Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 146 Issue 15 – January 26, 2023
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
The first heavy snow of the semester fell on Wednesday. Jack Cote | Collegian.
Entrepreneur speaks on Big Tech censorship Admin Vivek Ramaswamy visits campus to discuss America's economic past and future By Annabel Peltzer Collegian Freelancer
The government uses private companies as a back door to censor politically disfavored speech, said entrepreneur and political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy in a speech on Tuesday. “Those on television call it ‘Big Tech censorship,’ but I call it ‘government tech censorship,’” Ramaswamy said. Hillsdale College’s Kehoe Executive Speaker Series invited Ramaswamy to give a speech titled “The Rebellious Entrepreneur.” Ramaswamy said many corporations have merged with the U.S. government and the Chinese Communist Party, and emphasized China’s role in modern American politics and culture.
“China showed up on the scene and realized they could make U.S. companies critique America relentlessly and do business in China without saying a peep about the actual human rights atrocities there,” Ramaswamy said. “We have undermined America's greatest geopolitical asset of all—our moral standing on the global stage.” Ramaswamy explained how the 2008 financial crisis contributed to a shift in culture and politics. “In the wake of the bailouts, there was a grand, unspoken bargain in this country between big business and what used to be our conception of big government,” Ramaswamy said. “It is the story of this arranged marriage but not one of love. It is more like mutual prostitution. And the
net result of that is the birth of this new ESG industrial woke complex.” Ramaswamy went on to explain what he called the greatest battle of our day. “It is not between Democrats and Republicans,” Ramaswamy said “It is between the technocratic managerial class and the everyday citizen.” In a Q&A following the speech, Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn and Ramaswamy discussed the rise of artificial intelligence and its potential consequences. “It's not just about governmental control anymore. It's a culture of technocracy that dissolves the boundaries between moral and technical questions,” Ramaswamy said. “That is one of the threats to the next generation of Amer-
icans.” Ramaswamy concluded that Hillsdale College is one of the institutions that can help people discern the difference between the two questions. “I genuinely think that there's a good chance that our best days are still ahead of us,” Ramaswamy said. “Our identity crisis may be just part of the natural course of growing up and going through adolescence. Part of adolescence is losing your understanding of who you are. But I think places like this are going to play a role in remembering who we are.” Charles Steele, professor and chair of Hillsdale’s economics department, said Ramaswamy hit the target. “He understands things that are important,” Steele
said. “I think that he's a great speaker. I hope we will see him some more.” Freshman Katie Crain said Ramaswamy was an engaging and persuasive speaker. “He knows what he's doing. He knew the audience he was addressing,” Crain said. “He exhibited a lot of great qualities of a leader and was able to leverage his talents in public speaking in such a positive way. He was very powerful.” Crain said she hopes Hillsdale continues to cover issues relating to business and corporate America. “I don't think Mr. Ramaswamy’s talk could have been more relevant,” Crain said. “It’s my generation’s duty to acknowledge these issues because we are the future.”
Rate, which measures the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of enrolling in their college, is 90% or higher. For the 2022-2023 award period, Hillsdale had an ASR of 98%. Out of the 44 schools which received the award this year, Hillsdale placed fourth. This is the fifth consecutive year in a row that Hillsdale has placed in the top five. Hillsdale Athletic Director Don Brubacher said a key fac-
tor in this success is learning how to balance between their time in the classroom and their time in the gym. “It is almost always a matter of time-management,” Brubacher said. “I've never met a student who could not do well academically and athletically if they were willing to manage their time appropriately.” Brubacher said focus is key to success on the field and in the classroom.
“Athletes can understand how to focus on their schoolwork because they are required to focus in their sport,” Brubacher said. “They are not always trained in academic focus, but they know what it means. So if you press them in the right ways, they tend to get it.” Head coach of the women’s swim team Kurt Kirner said he has seen his fair share of struggles when it comes to student-athletes managing
their school and work. “When athletes first come in, they really don't have any idea about how they're going to balance that out,” Kirner said. “And many of them struggle, but the reward is in the struggle. We don't ever get better unless we struggle.” Kirner emphasized the importance of embracing the struggle because it will help develop character.
Student athletes earn NCAA award for academic success By Christina Lewis Collegian Freelancer
The NCAA recognized Hillsdale’s student-athletes over the break, giving the college the NCAA Division II President’s Award for Academic Success for the 12th year in a row. Hillsdale has earned the award every year since the NCAA created the honor in 2010. A school receives this award if its Academic Success
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Longtime board member dies at 97
Frank Shakespeare served on the Hillsdale College board of trustees for 37 years By Maddy Welsh News Editor
Frank Shakespeare worked on Richard Nixon's campaign trail in 1968. Courtesy | Getty Images.
Former Hillsdale College trustee, diplomat, and media giant Frank Shakespeare died Dec. 14, 2022, at the age of 97. “Frank Shakespeare was a great man, full of the blarney,” Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said. “He was always a good friend to me.” Shakespeare served on the college’s board from 1976 until 2013 and spent several years on the board’s outreach committee, according to Liz Gray, executive assistant and operations manager. “He was a serious man of high character,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said. “He was respected. He was gracious. He cared about defending civil and religious liberty, his family, and serving his country.” Shakespeare is perhaps best known for his work in media, especially his role in
shaping the use of television for political campaigns due to his advertisements for Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign, where he worked alongside the late Roger Ailes, who later founded Fox News. His other notable achievements include serving as the United States’ ambassador to Portugal and the Vatican under Ronald Reagan, with whom he was close. Originally from New York, Shakespeare was born in 1925 and raised in a devout Catholic family. Arnn called Shakespeare a patriot, which Shakespeare demonstrated by interrupting his education at the College of the Holy Cross to serve as a naval officer in World War II. He graduated in 1946 and entered the private sector to work in media, getting his start in radio. He was an early executive of CBS, one of the first television networks, serving as vice president and later executive vice
president in the 1960s. Shakespeare left CBS to work on Nixon’s presidential campaign, using his media expertise alongside a team of others, including Ailes, to try to improve Nixon’s public image. The Washington Post, in its obituary of Shakespeare, described these ads: “Nixon voiced-over ads in a conversational style as if talking to a small group — while images extolling patriotism or decrying social strife, blamed on Democrats, flicked by on the screen.” Before the work of Shakespeare and the rest of Nixon’s media team, political candidates did not use television as powerfully as they did in 1968. Since then, television has remained an important part of political promotion, Ailes said in “The Selling of the President,” a 1968 book about this campaign.
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delays textbook program By Thomas McKenna Assistant Editor
Students won’t see an increase in tuition this fall for the textbook program, which has been delayed, according to an email sent Monday morning from Provost Christopher VanOrman. The new system would have provided students with textbooks through a third-party provider called Slingshot, paid for by small tuition increases. To fund the program, the college said it would gradually raise tuition over the next four to seven years to a total increase of approximately $900. VanOrman said the college will reconsider the program. “We will set up both student and faculty information sessions to better understand the program and its potential benefits, as well as address concerns,” VanOrman said in the email. “After those are completed, we will make a recommendation for the future of this program.” Chairman and Professor of Mathematics Thomas Treloar said the program, while well-intentioned, was flawed. “Textbook acquisition experts' working with external contractors cannot obtain or negotiate the best textbook prices for students,” Treloar told the Collegian in an email. “A free market approach helps keep the costs down – see any Hillsdale economics class – at least somewhat.” Doug Banbury, vice president for admissions and business development, previously told the Collegian the proposed increases in tuition would not have affected current seniors. Freshmen would have seen the most additional cost added to their tuition. “I’m glad they delayed it,” freshman Luka Stanic said. “I think the fact it only took them days to decide to delay the program shows that the people in the administration recognize clear and obvious issues with it. I don’t want them bringing it back.” Many students questioned the additional benefits the college said the program would provide.
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