Hillsdale Heros
This past weekend my wife, Frances, and I traveled to Michigan to take our youngest son, Peter, for a college visit to Hillsdale. Located in the south central part of the state and out in the middle of nowhere, this liberal arts, private, and classical school is unlike anything I’ve ever seen!
Founded in 1844, Hillsdale College was established on the strong belief that the blessings of civil and religious liberties should be preserved. It starts with the classical approach to education by emphasizing the pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty. It was also the first college in America to graduate women and to accept anyone regardless of race, religion, or creed. In fact, Frederick Douglas, the former slave, abolitionist writer, and orator came and spoke to the students in 1863.
While on campus, Peter got to have lunch with Dr. Larry Arnn, the President of the school, who makes it his practice to dine with students in the cafeteria as often as he can where he engages them in meaningful conversations, intellectual discussions, and honest discourse about ideas, politics, economics, and anything else that they want to talk about. Dr. Arnn, a former colleague of mine from the 90’s when we were both in the think tank world (Claremont Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, respectively), told me that he turned down an offer to run the renown Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, but instead chose to remain at Hillsdale in academia. When I asked him why, he said that he “wanted to change the world!” As Shakespere once wrote “though he be little, he is fierce!” Hillsdale only has 1500 students, but they are world changers indeed!
My first introduction to this college was in the early 1970’s when my grandfather, Carl E. Steiger, gave me a free subscription to Hillsdale’s newsletter entitled “Imprimis”- which features a speech given by someone who addresses Hillsdale on a matter of some importance or relevance. I was honored to be featured in this publication which is mailed to over three million people semi monthly. The subject of my speech in 1998 to a Hillsdale audience was on parental choice in education. At the time, I was the founder and CEO of Children First America, a national organization aimed at bringing about school choice through the establishment of privately funded scholarship organizations and the promotion of publicly funded vouchers and tax credits for parents.
Whether Peter will end up going to school at Hillsdale is yet to be seen, but the current students and graduates of this amazing institution of higher learning are in my opinions considered heroes! We need more students to be educated to think for themselves and then to be able to articulate their beliefs and principles to a world that is greatly in need of defenders of liberty and strong proponents of Judeo Christian and constitutional convictions. It’s what college was meant to be!