Hillsdale Collegian 2.6.20

Michigan’s oldest college newspaper

Vol. 143 Issue 17 - February 6, 2020

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Local schools shut down over influenza cases By | Julia Mullins Collegian Reporter In the past two weeks, four local schools have temporarily closed, largely due to influenza making its way through Hillsdale County.

Hillsdale Hospital Infection Control Officer Randy Holland said since Sept. 2019 there have been 520 cases of influenza B confirmed through the hospital’s laboratory, and 12 cases of influenza A. Holland said the number of confirmed influenza cases in Hillsdale County is probably much higher, as a majority of people will get tested at their local physician’s office, not the hospital.

“Influenza B has been the

main strain that has gone on so far this season, which is opposite of how the season typically goes,” Holland said.

“Usually, the season goes from the A strain to the B strain.”

Holland said the reason that the B strain is more prevalent this season is because it is the same strain that showed up at the end of last year, meaning that the current strain was not part of the vaccine administered for this season.

Younger children are more susceptible to the B strain, and they often pass the virus on to their parents, according to Holland. He added that once one child is infected, the virus spreads quickly through schools, because children

do not often practice good hygiene.

“The schools have done very well making the decision to close, therefore keeping the ill children away from others who may not have it to help rid the environment of illness and then getting the opportunity to sanitize the building,” Holland said. “The schools’ decisions to close have kept numbers lower than if they had not closed.”

Hillsdale College Associate Professor of Biology Silas Johnson said flu season typically peaks through January or February and tapers off in March or April.

“Sometimes that peak is like a little bit earlier and sometimes a little bit later,

but it’s generally in the winter months,” Johnson said. “We’re probably close to or around the peak.”

Johnson added that peak season typically occurs in the winter months because more individuals are in close contact with one another.

“They’re just more likely to get a transmission event when you do have that closer contact,” Johnson said.

Johnson added that he’s noticed an increase in Hillsdale College students missing class due to illness.

Linda Snoes, staff assistant for health services at Hillsdale College, said there have been about 40 confirmed influenza cases among college students.

“Most of them have been

influenza B,” Snoes said.

Among local school districts, North Adams-Jerome Public Schools closed on Jan. 31 and Feb. 3-5 due to more than 75% of the student population calling in sick due to flu-like symptoms.

Wes Johnson, the superintendent and principal of North Adams-Jerome, said the total student body population is 309, and 5-10% of students had stayed home in the days leading up to closing.

“Elementary definitely had the most illnesses, with first grade having the highest number of students ill,” Johnson said in an email.

Johnson added that there is no state law requiring schools to close if a certain percentage

of students are absent, but “if more than 25% of your students are absent, you cannot count the day, and must either use one of your Act of God days, or make up the day on a non-scheduled school day.”

Although this has been an “unfortunate situation,” Johnson said he hopes the school can resume class today, Feb. 6.

Will Carleton Academy was among the first schools to close due to illness, cancelling classes on Jan. 23 and 24, and continues to tell parents to keep students home until they are fever-free for 24 hours.

See FLU A6

Coronavirus misses Michigan By | Alex Nester Opinions Editor Four patients in Michigan have all tested negative for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus as of Feb. 3, according to Lynn Sutfin, public information director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The patients, three from Washtenaw County and one from Macomb County, were tested because of their

flu-like symptoms and their recent travel history, which included visits to Wuhan, China, where the virus is said to have originated. Their tests were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is responsible for testing samples. None of the four Michigan residents tested positive for the virus, Sutfin said.

There are 12 recorded cases of coronavirus in the United States, with cases in

Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Washington.

On Dec. 31, 2019, several individuals in Wuhan went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. The illness allegedly originated at the Huanan Seafood Market. Now, nearly 500 people have died and more than 24,000 have been infected globally.

See Coronavirus A7

The first ever Choral Evensong was held on Sunday evening in Christ Chapel. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn sent a campus-wide email on Monday morning thanking all those who participated for their hard work and dedication to the Evensong. For further coverage, see B2. External Affairs

Author discusses potential dangers of marijuana use President Trump delivered his annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday. Flickr

Professors react to State of the Union By | Regan Meyer News Editor Hillsdale faculty applauded and criticized aspects of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, as well as Democrat reactions.

Trump spent much of Tuesday night pointing to American history and claiming that America is stronger and better than it has ever been. He also touched on themes of Manifest Destiny and the last frontier.

“This is our glorious and magnificent inheritance,” Trump said. “We are Americans. We are pioneers. We are the pathfinders. We settled the New World, we built the modern world, and we changed history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.” Trump also invited Follow @HDaleCollegian

various guests from across the country to sit in the gallery during his remarks.

Trump sent a message for the Venezuelan people home with legitimate Venezuelan president Juan Guaido. He also honored former Tuskegee Airman Brigadier General Charles McGee, and conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was surprised with the Presidential Medal of Honor.

Professor of Rhetoric and Public Address Kirstin Kiledal said that while some of Trump’s invitations became inspirational moments, others felt forced.

“He had a couple of inspirational moments that took us back to Reagan. Most notable was the 13-year-old child who wanted to join the Space Force and his great-grandfather who was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen,” Kiledal said. “That

dealt with our national values, national mission, and values that Trump is trying to move forth. It created a higher calling than simply the defensive mechanisms of the military. That was beautiful.”

Kiledal also cited the presentation of Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Honor and the message to all of Venezuela through rightful president Guaido as inspirational moments. She said, however, that the bringing home of the serviceman to his family appeared contrived.

“It seemed more staged and more of a political moment,” she said. “It stopped having a direct tie. There didn’t seem to be a genuine authentic link

See Trump A3

By | Madeleine Miller under the age of 25 have been over the world, in the world’s Collegian Reporter led to believe that smoking best peer-reviewed medical journals),” Berenson cited a The media has failed to re- marijuana is barely more port the dangers of marijuana dangerous than smoking ciga- range of evidence. rettes, and we wanted some“The medical literature use accurately, according to one to come in and dispel is very clear that cannabis is author and former New York dangerous for Times writer mental health,” Alex Berenson. he said. “The idea Berenson that it can cause spoke on Jan. temporary psy30 in Hillsdale chotic episodes College’s Plasand that it is bad ter Auditorium. for anxiety and Berenson’s depression is not 2019 book, open to question.

“Tell Your He cited a 1987 Children: The study of 50,000 Truth about Swedish military Marijuana, conscripts who Mental Illness, used cannabis and Violence,” at age 18 or 19. has drawn Those who used attention from marijuana 10 or opponents more times were and supporttwice as likely to ers alike. Last develop schizoyear, he gave phrenia and the a talk at the risk for those who Allan P. Kirby, used it 50 or more Jr. Center for times increased Constitutional sixfold.

Studies and A 2002 study Citizenship, in New Zealand a recording checked children of which has for symptoms received over of psychosis 800,000 views at age 11 and on YouTube.

Director of Alex Berenson caused some controversy on campus with his began tracking their marijuana Health Services talk about the dangers of marijuana. Facebook use at age 15. It Brock Lutz, found that even who introduced those myths,” he said. controlling for other factors, Berenson, said the Student Throughout his presentacannabis use triples the risk of Affairs Office sponsored the tion, titled “Cannabis, Mental developing psychotic disortalk to inform students of the Illness, and Violence: A Gendangers of marijuana use.

See Marijuana A3 “Unfortunately, Americans eration of Evidence (from all

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News Hillsdale hockey team currently 3-1 in inaugural season

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February 6, 2020

By | Cal Abbo Features Editor Since the beginning of the semester, Hillsdale’s newest sports team, the hockey club, has played four games—winning three and losing one—in a men’s league in Jackson.

Sophomore Zach Niebolt, the president of the club, tried to start a team last year, but only recruited around 10 players. Last semester, he met freshman Ben Hanson who also tried to start a hockey team. Combined, Niebolt and Hanson had the necessary amount of students needed to start a club.

The team plays in an intermediate men’s league, known as a “beer league,” in Jackson every Tuesday night. It also practices once per week at a local alumnus’s personal ice rink.

Initially, Niebolt said, the club faced some issues getting off the ground.

“The idea behind club sports is that it’s supposed to be a varsity team without scholarships, and it’s not officially affiliated with the

college,” he said. “But you’re still supposed to play in an intercollegiate division.”

Hillsdale’s location made this difficult. Nearby colleges like Spring Arbor and Albion don’t have club teams, according to Niebolt, so the team’s only opportunity would be playing Division 1 club teams like the University of Michigan or Michigan State University.

“Those teams have guys who were just barely cut from Division 1 college hockey,” he said. “We’d get destroyed.”

Niebolt remembered that the college’s club baseball team plays in a men’s league and used that to fight for the hockey club. Eventually, the administration allowed it, and Niebolt found a league in Jackson that the team could join.

To the team’s surprise, it won its first game 5-4.

“We couldn’t play cohesively as a team and our line changes were pretty poor,” Niebolt said.

During the game, the team received two different penalties for having six skaters on

the ice.

Junior Ben Weide, who has played hockey since he was little, said the team relied on individual talent during its first game.

“We had no structure. We couldn’t get out of our own zone. We relied a lot on speed and breakaways,” he said.

Since then, the team has used its practice time to develop its own style, line changes, and gameplay.

“In the last couple games, we’ve started possessing the puck and passing more,” Weide said. “It’s nice to finally develop our game into something that resembles hockey.”

With a good base of individual talent, Niebolt also said he noticed the team coming together over the last few weeks.

“We’ve been building up the team dynamic and cohesiveness after we have that good individual talent,” he said.

Niebolt also played since he was young and continued through high school. Coming to Hillsdale, he thought there would be at least some hockey

“up here in the frozen north,” but was disappointed when there weren’t a lot of games.

“So I decided to take some initiative,” he said.

Most of the players on the team have played hockey before. Sophomore Ryan Perkins, who serves as the vice president of the hockey club, noted that about 75% of the team has played competitively in the past. Others, he said, have played only pond hockey or recreationally.

“Coming out here, I was very interested in Hillsdale, but having no hockey team was a huge bummer,” Perkins said. “The interest for everyone on our team has been that we’ve been playing hockey our whole lives and we don’t wanna stop now. So any opportunity we have, we’re going to take.”

Weide, who is from the Detroit area, agreed with Perkins.

Until now, Weide periodically drove home just to play with friends at a drop-in session or in a beer league.

“The chance to play on a regular basis is something I hadn’t been able to do, and I

really miss that,” Weide said.

Currently, the team has a wide range of talent. Perkins and Niebolt agreed that getting the lines figured out across skill levels was a significant challenge, but that everyone is getting to know each other and their individual play styles better.

“We understand how each other plays now,” senior Brittany Loomis said. “I can predict where my forwards will be and our forwards can predict where our defense will be.”

Loomis plays defense for the team. She’s the only woman playing for Hillsdale and one of three in the Jackson beer league. Before coming to Hillsdale, Loomis played for advanced teams like Compuware, Belle Tire, and even the USA girl’s development program.

So far, Loomis said she is impressed with how quickly the team has come together.

Before joining, she felt anxious about playing regularly with all men—something she hasn’t done since she was nine years old.

“I found out there were guys who have never really skated competitively before, so that kind of calmed my anxiety about it a little bit,” Loomis said.

Eventually, teammates started asking Loomis for help learning different skills because of her experience.

“Last week I scored my first goal,” Loomis said. “I turned around and saw all the guys cheering for me. If I’m getting a hard time from the other team on the ice, my team will be there for me. They call me the token girl on the team, so that’s been a great bonding experience, just knowing they’re gonna have my back.”

Niebolt said the team is always looking to expand the program and incorporate new players. In addition, the team will sell jerseys later this month to help fund its operations.

“I’ve been super impressed and I think we’re all confident that we’ll be able to grow as a team,” Perkins said. “Hopefully, in the future, we’ll be able to play in better leagues.”

Olds House Director to leave at end of the month By | Abby Liebing Associate Editor Whether it’s tossing a paper plate in the Olds lobby with residents, or always saying hi and asking how the day is going, Olds House Director Linda Gravel, commonly known as “Mama G” will be missed when she leaves Feb. 28.

Gravel, who is originally from the Troy, Michigan area, is moving back home to be closer to her daughter and grandkids.

“I have a couple grandkids there still playing sports and I’m missing all their games,” she said.

Gravel came to Hillsdale six years ago and has loved being the house director at Olds.

“It’s good to watch the girls grow. To watch you guys grow and become young ladies and young men and it’s great to see you mature and what you’re going to be,” Gravel said.

“Makes me have more hope in this world and how it’s going to be with you guys being so smart and level headed, most

of the time.”

Living in a freshman girls dorm, Gravel does have plenty of stories of student shenanigans that she looks back on and laughs at. One year she had a group of girls living near the back of the dorm that she thought were quiet and didn’t get out much until one night she found them on the Olds roof.

“I look up and I see feet going by,” Gravel said. “Deep down inside, after I reprimanded them a little bit, I was glad they did that because it got them out of their box. A lot of times kids would come here and they would be so rigid so it was good to see them get out of the box a little bit and do something a little adventurous.”

And as Olds residents will tell you, Gravel loves goofing around with the girls.

Freshman Elizabeth Oxaal said that the other night when she went back to Olds she found Gravel in the lobby with a paper plate and so they began tossing it around like frisbee.

Mama G poses with her 2019-2020 RAs. Facebook

“Its moments like these that help me appreciate Mama G and her presence in Olds

and she’s just such a fun-loving gal,” Oxaal said. “And living on her hall is awesome

because she sees all our weird shenanigans and joins in.”

Gravel is also famous among her residents, past and present, for how well she takes care of the girls.

“She really takes care of everyone in the dorm super well, especially the RA team, she does a lot of things for us that she doesn’t have to do,” sophomore and Olds resident advisor Greta Dornbirer said.

“She always brings me and Julia snacks and remembers your favorite snack. And every time she goes to Walmart she picks something up and leaves it outside your door.”

Her residents are sad to see her go but also excited for Gravel to be back near her family.

“I’m very sad she’s leaving but I’m also really excited for her because she seems really excited,” Dornbirer said.

Junior and Olds head RA Julia Pletan has loved having Gravel as the house director and will miss how Gravel would grab her by the arm just to stop and ask her how the day is going. But she

knows that Gravel is excited to be moving back home.

“Because she’s so excited it’s really easy to be excited for her,” Pletan said.

Gravel said that she is eager to get back to living not just near her family but also in a busier, more fast-paced area than Hillsdale.

“I was getting too docile here,” Gravel said.

When she moves back home, Gravel will be working three days a week at Sunrise Senior Living as a concierge.

“It’s an older community so I’ll be going from young to old and it’ll be fun,” Gravel said.

But there are things Gravel will miss about the Hillsdale community.

“I’ll miss the hugs and the comradery of you guys and the kindness that is in this place.”

In honor of her departure, the residents of Olds are hosting a going away party for Gravel on Feb. 14, because after all, as Oxaal said, “Mama G is the life source of Olds.”

2020 President’s Ball Court

Caitlin Weighner Major: Philosophy Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI GPA: 3.975

Reagan Dugan Major: Classics Hometown: Shawnee, KS GPA: 3.52

Avery Lacey Major: Philosophy/Politics/ Economics Hometown: Frederick, MD GPA: 3.76

Dietrich Balsbaugh Major: English Hometown: St Paul, MN GPA: 3.73

Michelle Reid Major: Philosophy & Religion Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI GPA: 3.9

Ian Brown Major: History Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska GPA: 3.3

Hadiah Ritchey Major: History Hometown: Somerset, KY GPA: 3.95

Isaac Johnson Major: English Hometown: Haslet, MI GPA: 3.82

Sara Becker Major: Biochemistry/Philosophy Hometown: Inver Grove Heights, MN GPA: 4.0

Nate Messiter Major: Philosophy & Religion Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI GPA: 3.7 Courtesy | Student ACtivities Office

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To advertise in The Collegian, please contact ad managers Ben Garfinkle at bgarfinkle@hillsdale.edu or Jeremiah Tiews at jtiews@ hillsdale.edu.

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Q&A: Dave Mastio, USA Today Editor By | Victoria Marshall Assistant Editor David Mastio is the deputy editorial page editor for USA Today. He started his career as an editorial writer and assistant forum editor for USA Today back in 1995. Mastio also worked as a founding editorial page editor for The Washington Examiner, deputy editorial page editor and senior editor for online opinion at The Washington Times, editorial writer for the Virginian-Pilot, and also served as the Detroit News’ Washington correspondent.

How did your journalism career begin?

I started with USA Today as a news assistant. I was a member of the editorial board, so I got votes on editorials. And I was editing columns, doing research for graphics, and going to get opposing views.

So you’ve worked for several different news outlets since then—the Virginian-Pilot, the Detroit News, the Washington Examiner, Washington Times—do you think that’s normal for a journalism career to move to different outlets?

It’s normal for somebody to move up the food chain.

It’s not normal to move back and forth between liberal media and conservative media, and it’s not normal to start at a national outlet and then go to some local outlets.

And so what led you to that path? How did you decide to move?

Well, when I was at USA Today the first time, I’d been there about three years and I asked my boss if I could get promoted to editorial writer and he said I needed to have reporting experience. So I went to the Detroit News and worked in their Washington bureau to get reporting experience and then three years later, he hired me back as an editorial writer. And then I went to work for the Virginian-Pilot because my wife got a job in Norfolk as a prosecu-

Marijuana

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ders.

He went on to debunk a few popular beliefs about marijuana use.

Berenson said that cannabis legalization does not prevent opioid abuse.

Most people who claim otherwise cite an outdated study, skewed by the fact that marijuana legalization started in the western United States, while the opioid abuse epidemic spread from the east.

“If it were true, we should see a nationwide drop in opioid use with cannabis legalization,” he said.

He also said that cannabis is not an effective painkiller. According to Berenson, a GW Pharmaceuticals clinical trial found no difference in pain-relieving ability between water and a spray containing tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychotropic component of cannabis attributed to easing pain.

“If a pharmaceutical company had proven THC effective, there would be a huge market,” he said.

Berenson blamed journalists for promoting “pro-

tor, and so I wanted to follow her and give her a chance to get a job that she was really interested in.

As the deputy editorial page editor for USA Today, what does a typical day in your life look like?

Well, the first thing is reading a fire hose of columns that come in without being solicited and trying to pick out the best of those.

And then I read a bunch more columns that are from our regular writers that we’ve asked for, that they’ve pitched to us, and then try to come up with the best selection of columns for the next day’s paper that covers the news and then gives people some interesting topics that they might not have thought about. I am also part of the editorial board discussions for the opinions of USA Today. I try to guide those discussions to a more moderate path. USA Today leans left as an editorial board, but they’ve always been open to other views.

How did your experience as a reporter help your work on editorial writing?

Well, the core of good opinion writing is good reporting. You can’t do one without the other. And in fact, you probably need more reporting to do good opinion writing. You have to go a level deeper into the topic then if you’re just reporting, where you can get away with floating along the surface of an issue.

What is your advice to young people who want to pursue a career in journalism?

It’s a time of turmoil in journalism. You have to be very passionate and be among the very best to succeed in journalism today. A key thing to keep in mind is that what you learn in college is just the start. You got to keep learning all the way through your career— learn how to be an innovator and adapt to new mediums.

paganda from the cannabis industry.”

“The scientific aspect is important and interesting, but even more interesting is why you don’t know it,” he said. “This is a giant failure of the people in the media who believed the people in the cannabis industry. Do not trust that the people selling a substance will tell you it’s harmful and addictive.”

Berenson pointed out that many medical authorities caution against the risks of marijuana use. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2017 reported that cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of schizophrenia and other psychoses, and that the risk increases with higher use.

In 2019, United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that marijuana use is dangerous for youth and pregnant women.

Berenson likened Adams’ statement to the Surgeon General’s 1964 advisory against smoking in that both were largely ignored by the public.

Nonetheless, Berenson

As someone whose career has always followed politics, do you think the rate of political polarization that we’re experiencing today is novel, like between the right and the left? Or has it always been the same throughout your career?

I think it’s much worse today than it ever has been.

What’s really changed is that people used to really disagree vehemently about politics.

But now, politics is a core part of people’s identity. I can’t remember the exact polling number, but a poll that really struck me was that Democrats object more to the idea of their children coming home with a spouse of the opposite party as opposed to a different race; that it’s a bigger deal to come home with a Democrat if you’re Republican or vice versa, than to come home with a different race spouse, and that says something really tragic to me about where our culture is going.

Who do you think is going to be the Democratic nominee?

I think it’s going to be Pete Buttigieg. I think he’s going to emerge as the consensus candidate between the moderate and the progressive wings of the party. He’s positioned himself really smartly there, and he’s a great contrast to Trump. Where Trump is bombastic, Buttigieg is lowkey; where Trump is rambling, Buttigieg is articulate; where Trump is a draft-dodger, Buttigieg served his country; where Trump is not very bright, Buttigieg is obviously brilliant.

You have lived in eight different states, states that vary from California to Virginia. What have you gained from that experience of moving so much?

People everywhere are the same. Americans are good people. They’re open-minded, open-hearted, and willing to take you in just about anywhere

said he believes science will prevail.

“It’s going to take us a while to get there, and people will be broken along the way,” he said.

Sophomore Spencer Woodford said he found Berenson’s insight valuable.

“It was informative. What he said was important. People should view marijuana like they would view tobacco,” he said. “We should know more about the harmful effects of marijuana.”

Sophomore Ellen Hancock said she was not impressed.

“His evidence was one-sided,” she said. “He could have articulated it much more efficiently.”

Meanwhile, Lutz said Berenson’s points were consistent with his experience.

“I’ve worked in the mental health and substance abuse fields for the last 20 years and have observed the acute and long-term, more insidious consequences of marijuana use,” he said.

“Much of Berenson’s writing and research findings support those claims as well.”

Come to assignment meetings at 7pm on Monday nights in the office.

February 6, 2020

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University of Tulsa prof details its corporate takeover By | Ashley Kaitz Assistant Editor Corporate interests are taking over the University of Tulsa with the goal of turning its students into meek, interchangeable cogs to serve the new knowledge economy, said Jacob A. Howland, professor of philosophy at the University of Tulsa. He gave his lecture “The Crisis of Liberal Education in America: Does it Have a Future?” on Feb. 4.

According to Howland, leaders at TU have one thing in common — a connection to billionaire George Kaiser, the controlling shareholder of the Bank of Oklahoma.

Interestingly, the Bank of Oklahoma controls half of TU’s 1.2 billion endowment.

Howland said that this corporate takeover “was designed to extract value from TU for Kaiser, his trustees and administrators, and to promote Kaiser’s progressivist causes.”

A New York Times article that Howland cited said that Kaiser viewed TU as a place “to try out all sorts of progressive social programs.”

Kaiser, however, is not idly curious. In fact, he has a direct stake in the outcome of these programs.

Howland said that the George Kaiser Family Foundation was the primary funder of a 2017 Social Impact Bond to keep women out of jail. According to Howland, the idea of a Social Impact Bond is that private investors “put up money to achieve specific goals.” If the goal is met, they could receive a significant return on their investment.

So what does all of this have to do with education?

According to Howland, Kaiser is interested in tackling poverty, and that means getting people jobs. His vision for TU is to abandon the traditional four-year degree and instead institute short technical training programs, spanning a 3-18 month period, where students can earn certificates for learning a certain skill. The goal is to turn students into life-long customers, who have to return to school and be retrained again and again as their skills become outmoded.

The transformation began in the spring of 2018, when the TU administration pushed through a restructur-

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between the President’s actual message and subject matter and the bringing of the man home at the moment.”

The most controversial moment of the night came at the end of Trump’s speech when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ripped up the transcript of Trump’s speech as she stood behind him.

Professor of History Bradley Birzer said that her actions will go down as a critical moment in history.

“For her to do that, I think it’s incredibly dangerous,” Birzer said. “It gives justification to violence because it was such a violent act to do that. I think it legitimizes division in a way that a republic just can’t have.”

The White House called out Pelosi for her actions in a tweet Tuesday night.

“Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member’s reunion with his family. That’s her legacy,” the tweet said.

As for the address itself, assistant professor of politics Adam Carrington said that

ing plan called “True Commitment.”

“True Commitment eliminated 40% of the university’s academic programs, dissolved all academic departments in favor of divisions — including one called ‘Humanities and Social Justice’ — and formed a ‘professional super-college,’” Howland said.

In place of traditional programs like history and philosophy, TU is focused on “growth areas” such as cybersecurity, industrial-organizational psychology, and petroleum engineering, among others. Howland said that the idea is to funnel the least-prepared students into low-level training programs in areas such as nursing and data management, and the best-prepared students into highly technical fields like cybersecurity.

No matter what training they choose, however, the greater goal is to turn students into a new kind of human capital.

“Education is, in many ways, the new oil,” Howland said. “The monetization and commodification of human capital requires a standardized product that will be pumped out in large quantities.”

Essentially, the goal behind the restructuring of TU is to transform students into this standardized product.

According to Howland, the ideal future TU students will be “individuals ground down smooth into workers and managers who will fit interchangeably into a globalized and digitalized system of production. This endeavor requires new levels of behavioral conditioning, which is quite adequately supplied by the imperatives of progressive ideology.”

If this sounds dystopian, perhaps that’s because Gerard Clancy, former president of TU and a close associate of Kaiser, sought to emulate the University of Beijing’s branch campus in the city of Karamay, China. According to Howland, Clancy was particularly impressed by Karamay’s heavy investing in the “knowledge sector”— namely, technology information systems and information service industries from all over the world.

The city of Karamay has served as a testing ground for the newest security systems

the speech is a victory for Trump especially considering the current turmoil in the Democratic party.

“From what I’m hearing, people are saying it’s one of the more effective speeches he’s given,” he said.

“And, this is in some ways his launch of his reelection campaign, so I think compared to what’s going on in Iowa, it’s certainly positive for him. The way the speech has been received as a comparison to what’s going on in Iowa is very good optics as they call it.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave the Democratic response to Trump’s address just minutes after he concluded in D.C. Whitmer addressed a crowd of Michigan citizens at East Lansing High School, where her speech was broadcasted. Her speech mostly focused on the economy and improving infrastructure.

“During my campaign, people told me to fix the damn roads, because blown tires and broken windshields are downright dangerous, and car repairs take money from rent, child care or groceries. And we, the Democrats, are doing something about it,” Whitmer said.

Kiledal said that Whitmer’s response effectively

in China, including drones, wearable computing facial recognition, and predictive video that Clancy praises as “helping law enforcement fight crime and maintain public safety.”

According to a report Howland cited, “China’s Smart Cities represent the biggest and most intrusive surveillance architecture ever done by any single nation, according to experts and analysts.” TU plans to follow in Karamay’s footsteps.

Howland said the university is already focusing on the production of drones, cyber techniques, and data surveillance systems.

Students are clearly just cogs in TU’s futuristic vision.

Despite the use of buzzwords like “student-centered,” the projected outcomes for TU “customers” will not truly help them to grow and flourish, according to Benedict Whalen, assistant professor of English at Hillsdale, who attended the lecture.

“The idea of the human person that lies behind that sort of program is really impoverished and narrow.

It essentially views human beings as made to do little functional or technical jobs, and that that’s the end and fulfillment of the human person,” Whalen said.

According to Whalen, TU’s dissolving of academic departments weakens the connection between students and faculty.

“A traditional understanding of the university is a partnership between the faculty among themselves, with the administration, and with the students. The partnership exists because we’re pursuing very high things together,” he said. “The division of education at TU is one where you’re not conversing, you’re imparting a certain point of knowledge or some technical job that you need to do.”

Sophomore Morgan Billingsley, who also attended the lecture, said that she thinks the restructuring of TU reflects broader cultural issues.

“As a society, we are completely falling off the track of what it means to be a human being,” she said. “Our jobs do not define us, and if we are educating ourselves for a job, we are educating ourselves for what will ultimately be a small fraction of our lives.”

reached her party’s base in Michigan and around the country. But Kiledal also said she doesn’t think that Whitmer’s focus on the actions of Democrats was sufficient.

“It didn’t have an end.

What is the end you’re trying to take us to? Donald Trump had an end. It was one of principles and values, using the concept of American comeback and moving forward into the American frontier,” she said.

On Tuesday night, the Michigan Republican Party released a statement in response to Whitmer claiming that the Governor was placing partisan politics over the best interests of the nation.

“Tonight, Governor Whitmer’s State of the Union response was as empty as the potholes her broken promises have failed to fill,” the statement said.

“While President Trump’s leadership has led to historically low unemployment, tens of thousands of new jobs, and billions in new investment here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer has modeled herself after the do-nothing Democrats in Washington.”

Reporters Victoria Marshall and Ben Wilson contributed to this report.

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Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com Editor-in-Chief | Nolan Ryan Associate Editor | Abby Liebing News Editor | Regan Meyer City News Editor | Julia Mullins Opinions Editor | Alex Nester Sports Editor | S. Nathaniel Grime Culture Editor | Stefan Kleinhenz Features Editor | Cal Abbo Web Content Editor | Alexis Daniels Circulation Manager | Regan Meyer Assistant Editors | Elizabeth Bachmann | Liam Bredberg | Emma Cummins | Ashley Kaitz |Rachel Kookogey | Sofia Krusmark | Victoria Marshall | Calli Townsend | Ben Wilson Faculty Advisers | John J. Miller | Maria Servold The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, length, and style. Letters should be 450 words or less and include your name and number. Send submissions to the Opinions Editor at anester@hilldale.edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Weekly: Media underreports flu outbreaks The opinion of The Collegian editorial staff As the coronavirus spreads across the globe, media outlets have focused their attention on the little-known disease.

The 2019 Novel coronavirus, a strand of coronavirus related to SARS and MERS, has infected more than 24,000 people around the world as of Wednesday, killing nearly 500. Twelve residents in the United States have fallen ill.

Because the coronavirus is new, and the World Health Organization declared it a crisis on Jan. 30, it’s right to receive some media attention.

But the media is ignoring

another health crisis, one that strikes around the world annually and killed more than 60,000 people in the United States last year alone: the flu.

Along with the political doings of President Donald Trump and his impeachment trial, coronavirus has flooded the news cycle. But with all of these events, we shouldn’t just look at the number of stories in the media, but instead look at the numbers in the media’s stories.

Certainly, the coronavirus has proven to be dangerous, even lethal. It’s spreading rapidly around the globe, affecting not only Southeast

Asia but also North America and many countries across Europe. People everywhere should take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and others — starting with washing hands often and staying home when one feels ill.

In last week’s Influenza Surveillance Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 19 million Americans have fallen ill with the flu this season, sending 180,000 to the hospital and killing 10,000.

That’s 20 times more deaths than coronavirus — and that number just includes those

who’ve died in the United States.

The numbers show that we should be much more concerned about the flu than coronavirus. And we should definitely wash our hands.

Coronavirus is spreading, and the media is right to cover it. But even when the media covers the facts, it might not always tell the whole truth. The facts the media chooses to focus on can skew the perception of the truth.

Repealed EPA regulations could Billionaires, harm nation’s natural resources businesses own Democratic candidates DNC changes primary rules, helps wealthy candidates By | Cal Abbo To date, Democratic candidates and billionaires Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer have each spent $200 million on their respective election bids. The two businessmen paid their way into presidential viability through huge advertisement buys and massive propaganda campaigns.

Other candidates raised money mostly through individual donations, proving their support comes from real people. Bloomberg, on the other hand, rejected all donations besides his own, deciding to self-fund his campaign.

This presents a problem for Bloomberg. The Democratic National Committee’s requires each campaign to have 130,000 unique donors to be invited to the debate stage — that is, until last week.

On Friday, the DNC announced changes to its debate qualifications. It removed the unique donor requirement, paving the way for Bloomberg’s debate appearance.

Last year, several presidential candidates, including former Senator Mike Gravel, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, called for the DNC to reform its debate rules. The rules were too exclusive, they said, and didn’t give smaller candidates a fair shot.

Still, the DNC refused to change anything.

Since then, Bloomberg has spent billions on his campaign. In the week before entering the race, Bloomberg paid more than $1 million to the DNC and its joint fundraising PACs. He also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to state parties during the month of November, just before announcing his candidacy.

Even if it wasn’t explicit, the term “bribe” seems like an appropriate word to use.

Bloomberg’s indiscretion appears eerily similar to the fiasco in the 2016 Democratic primary, when leaked emails and testimony from Donna Brazile, the interim chair of the party, confirmed the Hillary Clinton campaign had virtually full control over the DNC. Clinton’s campaign paid the DNC’s debt, and in return, gained “complete control of all the party’s finances, strategy, and money raised” as well as hiring new staff.

In 2016, activists responded by calling for transparency and superdelegate reform.

Surprisingly, the DNC met some of their demands.

For example, superdelegate

voting — a system which let party leaders sway the primary and helped Clinton clinch the nomination — would not take place unless there is no clear winner by July, when the nomination convention is scheduled.

This decision, however, is also up for change. Politico reported that some DNC officials, fearing Sen. Bernie Sanders’s, I-Vermont, rise in the polls, are considering reinstating superdelegate voting at the convention to screw him out of the nomination.

These facts confirm what the party’s left-leaning members have always known: The Democratic Party repudiates its voters whenever it can.

The DNC chooses billionaires and big businesses, and has firmly committed itself to their interests, disregarding popular interests.

Fundamentally, the party represents and maintains an oligarchical relationship with the country’s political system.

The Democratic Party is not the only culprit. Republican elections function like this as well. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a businessman worth hundreds of millions of dollars, almost became president in 2012, and now holds a powerful spot in Congress. President Donald Trump, much like Bloomberg and Steyer, comes from the billionaire class and bought his way into viability by pouring $66 million into his own campaign.

The country’s two major parties, which together hold almost every single office in the nation, represent the wealthy elites. They couldn’t care less about you or me.

This is not a new phenomenon. This is how politics, since before this country’s beginning, has functioned. However comforting it is to think that our political system operates from democratic principles, this is not the case, and it’s high time we moved on from that fantasy.

An election between Bloomberg and Trump — a reality which seems increasingly likely — is a contest between two self-obsessed billionaires. If this happens, given the tremendous power of our executive, our country might resemble more of an oligarchy than we’re ready to admit.

Cal Abbo is a junior studying psychology and a columnist on Democratic politics. He is the features editor for The Collegian.

By | Julia Mullins The Trump administration asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reject Rapanos v. United States by repealing a 2015 Obama-era regulation under the Clean Water Act. Repealing the law removes many seasonal streams, small waterways, and wetlands from federal oversight and protection. Citizens who live in states without local EPA departments to enforce federal protections are therefore not obligated to follow federal law.

Without the enforcement of federal law, people in states such as Indiana are free to dump chemicals into wetlands or seasonal streams, which are not protected under Trump’s new law.

Other than being an environmental disaster, the biggest problem with this less restrictive law is that it completely rejects the standard for what the phrase “waters of the United States” means as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006 under the Rapanos test, which is used by courts to determine whether the federal government has jurisdiction to protect a water source.

Supporters of the new law argue that it will make it easier for farmers and landowners to work near small waterways without getting a permit.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the rule “strikes a balance” between bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and state officials in caring for the nation’s natural resources.

But under the previous standard, water from agricultural discharges were exempt from federal protection. The law that Trump repealed hurt developers, the fossil fuel

industry, and mining companies because it prevented them from polluting the nation’s water.

And although some conservatives and right-wing think tanks, like a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation, have echoed Wheeler and praised Trump for returning this regulatory power to the states, these groups misunderstand separation of powers.

As the executive, Trump does not have the authority to interpret the law. The Supreme Court holds that authority — and they already did this for him.

With these new laws, Trump has abandoned judicial precedent.

Although Obama’s 2015 law was only put in place in 20 states, the Rapanos test is the federal standard for determining which waterways are protected under federal jurisdiction. If and when this new law is challenged in a lower court, it will fall flat on its face because lower courts are bound to uphold the decision of the Supreme Court, not Trump.

In the Rapanos case, the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion of a four-justice plurality, interpreting the term “waters of the United States” as meaning “relatively permanent, standing, or continuously flowing bodies of water” that are connected to traditional navigable waters, as well as wetlands with a continuous surface connection to such

water bodies, according to the United States Department of Justice.

The plurality defined “relatively permanent” in Footnote No. 5, noting that it “does not necessarily exclude streams, rivers, or lakes that might dry up” due to a drought.

Under the new rule, these “relatively permanent” streams as defined by the court, are not protected under federal oversight.

Approximately half of the nation’s wetlands will no longer be protected under the new federal law, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Additionally, Scalia wrote that the Clean Water Act “categorizes the channels and conduits that typically carry intermittent flows of water separately from ‘navigable waters,’ including them in the definition of ‘point sources.’”

According to 33 U.S. Code § 1362, “the term ‘point source’ means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.”

The new law rejects the legal definition of a “point

“As the executive, Trump does not have the authority to interpret the law.

The Supreme Court holds that authority — and they already did that for him.”

source,” making it impossible for criminal investigators of the EPA to protect these sources of water that would fall under federal regulation, according to the Rapanos test.

Associate Justice Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion in Rapanos and took the Clean Water Act one step further by arguing that non-navigable waters fell under the act if they bore a significant “nexxus.” This essentially means that if someone dropped a popsicle stick in that water source and it flowed to another creek, stream, lake or went all the way to the ocean, then it was protected under federal law.

Trump’s new EPA law rejects Scalia and Kennedy’s interpretations.

In addition to ignoring the supreme law of the land, the new law disregards 1,200 publications of peer-reviewed scientific literature summarized in a 2015 EPA report.

In response to Trump’s new law, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and 44 other scientists and administrators of government environmental and conservation agencies wrote a letter to EPA Acting Inspector General Charles Sheehan. In the letter, the employees said the new law is not grounded in accurate science and mischaracterizes “unscientific content.”

Even the EPA’s own Science Advisory Board criticized Wheeler in a draft letter for the process he used to enact the law.

But the board should expect nothing less when the head of the EPA was a former coal-mining lobbyist.

Julia Mullins is a junior studying politics. She is the city news editor for The Collegian.

Changes in class schedule could fix lack of space in dining hall By | Mark Moreno It’s a problem that every student in Hillsdale is all too aware of: there just isn’t enough space in the Knorr Dining Room.

Students who prefer not to stand and wait in long lines every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon find that there is hardly anywhere to sit when they come later in the hour. And weekdays at 11 a.m. aren’t much better.

A student with a busy schedule — who doesn’t have the time to arrive early enough to get near the front of the line — might not be as inclined to make the trip to the dining hall at all.

Sophomore Sebastian Pestritto considers himself one of those students.

“I’ve had so much going on this semester that coming to the dining hall for lunch just hasn’t seemed worth it,” said Pestritto, who said he has only had lunch at Knorr a couple of times this semester.

The college has been aware of this issue for some time, according to David Apthorpe, the general manager for Hillsdale’s food service, Bon Appetit. Back in the spring semester of 2018, the college, facing a consistently increasing student population, added the Cafe Fresco grab-and-go service in Kendall Hall, which gives students the option to get a meal without having to go to the dining hall.

But Apthorpe noted that the college considers it important for students to sit and have meals together, so the space issue in the dining hall is still something that needs to be addressed.

“We’ve had discussions with the registrar’s office about shifting around class schedules sometime down the road,” Apthorpe said.

To help solve the problem, the college could schedule more noon classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The registrar’s class schedule for this semester lists 39

Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes at 11 a.m. and 35 at 1 p.m., but only nine at noon.

Distributing classes more evenly between the three hours would go a long way toward making Knorr less crowded at noon.

Shane Powers, Bon Appetit’s account support manager, says he has asked the provost’s office to move classes around to accommodate the dining hall’s crowding, but has not been able to make much difference.

“If they just changed a handful of classes, that’s all it would take,” he said. He added that while he would be happy to see Hillsdale construct an extension to Bon Appetit, adjusting class schedules would be the simplest solution.

If the college continues to struggle to do this, though, another thing it could consider would be to let students into the dining hall a few minutes earlier. It currently opens at 11 a.m. every

weekday, which leads to a lot of students with classes at 10 a.m. crowding the dining hall at the top of the hour.

Further, since many of those students might stick around for the whole hour, the dining hall doesn’t have much time to empty out before the next rush hits at noon.

If it opened at 10:45 a.m. or 10:50 a.m. instead, then students with classes at 10 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or 9:30 on Tuesday, Thursday, could get in and out in enough time that the noon rush wouldn’t overcrowd the dining hall like it currently does.

The college should be able to do something about this problem, whether it involves changing class schedules or tweaking the dining hall’s hours. And the sooner they decide what they’re going to do, the better.

Mark Moreno is a junior studying math. He is a Collegian freelancer.

Opinions

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Super Bowl halftime delivers Trump positions message of false empowerment himself for By | Reagan Cool On Jan. 24, 2020, the President of the United States stood before the March for Life and, contrary to his past and his reputation, he recognized women across America with dignity and reverence: “You make it your life’s mission to help spread God’s grace. And to all of the moms here today, we celebrate you and we declare that mothers are heroes. That’s true. Your strength, devotion, and drive is what powers our nation.

And because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.”

On Sunday, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez were given the great honor and spotlight of representing Latina and American womanhood at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Rather than celebrate the heroism of motherhood, the women stood before millions of spectators and delivered a message that a woman’s worth can be reduced to sexual appeal.

The show received mixed reviews. Those who enjoyed it acclaimed that it was the “best and sexiest show in history,” while those who disagreed found it objectifying and offensive.

Whichever camp one’s opinion falls into, there are some bipartisan facts everyone can agree upon. First, it was a fitting idea to celebrate the Latin culture of Miami with two Latina performers. Secondly, the show was

not family friendly. Thirdly, the Super Bowl is linked to a spike in prostitution and trafficking every year.

Given the fairly-fresh national awareness of this spike in trafficking, many details of the performance were distasteful and offensive to victims of sexual abuse.

Take, for example, Shakira’s belly dancing while simulating being tied up with a rope.

Regardless of whether or not it is consensual or attractive, tying a woman up gravely disorients a moment of physical intimacy from its necessary emotional intimacy and mutual respect for the other person.

Or consider the whitegowned girls spread across the field in cages. This was intended to be a subtle political statement on the conditions at the southern border.

There’s a reason why it’s

natural to see a bird in a cage, and disturbing to see a person: human dignity makes us different. While this could have been a powerful testimony to human dignity and natural law, the statement was squandered on a few thoughtless mistakes. For example, the racy dancing, which distracted from the intended message of the cages, hinted at validating the sexual exploitation of women and children.

Perhaps a co-ed selection of children would have eliminated the confusion, considering the border crisis in question bears no correlation to the sex of the immigrant.

But dozens of young girls running onto the stage at the end of a decidedly adult performance had parents everywhere shuddering.

The moment that stands starkest in my mind is

“As President Trump remarked two weeks ago, mothers are heroes of strength, devotion, and drive.

Women should be reminded of the many elements that are innately her, which are much more than skin deep.”

Jennifer Lopez’s duet with her daughter, Emme. Eleven years old and dressed in white, she danced and sung next to her half-nude mother.

Parents are the primary educators of their children, and it is their duty and privilege to do so. On Sunday evening, Lopez taught not only Emme, but also the millions of impressionable adolescent girls across America, a lesson.

They will be told that those two women are the image of liberated, happy, and empowered womanhood.

But that empowerment was based on partial nudity and pole dancing — a sorry definition of what it means to be empowered.

As President Trump remarked two weeks ago, mothers are heroes of strength, devotion, and drive.

Women should be reminded of the many elements that are innately her, which are much more than skin deep.

By our example, we should celebrate a different definition of empowerment than the one this year’s halftime show represented. Let us be examples to our daughters, nieces, and little sisters that women are empowered by their integrity, courage, strength, virtue, and happiness. And may we never cast a shadow of false fulfillment on the ones looking up to us.

Reagan Cool is a senior studying philosophy and religion. She is a columnist on faith and culture.

Christians can seek unity without compromising beliefs

Both Catholics and Protestants should overcome their pride, find love for each other in the pursuit of God

By | Nate Messiter The Collegian’s Jan. 16 article, “Core and conversation inspire Catholic conversion at Hillsdale,” has acquired much attention from both Catholics and Protestants alike.

In Assistant Professor of History Korey Maas’ letter to the editor on Jan. 30, he noted, in agreement with many of my own Protestant friends, that there were present in the article “traces of condescension and triumphalism.” It is not my place to determine who, if any, might be deemed responsible for divisive sentiments either in the article or in the Hillsdale religious community at large.

I do, however, think that it is my place to exhort both Catholics and Protestants to seek understanding before condemnation and unity before division.

Accusations of “condescension” and “triumphalism” are nothing new to the Catholic Church. Such accusations are often grounded in reality, as some Catholics seem to take pride in the fact that they know the truth (as they understand it) which others lack, preferring to exult in themselves rather than to grieve at the Church’s division.

Many other Catholics are far from such pride, but are not necessarily exempt from these same accusations.

The Catholic Church believes that it possesses a certain authenticity that Protestant denominations lack.

While this assertion may be communicated in pride, pride is not its essence. An essential doctrine of the Catholic Church is that Christ, through the institution of the magisterium, preserves the Catholic Church from error so that the fullness of revelation which was given to the apostles is maintained to this day in perfect purity.

One may sincerely believe this claim, thereby asserting that the Catholic Church is right where Protestant denominations are wrong. This does not mean that the Cath-

olic faith is founded on pride, condescension, or triumphalism. Instead, it means that Catholicism includes a claim about the nature of God’s revelation which excludes the full affirmation of any other Christian teaching that is not fully aligned with the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Protestants ought to realize that a Catholic, with sincerity of faith and devotion, is not necessarily condemnable on account of pride for maintaining that the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of revelation and that Protestants are wrong. One may, of course, argue whether or not Catholics are right, but the Catholic conviction ought not to be dismissed out of hand with an accusation of odious pride.

Catholics, however, must be especially careful that their sincere faith is not corrupted by the pride of which they are often accused. This is an especially prevalent temptation at Hillsdale, where we labor daily to discover truth.

Knowledge and love must always coincide because truth (the object of knowledge) and goodness (the object of love) always coincide.

If knowledge is separated from love, it is in vain. For this reason, St. Paul writes that if I “understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Our desire to know the truth ought always to lead us into deeper charity. If we fail to allow knowledge to give way to love, and instead

pervert knowledge so that it provides an occasion for exulting oneself and harboring resentment for other Christians, then we are as condemnable as the Pharisees, who best understood doctrine in their day.

Because Protestant denominations affirm the absoluteness of their own doctrine as strongly as the Catholic Church does, Catholics and Protestants alike are liable to fall into the pharisaical temptation, and both should therefore take the utmost care that they do not thereby become Satan’s greatest delight.

Protestants, too, may at times be found guilty of pride in their not being Romanists, perhaps founded on a belief that the Catholic Church is fundamentally not Christ-centered. Regardless, any Christian, no matter the sect, who believes that he knows the truth ought always keep in mind, “To whom much is given, of him will much be required” (Luke 12:48), and keep their hearts firmly fixed on charity and humility.

Theology is not a game in which we attempt to accumulate as much knowledge as we can and are thereby declared victorious over others who know less. Theology seeks knowledge of a personal God so that our ideas properly reflect the nature of the One with whom the Christian seeks a relationship. Thus, any Christian who claims to know true doctrine must put his knowledge at the service of loving God and neighbor.

A Protestant who pridefully denounces the Catholic Church and a Catholic who takes pride in not being a

“Theolog y seeks knowledge of a personal God so that our ideas properly reflect the nature of the One with whom the Christian seeks a relationship.”

Protestant both abuse their theology.

One may be glad to belong to his specific denomination without taking pride that he does not belong to another; this latter pride must not be indulged, lest discord reign over the Church.

Over the last century, the Catholic Church has become more aware of her need to promote unity in the larger Christian body. In the Catholic Church’s decree on ecumenism from Vatican II, she proclaimed, while simultaneously grieving the division that prevents “the Church from attaining the fullness of catholicity proper to her,” that “Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren. It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ.”

Protestants, too, might benefit from the same exhortation. No Catholic should deprecate a Protestant’s sincere faith, and no Protestant should dismiss the genuine presence of Christ in the Catholic Church, both at Hillsdale College and throughout the world.

Unity will never be perfect between Catholics and Protestants while doctrinal disagreements persist. But even substantial theological differences should not be the cause for pride, condescension, triumphalism, prejudice, suspicion, or animosity.

Our account of God should always cause a desire for unity amongst all Christians and for charity — especially for those members of Christ’s Body with whom we most differ.

Nate Messiter is a senior studying philosophy and religion.

reelection in State of the Union address By | S. Nathaniel Grime Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered his third State of the Union Address to the United States Congress. It could have been his final State of the Union, but after nearly an hour and a half of touting his record and drawing searing contrasts with Democrats, he’s likely to have four more.

Trump is already in a decent position to be reelected later this year. His approval rating is at 49% according to a Gallup poll — the highest it’s been during his presidency. He was elected in 2016 with a 41% approval rating at the end of his campaign.

And among Republicans, his approval rating is at 94%.

Aside from ratings and polls, it’s what Trump has done in three years — and what the Democratic Party is proposing to do — that sets him up best to be reelected in November.

“From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the United States economy, slashing a record number of job-killing regulations, enacting historic and record-setting tax cuts, and fighting for fair and reciprocal trade agreements,” Trump said. “Our agenda is relentlessly pro-worker, pro-family, pro-growth, and most of all, pro-American.”

Trump has the numbers to back these claims up, and he was sure to highlight all of the key ones during his address. Unemployment among African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, young Americans, disabled Americans, and veterans are all at all-time lows in Trump’s economy.

When Bill Clinton was running to unseat George H.W. Bush in 1992, his campaign hammered the now well-known line “the economy, stupid” to spearhead its messaging during the campaign cycle. The same has been true since then, and will continue into the 2020 election season.

While Democrats have tried numerous lines of attack to undercut the success of the economy, the numbers speak for themselves. Americans, both Republicans and Independents, are increasingly viewing Trump and the Republican Party favorably.

At the same time, Americans are divided on the

prospect of impeachment and removal of President Trump from office for his involvement in foreign aid negotiations with Ukraine last summer. Although nearly 50% of Americans say they favor Trump’s removal, his strong positioning for reelection undergirds the fact that the economy is always the top issue on the majority of voters’ minds when they go to the ballot box.

Although not a polished politician, Trump is shrewd.

The economy is always the first thing he brings up at rallys and in his campaign speeches. It was his first topic in his address Tuesday night.

When Barack Obama successfully ran for reelection in 2012 against Sen. Mitt Romney R-Utah, the question “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” rang through the rafters of the Democratic National Convention that summer.

A strong economy transcends party lines, and as it stands now, it is likely to be a locus Trump can go back to over and over again as he campaigns for reelection throughout the year. While his job approval nears 50%, Gallup indicates that when asked about Trump’s handling of the economy as a whole, 63% of Americans view him favorably.

In addition to Trump’s strong numbers both in the economy and public polling, the governing alternative the Democrats have offered stands in stark contrast.

Their partisan impeachment didn’t remove Trump from office. Their Monday night debacle at the Iowa Caucus raises questions about their ability to manage their own primary elections. And their economic proposals don’t stir up the same amount of support from the public as Trump’s results have.

If Trump stays on message as he did Tuesday night, Democrats will have an even more difficult time defeating him than they did in 2016.

The ball is in the Republicans’ court right now. It’s up to them to play the game the correct way in the next nine months.

S. Nathaniel Grime is a senior studying rhetoric and public address. He is the sports editor for The Collegian.

Letter to the Editor:

Contemplating conversion requires silence, solitude By | Kenneth Calvert When I arrived to teach at Hillsdale College in 1996, there was, even in those days, a good bit of chatter on campus concerning students leaving Protestantism in favor of Catholicism or Orthodoxy. Students would often arrive at my office door with questions about the early Christians. Some would then disappear, often for several months, only to reappear with the shocking announcement that they had entered into the Catholic faith.

In those days, I had a sneaking suspicion that these young men and women had been instructed to cut off communication with Protestant professors, friends, and even family.

Having now been called into the Catholic Church, I see how wrong I had been.

It took 30 years for me to heed the call (a story I am willing to share some other time) and when I did so, I was in need of serious reading, reflection, prayer, and guidance. My patient wife and family, as well as

many remarkable friends, helped me along in this process. And most everything I thought I knew about Catholicism was challenged or changed.

Like those students who disappeared, I found myself in need of silence, in need of separation. There was no blind acceptance of doctrine.

There was no hard-fisted demand of obedience. But there was a wrestling bout that had to be waged.

I entered into the wilderness in a manner vaguely similar to St. Paul’s before he met Cephas in Jerusalem.

And it was during my own time incommunicado that I realized what had happened in the lives of those students who had disappeared.

Today, I am grateful for colleagues and friends who have expressed their concerns. My response to them is always that my family and I have never been more full of a love for Christ than we are now.

Kenneth Calvert is a professor of history at Hillsdale College.

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Hillsdale Police identify three suspects related to car break-ins By | Amelia Teska Collegian Freelancer The City of Hillsdale Police Department has identified three suspects from outside of the city who allegedly have been breaking into cars in Hillsdale County since October 2019.

City of Hillsdale Police Detective Brad Martin has been following the break-ins throughout the fall and into the new year.

“Warrants have been requested and we are now waiting for them to be authorized by the Hillsdale County Prosecutor,” Martin said in an email.

The names of the suspects have not been released to the public as of Feb. 5.

Martin said local residents reported 19 break-ins from October through December.

“Some involved thefts of loose change and cash,” Martin said. “Some others did

involve the theft of more valuable items, including wallets and purses.”

The reported break-ins, he added, occurred throughout various parts of Hillsdale, but not in the immediate vicinity of Hillsdale College.

Some Hillsdale College students, however, did experience break-ins, though they were mostly unreported.

On Jan. 15, Martin said the department received six reports of break-ins near Hillsdale College’s campus. By combining previous information with the most recent evidence from the break-ins, the department was able to identify the three suspects.

Even though the suspects have been identified by the City Of Hillsdale Police Department, Associate Director of Security and Emergency Management of Hillsdale College Joe Kellam said he urges students to keep their car doors locked and be aware of

what’s going on around them.

“Please be advised that there are suspects actively stealing from vehicles all around the north end of the city of Hillsdale, including on campus,” Kellam said in an email to students. “They are targeting unlocked vehicles and are taking wallets, purses, and electronics. This group has recently started breaking glass on vehicles to gain entry into locked vehicles.”

Director of Campus Security and Emergency Management of Hillsdale College Bill Whorley encouraged students to be careful.

“Just don’t be displacive,” Whorley said. “Take your things with you. The biggest thing anyone can do is to remove the opportunity for the crime to occur. There is somewhat of a mentality that it doesn’t happen here or that it won’t happen to me.”

Brown said. “So, I decided to have this Community Conversation at Rough Draft.

I was hoping to bring awareness to the issue. I have Community Conversations every month on different topics, and I try, every month, to do a current topic.”

Hillsdale County Conservation Officer Edward Rice, who works for the State of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, spoke at the Community Conversation, addressing reports

of coyote sightings on the southwest border of the City of Hillsdale.

With coyote sightings throughout the city and county, Rice said, residents can trap or hunt the coyotes year-round.

“I enforce the rules and regulations regarding the trapping,” Rice said.“You can hunt coyotes anytime in the year. And if coyotes are doing damage to your property, or about to, you can take them at that point. With this issue

The car that break-in suspects may be driving is an older Model Ford Windstar and very rusted at the bottom, similar to the photo above. Courtesy | Joe Kellam

Residents in Hillsdale County becoming more concerned about coyote sightings By | Amelia Teska Collegian Freelancer Hillsdale boasts a robust wildlife scene, but the local issue of coyotes has become a popular and pressing topic among residents.

In response to these concerns, Hillsdale County Commissioner Ruth Brown set up a Community Conversation on Tuesday, Jan. 21 to discuss coyote sightings around Hillsdale County.

“This has become a concern in the neighborhood,”

According to Carla Stewart, administrative assistant at Will Carleton Academy, there were 30 students who missed school due to illness on Tuesday, Jan. 21, followed by 30 on Wednesday, Jan. 22. She said the administration decided to cancel classes due to the increase in sick children.

“Our numbers got high enough that we felt it was prudent to let everyone stay home and heal, stop spreading the germs,” Stewart said.

“And it did help. There is still illness out there, but our numbers are not dangerously high.”

Will Carleton has a total student population of 282 students, and Stewart said every grade level was impacted by the illness. She added that the eighth grade and second grade classes seemed to have the highest number of students with illness.

The administration at Hillsdale Preparatory School also chose to cancel classes on

Jan. 23 and 24 due to illness, according to Administrative Assistant Melody Henthorne.

With a student population of 98, more than one-third of students missed school on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

“When we get into the 30 to 35 mark, that’s a large number for us; we’re pretty small,” Henthorne said. “We were affected really school-wide.

Our fourth grade was hit the hardest. But we did have confirmed influenza A and B cases from every grade.”

Prior to closing on Wednesday, Henthorne said students were sent home with informative flyers from the health department about flu symptoms and treatment options.

“I would say we’re back to good standing,” Henthorne said. “On Monday, we had eight or nine kids out, but those numbers are typical for flu season.”

Henthorne added that the staff is working hard to keep things clean and encouraging parents to sanitize their student’s belongings.

have a lot of neighbors who have cats that wander. We would kill a cat.”

Several weeks ago, Carver said she was surprised to have a band of coyotes underneath her deck. And although she does not always see them, she can hear them around her house.

“I have no idea how many there are,” Carver said.

“Sometimes I have just heard one and know it’s just one.

Sometimes I have heard that it sounds like a pack, five or

six.”

Rice said that particular part of the city has lots of pets, specifically dogs and cats, so many residents are concerned for their pet’s safety.

“I talked to a few neighbors and they all voiced the same concern,” Rice said. “They had seen the coyotes roaming in the streets. I told them that the reason being is based on the fact that the habitat is down from a few houses, and coyotes are scavengers.”

Survey asks citizens about project ideas for 23 Broad St.

The vacant lot at 23 Broad St. next to St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in downtwon Hillsdale Alex Nester | Collegian

Influenza from A1

being in the city, you have to get permission to hunt within the city limits.”

Earla Carver, a resident living on the south side of Hillsdale, said she’s trying to combat the coyote problem in her backyard.

“When they are on a kill, it is the hardest thing in the world to be woken up by them and listen to the poor animal that they are killing,” Carver said. “I have requested that people hunt them. I do not want traps because we

“Our custodian works really hard,” Henthorne said.

“She was here all day on both days we were closed, cleaning everything. And we’re advising parents to clean things they wouldn’t normally think about like backpacks, folders, and other school supplies.”

Mike Corey, the superintendent and principal of Litchfield Community Schools, said the district was closed Jan. 28, 29, and 30. With a total student population of 306, Corey said 21% of students called off sick the Monday before closing. He added that many teachers were ill or not feeling well in the days leading up to closing.

“Many teachers didn’t feel well and came to work anyway because we knew we didn’t have enough substitute teachers,” Corey said.

Although many students are still calling off due to illness, Corey said the numbers are moving closer to what he would expect for the flu season. He said the custodian crew has spent more time cleaning all of the things

By | Alex Nester Opinions Editor Local residents will have a say in the use of a vacant lot on 23 Broad St., thanks to a citywide survey that was sent to Hillsdale residents, including Hillsdale College faculty and students.

The City of Hillsdale is a member of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Redevelopment Ready Communities Program, which gives communities funding for various development projects, including the project on 23 Broad St. Jill Bahm, a partner of Giffels-Webster civil engineering and community planning firm, said the purpose of the survey is to find out what city residents need to keep them spending their time and money in Hillsdale.

“It’s all about things that people want in their everyday lives to make their communities more livable,” Bahm said.

The Michigan Municipal League, a non-profit contracting firm that has worked on redevelopment projects in about 20 cities around the state, hired Bahm’s firm to work in Hillsdale “on the ground,” like performing research studies, MML Program

Director Richard Murphy said.

The MEDC allocates $25,000 to each redevelopment project, Murphy said.

The only cost to the city is the time it requires city staff to coordinate projects with the MML and Giffels-Webster.

Hillsdale Zoning Administrator Alan Beeker said this was the first time he recalls the city sending out a survey to residents for input on their preferences for land use. He sent the survey to Hillsdale business owners and Hillsdale College faculty and students.

Based in Detroit, Giffels-Webster is a community consulting firm that works with both private businesses as well as with local governments and municipalities, Bahm said. With offices in Birmingham and Macomb, the firm has worked with cities like Hillsdale, including Meridian Charter township, in the past. Bahm said that, in these smaller communities, many residents want these businesses to be easily accessible by foot.

“People really want things that they can walk to. They want to be able to get some of their local groceries, and speak to neighbors at coffee shops,” Bahm said. “They

want places to get fresh produce and specialty foods and engage with other friends and neighbors in. They want places they can take families.”

The MEDC’s Redevelopment Ready Communities program allocates government funding to redevelop buildings in land, particularly in downtown areas and urban communities.

“MEDC’s RRC is a program that the state has set forward to help communities with the redevelopment process of sites,” Bahm said. “But it solves a bigger problem. It lays out the broad framework for long-range planning and zoning.”

The City of Hillsdale acquired the Broad Street property after the previous owner disregarded city efforts to bring the building up to code, Beeker said. Due to the state of the building, Beeker said, it needed to be demolished.

Beeker said the survey closed at the end of January, and Giffels-Webster will put together a proposal for the use of the property and present it at a Hillsdale City Council meeting most likely by the end of February or early March.

students touch throughout the day in an effort to keep everything sanitized. The teachers are also working very hard to get students caught up with any missed material.

“There’s a lot of effort being put in right now to help kids who got behind,” Corey said.

Gier Elementary Secretary Janet Lum said influenza impacted both students and staff members.

“It’s hard to get substitutes sometimes,” Lum said.

She said Gier has a total student population of 485, and the greatest number of students who missed school due to illness in one day was 58.

“It was a combination of different illnesses,” Lum said.

“They didn’t all have the flu.”

While students seem to be experiencing several different illnesses, “influenza B viruses are the most commonly reported influenza among children and young adults age 0-4 (58% of reported viruses) and 5-24 years (72% of reported viruses),” according to a Weekly U.S. Influenza

Surveillance Report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Johnson said it’s difficult for virologists to get good data for vaccine-effectiveness until after the flu season ends.

The greater genetic similarities the vaccine strain has to the circulating strain, the more likely people will who received the vaccine will be protected.

Johnson said that the strain in this season’s vaccine is close to being 100% identical with one A strain, but is only 30% identical to another A strain.

“It’s likely that as you decrease that percentage, then the effectiveness of the vaccine will decrease. But we won’t know that for sure until after the season.”

Johnson added that he hears many misconceptions about the flu vaccines, but the virus is less likely to spread among large numbers of people if more people get the vaccine.

“Common things that I hear quite a bit are: ‘Oh I got

the flu vaccine one year, and I got the flu immediately after it, so I’ll never get to get flu vaccine again,’ or things like: ‘Oh the flu vaccine, they never pick the right strains, it’s only 30% effective or some low percentage, so I shouldn’t get the flu vaccine,’” Johnson said.

“And that’s concerning because the flu vaccine, even if it doesn’t confer 100% effective immunity, just based on the sheer numbers of individuals who will come down with the flu — we’re talking millions of Americans come down with the flu every season — there’ll be hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and typically tens of thousands of deaths.

When more people get the vaccine, it will help reduce those numbers, and the data shows that.”

According to the CDC, there have been 8,633 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations reported by sites between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 25, 2020.

City News

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

February 6, 2020 A7

City Council hopes to improve roads, leaf-collection methods in 2020 By | Ben Wilson Assistant Editor Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford announced his “2020 City Council Goals” for the new year, and the council members unanimously agreed to the goals during the regularly-scheduled city council meeting on Monday, Feb. 3.

“Every year we set goals,” Stockford said. “This council has done a really good job ensuring these goals are achieved.”

Council members focused their goals on street and infrastructure repair, hiring another full-time firefighter, alleviating homelessness, and improving the leaf-collection system for the city. And with road repairs being a frequent conversation at meetings, Stockford said he wanted to take the issue head-on in the new year.

“We just asked residents to accept another full-time, high-paid salary position for the purpose of doing the streets,” Stockford said, refer-

ring to the new city engineer.

“I think it’s clear that we’re going to stick on this path, at least for the next decade.”

The city road crews completed 11 miles of road repairs in 2019.

Stockford acknowledged there have been hiccups in the repairs and the city has learned from these mistakes and will only become more efficient.

The second goal is to hire a fourth full-time firefighter.

The current department is relying on three.

“We’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices and it seems like the very first place we go is the fire department,” Stockford said. “This department is down a couple officers from where it was a few years ago.”

He added that while the quality of life for Hillsdale’s citizens is his top priority, the firefighters must be taken into consideration as well.

“Three full-time firemen just cannot do this,” City Manager David Mackie said.

“The fourth firefighter is defi-

nitely a need, not a want.”

Stockford noted that the firefighters practically live in the firehouse and that it’s “a job like none of us have.”

In addressing the third goal about alleviating homelessness, Stockford shared a story about his grandfather taking in a homeless man to show compassion and being murdered by the visitor. “I’m not sure this is a problem that government can solve,” Stockford said. “It’d be good to get a conversation going about solutions.”

Members discussed creating a task force to battle the problem. The council has received interest in helping the task force from housing specialists, churches, the Michigan Department of Human Services, and even specialists from Seattle.

“Whoever comes together on this committee, maybe a homeless person should be a part of this committee,” resident Jack McClain said.

Many citizens attended the meeting and spoke during

public comment on the homelessness issue.

Penny Myers is the director of Share the Warmth Hillsdale, a charity working to feed the homeless in the area. She said that anywhere from 95 to 99% of homeless residents were born and raised in the City of Hillsdale.

“These people have names, and they are reaching out because they want to be loved and cared for,” Myers said.

Council members addressed a final goal: developing a better method to collect leaves. Stockford acknowledged that past methods have not worked well, and he noted that residents are complaining about the pick-up process.

“Might we put a timeframe on this one,” Councilman Matthew Bell asked. “We need to start moving so we can have something to try by the spring.”

Members agreed the Public Services Committee should take the lead on leaf collection.

The Hillsdale City Council members agreed to set goals in the areas of street repair, employment within the fire department, homelessness, and leaf-collection. Julia Mullins | Collegian

City of Litchfield focused on internal improvements in 2020 By | Cal Abbo Features Editor The City of Litchfield, just a 15-minute drive from Hillsdale, is adding to its city infrastructure with new pavement, a new public pool, new water lines, and a natural gas plant.

Douglas Terry, Litchfield’s city manager, said the city is looking forward to each of the new projects.

Litchfield secured a grant recently from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources to reconstruct its public pool. The total cost is about $494,000, according to Terry, and the grant will cover about half of the price. Cities that receive this grant, which can be difficult to apply for, must come up with matching dollars for the project.

Terry said Litchfield’s pool,

which is 50 years old, is the only municipal one in Hillsdale County, and residents appreciate using it during summer months. People from all around the county use the pool. “We’re in the design phase right now,” Terry said.

“We want to be constructing in early spring with a completion of mid-summer.”

The pool reconstruction is the newest improvement to Litchfield’s recreation system, which Terry said has been largely funded through donations in the past.

Last year, Litchfield sent a survey to its residents asking about recreational needs.

“The response was overwhelming that people wanted the pool rebuilt,” Terry said.

“They were very supportive of us pursuing this.”

In addition, the Michigan

Department of Transportation is resurfacing parts of the Michigan Highway 99 and Michigan Highway 49. The City of Litchfield will meet

Over the past few years, MDOT has worked on resurfacing Michigan Highway 99 throughout Hillsdale County, including in the City of

“Everyone’s really excited, and the project has a lot of grassroots support,” Foy said. “It’s exciting for the economy.” with MDOT engineers and officials on Feb. 10 to discuss details of the project, according to Terry.

Hillsdale.

Michigan Hub, a company “whose mission is to drive rural economic development

guilty, will face sentencing Feb. 24 By | Ryan Goff Collegian Reporter

The outbreak, which CNN reported on Monday is more deadly than the SARS outbreak in 2003, has spread to 25 countries, including the United States. The virus not only has spread from animals to humans, but also has spread human-to-human, which Sutfin says is rare.

“Typically when you look at something like rabies you don’t see a transfer from human to human,” Sutfin said.

“This 2019 Novel Coronavirus is different than other viruses around, this particular version is something new. It’s a concern.”

The virus is less likely to spread more than measles, Sutfin said, and it is less likely to become an epidemic in the U.S. because healthcare providers “are on high alert.”

“There’s a low likelihood of anybody getting it here,” Sutfin said. “Travel has been curtailed by companies, and screenings are going on at several airports. The CDC says it’s a low-likelihood that more U.S. citizens will get the virus.”

Associate professor of biology at Hillsdale College Silas Johnson, who studied immunology, said that this Novel Coronavirus is related to other types of coronaviruses that have caused public health scares over the past few years, like SARS and MERS. “In terms of scariness, it’s less scary than SARS,” Johnson said. “But the problem is that it looks like many people have inapparent infections, when you contract the virus and can transmit it to other people but have no symptoms yourself.”

Coronavirus can spread

works with local farmers and supplies to Michigan brewers,” he said. “By building this plant, we’re making their supply chain even more local.”

“Everyone’s really excited, and the project has a lot of grassroots support,” Foy said.

“It’s exciting for the economy.”

Finally, Litchfield will also redo about 1,800 feet of water main “in anticipation of road replacement,” according to Terry. Whenever a city replaces or paves its roads, it should redo the infrastructure below it, Terry added.

“It’s good practice to replace the infrastructure below the road,” Terry said.

“You don’t want to pave a road before you replace the infrastructure.”

Terry said the new water main will cost Litchfield about $300,000 in total.

Man who destroyed Taco Bell pleads

Hillsdale’s Taco Bell on Carleton Road, post-repairs, after a disgruntled employee threw a chair through the window.

Julia Mullins | Collegian

Coronavirus from A1

through locally produced low-cost energy,” according to its website, is replacing a former coal-fired power plant with a natural gas one in Litchfield’s industrial park.

Glenn Foy, CEO of Michigan Hub, said the company wanted to provide cleaner energy to local industrial businesses at a lower cost than getting it from the grid. Foy added that this energy source significantly reduces the carbon footprint of businesses who choose that option.

Though it will take several years to construct and find customers, the plant has already secured its first tenant, Independent Barley and Malt, which supplies brewers throughout the region.

Michigan Hub, according to Foy, emphasizes locality.

“Independent Barley and Malt

via physical contact, in the air, and by fomites — objects and surfaces that harbor the virus after being touched by an infected or virus-carrying person, Johnson said.

The 2019 coronavirus has a lower mortality rate, Johnson said. SARS killed nearly 10% of those who contracted the disease, whereas coronavirus so far is killing 1 to 3% of those afflicted. Coronavirus infections, however, could spread faster because the infection can be inapparent.

If the disease continues to spread rapidly, it could potentially kill more people than the SARS outbreak.

Scott Turske, communications director for the Macomb County Health Department, said that the symptoms for coronavirus are similar to those of the flu, though recent travel history to Wuhan is an important factor to consider.

Six weeks after throwing a chair through a window at his workplace, a Taco Bell employee pleaded guilty on Jan. 27 to the “attempted malicious destruction of a building” in Hillsdale County Circuit Court.

Dakota Joblinski, a 22-year-old manager at the store, was arrested shortly after trashing the Taco Bell on Carleton Road where he was employed.

According to Hillsdale County Prosecutor Neil Brady, Joblinski came to the store from a Christmas Eve party that night. Angry about having to close the store, he started ripping out self-checkout kiosks, flipping over tables, and destroying the interior of the store. In the midst of his rage, Joblisnksi’s mother drove by the front of the restaurant.

“When she came to the parking lot, a chair flew through the window,” Brady said.

Other employees came to the scene to subdue Joblinski’s rage, according to Brady.

After a call from Joblinski’s mother, police arrived on the scene. Shattered glass littered the floor, broken chairs leaned on each other, and a half-empty container of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky lay on the ground. Stepping through the mess, officers brought Joblinski out from the office in the back of the store at gunpoint, according to Brady “I’m not sure who it was that told him to clean up.

How it all played out and why it played out is still unexplained,” Brady said. “He was drunk, and he just went crazy.”

Police charged Joblinski with “malicious destruction of property over $1,000.” The nature of the charge means no

“We are asking people and healthcare providers to be vigilant for symptoms, which are very much like the cold or flu — fever, cough, shortness of breath — but the unique identifier is recent visits to China,” Turske said. “One key thing that has been used if people are identified and screened and it looks like they have some symptoms, and they have travel experience, that is important in their being identified for potential infection.”

Turske said the four individuals in Michigan, as well as those who have tested positive for the virus, are in self-isolation in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

This means that those with coronavirus and those being tested for the virus stay in their homes and come into contact with as few people as possible.

Sutfin said the MDHHS is working closely with the CDC to keep healthcare providers and the public aware of the situation. The CDC has provided a list of symptoms, including fever, shortness of breath, and the patient’s travel history, to healthcare providers.

Sutfin and Turske recommended that citizens take extra care to practice personal hygiene by washing hands regularly and covering coughs and sneezes. This protects not only from coronavirus, but from the flu — which, Sutfin said, killed around 60,000 people in the United States last year.

Johnson said that, while there are ways to treat some viruses, the best way to combat viral infection is through preventative measures, like getting vaccinated and practicing good personal hygiene.

one can know for sure what, if any, drugs were in Joblinski’s system at the time, but police do know he was intoxicated, according to Brady.

On Jan. 27, Joblinski pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of “attempted malicious destruction of a building.” The other two charges were dropped, according to Brennon Balcom, deputy clerk of the circuit court.

Now, Joblinski awaits sentencing on Feb. 24. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison. The court has to prepare a report that factors in his family, work, and criminal background for a Hillsdale County Circuit Court judge to decide on a sentence. He could receive the full two-year prison sentence, but the clerk said that’s unlikely.

“It’s obvious he did it. Why he did it, who knows?” Brady said.

“If you can prevent the infection from happening at all, that’s a much better situation,” Johnson said.

Though there is not yet a vaccine for coronavirus, Johnson said medical professionals are working to make one. Unlike the yearly flu vaccination, which scientists tweak each year based on the statistical likelihood of the prevalence of different strands of the flu, the coronavirus vaccination must be made “from scratch,” using only what’s known about SARS and MERS. Both Sutfin and Turske recommend that concerned citizens to check michigan. gov/coronavirus for information about the virus and to track cases in Michigan and the United States.

SPORTS

A8 February 6, 2020

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Women's Track and Field

Chargers have strong showing at Grand Valley invitational By | Kate Pipher collegian freelancer At Grand Valley State University this past Saturday, the Hillsdale College women’s track team laid down impressive personal records and took a step in the right direction towards conference.

“We still certainly have more to do, but that meet was really useful for us,” head coach Andrew Towne said.

In the field, sophomore Alexie Day jumped 1.55 meters to take fourth place in high jump, and Carlin MacDonald-Gannon competed well in the long jump.

She ended eighth with a leap of 4.90 meters and triple jumped to 10th place, jumping 10.05 meters.

Sophomore Nikita Maines competed well in the throws as she has all season. She threw 13.82 meters in the shot put and placed second.

In the weight throw she came in sixth with a throw of 16.09 meters.

“My performance was an average one, but it was a

stepping stone in the right direction,” Maines said.

“Right now I’m sitting in a really good position for some big things to come together. I just have to stay focused and keep my mind on the goal.”

Sophomore Michaela Burkhauser placed sixth in the shot put throwing 12.37 meters, with freshman teammate Katie Weldy finishing in 11th with a mark of 11.67 meters. Burkhauser finished 11th in weight throw as well, throwing for 15.29 meters.

Weldy threw for 13.60 meters to take 16th.

On the track, freshman Allison Nimtz set a personal best in the 60 meter dash.

She finished eighth with a time of 8.13 seconds.

Junior Kajsa Johansson ran a strong race in the 200 meter dash and ended third with a time of 25.01 seconds.

In the 400 meter dash, freshman Dakota Stamm set an impressive personal best, shaving almost two seconds off her previous best. She ran for a second place finish with a time of 56.59 which is .06 a NCAA Division II

Provisional Mark.

“My time is finally dropping in the 400 to where I want it,” Stamm said.

“There’s definitely room for improvement still. We haven’t peaked yet, and we don’t want to do that until later in the season.”

Towne said he was pleased with Stamm’s performance, which earned her the team’s athlete of the meet award.

“That was a really solid effort from her in the 400.

She’s a very talented freshman,” he said.

Junior Calli Townsend ran the 800 meter dash in 2:17.73 and took fifth place.

And in the mile race, Hillsdale placed four women in the top fifteen. Senior Arena Lewis led the Chargers with a seventh place finish and a time of 5:02.45.

Freshman Gwynne Riley, who ran as a teammate of Stamm’s in high school, set a personal record in the mile ending ninth with a time of 5:04.72.

Towne said he was impressed with her performance.

“She was our Excellence

Award winner,” he said.

“There’s a lot more she can do but she’s coming along really nicely.”

Junior Maryssa Depies ran 5:06.08 to take 10th place. She was followed by Christina Sawyer and Claire McNally who took 12th and 13th, respectively.

In the 60 meter hurdles, junior Carmen Botha ran a season best and took fifth place with a time of 9.24 seconds. Her teammate, freshman Jillian Roney set a personal best (9.31) in the prelims and ended sixth in the finals running 9.34.

To end the day, the women’s 4-by-400m relay won the event with a time of 3:52.56.

The relay began with sophomore Alanna O’Leary who was followed by Stamm, freshman Judith Allison, and Johansson.

The Chargers will host the Wide Track Classic this weekend, starting on Friday, Feb. 7 and concluding on Saturday. Events begin on Friday at noon.

Men's Track and Field

For the Hillsdale College men’s track team, an unfortunate setback left the Chargers in an unexpected place following last Saturday’s meet at Grand Valley University.

Sophomore pole vaulter Ben Raffin was injured during competition and was diagnosed with a broken arm.

“We used it as a good teaching point,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “You don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get, so you need to make sure you’re doing everything you can with every opportunity you do get. When something is taken away from you, you start to realize what was there.”

He said he challenged the

rest of the athletes, “Your season is still okay, now what are you going to make of it?”

On the track, sophomore Jacob Schmidt ran the 60 meter dash and ended fourth with a time of 7.07 seconds.

Freshman Ian Calvert set an indoor personal record in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:59.40. “I was feeling smooth,” Calvert said.

“I didn’t get out as fast as I wanted to, but I controlled my energy and got good results.”

In the 200 meter dash, Schmidt took eighth place running 22.54 seconds.

Senior Ian Brown set his own personal best in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.93 seconds.

The distance crew looked strong as senior Joey Humes ran for second place in the 3000 meter run with a time of 8:26.22. He was followed

by teammate junior Jack Shelley who ran a PR of 8:38.44 and ended ninth.

Sophomore John Baldwin won the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.20 seconds.

Brown ran near his personal best in that event as well with a third place finish and a time of 8.38 seconds.

To end the day, the 4-by400m relay took fourth with a time of 3:23.61. The team was made up of Baldwin, Calvert, Schmidt, and freshman Jacob Ritzer.

“We were missing two of our best runners because of hamstring problems,” Calvert said. “Considering that, we did pretty well.”

“It was one of those meets where if you just looked at performances, that’s not what you would want by the end of the year,” Towne said. “But for this point in the year, we’re getting really

TENNIS from A10

Hannah Cimpeanu serves during a match Saturday. ryan goff | collegian

WIN, from A10 just focusing on doing all the little things right and playing as hard as we possibly can.

When you go on the road

you’ve got to make sure your defense is ready to go.”

Larson said the team understands the challenge of winning on the road and is ready to step up its defense.

“This week we know it’s very difficult to win on the road. One thing we need to

MEN'S BASKETBALL february 1 Malone (11-10, 5-6) Hillsdale (13-7, 9-2)

Patrick Cartier Davis Larson Connor Hill Dylan Lowry Austen Yarian Tavon Brown Cole Nau Mike Travlos Trenton Richardson

1 2 FINAL

35 33 68 37 38 75

fgm/a 3pm/a ftm/a pts reb ast

12/16 2/2 1/1 27 3 2 3/8 1/4 3/5 10 4 2 3/9 3/5 1/4 10 2 5 4/11 0/2 2/2 10 3 3 3/8 0/3 3/4 9 5 2 3/4 0/1 3/3 9 10 0 0/2 0/2 0/0 0 1 0 0/1 0/1 0/0 0 1 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL january 30 14 Walsh (18-2, 10-1) Hillsdale (5-15, 2-9)

Grace Touchette Julia Wacker Lauren Daffenberg Sydney Mills Sydney Anderson Maverick Delp Anna LoMonaco Jaycie Burger Kennedy Pratt Macy Berglund

february 1 Malone (14-6, 8-2) Hillsdale (5-16, 2-10)

Grace Touchette Lauren Daffenberg Sydney Anderson Jaycie Burger Julia Wacker Sydney Mills Maverick Delp Anna LoMonaco Kennedy Pratt Amaka Chikwe Arianna Sysum

1 2 3 4 FINAL

14 18 22 16 70 17 19 22 11 69

fgm/a 3pm/a ftm/a pts reb ast

7/14 5/9 0/1 19 0 3 5/6 0/0 3/4 13 11 0 4/13 2/9 2/2 12 5 0 3/6 2/4 3/4 11 12 2 2/9 1/6 6/6 11 4 4 1/2 0/0 0/0 2 3 0 0/1 0/0 1/4 1 2 1 0/7 0/5 0/0 0 9 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0

1 2 3 4 FINAL

19 21 24 18 82 11 20 24 21 76

fgm/a 3pm/a ftm/a pts reb ast

7/14 1/4 5/6 20 2 4 7/13 3/6 0/0 17 5 0 4/8 1/3 1/1 10 5 1 3/8 2/5 0/3 8 2 2 3/10 0/3 2/2 8 10 4 2/8 0/2 0/1 4 6 2 2/2 0/0 0/2 4 2 0 1/2 0/0 1/2 3 1 0 1/1 0/0 0/0 2 0 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Chargers battle adversity at Grand Valley invitational By | Kate Pipher collegian freelancer

Scoreboard

Sunday afternoon, the Hillsdale College Chargers began their season beating the Saginaw Valley Cardinals in a clean sweep.

The Chargers took a decisive hold in singles after close matches on the doubles courts and didn’t drop a single match to win 7-0.

After clinching the doubles point with two strong sets on the no. 2 and 3 courts, the Chargers edged past the Cardinals in the final three games of the no. 1 doubles set.

Hannah Cimpeanu and Sarah Hackman were a break away from losing the set before a strong hold and an hard-fought break swung the match in Hillsdale’s favor. Serving for the match, Hackman powered serves as Cimpeanu poached volleys at the net to ensure the Chargers won the doubles point with a clean 3-0. keep our eye on is our threepoint shooting defense as well as our rebounding,” Larson said. “We can’t go into the game expecting things to go our way. We need to stay consistent throughout the game and play as a team.”

The game against Trevec-

close to where we need to be.”

Brown said the team will continue to be grateful for the opportunities to compete and work hard to stay focused through the remainder of the season.

“As a program we are constantly focused on personal excellence rather than individual performance,” Brown said. “I am very thankful to God that I have been having a strong season so far, but if this weekend proved anything it is that we can only ever do our best and can’t control the results.”

The Chargers return home this weekend to host the two-day Wide Track Classic in the Biermann Athletic Center. Events begin on Friday at noon.

february 1 Lints Alumni Open | Allendale, MI 60 meter dash

time

200 meter dash

time

8. Allison Nimtz 2. Kajsa Johansson 15. Jillian Roney 21. Allison Nimtz

25.01 26.53 26.98

2. Dakota Stamm

56.59

5. Calli Townsend

2:17.73

7. Arena Lewis 9. Gwynne Riley 10. Maryssa Depies 12. Christina Sawyer 13. Claire McNally 17. Sophia Maeda 18. Meg Scheske 25. Amber Mango

5:02.45 5:04.72 5:06.08 5:10.19 5:10.56 5:12.33 5:13.85 5:20.06

400 meter dash 800 meter run 1 mile run

60 meter hurdles

ca will take place in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday night at 8:45 eastern time. Then the Chargers will start their return north as they stop in Owensboro, Kentucky, for a 3:15 eastern time tip-off.

time time time

time

5. Carmen Botha 6. Jillian Roney

4x400 meter relay

1. O'Leary/Stamm/Allison/Johansson high jump

4. Alexie Day

9.24 9.34

time

3:52.56 height

1.55m

long jump

distance

triple jump

distance

shot put

distance

weight throw

distance

8. Carlin MacDonald-Gannon 10. Carlin MacDonald-Gannon 2. Nikita Maines 6. Michaela Burkhauser 13. Katie Weldy 6. Nikita Maines 11. Michaela Burkahuser 16. Katie Weldy

As the Chargers took the courts in singles, Katie Bell and Kamryn Matthews kept up their earlier momentum. They swung freely to win their sets with strong forehands and by wide margins, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-1.

Sarah Hackman faced a tough spot when her first set of singles was pushed into a tiebreak, but she overcame that tension to win the tiebreak and then the next set to win her match 7-6 (1-0), 6-4.

Sophomore Hannah Cimpeanu’s first set on the no. 1 singles court that she lost 2-6 was no doubt the most tense moment of the match for Hillsdale. She was able to respond in the next two sets, commanding the court and winning 6-2, 6-4.

The Chargers now prepare to face the Davenport Panthers on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Davenport University.

The Panthers are coming off a 2-5 loss against Tiffin University.

8.13

4.90m 9.66m

13.82m 12.37m 11.67m 16.09m 15.29m 13.60m

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD february 1 Lints Alumni Open | Allendale, MI 60 meter dash

time

200 meter dash

time

4. Jacob Schmidt

7.07

8. Jacob Schmidt 16. Ian Brown

22.54 22.93

24. Joseph Ritzer 30. David Downey

52.98 54.06

15. Ian Calvert 24. Dylan Palmer 26. Isaac Waffle

1:59.40 2:01.03 2:01.75

35. Sean Hoeft

4:32.95

2. Joey Humes 9. Jack Shelley

8:26.22 8:38.44

400 meter dash

800 meter run

1 mile run

3000 meter run

60 meter hurdles

time

time

time time

time

8.20 8.38

1. John Baldwin 3. Ian Brown

4x400 meter relay

4. Baldwin/Calvert/Schmidt/Ritzer pole vault

7. Ryan Thomsen weight throw

10. Steve Weideman

time

3:23.61 height

4.51m

distance

14.54m

WOMEN'S TENNIS

february 2 SINGLES DOUBLES SCORE Saginaw Valley (4-9) 0 0 0 Hillsdale (2-0) 6 3 7

singles scores

1. Hannah Cimpeanu def. Maddie Miller 2. Sarah Hackman def. Joanne Gao 3. Katie Bell def. Taylor McLaughlin 4. Kamryn Matthews def. Gyselle Gutierrez 5. Canela Luna def. Sara Neves 6. Sophia Spinazze def. Nicole Johnson

2-6, 6-2, 6-3 7-6 (1-0), 6-4 6-2, 6-4 6-2, 6-1 6-3, 6-1 6-4, 6-2

doubles score

1. Hackman/Cimpeanu def. Miller/McLaughlin 2. Chawner/Bell def. Gao/Gutierrez 3. Matthews/Luna def. Johnson/Young

7-5 6-4 6-0

Sports

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Women's Basketball THURSDAY, JANUARY 30

70 69 Hillsdale Chargers

Walsh Cavaliers 14

35.6% (26/73)

37.9% (22/58)

THREE POINT

25.0% (5/20)

30.3% (10/33)

FREE THROW

68.4% (13/19)

71.4% (15/21)

REBOUNDS

37

51

ASSISTS

9

10

TURNOVERS

2

19

POINTS OFF TURNOVERS

16

2

SECOND CHANCE POINTS

12

16

POINTS IN THE PAINT

40

18

FASTBREAK POINTS

8

0

BENCH POINTS

20

14

LARGEST LEAD

3

Chargers drop pair to two top G-MAC teams By | S. Nathaniel Grime sports editor Once again, the Hillsdale College Chargers were within 10 points on the scoreboard in both of their home games last week, but again, they couldn’t quite come out on top. The Chargers fell to first-place Walsh University 70-69 on Thursday, and to third-place Malone University 82-76 on Saturday.

The game against Walsh is the only time Hillsdale plays the Cavaliers during the regular season, and the Chargers nearly handed Walsh its first conference loss of the year. The Chargers led for much of the game, with leads of 17-14 at the end of the first quarter, 36-32 at halftime, and 58-54 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, however, Walsh outscored Hillsdale 16-11 to complete a comeback win and remain undefeated in the G-MAC. The Chargers shot just 2 for 13 in the fourth quarter, and the Cavaliers took the lead for good on a layup with just two seconds left in the game.

Despite leading narrowly for most of the game, the Chargers showed cracks with 19 total turnovers to Walsh’s two. Hillsdale also missed six free throws in the game.

Sophomore guard Grace Touchette led the Chargers with 19 points and made five three-pointers. Senior center Julia Wacker, who made two free throws in the game’s final minute to give the Chargers a 69-68 lead, scored 13 points on five-forsix shooting. She also had 11 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Lauren

FIELD GOAL

12

February 6, 2020 A9

Daffenberg scored 12 points, and senior guard Sydney Anderson scored 11 points.

Freshman forward Sydney Mills had another impact game coming off the bench, registering a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The loss dropped the Chargers to 5-15 overall and 2-9 in the G-MAC, although seven of their nine losses against conference opponents had been by nine points or less.

Hillsdale suffered another close loss on Saturday, dropping them to 2-10 in the G-MAC after falling to Malone, 82-76. The Chargers fell behind in the first quarter and never led in the game.

Touchette again led Hillsdale in scoring, this time with 20 points. Three of her top four scoring performances this season have come in the Chargers’ last three games.

Daffenberg scored 17 points, her most in a game since Dec. 14 against the University of Findlay, when she scored 24 points. That game was the first of the Chargers’ two conference wins this season.

Anderson followed with 10 points, and Wacker and and Burger scored eight points each. Wacker also had 10 rebounds.

The Chargers travel south this weekend to play Trevecca Nazarene University tonight and Kentucky Wesleyan College on Saturday. The road trip is the first of two remaining trips on the road this season, with one final homestand in between.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1

82 76 Hillsdale Chargers

Malone Pioneers

FIELD GOAL

47.8% (32/67)

45.5% (30/66)

THREE POINT

40.0% (14/35)

30.4% (7/23)

FREE THROW

50.0% (4/8)

52.9% (9/17)

REBOUNDS

35

41

ASSISTS

16

13

TURNOVERS

9

13

POINTS OFF TURNOVERS

23

10

SECOND CHANCE POINTS

13

13

POINTS IN THE PAINT

32

42

FASTBREAK POINTS

2

0

BENCH POINTS

24

13

LARGEST LEAD

15

0

Softball

Chargers to begin season in Tennessee By | Liam Bredberg assistant editor The Hillsdale College Chargers will begin their regular season with five games in Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning this weekend.

Head coach Kyle Gross said the Chargers will be competing in a brand new tournament and will face some teams they’ve never seen before, along with a familiar competitor.

“We haven’t faced Lee University before, and McKendree acquired playing us before,” Gross said. “North Georgia has been ranked the past four years. We played a good game against them last year.”

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7

| chattanooga, tn

11:00 A.M.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7

| chattanooga, tn

4:00 P.M.

Hillsdale vs. Columbus State Hillsdale vs. McKendree SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8

| chattanooga, tn

1:30 P.M.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8

| chattanooga, tn

4:00 P.M.

Hillsdale vs. Lee

Hillsdale vs. North Georgia SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9

| chattanooga, tn

Hillsdale vs. Montavello The Chargers will face the Columbus State Cougars on Friday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. to begin the weekend. The Chargers will conclude the weekend with one game on

11:00 A.M.

Sunday, Feb. 9 against the University of Montevallo Falcons.

Sophomore infielder Kasidy Carson said the team has been working on mechanics

and are ready to get back into the swing of the season.

“I’m excited, I think it’ll be really good for us, especially because we haven’t been on the dirt in awhile,” Karson said. “It’ll be good to be able to play seven innings again and be the team that we know we can be.”

Gross said the team has improved significantly during practice since returning from winter break.

“We’re focusing a lot on defense execution, and we’ve implemented offensive strategies and the execution of those,” Gross said. “Ending practice the other day, they looked like they were ready to go play.”

Senior outfielder Carlin MacDonald-Gannon said the

team has plenty of talent this season, and she’s excited to see how everybody steps into their different roles.

“We’re very mentally tough,” MacDonald-Gannon said. “We’ve got some really big bats this year. And we’ve been working on defense, mechanics, overall strategy –– everything we’ve been working on has been really good. I think it’s really clicking and falling into place. I’m excited to see how this actually plays out in live games.”

With this being her final season Mac-Donald Gannon said she is ready to start but will make an effort to enjoy every moment she has left with the team.

‘I’m just hoping I don’t

take it for granted, don’t get too mental about it, and I just have fun,” MacDonald-Gannon said. “These are some of my closest friends, so I’m just going to try to enjoy this last season.”

Coming into this season as back-to-back GMAC champions, Gross said the team has come together during the off-season and has many strengths.

“We’re bringing our experience of last year to this season,” Gross said. “We want to come out of the gate with a competitive mentality.

And then we want to place higher in the GMAC and win the conference tournament again.”

charger chatter: Dakota Stamm Q: How did you get started in running?

DS: I’ve been interested in running ever since I was a little kid like in elementary school. You know how little kids have races?

That’s when I first loved running. And then I joined track and ran cross country in middle school and then continued into high school and then obviously, I run track in college.

Freshman Dakota Stamm hillsdale college athletic department

Q: What brought you to Hillsdale?

DS: At first I was here because of a track meet, a track meet that I did not want to come to.

I had to come though because of indoor track meet rules. So I

came and I was on campus and at first I was like “No this isn’t the place for me.” And then I started walking around campus and I kind of got the vibe and I just loved it. And so I came back for an official visit and then I was like “Yeah this is where I’m going to be.”

I do. But those just kind of get me in the right mindset. I am also one of those people, I get made fun of for this, I do a lot of different stretches when I’m getting into my blocks just to get my legs ready to go. Yeah, I’m that person.

Q: Favorite event to run?

Q: Do your parents come to your games?

A: Well I also run the four by four and my favorite event is probably the four by four but if I’m just doing a single event, it would be the 400.

A: Yeah, they come to everything. They’re super supportive.

It’s really nice to see a face in the crowd, and I can always hear them yelling from the sidelines!

Q: Do you have any rituals or prep you do before races?

Q: Do you have a favorite food that you crave before or after meets?

DS: I have some weird stretches

DS: Any kind of fruit. I love fresh fruit. Before and after meets. Nothing else sits well in my stomach.

Q: What are other sports that you like to play or watch?

DS: Soccer. I played in highschool and I’m actually planning on playing on the club women’s team. I wasn’t allowed to play this fall because my coach wanted me to get accustomed to college first, but next fall I’m planning on trying to join that.

--compiled by Abby Liebing

Charger A10 February 6, 2020

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Women's Tennis

Chargers kick off season with a perfect 7-0 sweep over SVSU Katie Bell returns the ball during a match on Sunday. ryan goff | collegian

see page A8 for story

Men's Basketball

Chargers grind out win to remain tied atop G-MAC Team heads south before key four-game homestand By | Calli Townsend assistant editor The Hillsdale College Chargers held on to a narrow lead to finish with a 75-68 victory over the Malone University Pioneers on Saturday in the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. After back-toback wins over the Pioneers, Hillsdale sits at a 9-2 conference record, 13-7 overall.

“It was tough all week leading up to the game. Not playing all week was kind of getting us out of that rhythm,” head coach John Tharp said. “We talked to the guys and said that we played really well at Malone, we made shots and they didn’t, but this was going to be a new game. It was a hard fought win and I thought Malone played really well.”

Saturday’s game was a close contest as the score was tied up 12 different times with 11 lead changes. After a Pioneer layup tied the score at 35 with 36 seconds to go,

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1

| hillsdale, mi

Malone (11-10, 5-6) Hillsdale (13-7, 9-2)

t1. WALSH t1.

FINDLAY HILLSDALE 4. CEDARVILLE 5. LAKE ERIE t6. OHIO DOMINICAN t6. KENTUCKY WESLEYAN 8. MALONE 9. ALDERSON BROADDUS 10. TREVECCA NAZARENE 11. TIFFIN 12. OHIO VALLEY t1.

68 75

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6

| nashville, tn

8:45 P.M.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8

| owensboro, ky

3:15 P.M.

Hillsdale (13-7, 9-2) at Trevecca Nazarene (2-19, 2-10)

Hillsdale (13-7, 9-2) at Kentucky Wesleyan (7-12, 6-6) junior forward Austen Yarian made a jumper to give the Chargers a two-point lead heading into the half.

“I think we knew going into Saturday’s game against Malone that we were going to get their best effort,” junior forward Davis Larson said. “Their team is well coached and plays extremely hard. Playing a team twice in a row is no easy task. They made adjustments from the previous week which made us have to adapt during the game.”

The Chargers were

G-MAC STANDINGS SCHOOL

final

G-MAC OVERALL

9-2 9-2 9-2 9-3 7-5 6-6 6-6 5-6 5-7 2-10 2-11 1-10

18-3 14-6 13-7 13-8 13-9 9-12 7-12 11-10 7-14 2-19 8-15 4-17

able to maintain that lead throughout the remainder of the game, but it wasn’t easy. Often only leading by a basket or two, the victory came down to a game of free throws. Malone sank three free throws with 33 seconds remaining to cut the Chargers’ lead to three, but a pair of free throws by senior guard Dylan Lowry sealed the win.

Lowry played a well-rounded game with 10 points, three assists, and three rebounds.

When the Chargers played Malone on the road, freshman forward Pat Cartier managed 18 points, but this week he led the team in scoring with 27 points.

“We added a few set plays and got some buckets from those, but we didn’t really change it that much,” Tharp said. “The thing that was so positive for us was that we shared the basketball we made some extra passes and when our assists totals are high, you know were playing the right way and playing pretty well.”

The Chargers totaled 14 assists during the game and had four players scoring double digits. They also managed to keep their turnover total at seven.

And fellow freshman forward Tavon Brown led the team with 10 rebounds. He also added nine points.

He’s been great for us this year. He’s helped us win so many games this year. He’s really unselfish,” Tharp said.

“He has a real knack for finding where the ball comes off the rim and he gives us some flexibility with being able to score and rebound and pass.”

Hillsdale only has seven conference games remaining in the regular season, two of which will be played on the road this week. The Chargers are heading south to take on Trevecca Nazarene University and Kentucky Wesleyan University.

Tharp said the team will be looking to sharpen its game on the defensive end during this road trip.

“Our team defense on Saturday took a step backward. We weren’t there for each other and our guys have to guard because we’re an OK scoring team, but we’re not a great scoring team,” he said. “So we try to take away our opponents strengths and control the ball in regards to dribble penetration. We’re

see WIN, page A8

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1

68 75 Hillsdale Chargers

Malone Pioneers

FIELD GOAL

48.1% (25/52)

47.5% (28/59)

THREE POINT

16.7% (2/12)

30.0% (6/20)

FREE THROW

80.0% (16/20)

68.4% (13/19)

REBOUNDS

33

32

ASSISTS

8

14

TURNOVERS

11

7

POINTS OFF TURNOVERS

3

7

SECOND CHANCE POINTS

2

12

POINTS IN THE PAINT

44

42

FASTBREAK POINTS

2

6

BENCH POINTS

10

9

LARGEST LEAD

5

9

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

C

u

l

t

u

r

February 6, 2020 B1

e

Taylor Dickerson crafted a dessert charcuterie board for the Curate womens’ summit. Courtesy | Taylor Dickerson

Serve the Lord first, then yourself I watch ‘The By | Rachel Kookogey Assistant Editor At the Curate women’s summit this past weekend, one main thing that stood out to me across the various breakout sessions was the speakers’ emphasis on having self-understanding while interacting with our community. And, each of the session leaders did an excellent job of keeping this idea of personal growth within a Christian lens.

I found this theme across various topics, so let me summarize in a few more specific points:

A fulfilling vocation has nothing to do with the specifics of our jobs.

Our primary job on earth is to glorify God. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

There is no one “Mr. Right” when it comes to our careers. I don’t think God cares what our job title is.

What matters is whether we work for the good of Christ and others in your position.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empow-

ers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Moreover, we are not permanently stuck with any career decision we make.

Throughout different stages of life, God calls us to use our gifts to fulfill his purpose in different ways.

And in terms of discovering that vocation for this stage of life, we should examine our abilities and interests rather than searching for something new outside of ourselves.

“It is not so much about finding your purpose, but facing it,” Hillsdale College alumna Angela Kaufman ‘14 encouraged attendees in one session. “Tap into something that is already there.”

We should look for what excites us about the various tasks we do at college and use that insight to seek a position where we can use our gifts to best serve others.

We must each make the decision that best suits our needs and abilities in the time that is given us. As Paul later says in 1 Corinthians 7, “only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.”

Finding self-fulfillment and pouring into others is a constant, mutual process.

Just as we better serve

others in a fulfilling vocation, we can also better pour into other’s lives when we have filled ourselves with the truth.

As Health Services counselor Kaitlyn Zellner stressed in her discussion, we cannot build an intimate relationship with another person if we are not also intimate with ourselves. For example, if we are not honest and compassionate with ourselves, how can we communicate with others honestly and compassionately?

But the beautiful thing about life is that both your personal growth and the growth of others are happening simultaneously, especially in the collegiate environment.

As Director of Field Recruitment for Hillsdale College Jenny Pridgeon said, “we build community so they can build you up in return.”

Personal growth is not something to be done so we can stand on a pedestal and condescend to help others.

We each need a community to encourage and correct us. To call us out when we can’t see the ideal job that is right before us, and to cut us down to size when we need a dose of humility.

Community is just as important to self-development as alone time is. While we must give ourselves personal time with the Lord, we must

also surround ourselves with those who can push us to a richer pursuit of Christ.

But we must find ultimate worth in our identity as children of God.

We often talk about the enriching learning and job opportunities here at Hillsdale. We also like to the winner will be featured By | Haley Strack talk about the rich friendon the March issue with ships and relationships that Collegian Freelancer Peter. As the women prance develop in this environment. around waterfalls in their While all of these things are This two-hour special bikinis, our ever-supportive a vast source of love, enstarts out with a much couragement, and comfort, needed confrontation. Peter bachelor Peter stands back to objectify. Peter reminds they cannot be our ultimate sends Alayah home, for the me of a Kris Jenner-esque source of fulfillment. second time, and finally, figure as he watches the If we stop there, we will the house is at peace for a photoshoot, yelling, “that’s miss the primary reason for moment. what I like to see.” After personal growth and doing This is also the first time good for others: Christ.

I’ve been underwhelmed by the pillow fight, I should’ve known anything was possiPeople are sinful. Peothe show. ble, but this feels like we’ve ple fail us, even when they The momentary lapse hit a new low. love us. We will fail other in drama between Alayah At the cocktail party, people too. And we will fail leaving and the next rose Kelsey is having some difourselves. We must be fair ceremony was good for my ficulty accepting that Peter in our expectations of both sanity, but I’m ready for is seeing other women. I alourselves and others. more. most feel bad for her until I As Heather Miller There’s some nervous remember that she applied, reminded listeners in her energy in the house before interviewed, and audidiscussion on marriage, we the ceremony, and ‘Tasmamust not look to others for nian devil’ Tammy notes: “If tioned to be in this position.

Tammy points out Kelsey’s the perfect contentment that I don’t get a rose tonight, I emotional stability — or only God can give us. We will burn the house to the lack thereof. I’ll give you must always remember that ground.” I believe her. a brief lowdown: Tammy the ultimate source of love, Luckily, Tammy is the tells Peter that Kelsey had encouragement, and comfort last lady to get a rose in an emotional breakdown, comes from Christ. And the ceremony (probably Peter confronts Kelsey, when we overflow with that because the producers beKelsey has another emosecurity, we can better share herMandimes too), which sends Student band Pennylieved and the won Phi Mu Alpha’s tional breakdown, and the it with others. Battle of the Bands. Deandra, Savannah, and Carmel Kookogey | Collegian girls hash it out. Nothing is Kiarra home. resolved, but we do confirm The night wraps up with that Kelsey has an excessive an exciting announcement from Peter: Bachelor nation, drinking issue. I don’t blame her — we all have our own we’re going international! coping mechanisms.

As the jet touches down in Kelley and Peter go on a Costa Rica, I can already rather unique one-on-one hear the shrieks of inapprodate. Peter has been having priately bikini-clad women. doubts about their relationAs the girls practice rolling their “r’s” and work on their ship and “needs to see a lot best Spanish accents “for the from Kelley today.” Is this an interview or a date? culture,” they get a surprise Our logical bachelor visit from a wounded Peter. puts fate in the hands of an No, it’s not his heart — ever-wise shaman who tells not this time at least. him that the couple might Peter has a large cut on not be compatible. Peter his head which he tries to puts a lot of stake into the play off with a story about shaman’s opinion, as any attacking a puma, but the reasonable man should, real story is so much better. and is noticeably upset.

He runs into a golf cart and Regardless, he’s willing to accidentally pokes himself let Kelley have one more in the head with a chamweek to prove herself (how pagne glass. 22 stitches.

This is your future husband, generous), and she gets a date rose. ladies.

By | Abby Liebing Don’t worry — the draPeter and Sydney head ma isn’t over. Kelsey meets Associate Editor off on their first one-on-one Peter in his hotel room to date. They go on a romantic The Best Motion tell him that she does not, helicopter ride, but I’m not Picture Oscar should go in fact, have a drinking sensing much of a connecto “1917” a cinematically problem. Peter, of course, tion.

Peter thinks Sydney groundbreaking film that believes her without a sechas “a little bit of mysteriimmersed audiences in the ond thought, and she gets a ousness about her.” horrors of World War I like In the real world, we call surprise rose. The pre-rose never before. Filmed to ceremony cocktail party that a lack of personality. give the appearance of one for the evening is canceled Peter says the date is continuous shot, director because Peter already has “exactly what I needed after Sam Mendes captured the “the clarity I need to make my head injury.” Yes, that’s nuance and atmosphere of my decision.” He sends Lexi correct, an injury to his World War I in a beautiand Shiann home, keeping head. fully unbroken narrative the most dramatic girls Well at this point, my of bravery and human around — once again. head hurts too. I’ve sat nature. “1917” did not just Honestly, the poor guy is through the entire date with tell a mere story, but put just shooting himself in the them and there is absolutely the viewers in the trenchfoot.

If he keeps believing nothing of substance that es, making it feel as if you everything the girls tell him, has been said. Sydney’s were another soldier on he’ll never find a wife. extensive use of space fillers the mission with SchofBut then again, I’m not (like, um, mmhm) every ield (MacKay) and Blake sure I really care. two words has rendered me (Chapman). The film’s Peter’s now left with his completely unable to, like, ability to completely imchosen 12.

Let’s see who function. Give her a rose so merse the audience, to the goes out and spreads the we can move on, Peter. point of evoking a visceral word.

The group date is a “Cosreaction, in a real time mopolitan” photoshoot, and story with human heroes makes it cinema history.

It’s deserving of an Oscar.

Oscars Best Picture: Collegian Picks Facebook

By | Ryan Goff Collegian Reporter Quentin Tarantino subverts the formulaic movie model in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”

The aging actor Rick Dalton stumbles his way onward in his career, as Tarantino leads us though Dalton’s most personal struggles. He faces what seems like his last chance and triumphs.

Then, in the last 45 minutes of the film, all of that falls away and the audience endures the gripping scene of the Manson murder. We are thrown into the perspective of societal misfits and engage with a drugged-out us versus them battle.

Considering this year’s nominations for Best Picture, “Once Upon a Time’s” curious blend of period drama, thriller, and historical documentary definitely stands out from the pack.

By | Rachel Kookogey Assistant Editor Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” is successful because it stays true to Louisa May Alcott’s classic literary work by highlighting elements of the work not covered in previous renditions. By tying in shots and costumes similar to those in the 1994 version of Little Women with Winona Ryder and Christian Bale, Gerwig acknowledges our attachment to that older rendition. Not only does Gerwig recreate the work with scenes and dialog directly from the novel, but she puts more emphasis on the maturation of the March girls by placing the movie in the perspective of an older Jo March when she writes her own “Little Women.”

We identified with Winona Ryder’s Jo and Christian Bale’s Laurie when we were children, but now we’ve grown up and get to see the bittersweet ending of Alcott’s novel as the only fitting conclusion.

By | Regan Meyer news editor Whether “Joker” is better than any of the other Best Picture nominees is a moot point. Even if it was loads better than its nominated counterparts, the film as a whole should not be winning any awards with the word “best” in the title. Yes, Joaquin Phoenix delivers an astounding performance.

Yes, the music perfectly captures the uneasiness and insanity of the film.

No number of incredible performances or well-orchestrated scores, however, can save a motion picture with a plot as uninteresting and unoriginal as “Joker.”

The story is forced, the political statements ambiguous, and the exploration of mental health nowhere near as revolutionary as it was projected to be. “Joker,” as a whole entity, fell flat in too many ways to be an Oscar contender let alone win.

Bachelor’ bikini show so you don’t have to

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First Choral Evensong service sung in Christ Chapel By | Alexis Daniels Web Content Editor

Within the polished marble walls of the chapel, the voices of the Hillsdale College Chamber Choir resonated and echoed with the Psalms.

The Choral Evensong service in the chapel on Sunday, Feb. 2, was a sung version of Daily Evening Prayer from the 1662 “Book of Common Prayer’’ in England. The service included sung hymns and Psalms as well as the chants of lessons, the Apostles’ Creed, and prayers. Reverend Adam Rick performed as the officiant, sophomore Jack Galsterer as the crucifer, and senior Nathan Messiter and assistant professor of English Elizabeth

Fredericks as readers.

“It is an Anglican service by origin,” Rick said. “The appeal of the service for a place like Hillsdale is that even though it’s Anglican in origin, it’s just scripture, psalms, and prayers based on scripture. There’s no celebration of a sacrament, so it’s very ecumenical in who can engage it, who can find it worshipful for them, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s so appealing for those here because it’s so representative of a broad swath of Christian daily prayer traditions.”

Although there are many student ministries who have done religious services in the Christ chapel and the chapel in the Dow Center, the full repertoire by the chamber

choir was new for the campus.

Fr. Adam added that “it’s certainly been Arnn’s expressed intention” for there to be more Evensong services in the future.

“This service has been sung daily in the cathedrals and colleges of England for 500 years,” he said. “There’s enough music to fill that out, and so a lot of the words would be the same, the scripture readings would be different but Arnn is ambitious, and I’m sure he would be happy with daily, though I’m not sure if we could pull that off quite yet. But certainly I would like to ramp it up over time.”

He said it was important to note that the Choral Evensong is not a performance.

“The service is not a concert. It is a worship service,” Fr. Adam said. “It’s for the glory of God, and I’m sure that he was glorified today.”

Alan Kotlyar, a senior and member of the choir, said the choir started preparing for the service the day before classes started this semester which allowed the choir to make personal connections with each other.

“We use music as a kind of conduit for making connections with each other, and when we’re a tight-knit group, our music sounds better,” Kotlyar said. “We want to sound like we are not individual voices but like we are singing as a whole, we are in sync with each other.”

He said the choir perform-

ing a service in the chapel was a milestone.

“It kind of affirms the Christian nature of our college,” Kotlyar said. “If there was any doubt in people’s minds that this was a Christian college or not, you’ve got the college choir – it’s not a chapel choir, it’s not a Christian choir, it’s the choir – if you are a Hillsdale College student and you get into the top choir, you are going to be singing in this service. It is a statement of orientation of the college.”

He also said the chamber choir takes the role of being the musical element of the religious services.

“Arnn has told the choir personally that one of the purposes of the chapel being

built is to develop musicality on campus,” Kotlyar said. “It is a place of worship and it is also a place where the choir can perform and where the orchestra can perform.”

In an email to the campus the day following the service, President Larry Arnn expressed his gratitude for those behind the service and stressed the importance of the “excellent work” done by them.

“This particular work is especially important because the chapel is important and because Choral Evensong is one of the purposes for which it is designed,” Arnn wrote.

“Join me in thanking them for this extra and exceptional effort. And plan to come to the next Evensong. It is inspiring.”

Review: Alumnus exposes corruption of Halftime Show: Put the kids to bed SPLC in new book ‘Making Hate Pay’ By | Regan Meyer News Editor Honestly, I didn’t think it could get worse than last year.There was no possible way the NFL could do worse than hiring “Maroon 5” to headline last year’s Super Bowl show.

I was wrong.

At first, the decision didn’t seem problematic.

Columbian pop star Shakira, and superstar Jennifer Lopez had the makings of an incredible night of music.

Both have some of the biggest hits of the 2000s, Shakira with “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Wherever, Whenever” and J-LO with “Let’s Get Loud” and “On the Floor.”

Both are also talented dancers and vocalists— and that talent was on display Sunday night.

Upon watching her performance, there can be no doubt that J-LO was born to perform. Her stage-presence was spectacular, her vocals superb. She owned every bit of that stage.

The talent, however, was not the focal point. Instead of capitalizing on their talents, J-LO and Shakira exploited their sex appeal.

To Shakira’s credit, her costumes were not nearly as bad as her counterparts. But her choice of dance moves negate any points she gets for costume choice.

Simply put, J-LO and Shakira’s performance crossed a line.

Fans of Sunday’s show could argue that most other Super Bowl halftime performances headlined by women involved less than modest clothing. And they would not be wrong.There is, however, a distinct difference between those per-

formances and J-LO; those artists were not dancing on a stripper pole or suggestively writhing around on the stage. The smaller costumes merely allowed for easier movement and quicker costume changes. Those previous halftime shows focused on vocal talent and entertainment prowess.

When Madonna performed in 2012, her show had all the trappings of a Super Bowl halftime show, sexy costuming and provocative dancing included. But, there’s a major difference between a few standard Madonna dance moves and J-LO hanging off a stripper pole wearing a small rhinestone diaper.

As soon as the show ended, the internet blew up with claims of “empowerment” and “female beauty.”

Those claims, however, miss the mark entirely. The performance was not empowering nor was it beautiful. It instead showcased the degradation of women by the modern feminist movement.

J-LO and Shakira were not a celebration of women as human beings. They did not celebrate talent. They did not celebrate authentic beauty. They instead sold women the idea that their raw, authentic selves are not enough. That their talent, their musical prowess, their accomplishments, their brains cannot stand alone.

In the modern feminist world, those incredible achievements must be masked by a woman’s sexual allure, and she is not only free to capitalize on it but also must in order to stay relevant.

By | Sutton Dunwoodie Collegian Reporter Tyler O’Neil ‘12 makes a convincing case that the Southern Poverty Law Center hustles donors and should not be trusted to determine what a “hate group” is, in his new book, Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The book gets its name from an article published in the New Yorker by Bob Moser, a former writer at the SPLC. In the article, Moser accuses the SPLC of portraying itself as an underfunded organization representing the poor to solicit donations from wealthy liberals, despite having an endowment of more thanover $450 millionn dollars.

“We were part of the con, and we knew it,” Moser wrote in that article.

O’Neil picks up where Moser left off and gives the topic the book-length treatment it deserves. The history of the SPLC, briefly covered in Moser’s article, is given in more detail and is more damning in O’Neil’s hands.

O’Neil dives into SPLC founder Morris Dees’s background as a mail-order cake salesman and vividly portrays him as a man desperate to get rich by any means. The best support for O’Neil’s characterization of Dees came from Dees’s own mouth. O’Neil includes a blurb about the time Dees told a reporter that at the SPLC, “We just run our business like a business.

Whether you’re selling cakes or causes, it’s all the same.”

O’Neil gives a short account of the good work

done by the SPLC fighting for civil rights in the 1970’s and against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980’s, which resulted in SPLC offices being burned by the Klan. He argues the SPLC made the transition from upstanding legal non-profit to partisan attack dog when it began focusing on “hate groups.”

The book is at its best when it is skewering the SPLC’s annual list of hate

“These ideas may be wrong,

but they are not enough to prove that an organization is a ‘hate group,’ especially when the SPLC lists such groups along with the Klu Klux Klan.” groups. Conservatives have frequently criticized the list for being biased against them, and these sections of the book offer them an intellectual harbor from which to launch their attacks on the SPLC and its list.

One problem O’Neil found in the list was how inflated the number of hate groups is.

In two memorable examples, O’Neil found that the SPLC listed an antiques shop and an individual with a website as hate groups. O’Neil’s presentation of these errors undermines the credibility of

Faculty recital features world-class trumpeter By | Amelia Teska Collegian Freelancer Joined by an appreciation of music, a mixture of professors, students, and residents of Hillsdale came together at the Markel Auditorium on Friday, Jan.31. Music professors Chris McCourry and Brad Blackham presented a special recital featuring the music of James Stephenson.

The first portion of the program featured pieces composed by James Stephenson including “Burden of Destiny,” “2/2 Tango, L’Esprit,” “Martha Uncaged,” and “Legacies” — all written for three. Chris McCourry and guest artist Vince DiMartino performed on trumpet, and Brad Blackham played the piano.

The second part of the concert focused on a jazz feel and featured not only trumpeters Chris McCourry and Guest Artist Vince DiMartino,

but also student Christopher Scheithauer on trumpet, Dan Palmer on guitar, Hank Horton on bass, and Ian Levine on Drums. Some jazz pieces included “Mean to Me”(Turk/ Ahlert), “The Girl from Ipanema” (Atonio-Carlos Jobim), and “Seven Steps to Heaven” (Victor Feldman).

An interesting mix of classical and jazz gave the program depth. When asked about the repertoire, Chris McCourry said he enjoyed the musical diversity in “Martha Uncaged.” .

“It’s using so many different instruments for one piece is what really attracted me originally, McCourry said.“It’s really a difficult thing to change between all the different instruments, so that was one challenge I really enjoyed.”

Brad Blackham shared how the pieces and composer were chosen.

“I just started researching

this guy Stephenson and found he has tons of music including a lot of stuff for trumpet and piano,” Blackham said. “So once we realized how much stuff he had, we started thinking let’s just do a whole program on it since there is enough music there, and we had a lot of fun putting it together.”

Freshman Chloe Tritchka found the concert very interesting.

“I didn’t realize the Stevenson songs were going to be so modern but there was still a lot of structure and there were patterns and you could tell when the instruments were coming together,” said Tritchka. “I was also very impressed

by Vince DiMartino’s performance. He is very good and gave me a new appreciation for the trumpet because he was able to control his sound very well and I thought that was pretty cool.”

Gabriel Powell, a freshman

the list.

A more serious problem with the list is its bias against conservatives. O’Neil describes an instance where Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was labeled an “extremist” by the SPLC for his stance on gay marriage. The SPLC later retracted the categorization and apologized.

O’Neil also points out that the FBI defines a hate

and student of Chris McCourry, said the concert was inspiring.

“So, being a jazz guy I am a bit partial,” said Powell. “It was very neat to hear the progression of going through all the different classical pieces through legacies which was really interesting to see all the different generations of students.”

Christopher Scheithauer, a senior at Hillsdale College and a student of Chris McCourry, said he enjoyed being a part of the night.

“It was really an amazing opportunity to play with Chris McCourry and Vince DiMartino,” said Scheithauer. “You don’t usually think of coming to a small liberal arts school like Hillsdale to get these opportunities to play with world class musicians, but you do. It is a great opportunity that was unexpected.”

group as an organization that’s primary purpose is promoting hostility against a protected group. He reviews the doctrine of some rightwing organizations argues that having traditional ideas about sex and gender does not make one a hate group.

“These ideas may be wrong, but they are not enough to prove that an organization is a “hate group,” especially when the SPLC lists such groups along with the Ku Klux Klan,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil argues this bias is dangerous because the

stated purpose of the list is to destroy the organizations on it. O’Neil proves this assertion by quoting Mark Potok, a spokesperson for the SPLC, who said that, “Sometimes the press will describe us as monitoring hate groups, I want to say plainly that our aim in life is to destroy these groups, completely destroy them.”

These arguments make it impossible for any conservative to read “Making Hate Pay” and not be filled with indignation. Unfortunately, the book’s message gets watered down by a lack of focus.

One silly diversion the book explores is a professor’s claim that the SPLC might hire actors to portray members of hate groups at protests to increase interest in their hate group list. Contrary to most of the book, this tale is not fleshed out by any reporting whatsoever.

O’Neil doesn’t even bother to vouch for its veracity.

It was a poor decision to include an unfounded accusation more suitable for an Alex Jones broadcast in an otherwise fact-driven book.

Another diversion is the section titled “Fighting Back,” which includes a history of defamation cases filed against the SPLC. This part reads like an encyclopedia. That is not a compliment.

Despite these missteps, Making Hate Pay makes the important point that the SPLC is not unbiased, and that serious people should not parrot their categorizations. Everyone who wants to have an educated opinion about the SPLC should read this book.

Pianist duo to perform Friday, Saturday By | Ashley Kaitz Assistant Editor On Feb. 7-8, Hillsdale’s Duo Pianists, Kristi Gautsche and Debbi Wyse, will perform “The Allure of the Obscure” in Markel Auditorium at 8 pm. Wyse teaches music and piano at Hillsdale, and she has performed with her good friend Gautsche for more than 30-years. For this performance, they chose unique, lesser-known pieces written for two pianos.

“Kristi and I have put together a very eclectic program with something for everyone — a bit of German repertoire, some French, even a bit of jazz and Argentine tango,” Wyse said.

The music isn’t the only creative aspect of the program.

According to Wyse,“the audience will not have printed program notes.

Instead, all the notes will be narrated in creative ways by our co-hosts, Gianna Marchese ’17 and my husband, Ned Wyse,” she said. “We are including a fun trivia challenge for the audience, and there will be some cool lighting effects

by Tyler Sechrist as well.”

Gautsche agreed that their performances are far from ordinary.

“Last time we had toy pianos, and this time we have trivia,” she said. “Debbi and I have always tried to think of our audience when we program a concert, and this time was no different. We tried to put together a program that’s easy to enjoy, in a format that’s fun and relaxing for audience members.”

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ATO from B4

From left to right: Mark Waters, Ric Tombelli, Matt Schlientz, Bryan Springer, and Emily Stack Davis Hannah Cote | Collegian

Marketing

from B4 new YouTube videos, including a five-video series titled “Conquering Freshman Year” that features informational videos on health, academic, and career services. The series also includes animated videos highlighting critical aspects of Hillsdale’s mission, such as the freshman pledge, the core curriculum, and the liberal arts. The team even created a highlights video of the Honor Code and its influence on campus culture.

“We were and still are great at print,” Schlientz said.

“We’ve been doing Imprimis for 45-plus years as one example. But we need to compliment that print with visual media, and when we say visual media, we mean visual storytelling, not just making a video. We are trying to connect with people emotionally through visual video.”

As director of visual media, Waters said that the goal of every video “is not to promote the college, but to teach a principle that the college stands for.”

“I always hope that we

teach something that people feel a benefit from when engaging in a video,” Waters said. “I hope they learned something they didn’t know before and that they feel like what they learned was worth something.”

Several students work alongside the media team within the marketing department. Sophomore Victoria Nuñez has worked with the department for nearly two years.

“The vision has remained the same in the department,” Nuñez said. “Our main goal is to just implement the mission of the college in all the various forms of media we use.”

Sophomore Jane O’Connor has worked with video production in the department for almost a year.

“Interns are fairly involved in the creative and production aspects of content creation,” O’Connor said. “I haven’t felt much of my job is concerned with busy work. I help out a lot with the pre-production and production stages of our video work.”

With each project, Schlientz stresses the ulti-

mate mission and goal of the college.

“We want the country to know about the mission of Hillsdale College,” Waters said. “Part of our vision and part of our mission is to save the country. We want positive attitudes to be formed because generally you need positive attitudes to lead to action, and we’re looking for action.”

This need for action fuels the department’s consistent outreach, and they hope to continuously reach out and impact the community.

“We don’t just want a onetime experience or action. We actually want multiple actions and we want lifetime raving fans of college,” Schlientz said.

Through new additions to the team, increased activity on social media, and new ideas for eye-catching videos, Schlientz and his team aim to bring Hillsdale’s traditions and culture to life.

“The mission of Hillsdale still hasn’t changed since 1844,” Schlientz said. “The purpose has remained the same from the beginning.

We’re just articulating it better than ever.”

TKEs total beer-tapped party house By | Callie Shinkle Columnist Throughout the 1980s, Hillsdale’s Tau Kappa Epsilons suffered a variety of issues with regards to their house ranging from problems with neighbors to the literal destruction of the house.

It certainly cannot be easy to be neighbors with an active 1980s frat house, and the TKE’s neighbors felt the burden.

On Nov. 3, 1983, The Collegian reported, “‘We don’t expect them to be church mice, but we want them to be responsible.’ The neighbor cited noise of people leaving weekend parties as the most offensive transgression of the TKEs.” The article continued, “Another neighbor commented that it isn’t the meter of the house who park on his lawn, but ‘the whole campus’ which attends the TKE social functions.”

I must say that these party-goers were quite bold just assuming that the neighbor’s lawn was their personal parking lot.

Due to these complaints, The Collegian reported that the college instituted “a Good Neighbor Policy to improve the relationship between the house and its neighbors.

Under this policy neighbors are asked to contact the house directly with any complaints and suggestions.”

This arrangement appears to have improved relations

until 1988, when a different disaster overtook the TKE house.

On Feb. 4, 1988, Collegian reporter Christopher Perme wrote, “Over Christmas break, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house was damaged by a freak accident due to a boiler failure.”

He continued, “The boiler failed which caused the water in the pipes to freeze. The pipes then expanded and broke, sending water everywhere.”

In an unfortunate turn of events, the Hillsdale City Building Inspector condemned the building.

Perme reported, “Mr. (Richard) Emery, who declared the TKE house officially condemned stated, ‘Not only was it condemned for the water damage, but also applicable is the housekeeping, or lack thereof, that leaves their house uninhabitable.’”

I must say that having a building condemned is an extremely low point, even for a frat house.

One of these apparent issues may have been the legendary beer faucet in the TKE house.

On Oct. 28, 1999, The Collegian reported, “They did not have beer flowing out of all their faucets. Just their upstairs kitchen faucet.”

Sorry, that does not make this feat of engineering any less iconic.

The article continued, “The sink was basically an extended tap, according to the TKEs.

A ‘mechanically inclined’ individual was able to hook it up to a keg, which was stored under the sink. Although it was mostly used for midweek parties, no water ever ran from that sink.”

The shenanigans had to come to an end at some point, and in 1996 the TKE house was finally demolished.

On Sept. 12, 1996, Collegian reporter Casey Fatchett wrote, “Students returning to Hillsdale’s campus this semester noticed the absence of one particular building, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house. The TKE house was demolished one week prior to the beginning of fall classes.”

Fatchett reported that this followed the college’s decision to disband the fraternity.

He wrote, “In early spring, 1996, the fraternity’s alumni association sold the house and the land to Hillsdale College.”

Fatchett continued, “After inspecting the property for possible use as offices, the college decided that the potential cost of renovation outweighed the projected usage, and had the building destroyed.”

Personally, I find it very confusing that the college did not utilize an office building with beer running out of its faucets, so I have to assume that this decision ties back to the pipe explosion in 1988.

Although the house and fraternity have disappeared from Hillsdale College, the legends of the TKEs continue to live on.

plans to recarpet as well as repaint the entire interior of the house.

Leaning against the second-floor staircase railing, sophomore and co-house manager Michael Fleischer told me that the alumni spent close to $50,000 on renovations for the house this past winter.

“The alumni are really, really good to us,” Fleischer said.

“We have a very large pool of funds right now. Because I’ve been house manager, I’ve been really pushing for them to do a lot of stuff. So they’ve been really generous with helping us unify the house.”

Perry also emphasized how thankful the fraternity is to the alumni board.

“Within ATO, we talk about forming friendships and bonds for life, and their coming back and helping us out really shows that we take that seriously,” he said.

What struck me talking to both Perry and Fleischer is how important they viewed preserving the house and its historicity.

“We want this house to be here for many years to come,” Fleischer said.

And the house’s past histo-

February 6, 2020 ry still lives on in ATO lore.

One room on the second floor is called “Congressman,” referring to a time when former Hillsdale College President Joseph Mauck hosted a U.S. congressman who allegedly had to spend the night in that room after drinking too much. Additionally, Mauck’s private room for parties on the third floor of the house was turned into the fraternity’s chapter room.

The alumni board plans to fund new lighting throughout the house as its next project, but their main focus is renovating the kitchen and dining room areas, according to ATO PR chair and co-house manager Andrew Szewc.

“Now that we have Wayne Babcock — former owner of Saucy Dog’s and Olivia’s restaurants — as our fulltime cook Monday through Friday, we’re looking to give him some more leeway, some room, like a deep fryer, stuff like that,” Szewc said.

Szwec told me this sitting on an old lawn chair in the basement of the ATO house, illumined by twinkly Christmas lights. I had been taken to their basement, which they had cleared out and DIY’d this summer. Before it had looked like “something out of

The renovated ATO house. Courtesy | City Data

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the conjuring,” according to Fleicher.

“The basement was in pieces,” Szwec said. “Zach and I threw out tons of trash and just cleaned it up.”

The space now serves as a laundry room, study area, and hang-out spot. Bookshelves filled with used textbooks and detergent sit opposite the main attraction: two lawn chairs and a coffee table, with a Bud Light poster presiding over all. Sitting there in the quazi-dark with Szwec, I felt at home.

“This isn’t the best and brightest, but it is our new, clean hang-out spot,” Szwec said.

After I left the ATO house that night, I couldn’t help but think that the basement was a testament to the resilience of ATO and its members’ push for renovating the house. The renovations, just like the newly cleaned-out basement, are the product of a team effort.

It has unified ATO members and the house as a whole, giving them pride in their shared space and recall and preserve the history and memory of the past.

As Szwec said, “We’re proud to show people around the house now.”

February 6, 2020

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Heather Webster took over The Blossom Shop on N. Howell St. Nolan Ryan | Collegian

‘Emotion through flowers’: Heather Webster takes over The Blossom Shop

By | Nolan Ryan Editor-In-Chief Heather Webster studied floristry in high school. This experience would lead her, more than 10 years and 2 children later, to owning a flower shop in downtown Hillsdale.

Webster took over as the owner of The Blossom Shop from Kathy Newell in November 2019. The store also sits in a new location at 14 N. Howell St, where Kingdom Geekdom used to be located.

Now, two months into the new position, Webster said she has plans to educate the public about flowers and how to best use local florist shops. To accomplish this, she hopes to offer classes as well as build a good relationship with Smith’s Flowers, the other florist in Hillsdale. This all comes back to her love of flowers and helping customers create personalized arrangements.

“It’s something I’ve always had an interest in,” she said.

“I’ve always tried to learn as much as I can from different people.”

This learning began her junior year of high school when she went to florist school, which she continued through her senior year. Webster said she enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about what it means to be a florist.

“I got placed in it and decided to stick with it,” she said. “We learned greenhouse, landscaping, and floral design.”

Through the program, Webster said she took her certification test at Michigan State University, where she still holds certification.

Webster eventually got into the floral business when, at the age of 20, she was raising her newborn son, Huckleberry. About two months after he was born, she went to look for jobs to help support the two of them.

“At that time, it was hard to find a job when you’re 20 and have babies,” Webster said. “I went to Michigan Works and filled out a resume. Then, they saw that Kathy was hiring and sent me to her.”

She began working for

Newell by cleaning part time at The Blossom Shop. Newell said Webster’s been a good worker at the store and that they’ve always worked well together.

For the next eight years, Webster — who now also has a two-year-old named Parker — worked on and off for the store. She said that four years ago, Newell first started planning her retirement and handing off the business.

Newell continues to work occasionally at the shop, one to two days a week.

But Newell said she hasn’t had to do a lot to transition the ownership to Webster.

Because of Webster’s experience in floristry, her innovative ideas, and the fact that she’s “always trying to educate herself,” Newell believes she will be a good fit for running the store.

“She’s young; she’s ready to start from where I started years ago,” Newell said. “It was a great time for me to leave and a great time for her to start in the business.

She knows exactly what she’s

doing.”

Webster said she loves the customers and relationships that come from Hillsdale’s community. Some of the bigger customers include a couple of doctors’ offices, a dentist’s office, and a few factories, as well as Vested Risk Strategies.

One man, who she knows as Jim, comes in every other week and buys two pink roses to put on his wife’s grave.

When he stops in, Webster says they’ll talk for a while.

“I love that something I create can make somebody happy,” she said. “They can rely on me.”

But running a florist’s shop comes with its own set of challenges. One such challenge, she said, is getting people to understand how special it is for people to buy flowers for others.

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, flowers, they die. I don’t want to send flowers.’ But the thing about flowers is they show emotion,” Webster said. “You express emotion through flowers — if it’s happy, if it’s

sad.”

Webster remembers the first time she had to deliver flowers to a funeral. When she saw there was someone in the casket, it woke her to the reality of a sad situation. When working with customers to take funeral orders, she said, you feel their sadness.

Ultimately, she wants people to see that sending flowers can be a little thing to do for someone. She said it’s an inexpensive way to brighten another person’s day. One of her goals is to make sending flowers “a cultural thing again,” especially for younger generations.

Her future plans to make younger people more aware about florist options include educating the public through The Blossom Shop. At some point, she wants to have a class at the store to teach people how to arrange flowers themselves. The store also works with high schools to allow students to job shadow there for a day.

When it comes to flowers, asking a florist their favorite

is like asking a librarian to choose a favorite book. Webster said she used to like lots of different flowers, but her favorite now is lisianthus.

“I call it ‘a lizzy,’” she said.

“They look like a really delicate, beautiful flower.”

But florists, it turns out, can have least favorites. Webster hates carnations.

“I just can’t love them.

I’ve tried,” she said. “They break all the time. They do what they want, not what you want.”

Being able to do what she wants when working with flowers is one reason Webster enjoys her new position so much. Webster is, as she puts it, “bull-headed,” and likes doing things her own way.

“But the default to that is I’m responsible, and if it doesn’t work my way, then that’s not good showmanship,” she said. “I’m just getting used to being a full-fledged grown up. I’m only 29, so I’m there, but I’m responsible for a business. I’m somebody’s boss.”

By | Victoria Marshall Assistant Editor It was Taco Tuesday when I arrived at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house to meet with President Micah Perry and learn about the house’s recent renovations.

Upon entering, I was taken through the dining room where fraternity brothers shuffled past each other, exchanging jokes and greetings while helping themselves to large servings of refried beans, spanish rice, and guacamole in a dimly lit, dingy, dark-papered room that seemed out of place for an El Cerritos-type affair — or what ATO members would call “dinner.”

After exchanging introductions, Perry, a junior,

took me through the kitchen toward the back of the house to a staircase. Opposite the staircase was a wall with dark green wallpaper. Perry told me that central to the house’s renovation plans was getting rid of this wallpaper and the matching green carpet throughout the house.

“The whole house used to look like this,” Perry said. “A lot of it was peeling off, the carpet was getting torn up.”

Being in ATO was like traveling back in time. Both the interior and exterior of the house point to a past grandeur from a long forgotten era — the 19th century, in fact — when the house was built and inhabited by former Hillsdale College President John Windsor.

“It was, essentially, the Broadlawn before Broadlawn,” Perry said.

But staring at that outdated, dark green wallpaper, I couldn’t help but think that the house’s former glory days were over.

Those across campus agree.

A Kappa will say, “Yeah, the outside of the house is nice but have you been inside? It’s not that great.” Members of ATO will even admit that the house used to be in shambles.

Recent renovations to the house are fighting this narrative. Over winter break, ATO’s alumni board paid to replace the archaic green wallpaper on the second floor as well as the carpeting. They have

ATO house renovations unite fraternity members with alumni and legacy

The basement of the ATO house. Victoria Marshall | Collegian

Hillsdale’s Marketing Department moves to visual storytelling By | Hannah Cote Collegian Reporter New videos, Instagram posts, and advertisements clearly show that Hillsdale College has hit a new marketing stride in recent years.

What’s behind this change?

The Hillsdale Marketing Department has been buzzing with new social media outreach and advertising ideas, painting the campus with a fresh face while preserving the original and irreplaceable mission of the college.

Matt Schlientz, vice president of marketing, framed the mission of the department as a partnership with the entire college.

“The purpose of the marketing department is to help radiate the mission of the college to audiences across the country through multiple mediums and to bring the college

to life through strategic and creative content that inspires action,” Schlientz said.

This mission statement outlines the marketing department’s strategy to project the mission of the college through every media platform that they use, while also aiming to inspire action rather than simply providing a one-time experience with Hillsdale. The department, however, would not be able to provide this content without their direct media team.

The creative director for Schlientz’s team is Bryan Springer. Springer started in June 2019, but he isn’t new to the college. Springer spent ten years in the art department as a graphic design professor and works with the creative part of production.

Next is Emily Stack Davis ’05, associate director of media and communica-

tions. Stack Davis organizes press release interviews and provides a thorough media relations and public communications strategy while “always advancing the mission of the college,” according to Schlientz.

Ric Tombelli, director of digital marketing, also recently started with the marketing department in July 2019.

Tombelli manages digital and social outlook for the college.

Finally, Mark Waters, director of visual media, joined the team back in November 2019, providing new creative vision in the department of visual outreach.

The move from print to digital media outreach has greatly affected the entire department since it began in 2014. In the past six months alone, the marketing department produced dozens of

See Marketing B3

See ATO B3

Dear Dale,

My caffeine dependency is spiraling out of control. I need coffee before doing anything and carry a thermos of it with me at all times. How do I cut back without being exhausted all of the time?

-Dependent Danica

Danica, There’s nothing like the academic and social stress of college to build up a desire for caffeine. And you’re not alone — research shows that Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee per day. But those lattes are more than just a sweet drink: Caffeine is classified as a chemically addicting drug. It literally changes your brain, blocking receptors from sensing tiredness and producing feelings of alertness. Some scientists say daily consumption over time changes the physical characteristics of your brain. So, I hate to break it to you, but you’re not just dependent, you’re addicted.

Be aware that drinking less coffee

may produce withdrawal symptoms, so make sure you cut back gradually, drink lots of water, and take it easy on yourself. If you like tea, try drinking it instead sometimes since it has a lower caffeine content. Replace some of your daily coffees with decaf — you may be surprised at how just the taste and smell can trick your brain into feeling more alert.

Finally, examine the underlying causes of your addiction. You’re clearly tired a lot — are you getting enough sleep? Do you eat enough nutritious meals? Make sure to prioritize your health and your caffeine addiction may wane as a result.

-Dale

To submit questions to Dear Dale, contact The Collegian on social media or email cabbo@hillsdale.