The Hillsdale County Fair started Sunday and will run through Saturday. Isabella Sheehan | Collegian
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 147 Issue 6 – September 28, 2023
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Provost office announces 2024 commencement speaker By Thomas McKenna Assistant Editor Pat Sajak, longtime “Wheel of Fortune” host and Hillsdale College Board of Trustees chairman, will be the commencement speaker for the class of 2024, according to an email announcement from the provost’s office Wednesday. “Pat Sajak gave a wonderful convocation speech some years ago,” College President Larry Arnn said in a statement to The Collegian. “He has done long
and excellent service for our college, and he has a serious understanding of and commitment to it. I expect his remarks will be worthy of the occasion.” Sajak, who has hosted “Wheel of Fortune” since 1981, has been in college leadership for more than two decades. After joining the college’s board of trustees in 2002 — two years after Arnn became president — he was named chairman of the board in 2019. Associate Vice President for Curriculum David Whalen has
taught at Hillsdale since 1994 — before Sajak or Arnn arrived. He said Sajak is “one of the most thoughtful, articulate people” he knows. “Though I do not pretend to be a close associate of Pat Sajak's, I could sing his praises all day,” Whalen said. “Everyone knows he is a great wit, but he’s also intellectually serious, genuinely gracious, and deeply committed to the best things that go on here.” After hosting more than 7,000 episodes, Sajak an-
nounced in June he will step down from hosting “Wheel of Fortune” next year. Sajak has hosted the show longer than anyone has hosted any other American television program, according to the announcement from the provost’s office. Provost Christopher VanOrman said the college is looking forward to Sajak’s commencement address. “Mr. Sajak is not only an iconic figure in Hollywood but has also been a longtime friend and supporter of the college,”
VanOrman said. “I anticipate his remarks will be witty, engaging, and memorable.” Professor of History Kenneth Calvert said he has a great respect for Sajak. “While he is best known for his game show, what is less known is that he has worked very hard in support of conservative and patriotic initiatives across the country, including his work on behalf of Hillsdale College,” Calvert said. “He has been a close friend of Dr. Arnn’s for many years, before
Dr. Arnn came to Hillsdale. We should be grateful for Mr. Sajak’s efforts.” Senior Class president Joseph Perez, who assisted the college in choosing a commencement speaker, said choosing Sajak honors the work he has done for the college as he retires from television. “He’s very well aligned with Hillsdale’s institutional mission,” Perez said. “We’re confident that he’ll give a great speech in the spring."
Free speech group gives Hillsdale 'warning' status College breaks ground By Elizabeth Troutman the climate for free speech.” sification to lower Hillsdale's lenging concepts presented by on new Phi Sig pavilion Editor-in-chief The rankings consider 10 overall score. FIRE's method- others,” Davis said. Students rank Hillsdale College high for its commitment to free speech, but a national civil liberties group still deemed it a "warning school" in its annual college free speech rankings. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, surveys students at more than 250 colleges and universities each year on questions of free speech. FIRE polled 180 Hillsdale students for the 2024 College Free Speech rankings. “The ‘warning’ rating is based solely on whether the written policies at a school clearly put other values above students' free speech, such that students would not have a reasonable expectation of having the same free speech rights as their public school peers,” FIRE Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz told The Collegian. “The policy rating doesn't take into account how the school performed on the student survey results about
components — six concerning student perception of free speech, including comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for liberal speakers, tolerance for conservative speakers, acceptability of disruptive conduct, administrative support for free expression, openness to discussion of specific political topics — and four concerning administrative behavior. “In FIRE's assessment of free speech in higher education, Hillsdale emerged as one of the top institutions by its metrics,” Hillsdale spokeswoman Emily Stack Davis said. Hillsdale is drawn into a separate warning category from the other schools at the bottom of the list, which could cause readers to not realize the college is ranked, Davis said. “Oddly, FIRE placed Hillsdale in a special 'warning' category that doesn’t show up easily among the other ranked schools,” Davis said. “Then, FIRE used this arbitrary clas-
ology is further biased: They gave only six institutions this 'warning' treatment — all are Christian.” Hillsdale received the best score available in five of the six student perception categories. “When it comes to student perception, there is nobody, no college in the country, whose score comes close to Hillsdale,” Chairman of Mathematics Thomas Treloar said. “Not even close.” In the first three categories concerning administrative behavior — scholar support, scholar sanctions, and speaker disinvitations — Hillsdale received zeroes, meaning the administration has not tried to suppress free speech. “According to FIRE's own results, Hillsdale students express a sense of support of free speech both from the administration and the faculty, feel comfortable sharing their ideas, and are open to engaging with controversial and chal-
Yet the fourth administrative behavior category — FIRE’s rating of the school’s speech policies — earned Hillsdale its warning status due to excerpts from the college’s student conduct handbook prohibiting inappropriate conduct, expression, or social media posts, as well as behavior undermining the college’s mission. While the college otherwise likely would have been one of the highest ranked schools on the list for free speech, according to Treloar, the “warning” label bumped Hillsdale’s score down 20 points. “While Hillsdale does hold itself out as an institution that values civil and religious liberty, it does not clearly promise its students free expression rights on campus,” Beltz said. “Instead, it mandates adherence to the college’s moral values.”
See FIRE A2
Seniors Helen Schlueter, Margaret Potter, and Claire Hipkins (left to right) enjoy an evening at the Hillsdale County Fair. Isabella Sheehan | Collegian
Plans for the pavilion have been in the works since 2019. Logan Washburn | Collegian
By Logan Washburn Associate Editor When the college broke ground on the Phi Sigma Epsilon pavilion on Saturday, it gave the former fraternity a permanent home on campus. “The college provides the continuity around which this friendship can last,” College President Larry Arnn said at the groundbreaking. “The fraternity is not active here anymore, but of course, in another way, it is and it always will be.” A crowd of more than 200 college and Phi Sig alumni, donors, students, and college leaders gathered across from Broadlawn for the pavilion groundbreaking. The pavilion will sit next to Dow Residence and include an indoor conference room, a warming kitchen, outdoor covered seating, and a fireplace, according to Associate Director of Alumni Relations Braden VanDyke ’21. Phi Sig fell into financial hardship in the 1980s, when at-the-time fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa absorbed it. “The college persists in the same way this fraternity persists,” Arnn said. “It stands for some things they claim to be eternal goods.” The fraternity’s alumni have been working with the college since 2019 to bring
this project about, according to former Phi Sig President Ross Anderson ’79. “It’s coming to fruition finally, and we’re super excited about it,” Anderson said. “We’re kind of setting this property up to be a place that students, faculty, staff, and alumni can enjoy for a long time.” Doug McPherson ’76, Phi Sig alumni association president, suggested the project at a chapter meeting in 2016, according to Anderson. Different classes of fraternity alumni donated different parts of the pavilion, such as the fireplace and kitchen. Alumni raised close to $220,000 for the pavilion, while the college contributed close to $400,000, according to college Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. “It has truly been a really unique partnership with the college administration,” Anderson said. The college is grateful to God for providing it with the resources for this project, according to Associate Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief ” Rogers. “We would be remiss if we didn't thank God for every good thing,” Rogers said, “not with lip service, but truly to honor him because he is good.”
See Pavilion A2