Car show:
Golf:
Music:
Stillwell Ford hosts seventh annual car show fundraiser.
Hillsdale Golf wins in first tournament of the year.
Hillsdale professor Ivan Pongracic plays in a surfrock band.
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Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
Logan Washburn | Collegian
Courtesy | Ivan Pongracic
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Vol. 147 Issue 4 – September 14, 2023
Campus honors victims of 9/11 during tribute on quad
Students and community members plant flags on the quad in remembrance of the victims of 9/11. Erik Teder | Collegian
By Eleanor Whitaker Collegian Reporter Students, faculty, and local law enforcement filled the quad with 2,977 flags on Monday to commemorate those who lost their lives 22 years ago on 9/11. Associate Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief ” Rogers said he organized the event because of the promise Americans made to never forget 9/11.
“We made a promise, and we never forget our promises,” Rogers said. “Promises made, promises kept.” This was the first year the 9/11 memorial ceremony involved individual participation. In the past, organizers have placed flags around the Civil War statue and invited the public to attend a memorial ceremony, but Rogers said he designed this year’s event to encourage reflection.
“This allowed more students to participate in that they got to place the flags and they got to do it in front of them and they can reflect as they were doing it,” Rogers said. “We did not have a speech, but this is a solemn way of remembering them.” Each flag represented a life that was lost in the terrorist attacks. During the ceremony, individuals lined up in rows to
place flags within a defined outline. As a row reached the front, an organizer gave a signal and people in the row staked their flags simultaneously. Some individuals placed one flag, while others cycled through the rows many times. Kyle Zimmer, a freshman and Army veteran, said the demonstration reminded him of watching the events of 9/11 occur when he was young. “9/11 happened when I was
College sees increased online traffic across all platforms By Carly Moran Assistant Editor More people than ever are visiting Hillsdale College’s website, watching its videos, and enrolling in its courses, according to Director of Online Learning Kyle Murnen. The college attracted 10 million website visitors, 1.3 million new followers, 77 million YouTube viewers, and 560,000 new online course accounts in the last year. “I think there are two important reasons for this growth,” Murnen said. “First, our faculty are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects, which makes it fun to learn with them. Second, so
many colleges have abandoned a core education that many people complete their education without a serious study of great literature, history, theology, and philosophy.” The college had nearly 1 million online course enrollments this past academic year. Murnen said that while many students are classical education teachers or homeschoolers, the vast majority take the courses out of a place of curiosity. “We have a lot of students write to us that this is the kind of education they wished they would have received while in school,” Murnen said. “We try to attract new audiences by creating videos that emphasize the quality of our teachers and re-
veal the beauty and importance of a given subject.” Juan Davalos, director of marketing for online learning, said the department adjusted how it films. “Introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics” shows students with professors in a classroom, while “Supply-Side Economics and American Prosperity with Arthur Laffer” is in a documentary style. “These changes have affected the demographic distribution of our students,” Davalos said. “While half a decade ago, our main demographic was 55 year olds and above, now all age groups are almost equal in distribution, with the 35 to 45 year olds being the fastest growing demographic.”
Among online course students, 13% are under 25, 15% are 25-35, 19% are 35-44, 17% are 45-54, 20% are 55-64, and 16% are over the age of 65, Murnen said. “The goal for our courses is to provide the best possible online representation of the college’s mission and curriculum,” Murnen said. “It’s been especially fun over the past few years to expand our offerings to include courses in mathematics and the natural sciences. This has not only filled out our online core curriculum, but also demonstrated that there is a large group of people interested in these courses.”
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‘Wasn’t That Special’ reviews 50 years of SNL mary of one season of SNL, including the cast, writers, and sketches. As the late-night comedy “The idea was inspired by showcase “Saturday Night hearing a lot of people say Live” approaches its 50th sea- things like ‘I liked SNL a lot son, two podcast hosts are better when it was funny,’ or rewatching and summariz- ‘SNL was so much better being half a century of comedy fore it was political,’” Schneisketches for their listeners. der said. “Every few years Scot Bertram, general people call for the show to manager of Radio be canceled because Free Hillsdale it isn’t living up to 101.7 FM, and this vague idea National Reof greatness view columpeople think nist Christian it once repSchneider resented. We published the wanted to take first episode a closer of their pod- Christian Schneider is a columnist look at cast “Wasn’t at National Review. whether That Sp e- Courtesy | Christian Schneider the show cial” through was acSubstack on July 10. Released tually as good as they rememto subscribers every other bered it.” week, each episode of the podOne of the goals of the podcast provides a detailed sum- cast is to give an honest acBy Moira Gleason Assistant Editor
count of SNL throughout the Both life-long SNL fans, years and determine which Bertram and Schneider met seasons and cast members through radio. Schneider were the best, accordsaid he made appearing to Schneider. ances as Bertram’s He and Bertram Wisconsin corhave covered respondent five seasons in over a decade five episodes, ago when in addition to Bertram an introducco-hosted tory episode a morning and an intertalk show in view with Rockford, Scot Bertram directs the radio former SNL Illinois, cast member program at Hillsdale College. and later Siobhan Fal- Courtesy | Hillsdale Archives o n B e rlon Hogan. tram’s music podcast “Political “We are already finding Beats.” that peoples’ recollections of Bertram said that Schneithe shows from the 1970s are der reached out to him aloften misguided,” Schneider most three years ago with the said. “Not only are there a lot idea for a podcast to chronicle of episodes that aren’t very “the good, the bad, the ugly, good, there are also cast mem- the funny, and the not funny” bers that people remember as of SNL. all-time greats that don’t warSee SNL A2 rant such high regard.”
11 years old, and I remember it pretty clearly,” Zimmer said. “I woke up and I just remember my mom turning on the television to the news, and she saw one of the towers smoking. It was so surreal. She wasn’t sure if it was real, but then we both saw the second plane flying to the second tower. And at that point, it was real.” He said the events of 9/11 directly affected his future career in the Army. “I actually ended up going into the military years later when I graduated high school, so 9/11 ended up having a huge impact on my life,” Zimmer said. Zimmer said he believes the events of 9/11 have shaped the conscience of the nation. “There’s evil out there and the freedoms that we enjoy here in this country don’t go without a price,” Zimmer said. “It’s easy to take it for granted, living with all the blessings that we have here. Being able to show respect for the people who pay the price to ensure those freedoms for us is really important.” Sophomore and veteran Gregory Whalen, who assisted in setting up for the ceremony, said that his career in the military and experience with
loss reminded him of the importance of 9/11. “I spent four years in the Marine Corps prior to coming here as a student,” Whalen said. “So it’s near and dear to my heart for that reason already, even though I was extremely young when 9/11 happened.” Whalen said he believes the event demonstrated Hillsdale College’s commitment to American history. “Any institution that tries to claim any sort of connection to America’s founding can be judged by whether it actually remembers the fallen and remembers the American past,” Whalen said. “If it loses sight of this, then it can’t claim to actually be a truly American institution.” Zimmer said the event was well-suited to Hillsdale’s legacy. “Hillsdale has been great in terms of valuing our heritage and our history, where we come from and our values,” Zimmer said, “so I think it’s really fitting that we would want to have this memorial today to carry on that tradition and continue to continue what we do best, which is pursuing truth and honor and preserving our heritage.”
Chick-fil-A comes to campus for a day
Students enjoy Chick-fil-A sandwiches in the dining hall. Faith Senne | Collegian
By Faith Senne Collegian Freelancer The office of administrative affairs brought fast food chain Chick-fil-A to Hillsdale College Sept. 12. From 5 to 6 p.m., students could exchange a meal swipe for the original chicken sandwich or spicy chicken sandwich and fries from the grill. Freshman Mercy Franzonello said she had not tried Chick-fil-A before. “It’s really good,” Franzonello said, “The chicken is not dry, which is unusual for fast food. But the sauce is my favorite part.” At 5 p.m, the line into the Knorr Family Dining Room already curled around the hall and up the staircase into the upper student union. Sophomore Ava-Marie Papillon arrived shortly before 5 p.m. “The line was really long,” Papillon said. “Maybe students being able to reserve their sandwiches online
would be better. Then there would be enough, since they would know how many to get.” Freshman Alessia Sandala said she enjoyed the experience. “We got there at 4:45 p.m.,” Sandala said. “There were about 30 people ahead. It was 100% worth the line.” The food was great but the long wait detracted from the experience, according to freshman Mikayla Manna. “It was not worth the wait in line,” Manna said. ”I would want it to happen again, but not too often. I think it would be fun to have various fastfood restaurants, like Culver’s.” Franzonello said she would love it if the dining hall did something like this again. “I think it would be a fun thing for Hillsdale to do at least once a semester,” Franzonello said.