Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority hosted an Easter egg hunt for children of faculty and staff Wednesday. Jack Cote | Collegian
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 146 Issue 24 – April 13, 2023
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
DeSantis calls for educational independence Tharp "We're standing with parents and we're standing with students," he said last week on campus named athletic director By Maddy Welsh News Editor
By Christian Peck-Dimit Associate Editor Former men’s basketball head coach John Tharp was appointed Hillsdale College Director of Athletics on Tuesday. Tharp had been in his position with the basketball team since 2007, and will replace Don Brubacher, who has served as director of athletics since 2008. Tharp said he is excited for the opportunity and thankful for College President Larry Arnn and the selection committee’s trust. “It was one of those things where I love Hillsdale College, I love Dr. Arnn, I love what this place stands for,” Tharp said. “It was an opportunity to lead in a different way, to play a different role in serving our college, serving our coaches, and serving all of our student athletes.” Brubacher announced in November he would be retiring at the end of the school year. He will leave a 15-year legacy where, according to Arnn, he set a high standard for the department. “He is transparent, thorough, high-minded,” Arnn said. “He has been an excellent counselor constantly on athletics, and on every big question the college faces. He will be greatly missed. I personally have learned a great deal from him. I will be grateful to him abidingly.”
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Conservative leaders need to do more than just play defense against the left — especially in education — said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a speech at Hillsdale’s Searle Center last week.
A new software will help students select housing and meal plans for next school year and include features such as the ability to form roommate groups and to browse individual rooms. StarRez, which will roll out on Tuesday, April 18, will allow students to have more control over their living situations, freeing administrators to focus on student needs and relations, Dean of Women Rebekah Dell said. “This was an area in which we thought we could streamline the process,” Dell said. “We can automate, and we can create some efficiencies, so that we can really keep
And I don't care if Disney feels otherwise — we're going to make sure we're standing with parents and we're standing with students.” DeSantis, a Republican who won re-election in November, spoke on campus at “An Evening with Special Guest Ron DeSantis” last Thursday, April
DeSantis said the left has a foothold in many public institutions. Jack Cote | Collegian
6. His speech was followed by a Q&A session with College President Larry Arnn. “I’ve known him a while, and I’ve followed him well because we do charter schools in Florida. We do them in several states and, not meaning any invidious distinctions, Florida is the best,” Arnn said. “They know what they’re doing. When you work with them, they keep their word, they make things happen. I finally noticed that — you don’t expect that from government these days — and I began to pay more attention to Florida, and then I found our speaker.” The governor said he has used his position to fight for the interests of his constituents and to set an example for other conservative leaders. “There's some Republicans that think their job is to cut taxes and not do anything else. That is not how we conceive of our job,” DeSantis said. He called Florida “the freest state in the United States” and said achieving that status has
required a combination of limiting government intervention in private lives as well as fighting against the active infiltration of leftist ideas in public institutions. “I think in modern times we've seen the left get into so many different arteries of our society,” DeSantis said. “So yes, you have to limit government and its involvement with you, but you also have to contest the left and all these other institutions. So when I say ‘the Free State of Florida,’ I mean not only limited government but I also mean I have a responsibility to protect my citizens from having the pathologies of the left imposed upon them by all these other institutions in our society.” Though he frequently faces fire from the media for his policies concerning education and other issues, he said he doesn’t let it get to him.
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Campus grieves John Owen Habib, 21 By Lauren Scott Assistant Editor When Khalil Habib’s 21-year-old son fell into a coma after a rock climbing accident in Morocco two weeks ago, students, staff, and faculty reached out to support the family with text messages, emails, and prayers — and many contributed to a GoFundMe account that raised more than $230,000 for medical expenses. John Owen Habib died April 11 following a catastrophic fall on April 1, according to the GoFundMe account organized by his
Deans roll out new housing system By Jillian Parks Social Media Manager
“We've drawn a line in the sand and said that parents in Florida have a right to send their kids to school without having a teacher telling their kids that they can change their gender or that they can pick different pronouns,” he said. “Gender ideology should not be taught in our K-12 schools.
our eyes focused on student support at every level in the experience. We started looking for software back in 2019, and StarRez pretty quickly came to the top of the pile because of the scope of what they can handle as well as the variety of features and high customization.” According to Dell, students will have access to on-campus housing choice priority based on their high school graduation year and number of credits. There will be hour blocks of time for each credit group to go into StarRez and select their room choices, either picking a single for themselves or selecting living accommodations on behalf of
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brother, Jordan Habib. He was at Akdital Hospital in Tangier. “He was far greater than I could ever be,” Associate Professor of Politics Khalil Habib, John Owen’s father, said. “If this pain is the price of having had him as a child, I would pay it again just to hold him one last time.” College President Larry Arnn said he met John Owen once when he was visiting campus. “Many people at Hillsdale found him to be attractive, talented, and engaging,” Arnn said. “He was a star student and a star young man. It is a great loss.”
When John Owen was still in the hospital, Arnn said the college was planning to help bring him home to the states. “We were helping them to arrange a special flight with medical care to get John Owen back to America,” Arnn said. “It looked like it was going to be able to be organized.” After John Owen’s accident, the Habib family flew to Morocco to be with him in the hospital. “We all spent every day upon our arrival in Morocco by his bedside, holding his hands and praying over him,” Khalil said. “We were talking to him even though he was in
a coma and playing his favorite music and messages from his friends around the world.” He said his wife, Cressida Habib, and his son, Jordan, were by John Owen’s side supporting him the entire time. “They were best friends,” Khalil said. Adam Carrington, associate professor of politics, said the outpouring love and worry for the Habib family is a testament of how Khalil has touched so many lives at Hillsdale. “He is a deeply devoted husband and father,” Carrington said. “He makes time and does so much for his
family.” Dan O’Toole, lecturer in politics, said he will teach Habib's Classical Political Philosophy course and Professor of History Paul Rahe will teach his Roman Political Thought graduate level course. Recent Ph.D. graduate Joey Barretta will teach his section of U.S. Constitution. Carrington said everyone on campus should remember to pray for the Habib family and be prepared to welcome Khalil back when the time comes.
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