness.” Higher education from the colonial period until the late 19th century was intrinsically different from higher education today in its goals and structure, Paul said. In addition to a rigorous curriculum, chapel was mandatory for students to foster a Christian spirit and there was typically a code of conduct, which encouraged deference to authority. By the late ’40s, many of these previously-fundamental elements of higher education were eliminated. What emerged in its place, in the wake of World War II, were mass universities catering to interests in professional advancement rather than the cultivation of character. “This is the college we're all familiar with today, one in which excellent performance on the LSAT, or a wealth of advanced placement courses, or a long resume — probably accumulated since middle school — demonstrates one’s capacity for leadership as the price of admissions,” Paul said. In his famous correspondence with John Adams, Jefferson praised the role of what he referred to as the natural aristocracy, or those who possess both virtue and talent. “One would hope, therefore, that a liberal arts is training not simply in talent and cultivation, but likewise, in virtue,” he said.

“Now, fears that American elites are lacking in virtue are as old as the public.” Today, however, college favors the rich which divides America, Paul said, all while perpetuating an idea of social injustice. He said social justice largely represents the ideology or faith of the American elite. Seeing social justice as a class ideology reveals how it gets passed from one elite to the next. “As with any successful faith, social justice shows every sign of capturing the country's institutions of political and economic and social power,” he said. While Paul said modern day meritocrats are as animated as past generations of elites, prior generations had virtue, found in their ethic of service and self-discipline. Rather than embracing virtue, elites now condemn on the grounds of social justice. After attending the lecture, sophomore Seoirse Weed said he appreciated Paul’s commentary on the social justice of the upper class and their relation to the liberal arts. “I think today almost everyone is in agreement that we’re in some sort of crisis, and that education is the remedy to this disorder,” Weed said. “What those foundational principles are, however, and how we go about instilling those principles

and values differ greatly.” From America’s colonial period through the late 19th century, America's colleges were dominated by Christian thought as America's elite was Protestant and conservative. After the Civil War, a new liberal Protestantism emerged, focusing more on social responsibility and material progress than religiosity itself. This opened the door for the meritocracy to begin, Paul said. The civil rights movement and the women's movements of the ’60s and ’70s changed the face of America's elite, and by the ’80s, diversity became an aim of higher education. Not only has the mission and definition of the liberal arts changed over the last 200 plus years, but Paul theorized that American education may be entering a new era with altered standards of achievement, ideal of character, and social purpose. These values are vastly different than what traditional American education sought to cultivate. Senior Kate Ford said the talk reinforced her understanding of a genuine liberal arts education. “Dr. Paul’s talk served as a good reminder of the challenges education faces today and what we ought to preserve in education,” Ford said. “His talk reminded me of the importance of a true liberal arts education and what we stand to lose in this culture of social justice.”

See Mauck A2

'We couldn't do it alone': Hospital continues vaccine distribution By | Haley Strack & Julia Mullins Collegian Staff

For coverage of the Hillsdale March for Life, see A6.

“That’s just under $600 per square foot, which is really good,” Péwé said. “If we had built this brand new, it would be well over that.” Péwé said the college plans to move IT Services' offices, as well as the digital platform team, out to Stanton as the lower floors near completion. “The space is built to be flexible,” Péwé said. “These can be classrooms or open offices, conference rooms. BCSI has already used some of them for live demonstrations — we wanted to have that flexibility, since we still don’t know exactly how every room will be used.” While just a handful of employees work in the building fulltime, the school sees an influx of

Hillsdale Hospital administered nearly a thousand COVID-19 vaccinations on Jan. 28 and 29 at the Searle Center, bringing the county one step closer to overcoming the pandemic. “We have done exactly what the state has asked of us, which is to get shots in arms,” J.J. Hodshire, president and CEO of Hillsdale Hospital, said in an email. He cited the college’s low-temperature freezer, housed in the biochemistry lab and connected to backup generators, as essential because it allows the vaccine to be stored at temperatures as low as ‑80 degrees Celsius. “In rural healthcare, we are used to operating with fewer resources than our urban and suburban counterparts,” Hodshire said. “Our partnership with Hillsdale College for the use of their ultra-low temperature freezer is a perfect example of how we have to get creative to care for our community.” Because the hospital was able to use the college’s ultra-low temperature freezer, it received 1,950 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, Hodshire said. Without the freezer, it would have received only 400 doses of Moderna’s vaccine, which does not require the same refrigeration. In clinical trials, Pfizer’s vaccine has been 95% effective against COVID-19 and Moderna’s 94% effective. “We can’t do it alone and we hope that other rural communities in our position will reach out to organizations in their area that might be able to help them with the challenging logistics of this vaccination effort,” Hodshire said. Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said the college’s willingness to share its freezer with the hospital allowed for

a greater distribution of the vaccine. “I think it’s great that Hillsdale Hospital was able to use the college’s deep freezer for storage,” Stockford said. “Hillsdale is built on institutions and small communities like ours flourish most when those institutions work together.” Before the two January clinics, the hospital administered Pfizer vaccines to tier 1A healthcare workers, including hospital staff, home health agencies, and more, according to state guidelines. Those shots were delivered by Dec. 31. With the remaining Pfizer vaccines, the hospital administered more than 900 doses on Jan. 8 and 9 at the Searle Center. The Pfizer vaccine consists of two shots, given three weeks apart. The hospital administered the second round of approximately 900 doses on Jan. 28 and 29. Rachel Lott, Hillsdale Hospital director of marketing and development, said both of the two-day clinics in January took place at the Searle Center due to its large size. “We vaccinated more than 900 people over that two-day period and needed space with ample room for social distancing,” Lott said. “We also needed space to move people through in a timely and orderly fashion.” Lott said in an email that the hospital also provided vaccines for some long-term care facility workers and residents, also considered tier 1A, in between the time that it had finished vaccinating healthcare workers in tier 1A and started vaccinating tier 1B. “The long-term care workers and residents were supposed to get vaccinated by the pharmacy program, but when we learned that they were still waiting, we stepped in to get them taken care of,” Lott said. The hospital’s vaccine distri-

See Hospital A3

News Emmy-award winning video creator teaches storytelling class

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A2 February 4, 2021

By | Evalyn Homoelle Collegian Freelancer

For the first time, the Dow Journalism Program is offering a course on “Video Storytelling” this semester. Taught by visiting journalism instructor Buddy Moorehouse, the class seeks to cultivate students’ journalistic portfolios and provide them with valuable practical experience. This is Moorehouse’s first time teaching a collegiate journalism course, though he has guest lectured several times at the college in a sports writing course taught by John J. Miller, director of the journalism program. “We'd like to build on our excellence in print and radio and move into video, creating, and building a new generation of broadcast journalists, documentary filmmakers, and others who excel in this medium,” Miller said. Moorehouse’s professional experience has prepared him for his current job: Print journalist and editor of 27 years, co-founder of documentary filmmaking company Stunt3 Multimedia, and writer and director of two Emmy-nominated documentaries, “Black and Blue: The Story of Gerald Ford, Willis Ward and the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech Football Game,” (2012) and “The Legend of Pinky Deras: The

Greatest Little-Leaguer There Ever Was” (2010). Senior Regan Meyer, a student in the class, said Moorehouse is “very knowledgeable and knows how to translate his skills into video.” “Sometimes when people teach their first class, they can be very hard on you,” Meyer noted, “but he’s a very chill and fun person, so he makes the three-hour long evening class enjoyable.” Senior Stefan Kleinhenz noted that Moorehouse’s journalistic experience is inspiring and makes for an exciting classroom experience. “Learning from someone like Mr. Moorehouse, and actually making videos of our own, makes me fall in love with the craft,” Kleinhenz said. Kleinhenz said he hopes the video element of journalism remains a permanent part of the journalism program, as it complements the existing print and radio aspects, and believes that professors such as Moorehouse will make the excitement of video storytelling contagious. “He's good in the classroom. Watching him talk about his career and craft, I came to believe he'd be a first-rate teacher for our students,” said Miller. “He understands that the best way to learn how to make videos is to make them, and that's a theme of

Radio station loses, recovers semester's worth of files By | Meg Patrick Collegian Freelancer Last weekend, all radio files from the fall semester of 2020 had been mysteriously deleted, but with the quick action of radio general manager Scot Bertram, they have now been retrieved. When sophomore Josh Barker checked his email on Jan. 24, he found an email from Bertram, informing all radio students that their hard work from the past semester had vanished. “Scot looked into it and realized it had disappeared,” Barker said, referring to the shared Box file where radio students store their work. “I was totally shocked.” The file contained an entire semester’s worth of radio programs, including podcasts, play-by-plays, and various other audio files. “I got a text from one of the students, on Sunday afternoon, who was trying to access one of the folders in the folder and was curious as to whether or not we had taken away his access,” Bertram said. “Pretty quickly we realized that there was a larger problem at hand.” As it turned out, a former radio student was cleaning out his personal Box folder when he accidentally deleted the Box file that held every radio program from the semester. Though unexpected, the situation was quickly resolved. Bertram was able to contact the college IT Services department, who contacted Box, and all the deleted files were able to be retrieved. Thankfully, the inci-

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visitors on afternoons on Monday and Wednesday of each week, for Paul Rahe’s history courses. Rahe, a professor of history, is 72 years old and has health conditions which he feared could make him vulnerable to the coronavirus. To accommodate Rahe’s desire to teach in-person, while avoiding the traffic of Lane and Kendall halls in between periods, the college worked with IT to set up a classroom on the completed third floor, where Rahe has taught since last August. “I wanted to teach in person (rather than solely via Zoom), and so I sought a secluded spot where I would encounter my students but no one else,” Rahe said in an email. “My fear was that I would be exposed to the virus while walking through the halls from my classroom to my office.” History major Rebecca Felton, a junior, is currently in Rahe’s “Origins of War” class, and took a class with him last fall as well. “It was a little cryptic at first, because he sent these instructions in an email that said go to this Mauck Elementary School,

dent was not a pressing concern for either Barker or Bertram, as the deletion didn’t interfere with any on-air broadcasting, and the files involved were old programs and not needed immediately. The incident took less than 24 hours to discover, process, and fix, and Bertram praised both ITS and Box for their quick and efficient services. In addition, Bertram said the station would be instituting new rules for its students. “The access level that we allowed students, clearly, allowed for deletion, and there was one step below that that did not allow for deletion,” Bertram said. “So, when we re-invited the students to access that folder, we did take them down one level.” Thanks to Barker, who serves as the radio station’s digital director, the radio station also set up an alternative method for storing students’ work. “Twenty minutes later I had sent out an email to everybody with some new procedures of how I wanted them to send things directly,” Barker said. Senior Martin Petersen, assistant senior producer, said he was confused when he couldn’t access his file on Box. Though initially worried, Petersen praised Bertram for his quick action regarding the retrieval. “In four-and-a-half years of being part of the radio station, this was really the first time files were a threat to being lost,” Petersen said. “But Scot does a great job of keeping us organized and figured out quickly how to get the files back.”

take the back staircase, go up the stairs, and I'm in the room on the right,” Felton explained. “I was like, ‘I have never heard of this school before.’” Felton said she went early the first day of classes to “scout it out.” Rahe praised the college — and Katherine O’Toole, assistant provost for K-12 education, “on whose turf I have been operating” — for being accommodating, and said he hopes to return to the main campus at the end of next week. “I have now had the two Pfizer vaccinations recommended, and I will soon be liberated,” Rahe said. Working amid the ongoing construction can be a challenge, according to Rahe, who said he can hear “the workers rejiggering the floor below,” but that it has never interfered with his teaching. Catherine Johnson agreed. “You definitely have to be careful about when you take a phone call,” Johnson said. “But it doesn't really affect us too much. When anything major happens, they warn us, so that we can stay off that side of the building.”

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his course.” Moorehouse said he was drawn to the unique aspects and practical experience of Hillsdale’s journalism minor, adding that he’s always loved everything about Hillsdale’s mission of a liberal arts education, which inspired the purpose behind the course and the types of assignments students will complete. “All of the projects that we do are going to be stories about Hillsdale College. There's a double benefit with the class, not just to teach the students how to tell stories with video but to collect and present these stories,” Moorehouse said. The class of six students, mostly journalism minors, produce weekly short videos, such as a two to three-minute student profile film. The final assignment will be to create a documentary on the Tangerine Bowl in 1955, when Hillsdale College’s undefeated football team declined its invitation to play because organizers refused to allow Hillsdale’s African-American athletes to compete. Along with this feature, which Moorehouse hopes to screen publicly in April, students will have the opportunity to present several of their individual videos made during the semester. While the course is titled “Video Storytelling,” it also in-

volves the technical side of video journalism and the necessary filming, writing, and editing skills. Moorehouse said he wants to help his students become professional journalists and aims to equip them to become skilled storytellers able to effectively work with different media forms. One of the ways Moorehouse keeps things practical but professional is by teaching students to film and edit all of their mini-documentaries on their phones and laptops. It reflects his belief that the best video journalists aren’t made through expensive equipment or professional cinematography skills but through the ability to grasp basic reporting techniques and effectively employ audio-visual mediums to tell a story. “We want to also get across the idea that to tell a story and video you don't need expensive equipment,” Moorehouse said. "You don't need a film crew and you don't need hundreds of thousands of dollars to tell a story; you basically just need your phone and you can shoot everything that you need. You put it in your computer and put it together and you'll have a professional looking documentary that will effectively tell a story.” Meyer noted that it hasn’t necessarily been difficult to translate her written journalism skills into

video format. What has been to tell a story in a lot of different difficult for Meyer is viewing her ways.” work objectively after working on But even students who take a project for hours on end. the video course and don’t end “I cast my video to my up video or print journalism, AppleTV while I was editing it Moorehouse said they will still and my friends gave me their benefit from learning how to feedback,” Meyer said. communicate in a media-domiShe also said that the course's nated culture. relaxed environment, Moore“When you tell a story in a house’s upbeat personality, and video format you're able to make the small class size contribute to it a little more emotional because the camaraderie and constructive of all the things you have availcriticism of the video presentaable to you,” Moorehouse said, tions. “And then it even becomes a little The course is currently a more memorable.” one-time elective, but Miller said he hopes it will become a regular feature of the journalism program’s curriculum. Moorehouse says the course can help aspiring journalists. “Video is one of the necessary tools that any journalist is going to need going forward,” Moorehouse said. “I think that the days of somebody just being a print jourBuddy Moorehouse is teaching nalist are gone, Hillsdale's first film storytelling so you're going to class. Kalli Dalrymple | Collegian need to know how

Galvan wins scholarship to pursue counseling degree By | Anne Ziegler Collegian Freelancer When Becky Galvan ‘13 first began her studies at Hillsdale in 2009, she did not envision continuing onto higher education after graduating. Now, she’s pursuing a counseling degree at Spring Arbor University. Invested in the Hillsdale track and field team and enjoying her biochemistry classes, she was content. But when Galvan interned at a crisis pregnancy center during her junior year, it awakened a desire and motivation to help others. She considered counseling, but she was afraid that carrying the burden of other people’s pain would be too heavy. “I thought counseling was too hard to deal with,” she said. Yet Galvan was drawn to the study of human behavior. “I love to listen,” she said. “I want to hear other people’s perspectives.” Motivated by her internship at the pregnancy center, she switched to a psychology major. She remembers being influenced by courses taught by Associate Professor of Psychology Collin Barnes and Associate Professor of Psychology Kari McArthur. “I discovered that there are consis-

tent behaviors that people do,and coach of the Hillsdale football that fascinates me,” Galvan said. team. Shortly after, Brock Lutz, “If I could have one superpower, director of health services at I’d love to read minds.” Hillsdale, approached her about After graduating in 2013, she the counseling program at Spring worked in the corporate world Arbor University. for five years as a product de“Brock knows that the Spring veloper for a footwear company. Arbor program has a foundaIn 2017 she was hired by Ken tional Christian faith, and this is Koopmans to work on the career what is most important to me,” services Galvan said. team. “I am a Galdisciple of van said Christ.” she loves While her job searching and for financial credits support her work to cover in career the cost of services pursuing a with counseling inspiring degree, she her to stumbled consider across an counselopportuing. nity. As “The part of the explor- Alumna Becky Galvan is pursuing her love American of people and counseling as a student at atory Football appoint- Spring Arbor University. | Facebook Coaches ments Wives are my favorite,” she said. Association , Galvan attends the “Talking to students about their organization’s yearly conventions lives, what they enjoy or dislike, where the women offer advice and what they want in their and encouragement to one futures.” another. Every year, the AFCWA On Feb. 10, 2018, she maroffers three scholarships to wives ried Nick Galvan, an assistant pursuing further education.

Galvan applied and won the scholarship. The counseling program at Spring Arbor runs for two years and eight months, with the last eight months being an internship. Galvan has taken three courses already: an introduction to counseling, a research class, and theory of counseling. Galvan says her ideal job after finishing school would be to work with student athletes and in mental health. Lindsay Peirce, a counselor at Hillsdale College who has built a friendship with Galvan over the last few years, said she believes her friend will make an excellent counselor. “We have the most encouraging conversations, day in and day out. She’s a great listener,” Pierce said. Galvan has advice for students who may potentially be interested in counseling. “Don’t do what I did. Don’t think you can’t handle counseling without giving it a try first,”she said. Lutz spoke highly of Galvan. “She’s a natural. She asks good questions,” Lutz said. “She connects with people.”

Art students' pieces accepted into gallery By | Emma Cummins Senior ReporterEastern Michigan University Gallery has accepted art pieces from Hillsdale College seniors Caroline Greb and Heidi Yacoubian. Greb submitted a collage, which is a composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, to a gallery held by Eastern Michigan University open to undergraduates in the Midwest. “I thought my chances were very low,” Greb laughed. “I haven’t done a lot with collage.” She also submitted a watercolor to the magazine PleinAir Salon. She got into both. “I’m really humbled to be recognized in those ways,” she said. “To be recognized for the hours of work that students put into the studio is really rewarding.” According to Greb, the EMU gallery usually accepts pieces that are more modern, which is not how Hillsdale students are trained. “The style of art they chose is very different from what we do here at Hillsdale,” she said. “We’re very classically trained. It was interesting to see the winners that they chose because they had pieces that were very different from the realism emphasized here. That’s why it was more shocking for me to get it at all.” Senior Heidi Yacoubian had

three pieces, more in the classic love working in a medium that style, that were accepted into the helps me to see the world better. same gallery at EMU. Looking at something and then “This is a big honor,” realizing I’m not actually looking Yacoubian said. “I'm glad that at something. That process of it's a way to show support for the having to slow down and think Hillsdale faculty because they about what I’m seeing helped really deme to make serve their better art, credit in see people the art dedifferently, partment and create a for all the home.” work that Greb said they've that with the poured encourageinto us. ment of these This is just galleries, she a further plans to conreflection tinue art after of that.” graduation. Greb’s “Right love for now it’s been creating really fun goes because all of back to this semester freshman is geared year with towards that,” Assistant Caroline Greb with her collage, which has she said. “I’m Professor been accepted by the EMU Gallery. really only in Courtesy | Caroline Greb of Art art classes. Julio Suarez. I’m painting every day.” “Back when I was a freshman Greb’s husband, Ethan, said in a drawing class with Suarez, he has seen his wife grow in we were learning about negative maturity and skill in the last few space. I remember learning about months. that in class, and I looked up “In our apartment, we have at Central Hall. My eyes totally a studio that she painted and changed and I saw it totally did watercolor in all of last fall, differently,” Greb said, referring so I get to witness her painting to the space around an object. “I at our home,” he said. “It’s been

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really cool to see even in the last few months, her painting style mature and her technique grow. It’s amazing to see her creative eye so clearly, not only in painting, drawing, collage, but also in creating our physical home with decorating.” Seeing his wife’s hard work pay off was a moment of pride for him. “It was so exciting because I’ve seen all the work that she’s put into her art classes and the time outside of class. I’ve seen her grow as an artist and as a person,” Ethan said. “I’m really proud of her.” Chairwoman and Professor of Art Barbara Bushey, who has had both Yacoubian and Greb in her classes, said the two show dedication and drive. “I was delighted, but not surprised, to hear that both of them were accepted, as they are both very talented and hard-working,” Bushey said in an email. “Both of them clearly follow the edicts of Michelangelo, who said, ‘If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.’ They also both understand the importance of getting your work out there, and for that, I particularly celebrate them.” Greb and Yacoubian will be hosting their galleries from April 14 to 16.

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www.hillsdalecollegian.com Philip Magness argues that the data used to formulate the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was faulty. Courtesy | Praxis

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Praxis guest speaks on failures of pandemic response By | Aubrey Gulick Collegian Reporter Predictions that informed the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic were founded on problematic and incomplete data, according to researcher Philip Magness. A senior research fellow at the American Institute of Economic Research, Magness spoke on “The Failures of Pandemic Central Planning” at a forum sponsored by Praxis on Thursday, Jan. 28, to an audience of around 50 students. Magness was part of a conference of economists and epidemiologists who published a document called the Great Barrington Declaration on Oct. 4, 2020. According to its website, the Great Barrington Declaration promotes a plan called Focused Protection, which would seek to protect the people who are most vulnerable to the virus, while lifting restrictions placed

on individuals who are at lesser risk. By the start of February, the document had obtained nearly 800,000 signatures from concerned citizens, medical and public health scientists, and medical practitioners. The declaration calls for limiting the lockdowns, social distancing, and masking mandates that have defined the global response to the virus. “Sounds good in concept and in what it promises,” Magness said. ”What it delivers has been a very different story.” Before last year, Magness said, most scientists believed “non-pharmaceutical interventions” were ineffective in preventing the spread of a virus. The model influencing the decision to embrace these approaches tries to predict how a virus will spread by calculating population size along with infections, recoveries, and deaths. But the model fails to account for many other factors that can affect the spread of disease, such as the virus spreading through retire-

ment homes, Magness said. “I’m not saying that we should throw out the model as a conceptual tool,” he added. “But when you start jumping from that into making supposedly scientific policy, you often get into trouble.” Instead of central planning, Magness suggested focusing on localized knowledge and local leaders making laws to protect citizens, rather than a federal or even a state government. “We know that central planning itself is horrendously expensive, including the loss of rights and democratic institutions,” Magness said. “People imagine that they can design and map their way through an event that occurs in natural sciences and pandemics.” Charles Steele, chairman of Hillsdale’s economics, business, and finance department, attended the talk and said Magness’s conclusions matched what he had seen in his own research. “Epidemiologists have no training in looking at the full consequences of what they’re do-

ing,” Steele said. ”Biologists have absolutely no training in that.” Praxis invited Magness to campus because of the relevance of the topic and to introduce the economic perspective of the government’s COVID-19 response, said sophomore Jacob Risse, who serves as public relations officer for Praxis. “You always hear we have to follow the science, but he pretty systematically disassembles all the major models that he was using that they were using,” Risse said. “It’s shocking how easily he took it down and how simplistic these models are.” One of the major effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the loss of public trust in scientific experts, Magness argued. “We put way too much faith in scientific experts who claim to know what they’re talking about when they don’t,” Steele concurred. “You set it up as a false god. Science is a method, it’s not a set of results.”

Student Fed buys ceremonial mace with surplus funds By | Genevieve O'Gara Collegian Reporter The Student Federation used $4,541 of its surplus budget on Dec. 3, 2020 to buy a ceremonial mace — which is a highly ornamented staff, much like a scepter — to be carried in at the beginning of each student federation meeting. According to Student Federation President Brandt Siegfried, every legislative body in the world, and almost every American college, has a ceremonial mace. During convocation, Registrar Douglas McArthur carries the official Hillsdale College mace, symbolizing the college’s authority to grant degrees. “Not a single student actually paid anything for this mace,” Student Federation Vice President Thomas MacPhee said. Fees from current students did not fund the mace, but were part of unused funds from previous years. Ashlyn Neveau, director of student activities, said the federation always builds an emergency fund of about $5,000 into their budget. This emergency money and unused discretionary funds build up over time. In August 2019, the business office informed the federation that the emergency fund account had been left unchecked for more than five years: the federation account had a surplus of $109,000. Siegfried said the federation established a special committee to decide what to do with the money. Over the course of three semesters, the committee considered ideas such as dividing the

surplus funding among clubs or way, but then also gets a little separating the money into four bit every year,” Siegfried said. sections and phasing the funding “Essentially this dollar continues into the federation. paying out money to the federaSiegfried said the federation tion for the future.” moved slowly in considering The federation put $100,000 what to do with the money, and of the $109,000 surplus into the wanted a coherent plan to adendowment, earmarking the dress all the money at one time. remaining $9,000 for a legacy gift “The federation was very for the college. convinced that it was an injustice Neveau said the administo all the students who have trative team approved of the come before us that they paid endowment fund. student fees “It’s a that were not unique idea spent on things that really during their mimics what time here,” we do here at Siegfried said. the college,” “We thought Neveau said. that the most “We just thing to wanted a gift do with those with long term dollars would impact and be to spend institutional them on the value, and things which that’s where would live into the idea of the future for a the mace was very long time. conceived,” As long as the Siegfried said. college exists, Siegfried the Student said purchasFederation is ing a mace going to have symbolizes this endowment the self-govincome that ernance of the benefits every A mock-up of the Student student body class.” Federation mace, which will mea- through the The final sure 36" with a 3" brass medallion federation. decision was to bearing the federation seal. “It's not establish an en- Courtesy | Brandt Siegfried like food that dowment with people eat and an annual interest rate of 5%. they appreciate it, but they forget Siegfried said that the interest about it next week,” Siegfried will add $2,500 to the federation’s said. “I'm convinced that stubudget each semester. dents 200 years in the future are “With the other ideas, that going to look back and say ‘thank money would have been gone. you,’ because it's something that The federation gets to keep it this people can see and tangibly hold

and say, ‘this represents something important.’” MacPhee said the federation voted to purchase the mace during the last December meeting of the 2020 fall semester. Manufactured in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the mace will arrive in the coming weeks. The mace will be carried in at the beginning of every student federation meeting by the sergeant at arms, Zach Weaver. After the purchase of the mace, the federation still has about $4,500 in surplus funds it can use for legacy gifts, Siegfried said. The federation receives 10% of student fees each year for discretionary spending, but none of this money was used for the mace. “We get money that is derived from student fees, and so it's our duty to spend all of those dollars,” Siegfried said. “We still have a duty to make sure those dollars are spent wisely, and in accord with students values.” The federation encourages students to voice their opinions at federation meetings or in conversations with their representatives. There is an opportunity for public comment at every student federation meeting, but there are seldom participants, Siegfried said. The next meeting will be Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Formal Lounge. “There are important questions that the Student Federation answers, and they impact the quality of student life,” Siegfried said. “I think students should be engaged with the Student Federation the way they are with every other level of government.”

College library transitions to new archival system By | Ryan Goff Senior Reporter Undergraduate researchers have run into a problem in recent weeks. The online database Hillsdale College’s Mossey Library used is no longer accessible while the files are transferred and updated into the new platform that is accessible through the url, digitalarchives.hillsdale.edu. The library is in the process of transferring its online archive to a new system, forcing researchers to contact Library Archivist Lori Curtis for access to the complete collection, though three pages of archives are currently accessible. “I have been working on that. In order to make the materials full-text searchable, I had to reformat, resize, so it’s been slow-going,” Curtis said. “But I am slowly getting them over.” The decision was made last

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spring as the college sought to tighten its budgets across all departments. The archive department decided to move its online archive to the platform Content DM, which is hosted by the Online Computer Library Center, a non-profit co-op that hosts the online catalogue WorldCat. “It should be really great,” Curtis said. Several departments rely on the archive service. The President’s Office, Alumni Relations, and Institutional Advancement use the archives to look up past Hillsdale publications, find information about past students, and use old pictures. That interest extends beyond campus as well. Curtis said children of recently-deceased alumni putting together a memorial for their parents often come to the Alumni Relations Office to find old mementos. “They’re working on a memorial for someone and want all

the Collegian articles that mentioned that individual while they were a student here,” she said. Additionally, students in Museum Studies use the archives to put together research projects. Curtis said she recently helped find information about the Civil War statue ahead of the Legacy Board’s announcement of the 2021 senior gift to restore the memorial. “The ability to look back on the lives of past generations of Hillsdale College students provides perspective on how the mission of Hillsdale has been maintained and emulated by their actions,” Assistant Director of the Student and Young Alumni Programs Fiona Shea said in an email. “The Class of 2021 is restoring the Civil War Monument, which honors a generation that fought hard for freedom. We are lucky to have information on what life was like for them during that time, and it's encour-

aging to know that the same core values that moved them to action during the Civil War are still being taught today.” Curtis said she hopes the changes will help in encouraging more departments and students on campus to use the archives in their research. “As the word gets out that there’s information, lots of great stuff in archives, and more and more of it available digitally, I think we’ll see more departments using it,” Curtis said. While the interruption has taken the old system offline, Curtis says the archives are still accessible. “I’ve been telling various departments that if anybody needs to research maybe a particular year of the Collegian, or anything else, just let me know and I can usually have them uploaded within a day,” she said.

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bution outpaced the schedule released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, so Lott said it followed the recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and administered vaccines to tier 1B workers, which can include “fire fighters, police officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff, and daycare workers),” according to the CDC website. Lott said some individuals in tier 1A who opted out of receiving the vaccine when they were eligible in December have since received the vaccine, and others continue to register. “The state has said the most important thing is that the vaccines are getting used, and it’s OK to cross tiers to continue vaccinations,” Lott said. “It’s OK to move from one tier to the next so long as you provide vaccines to all of those individuals in the first tier who registered to be vaccinated. We finished tier 1A within a week and then moved into tier 1B.” Because Hillsdale County completed vaccinations for tier 1A individuals ahead of schedule, Lott said, it began to provide shots for people in tier 1B before Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy director for health and human services, announced on Jan. 8 that Michigan would move into vaccinating individuals in tier 1B. While many vaccine providers continued administering the vaccine only to those individuals in tier 1A, Lott said the Hillsdale Hospital developed a plan according to the CDC guidelines for administering the vaccine to individuals in tier 1B. “The state had not announced when it would be moving tiers, so we looked to the CDC’s recommendations for tier 1B,” Lott said. “The education sector, based on the CDC’s recommendations, includes workers in higher education.” In an email to Kaiser Health News, MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said the department does “not want providers to waste vaccine and would rather they provide vaccine to someone outside of the prioritization groups as opposed to losing doses.” Although MDHHS does not require approval of vaccine-use plans, Jeff Kauffman, director of pharmacy and professional services at Hillsdale Hospital, notified MDHHS of the hospital’s plan for remaining doses, according to Lott. The hospital operated with this information in mind, Lott said, rolling out tier 1B vaccines based on CDC guidelines, which included public school teachers, administrators, and workers who have in-person contact with students. Some college employees were included in this definition, as they are workers who are in “frequent contact with the public or large groups of individuals, including law enforcement officers, critical infrastructure workers, and those in the education sector,” Lott said in an email. “Hillsdale Hospital has been an invaluable partner of the school system throughout this COVID pandemic,” said Shawn Vondra, superintendent of Hillsdale Community Schools. “The most recent impact occurred with the vaccination clinics provided to K-12 teachers, school support staff, and childcare workers throughout the county.” Starting in January, the school district provided students with the choice of in-person and virtual learning. “The vaccines provided for these staffing positions are an essential strategy for keeping in-person instruction available for the students of Hillsdale County,” Vondra said. “We are so very fortunate to have a health care system dedicating itself to providing high-quality care to our community.” The hospital administered vaccines only to employees of the college who were “actively teaching in the classroom with students or engaged in other activities that involve frequent contact with others in large groups, therefore at higher

risk of either being exposed or spreading the virus to a large number of people,” Lott said in an email. This did not include professors or staff members working remotely. Last week, the Ohio Department of Health suspended a vaccine provider in Columbus after it let 900 doses go to waste. Health officials in Maryland threw out thawed vaccines when they ran out of time to administer them. “When we had remaining vaccines, we had two choices: leave them in a freezer until the state moved tiers or come up with a plan to use them as quickly as possible,” Hodshire said. “We opted for the second choice and did so based on guidance from the CDC while remaining in communication with MDHHS.” Despite the college volunteering both storage space for the vaccine and offering its Searle Center conference space as a county-wide vaccination clinic, college employees were vaccinated at a lower rate than the rest of the community, according to the hospital. “Higher education, trade and vocational faculty/staff were part of a list of essential workers under tier 1B who were vaccinated by Hillsdale Hospital,” Hodshire said. “This was not a dump of vaccines to specific organizations based on their status in the community. This was a methodically planned-out process to move through the tiers identified by the CDC. Healthcare and longterm care workers, childcare and K-12 workers, first responders, and law enforcement make up the vast majority of those we have vaccinated.” As of Jan. 29, the hospital had administered 3,502 vac-

"Hilldale Hospital has been an invaluable partner throughout this COVID-19 pandemic." cines. Tier 1A healthcare workers received 28% of the shots and Tier 1B accounted for 60%. Workers in the education sector received 36% of all the vaccinations, with the majority of them in K-12 schools. Seniors aged 65 and older made up 30% of individuals vaccinated. As of Monday morning, the college has 11 positive cases of COVID-19 and eight students in quarantine after close contact with an individual who tested positive. At this time last semester, there were 17 positive cases and 129 students in contact isolation. In addition to limited capacity in dining areas, requiring masks in public spaces, encouraging social distancing, and providing isolation housing and amenities, the college has been testing students who report symptoms. So far this semester, 305 have been tested. Although the NCAA doesn’t require mandatory testing, Hillsdale College Athletic Director Don Brubacher said that student athletes are tested regularly. “Our basketball players are being tested six times a week,” Brubacher said. “When football starts practice, they will also be tested six times a week. High contact sports will be tested six times a week under the current state orders and medium and low contact sports are being tested three times a week.” Brubacher said he doesn’t know of any student who has received the vaccine, but that the athletic department will continue to update its measures to maintain student safety. “If another measure is identified and we have confidence that it will be helpful in a certain way, then we’ll use it,” Brubacher said. “We’ll keep up with daily health checks and massive testing. Those seem to be the best defenses we have available.”

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The Weekly:

Put your money where your mouth is

The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff We have all craved El Cerrito, Saucy Dogs, and Burgers Unlocked during the long dark winter of our discontent. We have complained about eating Bon Appetit stir fry instead of fancy restaurant delicacies. Now that restaurants have reopened for indoor dining after 10 weeks of culinary darkness, it is our duty to put our money where our mouth is, literally, and frequent the heck out of them. The most recent dine-in ban ran from Nov. 18 to Feb.

1, benching local eateries from seating patrons inside during one of their busiest seasons. Now, they have to make up their losses, but face continuing restrictions including a six-per-table limit, mandatory masking, and, most damaging, operation at 25% capacity. This last restriction means that some restaurants will not even be able to recoup their operational losses during a single day. For students, this means we should go to restaurants, go

frequently, and even make an effort to eat during off hours. Fill the booth and tables when they ordinarily would be empty. Ultimately, we need to try to render 25% as profitable as possible for small restaurant owners. It is important for this college full of politically-minded students — who often express outrage at their governor’s authoritarian audacity — to remember that political actions merit and accomplish far more than political words. Instead

of tweeting your outrage, go down to Spanglers or the Hunt Club around 3 p.m., and help prevent the tragic outcome of a tragic situation. It is certainly easier to eat in the dining hall. It is both “free” and convenient. But, remember: if you don’t patronize these businesses, then don’t expect them to be in business when you do feel like tucking into a burrito.

Biden’s new plans are anti-woman By | Calli Townsend

Jan. 20, 2021 was a sad day for girls and women in sports. In his Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, President Joe Biden declared, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” Biden has made it his mission to enforce the recently-amended Title VII section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin...and now gender identity. The Biden administration hasn’t directed orders at athletic organizations and schools — yet. The order only applies to specific government

offices, such as the executive department, military department, and government corporations. But if Biden could accomplish this much on day one of his presidency, by the time I line up for the last 400m hurdle race of my college career in May, I could lose to a male who identifies as a female. Yesterday was the 35th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day, as declared by the Women’s Sports Foundation. The organization’s website said, “This celebration inspires girls and women to play and be active, to realize their full power. The confidence, strength and character gained through sports participation are the very tools girls and women need to become strong leaders in sports and life.” If Biden’s approach permeates other areas of the country, we will lose what it means

to be female athletes. Nothing hurts a woman’s confidence like losing a race to a male whose speed is naturally greater than hers. Nothing damages hope in a young girl like being cut from her high school basketball team because she stands six inches shorter than the boy next to her in the layup line. And nothing demotivates women to play and be active like watching decades’ worth of perseverance and dedication from the women before them be undone with a single order. Being a female athlete at any level gives girls and women a sense of pride and accomplishment. It allows us to push our bodies to new levels and improve upon where we were the day before. It gives us new opportunities for leadership, education, and jobs. Donna de Varona, WSF’s

first president, wrote an article in 2016 about the effects of Title IX — which made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex — and what it’s done for women in the United States, not only in athletics, but in their education and careers. “Since 1972, thanks to increased funding and institutional opportunities, there has been a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports,” de Varona said, “and a 990% increase in the percentage of women playing high school sports.” She reported that in a survey of 400 women from four different continents— 49% of whom were CEO or CFO-level executives and 51% of whom were in other management positions — 94% had played sports. It’s understandable to want equality for everyone. We all want to be treated fairly —

that’s why women fought for so long to form the organizations and teams we have now. But that’s not what’s happening in athletics today. Biden’s rule change has allowed one group of people who are genetically predisposed to athletic advantages to invade another group. In his article, “Circulating Testosterone as the Hormonal Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance,” Dr. David J. Handelsman wrote, “From male puberty onwards, the sex difference in athletic performance emerges as circulating testosterone concentrations rise as the testes produce 30 times more testosterone than before puberty, resulting in men having 15- to 20-fold greater circulating testosterone than children or women at any age.” Female athletes can’t overcome this disparity. We will lose our sports if male-

to-female transgenders join our competition. If the fight is really for equality, Biden’s administration is going too far. If he really is as pro-female as he said while choosing Kamala Harris as the first female vice president, Biden should consider the countless young women he’s harming by passing these new orders. Sports are more than competition. They provide opportunities for relationships, strength-building, personal growth, confidence, proud achievements, and even chances for a college education and better careers. Women have come too far to lose such a valuable part of our lives now. Calli Townsend is a senior studying sports management. She is the sports editor of the Collegian.

Students debate: Did Donald Trump cause the Jan. 6 riots? Trump is not responsible for the lawlessness By | Gabriel Powell The violent riot that occured at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was reprehensible and tragic. Any individual who participated in this assault should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But that is where the prosecutions should end. The prosecutions shouldn’t include former President Donald Trump, who has been accused of inciting an insurrection. Given the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, laws that penalize speech must be narrowly tailored. Federal law defines incitement to riot as “urging or instigating other persons to riot, but shall not be deemed to mean the mere oral or written (1) advocacy of ideas or (2) expression of belief.” The Supreme Court, in Brandenberg v. Ohio, added

that restrictions upon free speech are not permissible “except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” Incitement must include specific instructions to act. The Court established the Brandenberg test, which requires that speech must both be directed towards the production of imminent lawless behavior, and that the speech be likely to actually incite such lawless action. Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 does not meet the standard for incitement. At no point did Trump make a specific call to action that sought to produce “imminent lawless action.” To the contrary, he expressed a desire for the opposite, saying early in his speech, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically

make your voices heard.” Unfortunately, a small fraction of the crowd breached the Capitol, with some even assaulting federal law enforcement and looting. Yet at least some of those who stormed the Capitol already intended to do so regardless of what Trump said, as they came equipped with helmets, gas masks, hammers, and other gear. In fact, CNN, ProPublica, and other sources have reported there is now evidence not only that the riot had been planned for weeks in advance, but that law enforcement had prior warning, with some plots going as far back as November. Furthermore, as cited in the New York Times’ timeline of the day, the assault on the Capitol began 20 minutes before Trump had even finished his speech. If the intention of the rioters had been to hear Trump, they would not have been elsewhere while he was

still speaking. Trump’s speech can hardly be said to have incited a preplanned riot that was underway before the very speech that supposedly incited it had even concluded. At no point in his speech, or in his tweets prior to the event, did Trump make any specific call for imminent lawless action. His tweet telling the rioters to stand down acknowledged that some of them may have legitimate concerns about the election, yet instructed them to “go home in peace.” An accusation levied against Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot would create a standard so broad that it could be used to accuse nearly anyone of inciting violence, thereby destroying free speech and individual responsibility. Gabriel Powell is a sophomore studying politics.

Trump’s lies incited the violence at the Capitol By | Josh Barker “Will be wild.” That’s what former President Donald Trump tweeted in advance of his rally on Jan. 6. Wild it was. The chaotic infiltration of the Capitol — including the beating and murdering of police plus the theft of computers with national security details — all happened with the goal of intimidating Congress. Trump falsely told his supporters that Congress could vote to overturn the electoral votes from enough states so the election would be thrown to the House and then the House could vote him as the president. This was all based on the lie that the election was stolen. Trump didn’t just claim there was evidence of fraud

or wrongdoing, but that he had won “a landslide election.” The evidence just hasn’t shown that. The Dominion Voter Machine conspiracy has no facts behind it. Trump’s lawyers never argued for systemic voter fraud in court or even in pre-trial hearings. One attorney told a judge in court, “We are not alleging fraud in this lawsuit. We are not alleging anyone stealing the election.” In another case, a judge wrote that the attorneys “specifically stipulated in their comprehensive stipulation of facts that there exists no evidence of any fraud, misconduct, or any impropriety with respect to the challenged ballots.” Trump summoned his crowd to demand that Congress overturn an election

it had no right to overturn. “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” Less than a week in advance, he reposted a supporter’s tweet that said “The calvary [sic] is coming, Mr. President! JANUARY 6th.” Trump spent weeks stoking the fury of his supporters, riddling his tweets with aggressive language like “fight” and being “strong.” His refusal to denounce the QAnon conspiracy only helped the tensions rise. When Trump finally

condemned the violence, he didn’t show strength but weakness. In a video telling protesters to go home, he began by telling the rioters: “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt.” He ended by telling them “We love you. You’re very special.” Even after violence, even after deaths, in that video he repeated the lies: “It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us.” He was right about one thing, though: It was wild. Josh Barker is a sophomore George Washington Fellow studying politics.

Super Bowl LV logo is sewn onto the player’s uniforms. | Facebook

Letter to the Editor: Super Bowl commercials bring people together By | Anthony LaMacchia In last week’s edition of the Collegian, Aidan Cyrus made the case that Super Bowl commercials are overrated and a bane to society. Throughout the article Cyrus attempted to rip the ads apart, even going so far as to call the Super Bowl “the ultimate feast day of the commercialization of professional sports.” In reality, this view of the Super Bowl and its commercials entirely misses a bigger point. Cyrus’ piece contains opinions which, put frankly, he probably wouldn’t say to people’s faces. Painting the average Super Bowl viewer as the “armchair quarterback” who is a fat, beer-drinking, bad father is insulting at best. Let’s not overlook the implication that Super Bowl ads are merely for short-term comedy, either. I applaud Haley Strack’s perspective on the economic benefits the Big Game’s ads carry with them, but there’s another level to their benefit: Super Bowl commercials are one of the few things that can truly bring people together in today’s crazy times. Watch parties are a time for everyone to gather

with loved ones and friends, enjoy that “insipid American beer,” and simply have a good time. Growing up, I would always go to school the morning after the Super Bowl and laugh with my friends for hours, comparing our favorite commercials. Especially in a year that is already looking like 2020 Part II, we need simple moments of friendship like this more than ever. Apple’s “1984” commercial during that year’s Super Bowl could have won an Oscar. Coca-Cola’s 1980 ad featuring Mean Joe Greene giving a kid his jersey warms the hearts of millions. And who doesn’t like seeing a little kid dressed as Darth Vader think he has The Force when his dad remote-starts the Passat without him knowing? Commercials like these inspire their own kind of “wonder, joy, [and] awe,” to quote Cyrus. Annoying? Maybe to some. Enjoyable? To millions. Overrated? Absolutely not. Super Bowl commercials are a national staple which should be kept as such. Anthony LaMacchia is a junior studying economics.

Opinions

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Super Bowl LV: Who

Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes. | Facebook

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will win?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady. | Facebook

The Buccaneers will overcome the odds By | Josh Newhook

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are considered the underdogs of the Super Bowl, I believe they are most likely to win the Big Game this year. First of all, the Bucs have beaten expectations repeatedly. Heading into the regular season, Bleacher Report predicted the Bucs would win only ten games the regular season, but they went on to win 11. As a mere No. 5 seed going into the playoffs, not many people expected them to get very far. Indeed, wild card teams haven’t fared too well in recent years: The National Football Conference has only sent one wild card to the Super Bowl in the last 10 years, and the last wild card to make it even to the NFC championship game was the 2013 San Francisco 49ers. Even after a strong road win against the Washington Football Team in the wild card game, the Bucs were far from favorites to make a Super Bowl run. Nevertheless, they

earned a decisive 30-20 comeback win on the road against the Saints, who had beaten them during both meetings in the regular season, including a 38-3 rout in week 10. Most recently, the Bucs overcame the odds by beating MVP-favorite Aaron Rodgers and the No.1 seed Green Bay Packers by more than a touchdown — and never trailed during the game. This wild card team has now won eight road games in a row and is headed to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2003. Wild card teams that make it this far usually don’t falter in the big game. The 2012 Ravens, the 2011 Giants, and the 2010 Packers, the last three wild card teams to make it to the Super Bowl, all walked away with Lombardi trophies despite the odds against them. Tampa now faces another daunting foe: the defending-champion Kansas City Chiefs. While I believe Mahomes will keep it a close game, the Chiefs lack one critical ingredient to success:

the G.O.A.T., quarterback Tom Brady. This is Brady’s tenth Super Bowl appearance. He has already won a record six Super Bowls in his 21 seasons in the league. In just one year, he has led this Buccaneers team from a lackluster 7-9 team that hadn’t been to the playoffs in over a decade to NFC champions. His leadership and experience equip him for the chance to bring the Bucs to victory on Sunday. Finally, even though Brady has not been an underdog during most of his career, spectators should recall his first Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XXXVI. As a 24-year-old just off the bench, Brady made history by winning 20-17 and gaining his first of four Super Bowl MVPs despite being a 14-point underdog. It’s time for Brady to break the odds again. Josh Newhook is a sophomore studying English and German. He is an assistant editor for the Collegian.

The Chiefs will be back-to-back champs By | Luke Morey After a 50-year hiatus from the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs are built to become the first back-to-backchampions since the New England Patriots of 2005. Standing between the Chiefs and the Super Bowl trophy is a familiar face on a strange team for sports fans: quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite Tampa Bay’s advantage of playing on their home field, the Chiefs can beat Tom Brady and the Bucs. Tampa Bay has inexperienced cornerbacks and safeties, with the oldest starter in just his third season in the National Football League. Meanwhile, with Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, and Travis Kelce, Kansas City has one of the strongest wide re-

ceiving corps in the league. Just last week, Hill and Kelce both set franchise records, with Hill recording 172 receiving yards and Kelce recording 13 receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns. With Frank Clark amassing seven and a half sacks and Chris Jones with six sacks this season, the Chiefs have a strong defensive line that has consistently created pressure. And Brady doesn’t perform well when pressured up the middle. All this skill, and I haven’t yet mentioned Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the 2018 NFL MVP and last year’s Super Bowl MVP. In the AFC championship, Mahomes threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills, seemingly unhindered by his concussion and ankle injury.

The Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers last week, but the Bucs looked beatable, especially in the third and fourth quarter when Brady threw three straight interceptions. The Chiefs’ offense is designed to capitalize on errors, using their speed to erase deficits and build leads within a quarter. Brady has been one of the greatest QBs of all time, and he has elevated the Buccaneers to a level they haven’t reached since 2002. But Mahomes and his electric offense will pressure Brady to keep up in a shootout, and the Chiefs defense will knock Brady off his game enough to win Kansas City another Super Bowl. Luke Morey is a sophomore studying history.

Birth control is not the only solution By | Haley Strack Casual talk of birth control as a solution to women’s problems is abhorrent — and for a school that appreciates a proper, well-rounded education, I expected better. The Curate women’s panel on Saturday covered many topics relevant to young ladies: careers, relationships, time management, and yes, menstrual cycles. One of the breakout sessions, led by a local pediatrician, was an “interactive talk on women’s and menstrual health.” While I appreciated the open nature of the talk , the doctor mentioned birth control many times as the solution to women’s health problems. For reasons beyond religious ones, contraceptives are problematic. Too often, young women are told that birth control can be a solution to their problems without knowing the side effects.

Birth control has long-lasting detrimental effects on our bodies — ones that women should at least be informed about. Speaking of birth control as though it’s an easy fix to all of life’s problems is misleading, ill-informed, and wrong. Birth control doesn’t actually “regulate” your body — it just creates an artificial cycle that takes longer for your body to adjust to. When women stop taking the pill, they have a high chance of what’s called post-pill amenorrhea, or when the body is forced to return normal hormone production, so the menstrual cycle is halted all together for up to six months. The shot Depo-Provera (or DMPA), a popular form of birth control which is most frequently used by teenagers, can halt fertility for two years after the last injection. Say, for example, you took the shot in high school on the recommendation of your

doctor. You enter college and by springtime in year four, you have that ring on your finger! When you and your financially stable partner are ready to consider conceiving, you go to your doctor. But wait — you might have to wait two years (or longer) until you welcome a new member into your family. Why wouldn’t your doctor tell you that contraceptive use can have long-term effects? This is a phenomenon we see among quite a few young adults: doctors are quick to prescribe, slow to treat. The American Academy of Pediatrics even recommends over-the-counter purchase of contraceptives for teens. A recent study found that many women are misdiagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a condition that makes it harder to conceive, makes cycles more painful, and causes depression. Women are told they may have

difficulty conceiving and that the pill is the best solution for the disease. Twenty-one percent of young women are diagnosed with PCOS, and a shocking number of them are misdiagnosed. Further, many symptoms of PCOS go away after the age of 25. But instead of waiting until young women have gone through puberty to see if symptoms go away, doctors prescribe them a hormone cocktail to fix problems they might not even have. As young women, it’s easy to listen to the doctors who know more, the women with experience, or the friends whom we trust. It’s easy to look to a pill that might lessen cramp pains, relieve acne, or “regulate” your body. It’s equally as easy to do your research about what birth control could mean for your body, long-term. Research what it means outside of pain relief or a “regular” cycle before you introduce an

ocean of chemicals into your body. So, what are the negatives? Hormonal birth control can trigger depression. Women are 23% more likely to become depressed while taking contraceptives, and teenage girls are 80% more likely to suffer from depression while on the pill. Not to mention the other emotional and physical side effects — anger, stress, weight gain, acne, and moodiness. Birth control also causes increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and increased breast and cervical cancer rates. In 2001, the World Health Organization classified contraceptives as Group 1 Carcinogens, or a substance known to cause cancer. Other Group 1 Carcinogens include cigarettes, mustard gas, and arsenic. It’s not as if there’s no hope for women — natural alternatives are just as effective as hormonal birth control.

In April 2007, professional nurses at Marquette University began a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a Natural Family Planning service. NFP works with a woman’s natural biology to determine fertility schedules, allowing women to get in tune with their body’s natural cycle. According to the study’s ongoing results, the Marquette method results in as little as a 2-6.8% failure rate, as opposed to the 9% failure rate of the pill. It doesn’t matter if there’s a 1% chance, a 5% chance, or a 10% chance of harm from contraceptives; what matters is that you know the risk and act accordingly. Don’t fall victim to the slough of people who are more willing to prescribe than educate. Haley Strack is a sophomore studying political economy. She is an assistant editor for the Collegian.

How to get a girlfriend at Hillsdale By | Nick Treglia Let’s face it gang, dating is hard, especially at Hillsdale, where people treat a first date with the same level of commitment as a twenty year fixed mortgage. People feel the need to run a level-three background check before even considering a 30-minute coffee date. You know so much about the person before you go on the date with them there isn’t anything left to talk about — no latent excitement at the prospect of getting to know someone new. We’ve got to fix this. So here are some Hillsdale-friendly tips to help you land a REAL first date. Part 1: Locating females Since females make up 49.6% of the global population, this seems simple enough. When limiting your search to the Hillsdale student

body, there are a few tricks of the trade that can be used to help you identify a fresh Hillsdale honey. If at all possible, try to find a girl with a biblical name, such as Mary, Hannah, Abigail, or Orpah. You should also limit your search area to a select few events which Hillsdale history suggests are guaranteed to produce results. These include: any Student Activities Board event, Swing Dance, SOMA, Waterman Tea, and Olds Move-In Day. It is a well-documented fact that girls don’t attend these events because they actually want to take part in them, but because they want to be hit on by random guys. Some of you may ask, “Nick, how will I know if a girl I meet at one of these events likes me?” To which I would respond that if she: a) acknowledges your existence or b) smiles somewhat

in your general direction, it’s basically a home-run. Part 2: Opening a dialogue with females Once you’ve chosen your Hillsdale babe it’s time to let her know how you really feel. But how do mature, well-functioning people convey such feelings? I recommend sending her YouTube links to songs with no additional context. Songs such as “You Belong with Me,” “Every Breath You Take,” and “Hungry Like the Wolf ” are all safe bets. If she’s the right girl, she’ll intuitively pick up what you’re putting down. If lyrics aren’t your style, there are alternatives to this tactic. One wildly-dangerous school of thought suggests directly talking with the girl you are interested in. This, of course, requires that you convey your feelings with words, a radical departure from the

tried-and-true “silently-pining” method. If you are set on having a conversation with the chick, you’re advised to prepare your lines and conversation topics well in advance. The goal of these pickup lines is to dupe unsuspecting females into believing you are far cleverer than you are through a carefully choreographed first impression. Here is one example which I swear is safe and effective: “Is your name Ariel? Because we were mermaid for each other.” If she’s not initially receptive, just repeat the line more slowly. It probably just went over her head the first time. Part 3: Coping with rejection from females If you followed these steps and actually asked a girl out, congratulations! You’ve made it farther than 74.63% of all relationships at Hillsdale

College. If the girl you asked out says yes, then double congratulations — you’ve beaten the odds and are well on your way to the exciting adventure known as the first date. Of course, this is not always the case. Every day, thousands of men face the pain of rejection, whether from a date, a job interview, or a transplanted organ. This rejection may take many forms, and believe me, I’ve heard them all: “I like you only as a friend,” “I wasn’t flirting I just needed a pencil,” and “I’m getting a restraining order.” It is no secret that most everyone at Hillsdale is excited, or at least intrigued, by the prospect of finding true romance, so it seems paradoxical that the dating scene is mired in inaction and timidity. This is simply explained by the fact that many people

at Hillsdale aren’t looking for boyfriends, they’re looking for husbands. The act of dating at Hillsdale is akin to reserving a table at a restaurant. You already know you are going to eat there, but you’re using the reservation to hold your table until it’s time to show up. In the same way that a solitary water cup marks your seat in the dining hall, many people at Hillsdale view dating as a sort of wife-reservation until you graduate or are otherwise ready to get married. Instead of dating being an adventure of discovery, it’s closer to holding that black puck at LongHorn Steakhouse, waiting for it to blink, letting you know your table is ready. Nick Treglia is a sophomore studying history and applied mathematics. He is a single man — but coaches don’t play.

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A6 February 4, 2021

Hundreds march for life in Hillsdale, Lansing

Pro-life marchers in Hillsdale display signs. Andrew Dixon | Collegian

By | Logan Washburn Collegian Freelancer Pro-life Michiganders gathered across the state last week to voice their support for ending abortion. In Hillsdale, event organizers made history with the town’s first ever March for Life. The national March for Life in Washington, D.C. was canceled due to concerns over recent political turmoil. Consequently, the annual trip by Hillsdale College for Life did not take place. In order to voice support for the pro-life cause, local event organizers planned the Hillsdale March for Life. The Hillsdale March for Life began on Friday by gathering in front of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in downtown Hillsdale. “We estimate that approximately 150 peo-

ple joined the march last Friday. In addition to strong participation from Hillsdale College students, several local families attended the march,” Rich Moeggenberg, director of financial aid for Hillsdale College, said. “It was awesome to see so many people publicly show support for the unborn.” Morggenberg credited Laura Leutheuser from Hillsdale Right to Life, Olivia Manochio from Hillsdale College Students for Life, and Clare Kearns of the Catholic Society for planning the event. Freshman Faith Roys said the march had a good turnout, including students and families. “We walked through town then circled the courthouse a few times. There were many families there as well as students from the college and local high school. We sang hymns as

Over 150 people attended the march in Hillsdale. Andrew Dixon | Collegian

we walked and it sounded beautiful,” she said. “A student from the college led the march carrying a large crucifix and a lot of people had pro life signs.” Roys said that there was some hostility towards the marchers, but that the event ended on a good note. “We had a few pro choice people scream at us from their vehicles but we just kept walking,” Roys said. “At the end we circled around the gazebo and the pastor from the college said a prayer for our cause and the unborn. Overall it was a great event and I am really glad I went.” Another pro-life march was held in Lansing on Wednesday, Jan. 27. Deemed the Roe v. Wade Memorial and March, it took place in front of the Michigan Capitol building. Organized by Ingham County Right to Life, the

Hundreds march for the unborn in Lansing. Logan Washburn | Collegian

v Tensions flare at council meeting

over vaccines, masks, and tyranny By | Callie Shinkle Study Break Editor “I’m not gonna take the vaccine. They’ll have to shoot me or drag me to the hospital,” Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said. Other members of the city council echoed Stockford’s words Monday, during a review of possible new COVID-19 policies. Discussion began after Hillsdale County District 1 Commissioner Doug Ingles delivered an update on COVID-19 in the area. In his update, Ingles reported that Hillsdale Hospital has been administering hundreds of doses of COVID-19 vaccines since January. Following Ingles’ report, Councilman Robert Socha had a special request for the council. “I was wondering if we have done anything as a city to maybe declare Hillsdale a ‘free zone,’ where the vaccines can be administered and taken if people freely accept to do so,” he said. “But if they choose not to, depending

on how things go state or government-wide, that we can ensure that our individual liberty to choose to be injected or not is not taken away.” This was met with loud cheers and applause from the crowd attending the meeting , although no such mandate has been proposed on a state or national level. “It’s interesting to me how things have magically changed over the last three weeks on a national level as far as the rhetoric toward COVID,” Socha said. “With the nature of government to continue to encroach on our liberties, I would like us to be a line in the sand if you all are willing to draw that line with me.” A recent report regarding Transportation Security Administration-mandated mask requirements at airports, including at the Hillsdale Municipal Airport, was met with a similar sentiment by the council. According to an executive order issued Jan. 21 by President Joe Biden, anyone in an airport who refuses to wear a mask in the terminal and hangers

may be subject to civil penalties. Stockford said the mandate could be hard to enforce. “I heard that legal language clearly says ‘may,’ so I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about it,” Stockford said. Councilman Ray Briner questioned if the city would be fined for not enforcing the masking policy, however. Socha offered comments about TSA requiring masks at the airport. “The overreach from Washington, D.C., to demand that we wear masks in our airport in Hillsdale, Michigan, is beyond the pale. It echoes tyranny and I am appalled,”Socha said. “I am livid about it, actually, and I would hope that we would have the courage here in Hillsdale to make a stand and to tell Washington, D.C., that we’re able to mind our own affairs. And hopefully we can get our fine community organized in such a way that we can maybe start to separate ourselves from that allegiance.” As of Feb. 1, the county has seen 2,867 cases.

event drew roughly 1,000 demonstrators, despite the cold weather. Ed Rivet, The President of Ingham County Right to Life, emceed the event. He began by inviting a long line of pro-life legislators to the front and thanking them all by name. Among the legislators was Rep. Andrew Fink. “They were there to say, ‘We reject the Roe v. Wade decision as illegitimate and a violation of the human rights that our Declaration of Independence proclaims that come from our Creator, not from government,’” Rivet said. “Our speakers shared about the power and dignity of women, of life-giving options like adoption, about not giving into a spirit of defeat, and how young people are joining this movement and will carry it onward.” Senate Majority Leader

Mike Shirkey gave a short speech in which he discussed the pro-life movement. “We do our job day by day and we’re always on the alert for the opportunity for there to be a shift in thinking and a shift in hearts and a conversion of people,” Shirkey said to the crowd. “If you’re like me, these last four years I thought we were closely approaching that point in America. But God has a different idea. And maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t think America is ready yet. So our job is to continue the κρονος [kronos, or time] part of our obligation, and that is to continue to advocate for and call out the reality of this horrible, horrible disease that this country has embraced for far too many years. Do our job, reminding people of it in love and in grace.”

After the remarks, rallygoers marched and prayed over government buildings around the Capitol. Upon arrival back at the starting point, the marchers peacefully dispersed, some remaining to attend a Catholic prayer service. Freshman Lauren Scott attended The Roe v. Wade Memorial and March with Hillsdale College for Life. “I had the privilege to attend the Lansing March For Life this afternoon,” Scott said. “I wanted to go to support the sanctity of life and to be encouraged by fellow Americans who want to protect the most precious right that we have: the right to life. It was a beautiful thing to see a large group of people united by our love for the unborn and those who were never given a chance.”

Midwest car thief hits Hillsdale By | Logan Washburn Collegian Freelancer

Michigan State Police. “On another note, any time we investigate a stolen A car thief stopped in vehicle, the registration Hillsdale last month while plate and or VIN # is put in on the run from police in a national database called multiple states, according to Law Enforcement Inforlocal authorities. mation Network,” MSP Lt. “Overnight on Jan. 19 Brian Oleksyk said. “Also to the morning hours on during breaking and enterJan. 20, five or six unlocked ing investigations, troopers vehicles were entered, conduct neighborhood some items were taken,” canvasses to obtain any Hillsdale Police Chief Scott information that might be Hephner said. “One vehicle useful for the investigation. was taken and was located This complaint is still an later that day in Hillsdale open and ongoing investiabandoned. No suspects gation.” have been arrested to date. The Michigan State We do have photos of shoe Police suspect the Hillsimpressions in the snow, dale incident is related to however, we will not be other stolen vehicle reports releasing those at this time.” in Hillsdale and Lenawee The Hillsdale Police counties, as well as Indiana. Department is investigatAccording to MLive, this ing the case, along with man is suspected of stealing the Jackson branch of the

cars in both Indiana and Michigan. Sergeant Brian Walker of the Indiana State Police said the ISP is not currently investigating any related car thefts. However, Walker noted that the suspect may have stolen vehicles from La Grange County or Steuben County, Indiana. The below map, courtesy of National Geographic Mapmaker Interactive, depicts the likely locations of the vehicle thefts, based upon input from the Indiana State Police and the Michigan State Police. Michigan State Police are asking for the public’s help in apprehending the suspect. Contact the MSP Jackson Post at 517-7804580 with any information.

A map showing the areas where the crimes occured. Logan Washburn | Collegian

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Norton takes on Spangler’s defense pro bono By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor

Attorney Bob Norton is offering his services pro bono to Spangler’s Family Restaurant, which remained open in defiance to government orders. Though indoor dining is now allowed again, Mitch Spangler, who is in the process of buying the business from his parents, could potentially face fines of up to $1000 per day. “It was do or die,” Spangler said. “If I would’ve stayed closed, I would’ve been bankrupt in two weeks. That’s why I made the decision to stay open. I would’ve been completely out of business.” When Norton heard about Spangler’s predicament, he said he knew he had to offer his services pro bono. Although Norton is an attorney for Hillsdale College, his legal help to Spangler’s is not associated with the college, but is being offered through his own personal capacity. “I felt sorry for this business being put in a very difficult position and having to shut down and go out of business or stay open and face the potential of fines and legal action,” Norton said. According to Norton, there are two governmental agencies attempting to bring legal ac-

tion against him: the Michigan Spangler, said she believes attacks the rights of business Department of Agricultural the orders being enforced are owners throughout the state. and Rural Development and unconstitutional. I don’t think that’s something the Michigan Department of “Michigan is in the extreme that’s been focused on.” Health and Human Mersino said that Services. Spangler’s was de“Both are tag scribed as an “immiteaming and both are nent threat,” which coming after him with she said she feels is an duplicative actions unreasonable claim, based upon the same given the extreme order,” Norton said. measures Spangler is “They’re both saying taking to ensure the they’re enforcing this safety of his guests. order.” Zero COVID-19 cases Norton said he dishave been contracted agrees with the level as a result of dining of restrictions being in Spangler’s Family placed on restaurants. Restaurant. “In my role for the “His operation goes college I’ve come to above and beyond the know a fair amount operations that are about the COVID presently allowed,” virus and what meaMersino said. “Restausures the college has rants are allowed to be been able to employ open for indoor dining in order to assure the right now and Spansafety of our campus,” gler’s protocol is far Norton said. “In my above and beyond what opinion, it seems drathe state is requiring.” conian to be forcing In order to comply these businesses to with the COVID-19 Owner Mitch Spangler has kept his restaurant close, especially for restrictions, Spangler open despite government orders. the period of time said he has reduced Courtesy | Mitch Spangler. they’ve been forced seating, installed to close and with a plexi-glass barriers lack of real scientific data to minority, in closing indoor between and around tables, support the notion that closure dining this late in the game,” and installed two state of the is the only option.” Mersino said. “The governart air cleaning systems called Great Lakes Attorney Erin ment seems to be taking this REME Halo systems, proven Mersino, who is also helping really aggressive stance that in a Kansas State study to kill

Hillsdale hairstylist wins three awards in annual competition By | Madeline Peltzer News Editor Thanks to a loyal customer base, Viaggio Salon and Spa has been recognized as Hillsdale County’s “Best Overall Company to Work For,” and salon owner Nikki Tiller has also been chosen as the county’s “Best Boss.” “It means a lot,” said Tiller, who opened the business in 2014. “I was very humbled because there are a lot of great business owners and a lot of great bosses in our town. We work hard as a team and we have such a good atmosphere.” The annual “Hillsdale’s Best” awards competition, which is facilitated by Hillsdale Daily News, begins with locals nominating their favorite businesses for various categories. Then, the newspaper compiles the top five contenders in each category and posts them online for residents to vote for the

winners. According to Tawney Sterett, senior multimedia sales executive for Hillsdale Daily News, patrons’ primary considerations in nominating businesses are quality, customer service, and pricing. This year, residents placed more than 90,000 votes, surpassing last year’s competition. In addition to these awards, Viaggio Hairstylist Mindy Shoemaker was named “Best Hairstylist and Salon.” She credits the close relationship she’s built with her customers since the salon opened as the reason for the award. “I think I have some wonderful, fabulous clients,” Shoemaker said. “They become like family and friends.” As “Best of the Best” winners, Shoemaker and Tiller receive plaques they can display at the business, rights to the competition logo on

99% of viruses within 3 feet of a sneeze. “Not all restaurants are the same,” Spangler said. “We’ve gone above and beyond to distinguish ours as a safe place.” Spangler said the restrictions and possibility of fines has made him worry about providing for his family. “My mom’s 78 years old and constantly stressed. Her livelihood is 100% based on my business staying open, as well as my personal livelihood,” Spangler said. “I have a daughter getting a master’s degree in college, so I need to support her. It’s a family legacy that you don’t want to sign a piece of paper that says you’re bankrupt and walk away.” Despite the difficulties Spangler is facing, he says he appreciates the help from the Hillsdale community. “The community and public support has been overwhelmingly favorable,” Spangler said. “The people supporting and being in 100% agreement has been very good.” Spangler said he hopes restaurant owners everywhere will soon be able to operate their businesses freely. “You don’t do the restaurant business simply because it’s easy,” Spangler said. “We want our freedoms back and to not be targeted.”

Nikki Tiller smiles with her awards. Courtesy | Nikki Tiller

their advertising, and recognition in the paper. Sterett said the newspaper has hosted the contest for more than 20 years as a way of supporting local businesses and giving a shoutout to those who have done a particularly outstanding job. While the awards are always helpful to businesses, Sterett said the recognition is even more important to businesses this year. “When the pandemic hit, we weren’t sure we were going to be able to do this competition with everything closed,” Sterett said. “But we thought it was very important to move forward to show local businesses that we’re there for them and we’re supporting them and we’re voting for them.” Tiller concurred. “For people to see that we actually won an award—it’s definitely helping us,” she said.

February 4, 2021 A7

Rough Draft welcomes back students By | Haley Strack Assistant Editor Rough Draft reopened on Feb. 1 with restrictions for the first time since the Nov. 18 orders. Under Gov. Whitmer’s most recent epidemic order, restaurants are allowed to re-open with restrictions, which include 25% capacity, social distancing guidelines, and a 10 p.m. curfew. “We’re definitely excited,” said Marty Hubbard, the owner of Rough Draft. “We’re not sure if the community will come out, because fear is prevalent, but we’re hopeful.” According to Hubbard, Rough Draft’s 25% capacity cap would allow approximately 30 customers in the shop at once. If Whitmer’s order is lifted on Feb. 20, that number would increase to 50%, or 60 people. Luckily, the student community has always been full of Rough Draft fanatics. Sophomore Samuel Schaefer has a special affinity for the coffee shop. “Rough Draft was the place of my first date with my now-girlfriend,” Schaefer said. “I only have good memories there.” For loyal customers like Schaefer, the re-opening of one of the town’s beloved coffee shops means more than a caffeine buzz; he said he looks forward to making more memories. “I can’t wait to go back and have another date,” Schaefer said. Junior Sophia Berryhill has worked at Rough Draft since August. She’s seen the shop through in-person dining and take-out dining which began last year in November, but said she can’t wait to welcome customers back inside. “I feel for students because they’re the ones who have lamented the lack of dine-in just in general, but especially at Rough Draft because that was their safe haven of being able to study or get coffee or drinks with friends in a peaceful environment,” Berryhill said. “I’m just really excited for them to be able to come in, stay, and have that experience that Rough Draft is based around.”

Local vendors to host Valentine’s Day market By | Victoria Marshall Science & Tech Editor

With Valentine’s Day on Sunday this year, Hillsdale’s local vendors are planning something special in lieu of the holiday weekend. Ad Astra Coffee Roasters, a speciality coffee roastery on 106 N. Broad St., is hosting a Valentine’s Day themed market on Feb. 6 and 13, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Black Dog Meadows Flower Farm, Clexo Paintings and Graphic Design, SGB Bakes, Mangia Italian Bakery, and Zoe Ray Designs are vendors set to participate in the market. “I’ve had this idea of doing an indoor market, and Giana (Mangia Italian Bakery) thought of doing it right at Valentine’s Day,” Ad Astra co-owner Kristi Whalen said. “So then we reached out to a handful of vendors we knew from the farmers market and they all jumped on board right away.” In the summer, Ad Astra sold its coffee at Hillsdale’s farmers market. After the

Thursday

Snow, mainly after 5pm. High near 34.

market ended for the season, the roastery wanted to continue selling its coffee to the community, Whalen said. This led Ad Astra to start its own indoor market on 106 N. Broad St. every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Giana Green, owner of Mangia Italian Bakery, has sold pasta and cookies at Ad Astra and came up with the idea for the Valentine’s Day theme. “I wanted to curate something beautiful, something purposeful, that would get the community together,” Green said. “All the vendors are local artists coming in from all over Hillsdale, doing very specific and different — yet unique — things. There’s going to be flowers and jewelry and art and gluten-free baked goods and normal baked goods, and coffee.” Green will be focused on selling sweets in lieu of the Valentine’s Day theme. “At my booth you’ll be able to build a box of cookies,” Green said. “We’re partnering with one of the vendors

Friday

Snow likely. Cloudy and cold, with a high near 20.

at the market for fresh organic when possible, and and its indoor markets. people to still be able to get flowers. So it’ll be nicely gluten free.” “We’re working on getting coffee so we decided to start packaged with some of her Gordon said that the Valour name out there,” Whaour indoor market on Saturflowers. And it’ll be a nice entine’s Day-themed market len said. “After the farmers days. It’s an open market, so gift box for you or for somedays are a good way to get market was over, we had a come and get coffee.” one you love.” the word out about Ad Astra lot of success and we wanted Green added that 15% of Mangia’s proceeds will go to Love, Inc., a local Hillsdale charity that helps churches provide for the community. Stephanie Gordon, owner of SGB Bakes, will be selling gluten-free baked goods. “Some people like myself have a lovely sensitivity to gluten, and all the other allergens,” Gordon said. “I’m really big on sourcing local ingredients when possible. I use local eggs. And I use local honey and maple syrup. That’s the main focus of John Spiteri has owned and operated Checker Records for over 40 years. Nicole Ault | Collegian my products: I like to source local, Ad Astra team prepares to host indoor market. Courtesy | Facebook

Hillsdale Seven-Day Forecast Saturday

Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 15.

Sunday

Monday

Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 13.

Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 14.

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 16.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 17.

Information courtesy of the National Weather Service

A8 Feb. 4, 2021

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Short squeeze on GME shocks market GameStop’s rise and fall fueled a frenzied week as individuals and institutions battled in the markets By | Ryan Goff Senior Reporter

GameStop Corp. (GME) made headlines last week after a wild week in the stock market. Shares rose 1,625% in the month of January to $325 per share. That parabolic rise intensified last week and hurt hedge funds like Melvin Capital, who had a large short position on GME. Melvin lost 53% in January on their shorts, accounting for about $6.6 billion in losses. When an investor shorts a stock, they borrow it from someone else, immediately sell it, and wait to buy it back to return the borrowed shares later. The shorting investor earns a profit when the stock price falls, and loses when the price rises. On Jan. 26, GameStop’s shares were traded more than

the S&P 500. By the 28th, brokerage firms like Robinhood, ETrade, and others stopped users from buying GameStop. Individual investors who used the Reddit channel “r/ WallStreetBets” cried foul play from the financial institutions, leading to a class action lawsuit against Robinhood. Additionally, politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ted Cruz, R-TX., joined the call against brokerages restricting selling. Associate Professor of Finance Robert Atra said he doesn’t see last week’s volatility in quite the same way. In class on Friday, Atra pointed to traditional financial metrics like the short ratio to explain that GameStop was experiencing more shorting than can be possibly sold. The short ratio is the ratio between the number of shares in a company sold short over

the average daily volume of the stock. On Jan. 15, that ratio was 2.81, which was 226% of shares available for trading. “The way it’s written is like pitting one group against the other,” Atra said. “I don’t think that’s the case. I think it was just following a traditional signal that something was oversold, and because it was short sold the shortsellers had to buy it back and the people taking long positions ended up benefiting from shortsellers buying it back.” Considering this short pressure, which requires firms to buy the stock to close their position, hedge funds were required to buy back into GameStock as the price ticked higher, and that further sent the stock upward. “When something is that heavily shorted, it doesn’t take a lot of movement to cause massive buy-ins,” Atra said.

This is what’s known as a short squeeze, and it’s exactly what happened last week with GameStop. Practitioners have developed metrics for market conditions like this. Short sale indicators like the short ratio appear in textbooks like Donald E. Vaughn’s “Survey of Investments” from 1967. GameStop is hardly the populist revolution in finance the WallStreetBets community may want it to be. Rather, the GameStop saga is a unique aberration in equity markets caused by a perfect storm of size, trading volume, and short selling pressure, according to Michael Burry, who first shorted the housing market in 2007 that later became featured in the book and movie “the Big Short.” “There really can’t be another GME,” Burry said. “Nothing else is/was even

box. The test that Winegard argues is most valid is Big Five, as it offers percentage scores of five different characteristics rather than listing a few traits. The college’s Career Services Department has recommended Strengths Quest Finder as a method of understanding a student’s workplace preferences and career options. The test, which Assistant Director of Career Services Rebecca Galvin said some companies require students to include with their application, recognizes the student’s most innate skills and places him into one of four categories. “We use it mostly for self-discovery and reflection. You use it throughout your college career in helping to answer questions in interviews: what are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?” Galvan said. “And it just gives you one more tool in knowing things about yourself and then being able to articulate that to others, because I think everyone finds it difficult.” Galvin said she’s observed the rise of the Enneagram recently, and Career Services is hosting an event employing the test to help students’ dis-

cover more about their ideal company culture. The Enneagram, a personality test that divides people into nine types based on their core fears and desires, provides common tendencies of each type, and how they interact with other types. Senior and Enneagram type seven Claire Murray said she first learned of the personality measurement this past summer and appreciated its accuracy describing her personal behaviors. “It’s just cool to see how you interact with other types of people,” Murray said. “I read ‘The Path Between Us’ and it taught me about the different behaviors between types and I found it interesting that certain people value different ideas and then respond to conflict accordingly.” According to a spring 2020 article in the Los Angeles Times describing the recent explosion in the Enneagram’s popularity, the personality test has garnered attention among mainstream American culture in recent years due to the modern adolescent desire for quasi-spiritual self-discovery. “In many ways, the tool, which isn’t tied to a specific religion, seems tailor-made

for a spiritual-but-not-religious generation that grew up on BuzzFeed quizzes and branding,” the article states. While some use the Enneagram for its spirituality, which Winegard said can be individually valuable, it has the potential for misuse. If students use the test to weed out potential friends or romantic relationships, for example, the test is wrongfully limiting. Astrology, Winegard said, is completely invalid with no observation and experiment on which it can be based. Generally, however, Winegard said personality tests pose little psychologically harmful effects. It can often serve as a mere topic of conversation. People tend toward these examinations as a form of internal introspection for self-growth, which can often be found through observing oneself rather than seeking outside verification. Big Five, Enneagram, and Myers-Briggs all provide a sense of being heard and seen to people. “I think especially with younger people where identity is important, they like the idea that you’re uncovering something important about your identity,” Winegard said.

Personality tests show true self By | Allison Schuster Associate Editor

If you’re a Hillsdale student, chances are high you’ve been asked what your Enneagram type is. Although the Enneagram—a personality test based on nine different personality types—is popular among Hillsdale students, personality tests as a whole are a good conversation starter, Assistant Professor of Psychology Benjamin Winegard said. Other well-known tests include Myers-Briggs, Big Five, Strengths Quest Finder, and Astrology. The tests vary in their measurements, uses, and—the distinction that Winegard emphasizes—validity. Humans are drawn to personality tests largely for the purpose of self-understanding, Winegard said. Certain tests, such as the Myers-Briggs or Strengths Quest Finder, are tailored more toward aptitude and career direction. Others, such as the Enneagram and Astrology, provide a more holistic personality description. A test’s validity is found in its ability to measure an aspect of one’s personality without placing them in a definitive

What is 5G? Professor of Physics Timothy Dolch explains technology By | Allison Schuster Associate Editor Amidst the various conspiracy theories surrounding the introduction of 5G—the fifth generation of broadband cell networks—Associate Editor Allison Schuster sat down with Assistant Professor of Physics Timothy Dolch to set the record straight. Q: What is 5G? Dolch: 5G refers to the fifth generation of cellular networks. It provides faster connection speeds to more devices simultaneously, and to more types of devices. Such networks are currently under construction. Q: How do 5G towers work? Dolch: The idea is that the traditional structure of towers covering geographical cells will be supplemented with a more distributed network of smaller base stations. In the old cell tower model, if you are in a particular geographic cell defined by tower locations, you are assigned a unique frequency. But the signals you and the tower send back and forth are still very spread out in terms of direction. 5G base stations, on the other hand, will use MIMO (multiple input multiple output) technology to send radio signals in a particular user’s direction. Q: How will 5G revolutionize cellular data usage

and wireless technology? Dolch: In some cases, it may be so fast, reliable, and accessible that people won’t feel the need for their own individual wireless networks at home anymore. That would be after 5G-compatible hardware becomes standard across many devices—mobile devices, laptops, etc. The greater number of devices that a 5G network can handle will also accelerate the development of the Internet of Things (IoT). This generically refers to the numerous “smart” devices that require a constant internet connection to work. So early cellular networks were designed for (audio) phones, later networks were designed for data connections to smartphones, and the 5G network is designed for smart devices in general. Q: Is 5G safe? Dolch: Yes. First, radio waves are the lowest energy part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The high-energy parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as x-rays, are what destroy cellular structures, leading to cancer. This is called ionizing radiation. Radio waves are not ionizing radiation. Second, radio wave propagation follows an inverse square law, meaning that if you double the distance to a radio transmitter, the waves are one quarter the intensity; if you triple the distance, they’re one ninth the intensity, and so on.

Occasionally radio waves do interact with a component of life —namely, with water. This is how a microwave oven works. There is a specific frequency of radio waves that happens to be the resonance frequency of the water molecule. So when enough radio waves of this frequency hit water, the water vibrates on the molecular scale, meaning, the water on the macroscale heats up. And voila, a hot lunch. Due to the inverse square law and the fact that cellular networks don’t use this particular frequency, the worst effect that could happen is that a few, weak radio waves at the water frequency (leaking over from other frequencies) might warm the water in our bodies slightly. But whether such an effect happens to any appreciable degree and how it could lead to other health problems is still very speculative. For example, it’s already quite clear that the long-term health risks from even a mild case of COVID-19 are far, far worse than anything related to radio waves. And because of the directional nature of some 5G base stations, you might actually get less exposure from 5G networks, because radio waves aren’t being needlessly broadcasted in all directions. Q: How do you protect yourself from wireless radiation? Dolch: I think it’s unlikely

that you’ll need protection, for the reasons we just discussed. Suppose for the sake of argument that a systematic, long-term health problem was eventually shown to occur in people due to cellular networks. Well, in that unlikely case, it would have come from your devices having actively used the network, not from the network’s radio signals having been broadcasted in your environment. So if you’re worried, just use your mobile devices less—which is probably a good thing anyway! Q: Why has 5G spurred so much controversy? Dolch: To my mind, there are some legitimate concerns that have nothing to do with health. Weather satellites now look at weak microwave emission from water vapor in the atmosphere, an important advance in weather forecasting. Having active 5G networks everywhere might interfere with these measurements. Second, one 5G-related company obtained a license to use the spectrum near GPS frequencies. This means that if you’re trying to get your coordinates via GPS near a lot of 5G broadcasting, there might be too much local noise to catch the signal from GPS satellites. The aviation industry, for example, has been very worried about this. You can change GPS receivers to get around the problem, but that’s a big job to implement.

close to as shorted and so hated/ignored/dismissed prior to the #thebigshortsqueeze.” Nor is it a flashpoint of institutional backlash against the group of individual investors at odds with Wall Street traders. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the firm halted trading on certain equities to maintain its capital requirements. “I always wondered about the Robinhood business model, myself,” Atra said. “It sounds like there was so much trading they couldn’t afford to do the trading.” By Monday, Robinhood raised $3.4 billion to help facilitate the volume of trading users were demanding. If that’s the case, the curb on trading had to do with brokerage firms’ ability to clear trades more than with executing them. With the restrictions eased,

online investors have redoubled their efforts this week on GameStop and have since shifted buying pressure into silver. But in the end, experts in the field like Atra don’t see this flashpoint resulting in much beyond an episode of simple speculation. “If you’re cheering on the populist investors, what do they do with GameStop now? Are they bailing out and taking their cash, or are they hanging in?” Atra said. “Surely those investors don’t think GameStop is a great long-term investment. “Fundamentally, this has very little to do with longterm investing,” Atra said. “Nobody’s 401k should be really concerned with this kind of activity.”

PIXABAY

TikTok re-wires psyche, professor says By | Quinton Colhour Collegian Freelancer TikTok, the app taking popular culture by storm, is the fastest growing social media platform with around 800 million active users. Despite being a mere five years old, the president of the free world has referenced the app on more than one occasion. How did TikTok become so popular? TikTok is addictive. And young people are so accustomed to the impulsivity the app cultivates they don’t even realize they’re hooked. According to a study done by Microsoft, the average human attention span is now less than eight seconds, making the 15-second TikTok videos perfect for the sporadic modern mind. Our brain uses a neurotransmitter called dopamine to reward us for consuming information that is judged to be beneficial. This warm fuzzy feeling is the same feeling we get from paying attention to something interesting. This makes TikTok a dopamine jackpot, as its algorithm constantly refreshes a page with new content based on user data. In an article about the addictive nature of TikTok, Eliza Aguhar writes, “Motion attracts our attention because it helps us survive. It’s the reason why five billion YouTube videos are watched per day and the average American only reads for an hour and a half per year.” Referencing the

TikTok algorithm, Aguhar notes, “The more content we’re faced with, the less our attention span is and the greater our urge to look at new content.” And TikTok’s content is less than ideal. As Data Series writes, “If the platform aims to present creativity, knowledge and precious life moments, why is the content restricted to 15-second videos?” Assistant Professor of Psychology Benjamin Winegard says that in comparison to other social media platforms, TikTok is “probably the least substantive. The content that’s rewarded is not thoughtful or rich. Younger people are spending a lot of time and energy to produce this ephemera.” And if that isn’t enough, TikTok subconsciously teaches its users that likes and views are akin to deep, personal connections. “TikTok plays on these kinds of neurosystems that have evolved for real social contact,” Winegard said. Although uncoordinated dances to the newest Ariana Grande hit generate the most likes and views, it teaches users to base their actions on what is popular or mainstream. “Instead of your worldview being something that is intrinsically valuable to you and gained through study, contemplation, and hard thought, you just do whatever anybody else is doing,” Winegard said.

Sports

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Swimming

February 4, 2021 A9

Chargers break two pool records at away meet By | Merrit Pope Collegian Freelancer The Hillsdale College swimming team continued its winning streak last Saturday as half of the team traveled to Olivet College. The Chargers not only beat the Comets 14870, but also broke two Olivet College pool records. The Chargers placed in every event, with swimmers winning first in numerous races. Freshman Amy Mills finished first in the 200 backstroke (2:19.16), sophomore Sydney Slepian finished second (2:20.69), and sophomore Stefanie Walker finished third (2:21.21). Freshman Cecilia Guadalupi stood out at the meet, winning all of her events and breaking the 200 breaststroke pool record with a time of 2:28.18, as well as the 200 IM pool record with a time of 2:11.42.

The Chargers found success in the distance events as well, with sophomore Sarah Clark winning the 1,000 freestyle by 10 seconds (11:01.42), and freshman Sarah Patancizek placing second with a time of 11:11.79. Freshman Caroline Holmes placed first in the 500 freestyle (5:24.06), Clark captured second in 5:27.86, and junior Maddie Breay finished third in 5:38.85. Holmes won the G-MAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week, making her the second Charger freshman to win the award in the three weeks that it has been given out. Holmes also won the 100 freestyle (55.79) and swam a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:46.84). Holmes said she was very surprised and excited to receive the Athlete of the Week Award. “I’m really happy that Hillsdale has won it twice,” she

said before going on to praise her team’s success. “We had a lot of really strong swims for where we are in the season right now. I really liked our team’s energy. Lots of cheering, lots of support.” Head coach Kurt Kirner said he was equally proud of the team’s overall performance. While only half the team was allowed to travel due to COVID rules, Kirner said he was able to devote more time to the athletes. “Half the athletes, twice the attention,” said Kirner. “I’m really happy with how this half of the team performed. It was better than I could’ve imagined. I really liked the times and efforts put forth by the half of the team that went to this meet.” The Chargers will travel to Ashland University, in Ashland, Ohio, on Feb. 6, for a dual meet again at 1 p.m.

Phoebe Johnston competes in the butterfly earlier this season. Courtesy | Camryn Olson

Track and Field

Maines breaks her own shot put record on Friday By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor

Hillsdale College women’s track and field team put together a solid performance last Friday at Grand Valley State University’s Bill Clinger Classic, winning eight events, four NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks, and a new school shot put record. The Chargers are now ranked 10th in NCAA Division II. Junior Nikita Maines threw 14.54 meters in the shot put, breaking her 2019 school record of 14.53 meters. She also took first in the weight throw and threw 17.36 meters, earning provisional marks in both events. “It was really exciting to see that and know that I had more in the tank that I could have put out,” Maines said. “I was really happy about that.” Maines said her success at

the meet made her more confident in what she can do. “You could say it makes me more hungry, as in, I want to do better,” Maines said. “I’ve been taking that into practices, my mentality, the way that I eat, I sleep. I’m taking things very seriously right now, and it’s because I want to be great and seeing that I know I can do a lot more.” Senior Kajsa Johansson earned the Chargers’ third provisional mark when she took first in the 200 meter at 24.75 seconds. Senior Zalonya Eby followed in second at 26.15 seconds, and sophomore Allison Nimtz came in third at 26.60 seconds. Senior Calli Townsend won the 800 meter run in 2:15.78, and sophomore Kaitlyn Rust took second at 2:17.02. Both times were new personal records for the runners. Hillsdale runners dominated the 3000 meter race, with senior Maryssa Depies claim-

Junior Nikita Maines broke her own school record in shot put last Friday. Courtesy | Gwendolyn Bucchop

ing the fourth provisional mark in first place at 9:46.28. Junior Sophia Maeda took second at 10:06.83, and senior Christina Sawyer came in third at 10:10.64. Junior Claire McNally, freshman Elizabeth Wamsley, sophomore Meg Scheske, and senior Lauren Peterson finished in fourth through eighth place. Hillsdale swept the 400 meter event as well, claiming first through sixth place. Freshman

Volleyball

Shura Ermakov led the race at 57.54 seconds, trailed by sophomore Dakota Stamm at 57.79 seconds and junior Alanna O’Leary at 58.57. Freshman Josee Behling and sophomores Judith Allison and Allie Eriksen filled the next three spots. O’Leary, Stamm, Behling, and Ermakov ran 4:01.88 in the 4x400m relay and took first place. “I think we’ve done a really

good job so far,” said head coach Andrew Towne. “This is certainly a really different year, so it’s tricky to evaluate certain things and where we stand.” On the men’s side of the meet, freshman Jamahl Burke, sophomore Benu Meintjes, and freshman Sean Fagan finished in the top three in the 400 meter race at 49.05, 49.50, and 49.77 seconds, respectively. Senior Adam Wade joined Fagan, Meintjes, and Burke in taking first in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:17.98. “Our focal point any week, but especially this week, is going to be just continuing to focus on ourselves, trying to make sure that we’re doing everything that we need to do,” Towne said. “Not necessarily comparing ourselves to anyone else, just to ourselves, because I think at an individual’s core, they know whether they’re giving their best or not.”

Other notable performances included freshman Micah Vanderkooi’s first place in the mile, finishing in 4:16.11. Senior Mark Miller finished just behind him in 4:17.98. Junior Ben Raffin won first in pole vault with a mark of 5.00 meters, a new personal best and an NCAA provisional mark. On Tuesday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference named Vanderkooi and Johansson as the Male and Female Track Athletes of the Week because of their standout performances. “I’m just so grateful to get to compete this year after losing a whole national championship season and an outdoor season,” Johannson said. “Our team is looking great for this time of year and working really well together, so I’m super excited for what’s to come.” The Chargers’ next event, the annual Wide Track Classic, will be at home on Feb. 5.

Women's Basketball

Chargers win 59 straight, Chargers suffer ranked No. 12 in country a trio of losses By | Hannah Cote Assistant Editor The Hillsdale College volleyball team has advanced its winning streak to a 4-0 record, dominating the first road-trip competition. The Chargers kept their momentum of three-set sweeps, beating Malone University 25-17, 25-21, and 25-22 on Jan. 29. “We were relieved,” head coach Chris Gravel said. “This was the first road trip, and it started out a little rough but eventually we got it together. It’s very clear on what we need to work on for this week.” Although the team breezed through the competition, Gravel said that there are specific things the team will keep working on. “We need to tighten up some of our skills, some of our accuracy, and our passing and setting,” Gravel said. “We need to become a little higher risk when it comes to running our offense.” The battle of defensive and offensive runs reached a peak on Saturday against Walsh University. As Hillsdale ended the first set, they set up for game point, but the celebration started too soon. “We set, arguably, our most powerful hitter Alyssa Van Weinen, and she absolutely crushed what seemingly was game point,” Gravel said. “Our team started celebrating, but this Walsh player out of nowhere came and just got an arm on the ball and popped it up, and got the ball over and won the rally.” Walsh then took this run and beat Hillsdale in a set

29-27. Though this was their first set loss in 58 matches, the Chargers did not let it ruin their motivation, Gravel said. At the third set, Gravel told the team to look over and examine the energy of the other team. “It’s tied up, and we look over at the timeout, and they’re all hunched over and breathing heavy, but we’re fine because we’ve spent so much time on physical training,” Gravel said. “There were a couple of long rallies, and we just prevailed and we knew that we had them because they were getting up slow after every play. We got stronger as the day went on.” The Chargers shifted gears and outworked Walsh in the final set, finding a balance in their defensive and offensive attacks, Gravel said. “Walsh had one last chance and they ran their best play, and their outside hitter just absolutely crushes it, but Madie Schider just digs it and not only gets under it, but it’s a perfect pass to Alyssa and she was ready,” Gravel said. “We crushed a really quick set.” Hillsdale beat Walsh in four sets with scores of 27-29, 25-20, 25-17, and 25-15. They remain unbeaten in the conference as two Chargers won G-MAC awards at the close of the weekend. First, junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton won the G-MAC Offensive Player of the Week award for the second week in a row. “I thought that we definitely improved this weekend and we kind of found the spark that we need,” Shelton said. “Whenever we’re in big games

or whenever we get to game time, we figure out how to hit that spark and then move on from there.” Freshman libero Allison Wiese won the G-MAC Defensive Player of the Week award for the first time of her collegiate career. “I was so excited but pretty shocked,” Wiese said. “I did not expect it at all and it was a great surprise.” After dominating the weekend matches, Wiese said that the wins formed a good outlook on the season, but that they must keep looking forward in practice. “It’s a good motivator, but we can’t just look at the past,” Wiese said. “You have to focus on what’s coming up and just keep going with every game. That’s why we’re so excited every time to get on the court because we’ve been waiting so long. I would have already been done with my first season by now, but now we’re just starting.” This weekend, the team will take another road trip to Ursuline College to play on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., and then compete in a non-conference match on Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. against 23rd-ranked Gannon University, a Division II Elite Eight qualifier in 2019. “We’re really excited for this weekend and being able to finally play somebody out of conference again,” Shelton said. “It’s going to be a really big motivator for us this week in practice. We’re also super excited to come back home again after this weekend, but we have to get these road wins first.”

By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor

The Hillsdale College women’s basketball team fell to Lake Erie University on Jan. 28, and to Ohio Dominican University on Jan. 30. Though the Chargers suffered two losses, the final scores were close, 78-76 against Lake Erie and 87-80 against Ohio Dominican. Junior guard Grace Touchette said she felt the team played better against ODU than against Lake Erie. “We played a lot more cohesively in the Ohio Dominican game,” Touchette said. “The Lake Erie game, we had a really rough start and that put us behind. It was tough to come back and have the energy to keep going and take the lead and keep it.” Head coach Charlie Averkamp said although the Chargers didn’t put their best foot forward against Lake Erie, he’s still proud of the way they bounced back and played well against ODU. “We battled back and made it competitive,” Averkamp said. “The challenging part of playing Thursday and Saturday is we only had one day to prepare for Ohio Dominican. We come out on Saturday and we have a one point lead with three minutes left. It’s a completely different team. That’s the challenge for us this season, is ‘Which team’s gonna show up when, and where are we gonna be when it comes to tip off time?’” Averkamp said some of his favorite parts of the game against ODU included watching Touchette and sophomore

forward Sydney Mills score points, as well as watching sophomore forward Maverick Delp boost the team’s energy in the first half of the game. “On Saturday, I thought we had a lot of different people step up,” Averkamp said. “A lot of positives, but at the end of the day we want to focus on getting more victories.” He also noted freshman

fans in the stands makes a big difference on the team’s performance. “It’s really nice to have our support systems back,” Touchette said. “It brings us a lot of energy so we don’t have to rely solely on ourselves, the bench, and the coaches. It’s more fun to play in front of people and know that people care about you and want to

Senior Jaycie Burger attacks the basket against Lake Erie last week. Courtesy | Anthony Lupi

guard Dani Salenbien hitting a 3-pointer right before halftime. “It’s fun to see her grow during her freshman season,” he said. After having played much of the season without spectators, Mills said having spectators over the weekend was essential for keeping the team’s energy up during the game. “The fans are definitely a momentum booster at games,” Mills said. “While we were able to create energy for ourselves without fans, it’s always great to have extra support and cheering from family and friends.” Touchette said having

watch you play basketball. It’s been really good.” The Chargers also took on the Tiffin University Dragons on Wednesday, Feb. 3 on their home court. They suffered a 73-81 loss, despite leading at the half. The Dragons came out of the locker room with a 23-12 run in the third quarter, building a gap the Chargers just couldn’t close. The women’s basketball team will play against Findlay University on Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. in the George Roche Sports Complex, and at Malone University on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. The livestream for the event can be found on Hillsdale’s athletics website.

Charger

A10 February 4, 2021

www.hillsdalecollegian.com Freshman Erick Radisevic looks to pass in the Chargers game versus Lake Erie last week. Courtesy | Anthony Lupi

Men's Basketball

Hillsdale Chargers extend winning streak to nine games

By | Christian Peck-Dimit Collegian Reporter The 12th-ranked Hillsdale College men’s basketball team stretched its winning streak to 9-0, maintaining the spot on top of the G-MAC after going 3-0 last week with some late-game heroics. The Chargers began their toughest week of the season to date with an exciting, double overtime win against Cedarville, who entered the matchup third-ranked third in the G-MAC, on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Four of Hillsdale’s starting five scored in double figures, including a new career-high from sophomore Patrick Cartier, this time hitting the 30-point mark. Seniors Austen Yarian and Davis Larson each added 19, and Connor Hill chipped in 11 to down Cedarville, 83-79. Yet again, the Chargers found themselves with a big lead early, up 13-5 less than eight minutes into the game. Holding a double-digit lead for much of the first half, the Chargers went into half-time up 34-25. Cedarville erased the lead all too quickly, opening the half on a 12-0 run and sparking a back-and-forth battle that would last the remainder of the game.

The first and third ranked teams in the G-MAC entered the final two minutes of regulation tied, and Cartier found himself at the free-throw line with just 13 seconds remaining, his team down just one. Cartier split the attempts, sending the game to overtime with the score knotted at 63. After finding themselves down by six with three minutes left in overtime, Yarian came alive, scoring two quick buckets and finding Cartier for a clutch shot with just five second remaining to tie the score at 69. The second overtime was hard-fought the whole way through. Cartier scored seven for the Chargers and Branden Maughmer put up seven of his own for Cedarville. In a game filled with clutch shots, none was bigger than the Charger’s final bucket of the game. With 20 seconds remaining, the Chargers clung to a one-point lead. As the shot clock wound down, Cartier found Larson for a one-dribble sidestep, dagger three. The program’s best threepoint shooter of all time delivered when it mattered, giving the Chargers their 12th win of the season. Prior to their victory over Cedarville, the Chargers

played in their first home game of the season with fans in the stands. They dominated Lake Erie College from the tip. Like many of their games this season, they jumped out to a hot start, opening the game on a 19-3 run and entering halftime with a 21 point lead. The exclamation point of the half came with 30 second left, when senior center Austen Yarian blocked Jackson Burdyshaw’s 3-point shot attempt. Senior forward Davis Larson grabbed the rebound and found Yarian on a long outlet pass, who cocked the ball back with one hand and punched it in for an emphatic dunk over a Lake Erie defender. “After that dunk I had in the first half, hearing everybody cheering gave us a lot of momentum going into halftime, and helped us come out and get it done in the second half,” Yarian said. In the second half, Yarian added a one-handed alley-oop dunk to his highlight reel, getting the crowd excited yet again on the receiving end of one of senior guard Connor Hill’s five assists. The Chargers used a 23-point, 10-rebound double double from Cartier and a 19-point performance from

Golf

Yarian to keep a 15-point lead over Lake Erie for much of the game, finishing with a final score of 77-63. Only two days later, Cartier put up 29 points, earning his third G-MAC Player of the Week award of the season, becoming the first men’s basketball player in Hillsdale history to perform such a feat. Cartier accounted for more than half of the team’s total 57 points against Ohio Dominican University, and his family was in town to see it all. The first half, however, did not see the hot start that the Chargers were used to putting up. They led by just three points at halftime, with Cartier and Yarian being their only players with made field goals. At 1-13 from behind the three-point line, the team was shooting 27% under their season average. “We got a lot of really good shots in the first half, we just didn’t make them,” Head Coach John Tharp said. “I told these guys to relax a little bit, and just be confident and let it go, let’s play inside out. I think in the second half we did that.” Despite their first half struggles, the Chargers defined their 16-point win on the defensive end. They held

ODU to just 30.6% shooting from the field, their best statistical defensive performance of the season. “I thought Larson and Hill, the two seniors, on Saturday played great,” Tharp said. “Statistically maybe their numbers weren’t great, but they just played a tremendous defensive game.” The second half proved to be a whole different game for the Chargers. They opened the half on a 15-6 run, forcing four turnovers during that stretch. ODU committed 11 turnovers in the second half, and 19 total, off of which the Chargers scored 18 points, including 6 fastbreak points. The Chargers also held ODU to both zero points off of turnovers, and zero fastbreak points. “We always say some of the best transition defense we can have is running a good offense and getting good shots,” Cartier said. “If you’re running and chucking early in the shot clock, that’s when teams can get out and run on you.” The Chargers used their defense, Cartier’s career performance, and a 13-point, six-rebound game from Yarian to secure a 57-41 win over ODU following a strong

second half. Yarian’s 13 points included three made threes, following a game against Lake Erie where he also hit three threes. “That’s huge, when we have him making shots. It’s super important when Austen plays the way that he played last week,” Tharp said. Hillsdale will attempt to finish out the week with a win against the University of Findlay on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. Saturday marks the second matchup between the Oilers and Chargers, and the last time gave the Chargers their only loss of the year back on Jan. 2. Entering this week, Tharp said he made a point for the players to know that the team’s mindset should stay constant. “For us, we have to stick to the formula of having that defense-first montra, that’s what I definitely think that strength of our team is,” Cartier said. “If we just keep blocking out on defense and keep running our offense and getting good looks, I think we should be able to come up with a couple of wins this week.”

Softball

Charger golf travels to Chargers open season in Ohio SoCal for training trip By | Megan Williams Collegian Reporter

By | Ryan Goff Senior Reporter Over the weekend, the Hillsdale College golf team made a tour of southern California to escape the Michigan winter and start gearing up for the spring tournament season. The Chargers played qualifying rounds at Jack Nicklaus Course at PGA West, the Stadium Course at PGA West, and La Quinta Golf Course in Palm Springs, California. The golfers welcomed the chance to play demanding courses that the pros played just last week. “That was a really good start of the season,” senior George Roberts said. “Ah crickey, not being able to hit balls on grass for the last

five months was obviously a challenge, but I think it was a necessary one. “Because they played the tour event last week, the course was very demanding,” he said. “The greens were still rolling 12 on the stimp. They were rock-solid. It was brutal out there.” In a sport played outdoors, the Chargers used the trip to acclimate to warm weather and work around the greens. Their indoor flight simulator back on campus can’t provide an alternative before the spring season kicks off at the St. Leo Invitational in Dade City, Florida on Feb. 22. “It was good to knock the rust off before diving straight into Florida in three weeks. I think we all got exposed a little bit so it showed us where

we need to improve if we want to succeed this season,” sophomore Josh Davenport said. “You can get away with a lot of stuff on the courses we normally play, whereas with these, anything that wasn’t perfect you were punished for.” Head coach Matt Thompson said the unforgiving setups of the PGA West courses challenges golfers to be more accurate and methodical from tee to green. “If you play tough courses, you start to get better and it makes everything seem easier,” Thompson said. “Hopefully our confidence level is still up and we learn from it so when we play the courses in the spring everything will seem a little bit easier.”

The Hillsdale College softball team will begin its season today in Toledo, Ohio, with an exhibition game against Tiffin University at 11 am. Head coach Kyle Gross said he has been forced to reschedule this game twice because of the opponents’ cancelations due to COVID-19. “Hopefully that’s not a theme for the season,” Gross said. “A team could be out any week due to COVID, so I think that will be one of the biggest challenges, but we’re prepared to play. If we’re healthy and if there’s a healthy team and a safe venue to play, then we’re going to be there.” The Chargers will be traveling to northern Georgia for a tournament this weekend, where they’ll play the host team, University of

North Georgia, on Feb. 13 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., followed by the University of West Florida on Feb. 14.These will be top-notch opponents, as the University of North Georgia is ranked third in the NCAA Division II, and the University of West Florida was a top-eight finisher in the last College World Series. Freshman catcher McKenna Eichholz said she and her teammates are ooking forward to the opportunity to play especially because they weren’t able to have a season last year. “Our coach has done a really good job making sure that we’re actually going to play,” Eichholz said. “He did his best to really fill our season instead of having games that constantly get canceled.” Having been almost a whole year since their last game, Gross explained that this factor could easily be one of the Chargers’ biggest

challenges this year. Junior third-baseman Elaine Townley seconded how the length of time between the team’s last game and now will be a factor. “Adjusting to being back together and live competition will be a challenge,” Townley said. “We’ve seen the same pitchers over and over again, and we haven’t gotten to hit on an actual field or see that view. It’s going to be a huge adjustment back, it is every year, but especially now since we haven’t had an actual game.” Understanding the obstacles that the softball team will face this year, Gross said his team is optimistic and can’t wait to see what this year has in store. “Amidst all the craziness of this season, I am super excited to get into it and I think it’s going to be an amazing season,” Gross said.

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January 4, 2021

Hillsdale College hosted the second annual Curate Summit on Jan. 30. Haley Strack | Collegian

Second Curate Summit encourages real feminity By | Gennie O’Gara Collegian Reporter

In a room of women furiously scribbling notes on her advice for healthy dating, Elizabeth Schlueter gave a perfection description of the second annual Curate Summit: “Real femininity is as diverse as particular women.” A variety of speakers joined the female population of Hillsdale college on Saturday, Jan. 30 to share their passions and give advice. Doctors, teachers, wives, mothers, and businesswomen spoke on topics ranging from physical and emotional health to mentorship, a woman’s role in the workplace, and friendships. Curate gave students a chance to step away from school for a day and celebrate their unique gifts. Flowers, t-shirts, and music greeted women as they walked in. In the downstairs lobby of the Searle Center, women got in touch with their creative sides by constructing vision boards, planting wildflower seeds, posing at the photo booth, or simply taking an opportunity to chat with friends over coffee and pastries. There were also stations to write notes of Senior Sarah Nolting’s production, “Death and Renewal,” will premiere this weekend. Andrew Dixon | Collegian

encouragement, or send thank you cards. Five break out sessions over the course of the day gave women the freedom to choose the topics most interesting to them. Here are my five favorite quotes from the Curate experience: “Healthy boundaries make generous people.” Katherine Rick, an adjunct piano instructor at Hillsdale College, explained that boundaries are inherently part of reality, and that good boundaries are born out of love, not selfishness. She contrasted Galatians 6:2, which commands Christians to “carry each other’s burdens” with the message found a few verses later that “each man should carry his own load.” We have a responsibility to help the people in our lives, but we can’t control everything — only God can do that. Some duties, like getting enough sleep or writing a pa-

per can’t be done for us. Those are loads we need to carry for ourselves. “Where your God-given gifts intersect with a need in your world, therein lies your purpose.” In an extremely humorous talk, Hillsdale Academy

common symptoms of grief, such as difficulties sleeping or eating, feelings of regret, loneliness, and guilt, and avoided her feelings when they became too much. She provided an opportunity for women to talk about grief they’ve dealt with, and gave tips to friends who want to help, such as listening without advising, or doing little things without being asked. “Real marriages are made and chosen. They are not won.” Contrary to movie-romances, finding a soul-mate isn’t like drawing the winning card out of a deck; it takes work. Homemaker Elizabeth Schlueter discussed how to date for a healthy marriage. The primary purpose of dating is to clearly know a person, and that before a person can date, he or she needs to develop strong relationships with God, family, and friends. Strong womanhood means leaving space for men to take initiative, and for a relationship to grow naturally. Each woman, endowed with a “fem-

“Real femininity is as diverse as particular women” drama teacher Kathryn Wales shared her experience of seeking mentorship and eventually becoming a mentor herself. She defined a mentor as an experienced and trusted advisor who is farther ahead on a path you would like to go down. Good mentors teach us to see the world and our gifts accurately. We can be blind to

Senior Ariannah Gaiser’s production, “Lies,” will premiere this weekend. Andrew Dixon | Collegian

‘Moving back to America’: By | Emma Cummins Senior Reporter

Seniors debut capstone performances journey started her freshman year when she participated in an one-act play written by a senior that year. “I really enjoyed it and was really proud of the student who did the work and I thought, you know, it would be cool to at least have the opportunity to do something like this,” she said. Gaiser described the playwriting class as a great experience which gave her “the chance to hone something I had only done by myself before.” She studied under retired professor of theatre George Angell, and said he was a great source of feedback. His advice helped her own her ideas and fight for her work, she said. “He would always preface his feedback with ‘this is my opinion’ and that will be anything anyone ever says about your work is ‘opinion’ and it’s up to you to decide whether you take it or not,” Gaiser said. For her play, Gaiser sought to write a work that was highly stylized to give it a different sort of feel than regular theatre. The plot revolves around two detectives, one of whom has the unique ability to detect lies, as they investigate a mysterious cult. “I wanted to see, what

spoke about grief. Everyone will experience loss, or witness someone they love struggling with grief at some point, and Whitford spoke about what she learned from her own experience of grieving in college after her father died. “Pain in life is normal and natural,” she said. Whitford went through

inine genius,” must be aware that God entrusts the human person to her in a special way. “Try new things. Own it when you fail. Own it when you succeed. Humility is agreeing with God about who He made you to be.” Tori Petersen, a non-profit founder and executive, challenged women to be vulnerable. The walls we put up in relating to others only serve to limit our perspectives and create barriers between people. Vulnerability, while uncomfortable, begins to heal brokenness and lead us closer to God. Peterson emphasized asking hard questions fearlessly, but also being willing to answer those same questions fully and openly. As the stress of a new semester begins to unfold, Curate gave women across campus a chance to connect with each other and grow in wisdom. Each woman has different gifts and struggles, but, like wildflowers, the woman around me at Hillsdale are unique and beautiful. And Curate was just a reminder of that.

Hillsdale families join exodus from urban living

Two years in the making: By | Meg Patrick Collegian Freelancer For senior theatre majors Ariannah Gaiser and Sarah Nolting, procrastination could not be the answer to their senior capstone projects. These projects were two years in the making, and though they were cancelled last Spring due to COVID, the shows will be available to all audiences this weekend, Feb. 4-6. Nolting’s “Death and Renewal” will run Feb. 4 and 6 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Gaiser’s “Lies” will run Feb. 5 and 6 with performances at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. Gaiser’s performance will be an hour-long play reading of “Lies,” which Gaiser wrote herself and draws on the film noir era of the 1930s. “I’m drawn towards film and TV, so, when I write you can even see it in a lot of my stage directions,” Gaiser said. “I’m thinking very visually, sometimes outside the constraints of the play…I was actually interested in taking something that would seem to be more like a television show and put it on the stage to see a different piece of art that you could create.” Gaiser’s playwriting

our own toxic patterns, and mentors provide tough love and direction. “Friendship involves catching people on the bounce, after they’ve hit the ground.” In a more somber session, alumna Alex Whitford, an account manager at DRTV,

would a person who could tell lies be like in a world where it’s pretty normal to not be honest all the time?” Gaiser said. Playing alongside “Lies,” comes Sarah Nolting’s directorial debut, “Death and Renewal” is divided into two short plays titled “The Drunken Sisters” by American playwright Thornton Wilder, and “The Exorcism” by Eugene O’Neill. Both run about half an hour each. Unlike its name suggests, “The Exorcism” has less to do with demonic possession and more to do with a deep catharsis experienced by the characters, and by extension the audience. O’Neill’s play concerns a disillusioned young man whose friends seek to explain the beauty still left in the world. “It’s really more like being exorcised by the evils within you, not necessarily anything supernatural, but sadness and things like that,” Nolting said. “The Drunken Sisters,” is more lighthearted and meant to relieve the heavier tones of “The Exorcism” while still exploring the same themes of death and renewal. In it, the Greek god Apollo seeks to save the life of his mortal friend, King Admetus, and in the

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The distance between Bartlett, Illinois and Fairhope, Alabama is 950 miles. About a 13 and a half hour drive by car. To the Troyke family, moving from Illinois to Alabama felt like “moving back to America.” “They took a trip to Fairhope and people were normal. They weren’t afraid of eachother. No one was in your face about masks. That was as much as anyone needed,” senior Max Troyke said. “We can’t wait to get the hell out of

Ian Renkes moved from D.C. to Jackson, Wyoming. Courtesy | Ian Renkes

dodge. ” This is just one of the few anecdotal accounts of students whose families have moved for social, political and economic reasons. Draconian lockdown measures, Black Lives Matter protests, and ever increasing restrictions on personal life have led some to take flight to more conservative states. Troyke is one of two siblings. After his sister started college and his parents began to look forward to retirement, the family looked into moving out of the Midwest. “They just wanted out of the Midwest. They wanted warmer weather,” Trokye said. “The vibe of Fairhope is people preparing to retire. My parents are kind of in that

stage and preparing for it.” However, a warmer temperature was not the only reason, said Trokye. “A big thing was taxes. Property taxes are ridiculously lower in Fairhope,” he said. “Illinois’ government is very corrupt.” The last sign his parents needed was a trip to Fairhope, where the family got to see life seemingly untouched by coronavirus. “Coronavirus is a serious thing, but if you protect the elderly the vast majority of businesses can open,” Trokye said. “That was a huge thing

Max Troyke moved from Chicago to rural Alabama. Courtesy | Max Troyke

for me in Fairhope. Seeing people walking around, holding hands, sitting down and eating together. Doing what people are hardwired to do. Social, happy, productive people. In terms of a culture thing, that’s a huge part of it. It’s a lot different from Illinois.” The family moved down in October of last year. “I’m happy for my parents,” Trokye said. “My dad is happier already. They deserved to be more comfortable.” Senior Claire Froman, though her family moved pre-coronavirus, wanted to escape the violence of Chicago, especially after Froman’s grandfather was mugged by gang members as part of an initiation rite in 2008. Fro-

man’s grandfather eventually died from the head wound inflicted. “That was the deciding factor,” Froman said. “It’s killing us and it’s actually killing our family.” Froman’s father, who worked two jobs, struggled to provide for a family of five because of the exorbitant property taxes. “The property and income taxes are insane,” Froman said. “My dad said to himself, ‘The money that I’m making is not coming back to me.’ We have five kids and he was working so hard. Moving

Ethan Tong moved from Chicago to McKinney, Texas. Courtesy | Ethan Tong

to Ohio, he already feels so much less stressed, and they were able to buy a house with a lot of land.” Though the Froman family lived in the suburbs of Chicago, Froman has two aunts who live in Chicago proper. Visiting them often meant the family spent time in Chicago. The violence of the city, especially Black Lives Matter violence, also created stress for the family. “There’s even more violence that’s being justified by the causes of Black Lives Matter,” Froman said. The family eventually moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in April of 2016. They are better

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B2 February 4, 2021

Paul and Adam Lindauer performed together at Isaac Dell ‘18 is teaching a four week Concert on the Quad. | Facebook plaster-casting course this semester. Courtesy | Isaac Dell

By | Brooke Hillis Collegian Freelancer Isaac Dell is proof that being a part of the Hillsdale community doesn’t end when the cap and gown come off. But instead of sitting at a desk, Dell is at the front of the classroom teaching students. Dell has taught several sculpture classes for the college in the past but this time he is instructing a plaster casting class. The course will run for four weeks. “It’s not the most glamorous of the art classes, but a necessary one,” Dell said.“It’s an essential aspect of sculpture, just as stretching the canvas for oil painting. The sculpture is not applicable until you get it into a form that will last.” Casting involves creating an inverse mold of a sculpture that was originally molded from clay or another malleable material. This can then be filled with a stronger material like metal or plastic to reproduce the original design. Dell explained that he hopes his students will understand the basic idea of casting through his class. “Plaster cast is sometimes called the practical art,” Dell said. “It takes a certain level of craft and knowledge, and hard work but, there’s one basic objective, which is to copy your sculpture and get it over into a different medium that is not as malleable.” Dell enjoys that people from all different backgrounds and majors take his class. “It is a wide variety of students that are learning how to communicate the importance of how to look at form and sculpture,” Dell said. It is a great challenge, but it is a lot of fun to figure out.” Dell’s current class comes with more challenges. “Just like with any field like there are the fun aspects of it and there are the parts you enjoy, but there’s also the nitty-gritty tasks that you

Moving from B1

for it, according to Froman. “My mom feels safer, especially with all the violence that happened this year. The lockdowns have been a lot less severe compared to what people have had to deal with in Chicago,” she said. “They are a lot happier. It took a year or two but I think they’re fine now.” Sophomore Ethan Tong is also from Chicago, but his family of eight (parents included) decided to move to McKinney, Texas. The primary pull was his dad’s new job in Texas. However, the family also wanted to escape the taxes, weather, traffic, potholes, violence, etc. Tong’s father owns two buildings, and their property taxes were skyrocketing. “Chicago compensates for its losses through property taxes,” Tong said. “My dad wanted to get out of there.” Tong’s parents flew back to Chicago after the move to work on selling the properties. While there, they saw a taste of what they were missing. “The highway that went to our buildings was blocked off because of BLM protests.

just have to put your nose to the grindstone and work through.” Dell didn’t always know he wanted to make his living off art. During his freshman year at Hillsdale, Dell, like many students, had doubts about what career he wanted to follow. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Dell said. “But I knew I always liked creating things. With that understanding of myself, I came [to Hillsdale] thinking that I would go into engineering, so I took a lot of math and physics classes.” Dell’s plans began to change during his sophomore year when he signed up for his first sculpture class at the college. “That experience showed me that I liked the more artistic side of design rather than the mathematical or physics side,” Dell said. “That’s when I decided that I wanted to pursue something more in the visual arts.” In 2018 Dell graduated from Hillsdale College with an art degree. “2017 was going to be the end of my four years, but I was able to get a scholarship to stay for a fifth year where I pretty much took only art classes for an entire year,” Dell said. “From [that] experience I was able to just have that much stronger of a footing in the arts for when I leave.” Assistant Professor of Art Julio Suarez, said it was Dell’s work ethic that stood out to him. “It was clear to me that he had the qualities that we would like our students to have, which is number one, just being a hard worker,” Suarez said. And, Dell was a curious student. ‘He had a very good attitude about learning,” Suarez said. “The type of drawing I teach is closely related to painting. And that’s a very specific way of approaching

drawing. Even though he was a sculptor, he was very open to learning new things and seeing things maybe a little bit different.” Only a year after graduating, Dell transitioned from being a student at the college to the one teaching in the front of the classroom. Dell shadowed Professor of art Anthony Frudakis’ classes, but when Frudakis went on sabbatical, Dell took on the role of professor for the first time in the spring of 2019. “I do not doubt that he’s doing a good job,” Suarez said. “He’s just a very good personality and very friendly and relatable.” Outside of the classroom, Dell is finding the balance between commissioned work and building his personal portfolio. “Commissioned sculpture is for the most part someone else’s idea,” he said. “I put it into form, so it’s more of a collaborative effort in a commission. Whereas when I’m just building up my portfolio is my own work. That’s more my originality.” Dell said his inspiration comes from nature. From plants to the human figure, Dell said that there are “ different forms that lend themselves to different meanings or different ideas.” But the biggest challenge of a new artist is creating his own original style — and meeting financial needs, Dell said. “I find myself constantly bouncing ideas around about how I can create a business that [encompasses] my skills and interests,” Dell said. Junior and art major Ashton Mills praises Dell’s passion. “Seeing people like Isaac and his success helps solidify my decision to major in art,” said Mills. “It’s awesome to see him continue to pursue his passions.”

It was definitely taking over Chicago, which is another reason why my parents wanted to get out of there,” he said. Tong also said that the cost of living was better in Texas and that the environment is more welcoming. “We have a tiny house in Chicago and it got expanded to a very large house in Texas,” he said. “Texas is a better climate for getting exposed to a different view than in Chicago. The people are nicer in Texas. I enjoy the state more because it’s cleaner and better weather.” Junior Ian Renkes has a bit more complicated of a story. His mother and father lived in Jackson Hole Wyoming, the “Beverly Hills of Wyoming,” as Renkes described it. However, Renkes’ father, worked as Attorney General for Alaska, went on for a stint in the private sector, and then moved to D.C. to work for the government. Renkes’ mom decided to stay in Wyoming because she liked her job as a shooting instructor and the community. “We really enjoyed the community where we are in Wyoming. That was probably

one of the biggest reasons we didn’t move,” Renkes said. “Moving to Virginia would have been tough not only because of the ties but also the uncertainty of how long this government job would last given my dad’s goals and future.” The family will ultimately end up back together, as Renkes’ father has taken a job that allows him to spend more time in Wyoming. Though moving and staying always carry a host of influences and causes, Renkes was sure to mention that the pace of life in Wyoming made a difference. “I was late to school because a couple of these ranchers had cattle that had gotten onto the highway,” he said. “Trying to get through the cattle was a Ferrari. There are two diametrically opposed cultures in Jackson Hole. We’re definitely with the ranchers. That’s more of who we are. They’re the people we assimilate with the best, which is also part of why we don’t want to move to a big city. We feel more at home in Wyoming than in the middle of a big city.”

Faculty concert ‘pulls out all stops’ By | Aubrey Gulick Collegian Reporter

Professor offers new plaster-casting course

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Last Friday night, the music department pulled out all the stops during a faculty recital in Christ Chapel, featuring trumpet professor Chris McCourry and guest artist and organist Judy Kabodian. McCourry and Kabodian’s performance presented a unique mixture of organ and trumpet with a program featuring mostly baroque music from composers such as Bach and Telemann. They concluded their concert with a 20th century piece which included a chorus composed of trumpets played by students Ethan Buehrer and James Wasylyshyn, and trombones played by Gregory Clement and Avery Miller. When McCourry decided he wanted to perform trumpet alongside the chapel organ, the college reached out to Kabodian, who has played

for churches in the greater Lansing area for 50 years, after receiving her degree in organ performance from Michigan State University. “I felt like she could manipulate the instrument and get so much dynamic out of it that I did not know it was capable of,” junior Ellen Hancock said. “It was cool to watch them interact and communicate.” McCourry is not only the director of the jazz ensembles Big Band and Little Band, but he is also a trumpet professor. He steps away from jazz once a year to put on a classically oriented performance. “With as much teaching we do, and as much directing as he does and organizing, that’s hard to pull off,” James Holleman, chair of the music department said. “He challenges himself every year and brings out a very difficult repertoire.” One of the pieces featured was Giuseppe Tartini’s “Concerto in Re” for trumpet and

orchestra, with the orchestra part played by the organ. The piece was recorded by French trumpeter Maurice André in St. Martin in the Fields church in London, which Christ Chapel was modeled after. That recording was a deep source of inspiration for McCourry. “Me and my buddy, we wore that thing out, and all that remains of it is in my studio is just the front cover; now that the record is gone, it’s just the front cover,” McCourry said. McCourry’s performance was the first of the spring semester, and the ninth concert in the 2020-2021 season, which has been restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s nice to have live music with a live audience again,” said Professor James Holleman, chair of the music department. “It’s really nice to explore the acoustics of Christ Chapel with trumpet and organ.”

Digital Fashion Week lacks shock factor By | Isabella Redjai Senior Reporter everything this past year, the annual New York Fashion Week will be occurring on an online platform, from Sunday, Feb. 14 to Thursday, Feb. 18, due to the upending and never-ending coronavirus pandemic. New York Fashion Week occurs twice a year — once in February, again in September — in the heart of New York City. But NYFW will look different this year. Women’s Wear Daily describes the upcoming fashion week as “mostly digital, with some exceptions.” The format of runway shows will vary among designers: some will be live-to-tape, and others will be by-appointment-only private shows. The NYFW website provides online audiences with panels, workshops and tutorials, galleries and designer lookbooks, fashion films, and behindthe-scenes content to make up for the virtual nature of the event. Although the event will be mostly online, recordings and some in-person shows will still take place at Spring Studios, the traditional New York City venue for NYFW. It is clear that IMG, owner of The Shows and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, is trying to make things as normal as possible while allowing designers the most important event of the year for the industry. But trying may not be enough for fashion week to have its impact and memorability as it once had in the Before Times. Some designers will seize the current global crisis by showcasing mask designs and making fashion relevant for what life looks like in 2021, but this may be received only as a bad memory for most of the fashion world’s clientele. An online fashion week loses much of its striking and perhaps even shock factors as it converts to an online platform. IMG will do what they can to make fashion week happen, but often it’s what happens outside the actual shows that creates the thrill around NYFW. Influencers, celebrities, models, and designers traditionally roll up to Spring

Theatre from B1

process encounters the ancient Fates, three immortals with the power to determine life and death. Both seniors said time was the main obstacle to their projects. Gaiser said that it was hard to figure out how the plot wove together, and then to write it in enough time. Nolting said that scheduling issues around all the actors and their various classes and

Studios in their black Escalade sporting their newest collection and latest style trends, while the paparazzi snaps photos of their street style looks. For anyone who consumes this content, it’s the style outside of the venue of NYFW which tends more toward what is practical and accessible for the average fashionista, and this is what influences popular fashion rather than the displays inside the venue. Without the ability for hundreds of style icons, from Alexa Chung to Victoria Beckham, to come together at the Mecca of fashion and sport the new-

“When someone has experienced the power of sitting at the runway, an online platform will just never compare” est trends, fashion connoisseurs know very little about what people are wearing in the candid. Many fellow designers, models, and celebrities praise the remarkable effect of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in that front row of a runway show, seeing Anna Wintour from afar, and feeling fully immersed into the vision of a designer. Some designers, from Dior to Saks to Calvin Klein, have attempted to encapsulate museums, gardens, or exotic travel destinations within their shows, building the atmosphere of the venue with their collection for the season. The loud, booming runway music cues, and the models with their tucked cheeks, intimidating stare, extracurriculars made it difficult to find time to practice. In both plays, Nolting said she wanted to explore a “unique American perspective” by asking the questions: “how do we deal with struggles? How do we deal with suffering? Each play sort of responds in its own way, and each character responds in their own way.” Concerning the audition process, Nolting

strut out to reveal the designer’s collections. It is this initial entrance and power of being in the atmosphere of a runway show, seeing the designer’s collection for the first time as everyone else, and even seeing the familiar faces of Gigi and Bella Hadid, Cindy Crawford’s daughter Kaia Gerber, or Kendall Jenner that makes fashion week a spiritual experience for those infatuated with fashion. Onlookers can now watch from the convenience of their home the newest collections and looks of the spring season, but without being physically present, the runway shows may entrance few people. This takes away from what makes fashion a moving art, both literally and metaphorically. When someone has experienced the power of sitting at a runway show, an online platform will just never compare. In a time where society is constantly consuming virtual glory and gore on our devices by watching a movie or television series, digital platforms still cannot provide that heart-racing, heavy-breathing, jaw-dropping punch that an in-person, immersive experience can have. The same can be said for fashion week. Take e-commerce, for instance. When shopping online, it’s very easy to look at your cart and convince yourself that the clothes you picked out “aren’t that cute,” simply because you can’t physically see and feel those objects. Shopping in person, on the other hand, you see something, you feel it, touch it, put it on, and you think you look good. Heck, you do. And then, it’s even harder to give up that perfect item that you’ve just realized you can’t live without. The immersive experience of NYFW that thrills the five senses will be lost this spring with a mostly digital show, just as so many other events this past year have been. But in the meantime, we can enjoy the accessibility of NYFW, as we wear our pajamas this year and plan our outfits for next year.

said that she “was looking for people who would be capable of taking a script, were willing to memorize over break, and come back ready to take it on.” She said that casting and picking the right team of actors contributes to 80% of a director’s tasks. “The most important job a director has is understanding the play and exploring the possibilities of it,” Nolting added.

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February 4, 2021 B3

If you want love, study it first

How Nathan Schlueter’s newest course teaches students not to shy away from love, sex, and marriage

By | Haley Strack Assistant Editor “What is the point or purpose of human sexuality? How are we supposed to think about it? This has been a question for philosophers. Tell me one movie you’ve seen in which love interest isn’t somehow central to it.” The litany of romance-obsessed movies proves Professor of Philosophy and Religion Nathan Schlueter’s point: from classics like “Casablanca,” to action films like “The Lord of the Rings,” or even cultural favorites like “Harry Potter,” love is all around us. Hillsdale is notorious for its commitment to the higher things, but few professors have deigned to approach a subject as complicated as love. Schlueter is the exception. His course “Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Marriage” reflects “the College’s commitment to teaching ‘timeless truths about the human condition’ along ‘such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils,’” according to the course’s catalogue description. And although love, sex, and marriage are topics we’re all familiar with, Schlueter dives into the mysterious nature of all three. “There is no longer a script in our culture for how to find and choose a mate, and then keep it,” Schlueter said. “The script is gone. And you see the confusion that people don’t know what the process is, the cultural norms, practices, rights, or rituals that used to be there to help guide our reason and judgment: They’re just gone.” Sophomore Matthias Rhein has observed the gradual loss of the “dating” script in newer generations. “As far as I understand, ever since the breakdown of the calling system, there’s not been a set in stone structure, or a script for young people to find a spouse,” Rhein said. “It’s all improv. There’s no regularized standard for how people should act in romantic relationships, so that means that every person has to live up to a standard that doesn’t

exist.” The invisible standard creates questions that Schlueter’s class aims to answer, like: What is erotic love? What is sexual desire? Is there something distinctively human in it, or is it merely an “animal appetite”? What are the moral norms governing sexual desire? What is the best way to find and win the right person for marriage? “A vast portion of our lives are preoccupied with these questions. They should be at the very center of our curriculum given their centrality. We all come from families, we come from marriages, and we go forth to those,” Schlueter said. Obviously, these aren’t easy questions to answer — and they’re more difficult for college-aged students. But in these years of formation, Schlueter said, these are subjects students need to learn. “One part of a liberal arts education is self-knowledge,” Schlueter said. “This aspect of ourselves is not accidental. God made sexuality to be one of the most central aspects of our own identity and self understanding. It’s central to who we are and so it demands a lot of reflection.” Luckily, students who took Schlueter’s class last fall are further along writing that script than most. “Good dating is knowing what you want in a relationship before you go into one,” Rhein said. “You should definitely talk it out with the other person, but you should know the values and expectations you have so you can be up front about them, rather than sort of discovering them as you go. That seems very unreliable because people can come in with very mixed expectations.” Sophomore John Paul Schlueter had personal ties to the course — and not just because his uncle is teaching it. “When my dad was in seminary, by studying theology of the body, he discovered his vocation. When he met my mom, my mom was obsessed with Pope John Paul II and ‘Theology of the Body,’” John Paul said. “They got married and wanted my name to be

John Paul. I knew about ‘Theology of the Body’ and the basics, but as I was reading it, I realized that without this, I wouldn’t be here.” But John Paul’s journey of self-discovery went further than the theoretical ideas he learned. For him, it was an insight into the practical application of how to better love God’s creation.

Even more important is the audience who have been helped by Schlueter’s course. Understanding sexuality can be embarrassing, awkward, and shameful. The beauty of the course, however, is how it pushes students to accept parts of themselves they otherwise might not have. “In truth, I get students that are struggling with vari-

“I realized even more that we are not made for mediocre relationships, but that because we’re made in the image and likeness of God, our relationships are meant to be things that reflect that,” John Paul said. “In that class, you’re able to study what that means and what it means to cherish another person as a person and not just as somebody you’re interested in. Realizing the value of somebody, and what it means to protect that and cherish that and lay it on the line for that in such a way that you’re giving glory to God and not just yourself.” It’s understanding those human relationships that’s made Schlueter’s course so successful — and students are grateful. “I get letters, I get emails, I get wedding invitations from students from a whole variety of different religious faiths and perspectives who express gratitude for the course,” Schlueter said.

ous things, but their vulnerability has been great,” Schlueter said. “Brock Lutz and I work together to deal with a lot of those things, whether it be porn addiction, same-sex attraction, all kinds of things. If we’re going to truly care about people, we need to have a way in which people can deal with those things, and not be simply so ashamed of them that they never want to deal with them.” A topic like sexuality is a source of shame for many. Junior Aidan Cyrus said that growing up, he didn’t consider sexuality to be an inherent good. “I grew up with an almost puritanical mindset, with an Augustinian view of sex, where it’s always perverted by lust even in marriage because of sin,” Cyrus said. “There is a mystery to it in that it’s not something you can understand, but something you can seek to understand.” With age, Catholicism,

By |Allison Schuster Associate Editor Hillsdale College students have been using the term “ring by spring” for years to describe the perennial phenomenon of seniors getting engaged prior to graduation. This year has proven no different, even so early in the spring semester. Already, there are around 25 seniors who are either engaged or married. Although typical for

men and 28 years for women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But youth hasn’t stopped seniors such as Jonathan Meckel, age 21, and his fiance and junior Allison Moss, age 20, from planning their marriage. Many of Meckel’s closest friends from home — rural, conservative Lincoln, NE — are already married. Being raised in that environment, he said, made the idea of marrying in college natural.

progressed,” he said. “But when I did think about it in high school, it wasn’t like I had to get married young. I thought it’ll come along when it comes along and my life will fit around that.” Never once has Meckel received a comment from someone on campus regarding his young age since getting engaged. Some of his closest friends are engaged as well. The attitude at Hillsdale, Meckel said, is vastly different than he would expect elsewhere. Senior Julia Mullins, however, was very opposed to the idea of getting engaged while at Hillsdale. “I rolled my eyes at the idea of ‘ring by spring,’ like it just absolutely disgusted me. And I had a couple friends last year that were engaged, and even knowing that I was going to marry Cole at that point, I said I will not be that silly senior trying to get through graduation with an engagement ring on her finger. I even swore off wearing the engagement ring in public,” Mullins said. Her perspective finally changed senior year, right before her fiance, Cole McNeely ’19, popped the question. After the moment happened, she said, she became so happy at the prospect of marrying McNeely that her feelings of original disdain for college engagements subsided. “Even though I was very opposed to this whole concept and the idea of getting married basically right out of college, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I’m very ex-

cited about it,” she said. “And for those people reading this article rolling your eyes, that’s OK. You just haven’t found love yet, but when you do, you’ll also want to be married as soon as you can.” U.S. News and World Report reveals, however, Hillsdale bucks the national trend in another way. While Hillsdale remains consistent in the number of engaged seniors it produces, marriage rates among the majority of Americans are declining. “In 2018, the rate fell to 6.5 – the lowest level in the 118-year period covered by the new report and the lowest recorded since 1867, the first year for which federal government data on national marriage is available,” according to the U.S. News and World Report article. With a rough 14% of Hillsdale seniors engaged as graduation slowly approaches, many couples on campus are adjusting to their engagement. According to senior Emma Cummins, the number seems even higher. So many in Cummins’ group of friends are engaged that they formed an engaged girl’s workout group that meets four times per week to get in shape for the big day. Cummins said that waiting to get married, especially when you’ve found the right person, doesn’t make much sense. “I think all of us are mature individuals who see the benefits and beauty of being married. The glamour of the single lifestyle fades very quickly,” she said.

Nathan Schlueter and his family in their Sunday best. Courtesy | Nathan Schlueter

Tossing the cap and tying the knot Senior Emma Cummins and Ethan VIsser ’20 will wed in June. Courtesy | Emma Cummins

Hillsdale, this number is a rarity for most other colleges across the U.S. The median age at which most Americans marry for the first time is 30 years for

“I kind of figured college will start and I will figure that kind of thing out. Then I met her before I came to college and we started dating and things kind of just naturally

and general growth, Cyrus changed his perspective. But it was Schlueter’s class that allowed him to grasp the true significance of human sexuality. “Through the class, you can make these sort of things intelligible, you’re able to at least, hopefully, start to practice directing your own sexuality toward the good

things that we talk about, like toward total goodwill to others, whether you’re in a relationship or just towards your friends,” Cyrus said. “You end up seeing them as goods, in and of themselves, and wanting what’s best for them.” Senior Natalie Kent has been in a successful relationship for eight years. Although both Kent and her partner were raised in the Catholic faith and had an understanding of the importance of sexuality, Schueter’s course helped them understand why. “The best part of the class was learning and coming to understand more deeply why I believe what I believe,” Kent said. “A lot of the information that we encountered throughout the class wasn’t necessarily unfamiliar, but it was such a gift to learn more about the core principles of the Catholic faith and particularly, how important it is to always prioritize the dignity of the

human person.” For Kent, the course took Hillsdale’s mission to the next level of education. “At Hillsdale, we talk all about becoming a lifelong learner. Becoming a lifelong learner doesn’t always have to begin with a new principle,” Kent said. “Oftentimes, the most redemptive part of being a lifelong learner is understanding the core principles of what has impacted people’s lives. The biggest takeaway for me was that at the end of the day, it all comes back to admiration and recognition of the respect that each person is due because of their human nature.” Schlueter isn’t trying to fix the world’s problems, be the next Hillsdale matchmaker, or completely revolutionize the dating scene; he’s trying to push students to understand, recognize, and embrace their sexuality as a force for good. “Some of what we read allows you to see that you can have some confidence that God made this part of us to be good, even if it’s wounded by sin, it’s mysterious and it’s funny — it’s part of the adventure of life to sort of live it and deal with it. There’s a kind of joy in that,” he said. Schlueter plans to teach the course every fall semester. As of now, he said he will open two sections, each with 25 students, for the 2021 fall semester. “I’m not trying to indoctrinate students into some sort of narrow conception of these things. I certainly think there are truths to be taught and embraced, then we go through those in the arguments, and I certainly want them to be equipped,” Schlueter said. “When they leave Hillsdale to deal with the confusion that’s out of the culture they need to be ready for this. But I also think they need to not be afraid of it.” Ultimately, the focus of the class is God: God is love. And hopefully, students who take the class learn that love actually does exist — but that it’s much richer, beautiful, and more meaningful when you understand why.

Lizzie and Evelyn Servold ponder their mother’s career. Courtesy | Maria Servold

from Kids B4

‘I ate philosophy.’ It was actually floss.” “No, I had floss,” Judith said with a laugh. “Why would I eat philosophy?” Marie said she thinks college students probably go outside and play football for fun. “I’ve seen a lot of grownups play,” she said. “They play soccer and all kinds of sports. In winter they like to play snowball fights. Maybe they can make a little igloo cave.” While Margaret was thinking about what games college students play with their friends, Judith yelled, “big red strawberry!” and the two set off giggling. “They play checkers and they play cards,” Margaret said. When asked what college students do for fun, Lizzie said they “play with their kids that they have at home.” Evelyn said college students “play games like ping pong” for fun. Judith said college students “work on philosophy” for fun. Do you want to go to

college?

When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Lizzie said a superhero, an astronomer, and a mom. Evelyn said she hoped to become an artist. Marie said she doesn’t want to go to college because she wants to read books with pictures, which she figured she is not likely to find at college. Elizabeth said she wants to go to college so she can be with her dad during the day. Judith said she didn’t want to go to college because it sounded like a lot of work. “My favorite animal is a horse and I want to be a horse rider,” Margaret said. “You have to live out in the prairie and can have one only if they’re really really well trained.” “Margaret’s my horse,” Judith said. When asked for further comment on her mom’s job, Lizzie gave some astute advice. “Sleep at night time,” she said.

Features

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February 4, 2021

Westblade visited Mount Nemrut in Turkey. Courtesy | Don Westblade

QUICK HITS: Don Westblade Don Westblade is an assistant professor of religion at Hillsdale College

By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor What is one trend from your teenage years you wish would come back? There’s a lot I wish wouldn’t come back. I’m glad we don’t have paisleys and bellbottoms and flower people. I wasn’t very trendy in those days. Skiing was a lot cheaper; I enjoyed that. What is one book you think is underrated? Every book gets somebody who thinks it’s top notch. One book that probably scares people away because of its title is G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” It’s a hilarious book. I’ve given a lot of copies of that book away. What’s one word people use to describe you? Calvinist, by which I mean Calvin and Hobbes. My kids wouldn’t even need a word, they would just roll their eyes at my dad jokes. How do you spell an eye roll? When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? At first I thought I wanted to be a chemist because I thought it would be fun to blow stuff up. In college I wanted to go to law school until I took a law class. I went to seminary to think about the problems, ethically, of being a lawyer:

being hired to do whatever people hire you to do whether you think it’s moral or not. I went to seminary to think about that and I just fell in love with doing theology. What is one thing you believed as a college student that you still believe today?God is good. God is trustworthy. That’s a centerpiece of who I am. What is one thing you believed as a college student you’ve since changed your mind about? I was in a group in college called the Northern Berkshire Community for Nonviolent Alternatives. I still prefer nonviolence, but I probably see more reason for taking up arms than when I was in college. What is one memory from your childhood that stands out to you? I must’ve been kind of clumsy because I had lots of sets of stitches growing up. Those stand out in my memory. Happier moments are just carousing around the neighborhood with my friends. What is the most memorable gift you’ve ever received? I have a few Bibles in my collection that are quite memorable from students and churches where I worked. I suppose God’s gift of children to me is

probably top of the list. What is the sweetest thing one of your kids or grandkids has ever said to you? I have a four year old grandson and sadly he lost his other grandpa. When he calls all of his grandparents by name he says ‘Grandma so-and-so’ and ‘Grandma so-and-so.’ He looked at me and just called me ‘Grandpa grandpa.’ I never anticipated that but I like to be called Grandpa grandpa. What is one thing most people don’t know about you? I had a ZZ Top sort of beard for about 5 years. I was sort of rabbinic and had a lot of authority for a while until I took that off. Do you have any hidden hobbies or talents? I program computers. If you could spend one day with any historical figure who would you choose? Jesus. I’d also love to spend some time with the Apostle Paul. I’ve got some questions for him. I’d love to sit down with Jonathan Edwards. If you won $1 million, how would you spend it? I’d give it away, most of it. Giving things away is the secret of life, for happiness. Have you been on any memorable mission trips? I have sent a lot of student trips from here

to Uganda. We had a student here whose family runs a children’s center in Uganda. She was here in the 90s. From that time on we’ve sent a lot of trips over there, and I finally got to go myself. I’ve been a couple of times and I love the kids who are there. Those have been very memorable to me: the inspiration that those kids are to me, and the miraculous things they’re doing to eliminate fatherlessness in Uganda. Who is someone you’ve always looked up to outside of immediate family? John Piper. He and I have been friends for about 40 years. He’s a pastor in Minnesota who is now retired but he’s written tons of books and has started a ministry called Desiring God Ministries. He’s fairly well known but he was just a fellow seminary student when we first got to know each other. What is one way you hope to impact your students? One thing I want my students to realize when they’re 20 instead of waiting until they’re 80 is that giving yourself away is what makes humans happy. I think that’s why God created us, because he wanted to give himself away. What other reason

would there be? He had all of his needs met so now he just wants to do something fun and overflow like a fountain into other people. Too many people don’t discover that until they’re sitting on top of their pile of gold like Smaug in his lair realizing,

‘This hasn’t made me happy and now I’ve run out of time.’ I try to help my students understand that helping other people with their needs is the greatest aspiration and one of the greatest sources of happiness.

Don Westblade and his wife Joni at their wedding. Courtesy | Don Westblade

‘I ate philosophy’: Professors’ kids describe Hillsdale By | Tracy Wilson Assistant Editor

The people most likely to give a creative review of Hillsdale College are not renowned architects or art connoisseurs. They’re kids. I turned to eight kids aged 4 to 7, each one a child of a Hillsdale College professor, to discover what Hillsdale College looks like through young eyes. What do college professors do all day? According to 3-year-old Elizabeth Gaetano, daughter of associate professor of history Matthew Gaetano, her dad dresses up to get fancy before going to work and checking papers in the work printer. “He has to get dollars so we can eat cake and ice cream,” Elizabeth said. Six-year old Marie Gaetano explained that in order to get money, her dad has to check papers. “So first of all, everyone gets a piece of paper then writes on it,” Marie said. “They give it to Daddy and there’s a little post thingy and they put it in there. Daddy takes it out, puts it in an office, and checks it. He gives it back to the students. Then, after that, if they did anything wrong they give it back to Daddy and if it’s wrong they give it back and it keeps going and going.” She said the students write about important stuff like

going to the library or quitting college. She said her dad probably says to them, “No, no! You can’t quit!” According to 6-year-old Ramsey Stoneman, son of Ethan Stoneman, assistant professor of rhetoric and public address, his dad goes to work and does “computers, coffee, and maybe some peanuts.” His dad teaches “about reality and stuff.” Ramsey and his 4-year-old sister Veera Stoneman tell people that their parents are “doctors of

thinking.” Six-year-old Evelyn Servold, daughter of Maria Servold, assistant director of Dow Journalism Program, said she thinks her mom’s daily activities include grading and teaching students how to make newspapers. Seven-year-old Margaret Schlueter, daughter of professor of philosophy Nathan Schlueter, said she knew her dad taught philosophy, although she clarified she had no idea what that meant.

What is Hillsdale College like? To the youthful eye, the architecture of Hillsdale College may appear to be more colorful than the limestone brickwork visible to most adults. According to Elizabeth, her dad works in a tower with princesses and knights. Veera said Hillsdale College looks like “a pink and purple hospital,” to which her brother Ramsey replied, “well, you are fixing people’s brains.” Margaret took a more realistic approach, and said Hillsdale College looks like a big building and has many desks, just like the classrooms at her school. “It’s next to the new chapel,” Margaret said. “Sometimes, at his window we would shout and he would open his window and throw candy down.” What are college students like?

Elizabeth and Marie Gaetano bundle up for Hillsdale winter. Courtesy | Matthew Gaetano

While it was difficult for some of the kids to describe their parents’ jobs, they were very knowledgeable on the day-to-day lives of college students. Marie said she thinks her dad, who she guessed was 83, teaches 50-year-old students. Margaret and her 5-year-old sister Judith, on the other hand, figured most college

Margaret and Judith Schlueter love collecting flowers. Courtesy | Nathan Schlueter

students were probably about 14. Ramsey guessed “20 and 50,” while Veera just counted from 1 to 5. Apart from making newspapers, 4-year-old Lizzie said she was unsure as to what college students learn about. She said she thought college students likely studied things similar to what she learns about at school. “I learn how to make noodle necklaces like I did today,” Lizzie said. “I learn about letters and numbers.” According to Marie, college

students know everything and read many books, including the Bible and “Little Lord Fauntleroy.” Evelyn said college students learn math facts and read books, most likely with no pictures. Judith said she doubts college students learn about anything other than philosophy. “Really funny story about philosophy,” Margaret said. “Judy has two cavities and she came in and said ‘guess what?’ and Helen said ‘what?’ and she said

See kids B3