Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 146 Issue 14 - January 18, 2023
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Radio Free Hillsdale triples yearly downloads
College to include textbooks in tuition
By Lauren Scott Assistant Editor
By Elizabeth Troutman DC Correspondent Hillsdale students will skip the semesterly search for the lowest textbook prices starting fall 2023 as the college will begin including class materials in the price of tuition. “Students and their parents will no longer need to spend time and energy tracking down every book for their classes,” said Doug Banbury, Hillsdale’s vice president for admissions and business development. “No more navigating discount sites and Amazon — simply register for classes and your books will be ready for you prior to the start of class.” Funding for the new plan will come from a series of tuition increases of less than 1% per year. The program plans to implement a $900 rise in tuition in the fall after four to seven years of increases of no more than $300 each, said Matt Hazelton, director of staff & operations for business development. “If you were to buy every single book for all of your classes, at full retail price, from the bookstore, it would cost something like $1,400 on average a year,” Hazelton said. “If you do that through this program, it's something like $800-900, so there are definitely discounts in that sense per student.” Including textbooks in tuition creates more payment options for students, according to Hazelton. “Having it embedded in the tuition makes it eligible for scholarships and loans in a way that you currently couldn't do with your textbooks,” he said. To implement the program, the college will partner with textbook provider Slingshot, which has served more than 40 colleges for the last 12
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Seniors Meg Scheske, Hannah Cote, Maureen Martin, Regina Gravrok, Ciara Carr, and friend Danielle Nehring traveled to Israel over break with Passages, a program that encourages young Christians to experience the roots of their faith in the Holy Land. Hannah Cote | Collegian
Admissions accepts fewer transfer students Micah Hart Circulation Manager Twelve students joined Hillsdale College for the spring semester, a number slightly lower than previous years, Admissions Counselor Ben Strickland said. “We're restricted by the number of beds that we have and the space that we have,” Strickland said. While the number of transfer students usually is in the high teens, the acceptance rate remained at around 15%, consistent with previous years. “As the fall term applicant pool has gotten more competitive, so has the spring term applicant pool,” Senior Director of Admissions Zachary Miller said. Miller said he has seen some increase in the number
of applicants who previously applied to Hillsdale and were either accepted and decided not to attend or denied. While the number of students accepted is lower than one may expect, Strickland said spring admissions are different than general fall acceptance. “We're basically admitting people who were almost definitely going to come rather than someone who might come if they get enough scholarship,” Strickland said. The students represent 10 different states from across the country: Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. “Our new students are really completely spread across the entire United States,” Strickland said.
Transfer student and sophomore Luca Vitale said he decided to attend Hillsdale because of the classical curriculum and various opportunities on campus. While the acceptance rates continue to remain low, interest in Hillsdale continues to increase. Miller said over the last two to three years, interest in both the fall and spring semesters have grown. “It's a lot of factors, but probably the thing that's driving it the most is the fact that Hillsdale remains true to what it is in providing students with a great classical liberal arts education,” Miller said. “I think that's something that's becoming more and more of a rarity today across the country.” Strickland agreed that Hillsdale presents consistent education for students,
which, according to him, other schools struggled with during the pandemic. Strickland said schools have changed since students committed to a college. “A lot of people found out that the place that they applied to and were at changed over their four years,” Strickland said. Whatever the case may be, Strickland said Hillsdale remained true to its purpose and mission during the pandemic. “I think we just have a greater, deeper, and stronger foundation that we are really proud of and that we hold to; whereas, other places are sort of letting the current thoughts and times kind of judge their decisions,” Strickland said.
weeks. After an Elite Eight appearance last year, the team graduated three seniors, including the team’s starting frontcourt of first-team All-American forward Patrick Cartier and first-team All-Conference forward Austen Yarian. In the wake of these losses, Chargers up and down the roster have stepped into larger roles to lead Hillsdale to a 16-1 overall record, and a G-MAC-best 9-1 in conference play. All five starters for the Chargers are averaging career-highs in points and rebounds.
The team has beat opponents with the 15th-best scoring margin in the nation, averaging 14 points more than they allow. The Chargers have only played in five games decided by single-digits. “We have faith in our guys, we believe in our guys, and we have the so-called starting five, but the bench is important to us,” head coach John Tharp. “We need all those guys to continue to give us really good minutes. Fifth-year senior forward Peter Kalthoff has emerged as the team’s leading scorer, one of four Chargers who average
“The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour,” Hillsdale College’s national radio show, surpassed 1 million downloads in 2022. The weekly show features interviews with Hillsdale faculty and staff, friends of the college, and sometimes alumni and students, said Scot Bertram, host of the show and general manager of Radio Free Hillsdale. The 1.2 million downloads in 2022 nearly tripled its 430,000 downloads in 2020, Bertram said. “The numbers keep rising because we have an engaged audience that enjoys the show and frequently shares the audio with others,” Bertram said. The audience can better understand the education at Hillsdale College from listening to the conversations and debates on “The Radio Free Hillsdale hour,” according to Bertram. “The show was created to advance the efforts of Hillsdale College in radiating its knowledge and teaching to the world outside of campus,” Bertram said. The show is captivating because of the seemingly endless topics, said Brad Birzer, professor of history. “It would be a crime if the show weren’t popular, especially given Scot’s dedication and tenacity,” Birzer said. Birzer said he has discussed many different topics on the show ranging from his vacation in Yellowstone to the deeper meanings of the War of 1812. “Scot is an excellent reviewer and interviewer,” Birzer said. “He knows exactly what to ask, in part because he’s done his homework and is incredibly well read and in part because he has a natural
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No. 5 Charger men's basketball team off to historic start Christian Peck-Dimit Associate Editor
Peter Kalthoff won the first G-MAC Player of the Week of his career. Courtesy | Charles Miller
After a historic start to its season, the Hillsdale men’s basketball team tied for No.5 in the latest DII Sports Information Directors of America national poll and No.7 in the nation in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll. The Chargers started the season with 12 straight wins, the second best start in program history, and have been ranked top eleven in the nation in the NABC poll for eight straight
double-figures in scoring. Kalthoff played in just 12 games last year, spending the majority of the season sidelined with injuries. He has stepped into the starting lineup this year and has excelled. In the team’s 17 games Kalthoff has scored more than five times as many points as his last three years combined. He earned the first G-MAC Player of the Week award of his career this past week, becoming the first Charger to earn the award this year.
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New Student Federation officers look to promote involvement Olivia Hajicek Assistant Editor Newly elected officers of the Hillsdale College Student Federation hope to direct their attention to other student needs beyond club funding this spring. Junior Liam Giles will serve as president, sophomore Charlie Birt as vice president, junior Emma De Nooy as treasurer, and sophomore Garry Danzer as secretary. Giles, a history major and mathematics minor from Illinois, said he hopes to promote awareness of student access to the federation and their funds.”
“One thing which I would like to try to get started is to do a meet and greet with all the Student Fed representatives, because a lot of people don’t really know about the federation,” Giles said. He said he also hopes to promote self-governance around campus so that clubs can be more self-sufficient while knowing that they can come to Student Fed for assistance. Besides serving on Student Fed, Giles is the treasurer for Phi Mu Alpha and a member of the Catholic Society outreach board. Birt is a politics and financial management major
from Kansas. As vice president, he said he would like to see Student Fed expand its role in helping coordinate events by serving as a liaison between students and the administration. He said he would also like Student Fed to determine the status of club sports. “I honestly see student club sports as being underfunded a good bit of the time,” Birt said. “I think that’s an area that we can hopefully work with the administration to clarify and see where we might be able to help.” Besides his work on Student Fed, Birt is a Winston Churchill fellow, the trea-
surer of Alpha Tau Omega, and the president of College Republicans. Danzer is a history major from Kentucky and the brotherhood chair and vice recruitment chair of Delta Tau Delta. Danzer said he would like to see Student Fed direct more funding toward campus improvement, especially since it typically gets fewer funding proposals in the spring. “I would love to see more initiatives as far as campus improvements go that focus on student health,” Danzer said. De Nooy is a rhetoric and
public address major from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Besides serving in the Student Federation, De Nooy is involved in Tower Dancers and serves as the treasurer of the C.S. Lewis Reading Club. As treasurer, De Nooy said she hopes to keep everything efficient and streamlined. She said she is also looking forward to helping clubs with their funding requests. “I help clubs review their requests before they go to the meeting,” De Nooy said. “I’m looking forward to that and being able to help them as best as I can and give
them the best chance at getting the events and requests that they want funded.” Beyond allocating funds and granting club status, De Nooy said she hopes the students on the federation represent the student body well. Hillsdale’s honor code says that a student “rises to self-government” through education. “I think the Student Federation is a really good example of that,” De Nooy said.