Students counted down to midnight in the Grewcock Student Union as homecoming week kicked off with the banner drop Sunday night. Olivia Pero | Collegian
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 148 Issue 7 – October 10, 2024
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Off-Campus Coalition leads homecoming By Skye Graham Collegian Reporter The Off-Campus Coalition leads midway through homecoming week after Sohn Residence won Wednesday’s trivia competition on a tiebreaker question with Kirn “New Dorm” Residence. “We’ll use this momentum to carry us through the rest of homecoming week,” junior and OCC member Charlie Cheng said. “Our goal is to win it, and we’re confident that we will.” OCC is now in first place with 360 points after ranking fourth in trivia, winning the video competition, and ranking second in the banner competition earlier in the week. Sohn currently stands in second place with 285 points, and Simpson Residence ranks
third with 280 points. Wednesday’s trivia night ran more than half an hour over schedule, coming down to a final question between the Sohn and New Dorm teams: “How many tons of treasure were on the Whydah Galley when it was sunk?” The answer was 4.5 tons, and Sohn answered 20 tons. Kirn overestimated by more, according to junior and Sohn team member Olivia Finch. “We were closest, so we ended up in first place,” Finch said. “It was a pretty harrowing experience. Simpson was in first for three rounds, and then suddenly we pulled ahead.” Trivia included questions on pirate history, pirate ship trivia, books and movies about pirates, and sea monsters. Junior and Sohn resi-
Waffle fries on wheels: Chick-fil-A food truck may come to campus in spring By Eleanor Whitaker Assistant Editor A Hillsdale College education may soon come with a side of waffle fries and Zesty Buffalo Sauce as Chick-fil-A and the college work toward bringing a food truck to campus next semester. “The plan right now is to get a food truck to come down and be at sporting events or as a dining option for students and the community to come and purchase food,” said Tyler DeKoekkoek, owner and operator of the Battle Creek Chick-fil-A. Tim Wells, associate vice president for administration, said plans for the food truck have not yet been finalized. “At this point, we are continuing to discuss options and what might be possible and feasible,” Wells said in an email to The Collegian. “A food truck would allow the college community to be the recipient of the Chick-Fil-A product to a greater degree, which I believe would be well received.” Wells said the food truck would be owned by the Battle Creek Chick-fil-A. “Our hope, from what they have shared, is that the Battle Creek store may be awarded one in the 2025 calendar year and given our relationship with that location currently, that we may be able to benefit from it being
at select college events and dates,” Wells said. According to DeKoekkoek, the food truck would likely arrive on campus early next semester, but Chickfil-A is still in discussions with the college right now, and plans are not yet set in stone. “I don’t have a ton of confidence in when exactly it’s gonna happen, but I know the goal is really just to be available second semester,” DeKoekkoek said. DeKoekkoek said the food truck will offer a wide range of food items from the Chick-fil-A menu, and students may have an opportunity to be employed on the truck. “If and when, really just when, the food truck comes into action, the hope and plan is to have students work on the food truck, which will hopefully create excitement around the brand,” DeKoekkoek said. DeKoekkoek said to start, the food truck will not be available every day on campus. “I think the goal is to come more often than the Chick-fil-A in the dining hall, but I know that is a conversation that the college and Chick-fil-A is having together,” DeKoekkoek said.
See CFA A2
dent assistant Abi Laiming said the team studied for an hour in A.J.’s before the event. The team’s best category was pirate history, she said, but Finch got almost every question in the sea monsters category correct. “Olivia knows an incredible amount about Greek mythology and other kinds of mythology,” Laiming said, “so she rocked the sea creatures section.” While waiting for the final results, Finch said the Sohn team started doing the macarena to the Jeopardy theme song for five minutes. “I’m pretty sure we were descending into madness,” Finch said. Laiming said either team could have won the competition. “It was literally a coin flip,” she said.
Cheng collaborated with junior Joshua Burnett to direct and film OCC’s winning video, released on Instagram Tuesday. Cheng said the video was inspired by a humorous ad from the TV Show “The Sopranos” called “Life is Short.” “It’s essentially a dark humor ad encouraging people to try something new everyday,” Cheng said. “I thought the same idea could be applied to pirates very well.” Despite not being in the lead midway through the week, junior Jonathan Williams, a Simpson resident assistant, said that the effort and enthusiasm Simpson puts into homecoming week is about more than just winning. “Simpson dorm has this idea of taking silly things really seriously,” Williams said.
“And that’s not just because it’s fun, but it’s also because our brotherhood unites around it. We get to hold on to the great parts of childhood while we also grow older.” Kappa Kappa Gamma’s banner took first place after banner drop Sunday night with the Off-Campus Coalition and Sohn ranking second and third, respectively. Sophomore Eva Bessette and junior Maggie McWhinnie collaborated to design Kappa’s winning banner, which depicted a pirate ship and a detailed drawing of a mermaid. Below this image, the black-and-white banner displayed a line of Latin in gold lettering: “Ex libris Kappa Kappa Gamma,” which means “From the library of Kappa Kappa Gamma.” “We found a lot of old me-
dieval book stamps, which we took inspiration from,” McWhinnie said. “It’s supposed to look like the first page in somebody’s personal book. We featured a lot of Kappa icons like the pearl and the shell, the key, and we did a bunch of little irises, which is our sorority flower.” Senior Phoebe Vanheyningen, a member of Hillsdale’s Students Activities Board creative team, said SAB decided very quickly on the pirate theme because it could be easily incorporated into banners, homecoming videos, and mock rock performances. “There’s always a big discussion around the homecoming theme,” Vanheyningen said. “This year, I think it was pretty unanimous from the first mention of pirates.”
Senior class donates fire pit to foster community By Tayte Christensen Assistant Editor The 2025 senior class gift will be an outdoor fire pit, the Legacy Board announced Oct. 4. The gas-powered fire pit will be located on the south quad outside Lane Hall. Faculty and students will be able to use it to warm themselves as they hold outdoor classes, study, and host events. “The Legacy Board is very excited about a new space on campus for gathering, community, making use of the space that is already the south quad that is often underused, and mak- Rendering shows plan for the fire pit outside Lane Hall. ing that a new space Courtesy | Hoerr Schaudt for gathering,” said Braden VanDyke ’21, associate director of alumni being told “no” to in-person struction, students are lackrelations. activities in high school due ing community gathering College President Larry to COVID, Hillsdale told spaces. He said the Legacy Arnn delivered remarks at the current senior class “yes” Board hopes the senior gift the gift unveiling ceremony when its members arrived as will make up for that. and said the firepit will add freshmen. “As we await these new beauty to an already beautiful “Our senior class left developments, it is important campus. high school with a fractured that we ensure that there are “You will be connected sense of what it means to be additional spaces for students to this college for the rest of in community, as schools to gather together,” Hart said. your life, and we’ll be proud shut down and classes were “Although our buildings and of you,” Arnn said. moved online,” Hart said. green spaces change, our Legacy Board member “We, however, walked onto a community doesn’t have to.” According to Chief Adand senior Micah Hart said college campus where comthe board hopes to give a gift munity wasn’t denied, but ministrative Officer Rich that builds community on rather was a must.” Péwé, construction on the campus. Hart said with the main project could begin as early Hart said after years of quad currently under con- as this fall.
Pé w é s a i d the class gift is one of two firepits the college plans to install on the south quad. The Legacy Board aims to raise $15,000 for the project, but the total project will cost closer to $50,000, according to Péwé. “I think the senior class gift will be a nice cozy area for students to gather on campu s ,” S e n i or Olivia Michiels said. “I’m sure it will become a beloved study spot soon.” Senior Maggie Baldwin said she is excited for the firepit to be installed. “I’ve always wanted one, and I thought ‘the Legacy Board wants what I want,’” she said. “I hope they put the firepit on that one stump that I always trip on.” Arnn said the project will connect current seniors to the college and he hopes they will return to campus after graduation to see the completed product. “Thank you for the gift. It’s really great,” Arnn said. “Come back and I’ll buy you a marshmallow.”