Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 148 Issue 13 – December 5, 2024
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Library, union construction planned for spring
Rendering shows plans for north library addition. Courtesy | Elizabeth Gray
By Megan Li Assistant Editor Major renovations to Mossey Library could begin as soon as April as work on the Grewcock Student Union makes way for construction on Christ Chapel plaza. “The college has been receiving some generous room naming gifts,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said in an email. “We have not yet received a large enough naming gift to move into the construction phase.” The north library addition will include an outdoor grand staircase with an arcade and undercroft structure, according to Péwé. Indoors, the college plans to renovate the circulation space on the
ground level, adding a circular stair, new flooring, and a new dome roof. Other additions include several new study and meeting spaces, two parlors, two lounges, restrooms, interior stair spaces, and a large reading room, entry lobby, classroom, and common room. “The grand stair will be a great place to study, socialize and sit,” Péwé said. “The undercroft will create shaded studying and socializing spaces and create an impressive east-west axis with the future Loggia and Admissions Welcome Center. The new indoor spaces create much needed study and group study spaces, a classroom, presentation space, and meeting spaces.”
Professors express concern, excitement for cabinet picks By Kamden Mulder Features Editor As President-elect Donald Trump continues to roll out picks for his presidential administration, sentiments surrounding the cabinet picks vary among Hillsdale College faculty. A common reaction, however, is that Trump is focused on loyalty this time around. “Trump is definitely sticking more to people who support the MAGA side of the Republican party compared to his first term,” Professor of Chemistry Christopher Hamilton said. “He mostly picked people he thought would be loyal to him.” Many professors noticed the shift from first-term Trump that Hamilton mentioned. Christopher Martin, associate professor of economics, also acknowledged the importance of loyalty, as long as it is directed toward the right entity. “We really do need radical reform in many areas (regulation, deficit spending, healthcare, the housing crisis) and that’s going to require both loyalty and competence,” Martin said. “But we shouldn’t elevate loyalty to individual leaders over loyalty to the Constitution and nation.” But some professors criticized certain nominations. Associate Professor of Leadership Studies Peter L. Jennings said he is critical of “Fox and Friends” co-host Pete Hegseth as director of homeland security, calling him a “bad choice.”
“Hegseth is a patriot, no doubt, but he’s a lightweight — a sheep amongst wolves — and the shrewd operators in the military bureaucracy will devour him,” Jennings said. Director of American Studies Kevin Portteus, however, said he supports Hegseth and any nominee that upsets “the establishment.” “At this point, I tend to evaluate the quality of a pick by the outrage and consternation said pick generates in the Washington establishment,” Portteus said. “On the other hand, if a pick is well-received by the same establishment, I start getting nervous.” Portteus qualifies Hegseth, as well as Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for director of national intelligence, and Matt Gaetz, former nominee for United States attorney general, as a sign of Trump’s lack of trust in Washington. “Many of his more controversial picks, such as Gabbard, Gaetz, and Hegseth, reveal that Trump simply doesn’t trust anyone in the Washington establishment,” Portteus said. “Based on his experience in his first term and four years of the Biden administration, that mistrust is well-founded.” Professors also expressed mixed reviews on Trump’s nominee for director of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Péwé said there are also plans for a south library addition, not to be started until the north quad projects have been finished. Those renovations will include a bigger reading room, an entry pavilion, a writing center, archive spaces, and an arcade that connects the buildings. According to Péwé, the union construction crew has added safety fencing in front of the west main entry doors, a temporary divider wall in the formal lounge to minimize construction disruption for those using the room, and a new concrete slab replacing the stones by the far north door of the formal lounge that allows union entry for people walking from Christ Chapel, the Dow Hotel, or
Simpson dorm. Péwé said construction is soon to expand into the area between Christ Chapel and the west union doors. “The Grewcock plaza will not be accessible for the next several months,” Péwé said. “The south door into Grewcock from the colonnade and the lower east door will continue to be accessible.” Sebastian Castro, a carpenter for Weigand Construction, said construction of the divider walls in the union is progressing nicely. “We’re just putting in temporary walls to help keep outside construction and dust and stuff from the demo that’s going to happen on the other side of these walls from coming over here and affecting you guys,” Castro said. “These walls will be up for a year or so, and then once we’re done on that side of the wall, they’ll come down.” Junior Malina Ladzinski said she is not a fan of the separation in the union that impedes walking. “It’s the gray wall of doom,” Ladzinski joked, referring to the wall blocking off the west main doors. Castro said he understands the wall may not look the most appealing right now, but it will not stay that way. “They’re gonna finish it off and make it look like an actual wall, painted and everything,” Castro said. “You won’t see all the screws.” Ladzinski said she looks
forward to seeing the finished project. “I am very appreciative that they are improving the college campus, beautifying it and making it look more and more like the Roman decor,” Ladzinski said. Freshman Maria Kearney said the construction in the union has not affected the time she spends in the building. “I definitely don’t come in through that door anymore,” Kearney said, referring to the west main entry doors. “But I still come into the union because I just like to go and find my friends because I need a break from all the academics.” Péwé added the new fenced-off area to the east of Delp Hall makes room for a mock-up groin vault. “A groin vault is the arched structure of the ‘undercroft,’ the part people would pass under when walking under the reading room of the north library addition,” Executive Assistant and Operations Manager Elizabeth Gray said in an email. According to Péwé, that mock-up will take about a month to complete. It is a temporary structure built to test the future construction of eight groin vaults connected to the north library undercroft, which will be in a different location. “This type of construction is a lost art,” Péwé said. “It will be important to complete a mock-up before the permanent structure is built.”
Paladino outlines policy plan By Thomas McKenna City News Editor As Joshua Paladino begins his two years as acting mayor of Hillsdale, he said his “number one” priority is to stop adding fluoride in the city’s water. “I want my water to contain water,” Paladino told The Collegian in an interview this week. The vast majority of water systems across the state add fluoride to increase dental health, according to Bridge Michigan, with about nine of 10 Michiganders using fluoridated water. Paladino said the city should stop the decades-old practice because it harms citizens’ health. “I would like to act on that immediately based on all the evidence that we’re seeing of neural developmental disabilities, arthritis, etcetera,” Paladino said. Paladino said he also wants to remove “industrial pollutants” and byproducts of chlorination. He said the legal limits for chemicals such as chloroform are too high and the city should invest in removing these byproducts from the water. “I am a total novice,” Paladino said. “But what I see is a real disconnect between federal and state guidelines for water quality and what the researchers actually suggest.”
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Nancy Johnson to retire from Institutional Advancement By Moira Gleason News Editor When Nancy Johnson ’06 moved from rural Iowa to Hillsdale in 1992 for her husband’s new position as pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, the church sent the family a paper map of the city of Hillsdale. “I just remember unfolding this map of Hillsdale and saying, ‘oh my gosh there’s a college in this town,’” Johnson said. Now, she’s retiring from 31 years of working at the college. “I just needed a job in 1993, and it became a career,” the 67-year-old mother of five said. “I had no plans to do this with my life, and yet, here I am. It turned into a career that I’ve really, really loved.” Johnson started her career as a data clerk in the admissions office in 1993, where she manually entered prospective student information into a database. She has since worked in the president’s office, helped with the accreditation process, and worked on the institutional advancement writing staff before taking over as associate vice president of institutional advancement in 2018. “During her decades here, Nancy has been a pillar,” College President Larry Arnn said. Johnson served as director of the Rebirth of Liberty and Learning capital campaign from 2012-2018 and the Four Pillars Campaign from 2018-2024. This most recent capital campaign, which wrapped up in June, raised more than $1.5 billion. “I said to her once, after she gave me some report, that I had never seen her do anything ex-
cept well,” Arnn said. “We owe her a debt for her skill, devotion, and good judgment. Her work is written all over the college.” In addition to raising a family and working full time for the college, Johnson finished her bachelor’s degree at Hillsdale after completing two years at Concordia College in St.
thing I want to study. Of course, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.” Though Hillsdale accepted her transfer credits, Johnson still had to take core classes. One of her favorite classes was her introduction to politics course with Professor of Politics Mickey Craig. Craig said his
Nancy Johnson has worked for the college since 1993. Courtesy | Austin Thomason
Paul, Minnesota, before her marriage. Taking one class per semester for five years, Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in classics in 2006. Johnson said she always had a fascination with Latin but never got the chance to study the language in school. “When I decided to start taking classes, the general advice was at my age I should take the fastest route to a degree,” Johnson said. “But I thought if I’m going to go through all this blood, sweat, and tears, I might as well be learning and studying some-
favorite memory of Johnson in class comes from reading Aristotle’s description of women as less reasonable than men. “I’m quoting these things from Aristotle, and usually nobody objects. But she was a smart, spunky, and mature adult,” Craig said. “I said, ‘Oh Mrs. Johnson, you have something to say here.’ She said, ‘Yes, I hate this because it’s so true. My husband is so reasonable, and I can’t stand it.’ I almost had to leave the room, I was just laughing so hard.” Four of the Johnson’s five
children also attended the college, where they all met their spouses. “We became a real Hillsdale family,” Johnson said. In her current role, Johnson oversees the institutional advancement database, gift processing, prospect research, and financial reporting. She also oversees the institutional advancement writing team she used to work on. “It’s what you’d normally call the back-office operations,” Johnson said. “I’m not out in the front lines visiting and meeting people at the meet-and-greets. I’m in the back office and oversee all the people that support that effort for the college on campus.” Johnson has worked for Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement John Cervini ’74 during her entire time in institutional advancement. Cervini said he has been impressed with her work. “She has an eye for things, and I find her to be very helpful — those things that people may not pay attention to,” Cervini said. “She has a knack for bringing up good ideas, she’s a good writer, and I just have a lot of confidence in her.” Cervini said Johnson is a good judge of character and has done well training those who will take her place, but he said he is sad to see her leave. “I kept baiting her, saying ‘you can stay on for another year or two Nancy, come on,’” Cervini said.
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