Hillsdale College and Imprimis Special Issue

ImpOverr 1,250,000imi Readers Mosnthly June 2007 • Volume 36, Number 6 Special Issue Hillsdale College and Imprimis Arlan K. Gilbert Hillsdale College Historian

Arlan K. Gilbert was a member of the History Department at Hillsdale College for 38 years. He served a decade as department chairman and was elected Professor of the Year in 1984. He served seven years as senior faculty member, and his awards include the Alumni Association’s Honorary Alumnus in 1992 and the Charger Award for his contributions to athletics. During the College’s sesquicentennial, he was presented with an honorary doctor of philosophy degree. He is also a member of Hillsdale’s President’s Club, which recognizes outstanding supporters of the College. He has written four books on the history of Hillsdale College, most recently Ransom Dunn: Hillsdale’s Grand Old Man (Hillsdale College Press, 2007).

Editor’s note: This month we are introducing a new look for Imprimis—the fifth Imprimis redesign in its 35-year history. We thought we would take the opportunity upon doing so to ask Hillsdale College Historian Arlan Gilbert to write a brief history of the College and of Imprimis.

Hillsdale College was founded as Michigan Central College in Spring Arbor, Michigan, and began classes in December 1844. The College moved to Hillsdale and assumed its current name in 1853. Its original financial support was secured by Ransom Dunn, a preacher and professor of moral theology, who raised thousands of small donations for the College during the early 1850s by riding 6,000 miles on horseback through the Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota frontiers. His theme was the importance of education in a republic—a theme reflected in the Preamble to Hillsdale’s Articles of Association, which states that the College undertakes its work “…grateful to God for the inestimable blessings resulting from the prevalence of civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety in the land, and believing that the diffusion of sound learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings . . . .” This old and noble passage is read at the beginning of every Hillsdale Board of Trustees meeting even today. Although established by Freewill Baptists, Hillsdale College has been officially non-denomi- national since its inception. One of only 119 American colleges awarding four-year liberal arts degrees in 1850, Hillsdale was the first American college to prohibit in its charter all discrimi-

www.hillsdale.edu Imprimis > Hillsdale College: Educating for Liberty since 1844 June 2007 • Volume 36, Number 6 < www.hillsdale.edu

nation based on race, religion or sex. Those who Challenge to founded it shared a deep devotion to the first prin- Hillsdale’s ciples of America as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Constitution. Independence In keeping with this devotion, Hillsdale became an early force for the abolition of slavery and several The second great crisis in Hillsdale’s history began of its professors were involved in founding the new in the late 1950s, when the federal government— Republican Party in Jackson, Michigan, on July 6, following the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957— 1854. During the antebellum and Civil War years, made its first experiments in funding and regulat- the College became a stopping place for such leading higher education. By 1962, Hillsdale College ing anti-slavery speakers as Frederick Douglass, president J. Donald Phillips and the College’s Board Edward Everett, Senators Charles Sumner and of Trustees were faced with deciding whether to Lyman Trumbull, Carl Schurz, Owen Lovejoy and accept federal aid along with their competitors or William Lloyd Garrison. And except for the military take a stand for independence that would place academies, no college or university sent a greater them at a great financial disadvantage. They took proportion of its young men to fight for the Union. the latter course, issuing a “Declaration of Inde- Of the more than 400 Hillsdale men who served in pendence” that read in part as follows: the Civil War, half became officers, four won the Medal of Honor, three became generals and many The thousands of young men and young more served as regimental commanders. Sixty died. women who have studied here have been For almost three-and-a-half decades after taught some fundamental truths; among the war, Ransom Dunn continued to teach and these is that the freedom guaranteed serve in a leadership role at the College, and he is them as citizens of this great country is chiefly responsible for the fact that Hillsdale would the freedom to dream and aspire without survive while over 80 percent of colleges founded limit and the freedom to fulfill their before the Civil War would fail. dreams and aspirations without interfer-

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ence; that our country’s greatness is the and the Board of Trustees reacted as strongly as result not of government benevolence their predecessors by issuing two toughly-worded but rather of individual initiative and resolutions: One, the College would continue its enterprise; and that responsibility is the policy of non-discrimination. Two, the College, counterpart of independence. “with the help of God,” would “resist, by all legal means, any encroachments on its independence.” We hold these views to be as valid today In 1979, this battle with what was now the as they were in 1844 despite the appear- Department of Education intensified. Hillsdale ance and growth of a contrary philoso- College filed a petition for judicial review in the phy based on government paternalism. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled upon the issue, It is our conviction that this contrary and Hillsdale’s position was declared invalid. But philosophy is negatory to the traditional rather than knuckle under, the College decided beliefs and teachings of Hillsdale College to tell its students that they could no longer bring and is to be deplored as harmful to the even one dollar of federal taxpayer subsidies to continued development of our country, Hillsdale, and vowed to replace that student aid both morally and economically. with voluntary contributions from alumni and friends. Originally this policy required the College It is therefore the decision of the Board of to raise an additional $1 million annually from Trustees of Hillsdale College to reaffirm its private sources. Today, with the continuing growth historic independence and to resist subsi- of federal spending on higher education, this figure dization of its affairs by the federal govern- stands at over $5 million per year. ment. Acknowledging that the possibility of With its stand for independence, Hillsdale failure is a concomitant of independence, again attained a national reputation. As the the Trustees place their trust in God and Detroit News wrote in 1981, “Hillsdale…is in the dedication and famous as the little college generosity of students, that fights for rightness and Imprimis (im-pri-mis), −´ alumni and friends [Latin]: in the first place independence. From the who share their views. unlikely location of south Editor central Michigan, it gained This resolution reflected Douglas A. Jeffrey its national recognition by Deputy Editor Hillsdale’s policy since its Timothy W. Caspar drawing its sword against inception. But during the the federal government. No Copy Editors 1960s and early ’70s, some Monica VanDerWeide trespassing, it told HEW; of Hillsdale’s students began Jeremy Young we’ll hire, promote, subsi- Art Director accepting federal student Angela Lashaway dize, educate and influence loans and taking advantage with no interference from Production Manager of the G.I. Bill, and in the Lucinda Grimm you.” More importantly, mid-1970s, the Depart- Circulation Manager in subsequent decades ment of Health, Education, Patricia A. DuBois Hillsdale has continued to and Welfare determined Staff Assistants carry out its original mis- Kim Jackson that this was sufficient Wanda Oxenger sion. Indeed, it has thrived grounds to impose federal Kim Tedders in doing so and stands as regulations on Hillsdale. Copyright © 2007 Hillsdale College. an example to the nation Among other things, these The opinions expressed in Imprimis that independence works. are not necessarily the views regulations would have of Hillsdale College. The Hillsdale College forced the College to begin Permission to reprint in whole or Board of Trustees most in part is hereby granted, provided counting its students and the following credit line is used: recently restated its vow to “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, faculty according to race a publication of Hillsdale College.” keep Hillsdale independent and gender. At this time Subscription free upon request. on October 17, 2003, pass- the College’s president was ISSN 0277-8432 ing by a unanimous vote George C. Roche, and he Imprimis trademark registered in U.S. the following resolution: Patent and Trade Office #1563325. Imprimis > Hillsdale College: Educating for Liberty since 1844 June 2007 • Volume 36, Number 6 < www.hillsdale.edu

The Board of Trustees and Administra- Campaign. Boasting already a new music build- tion of Hillsdale College have been ing and two new classroom and office buildings, entrusted with, and are determined to construction is under way on a new student center uphold, the original and great principles and a significant addition to the science center. The and mission of the College as set down campus has never been lovelier or more active. nearly 160 years ago by its founders. Hillsdale College is proud of its legacy. It understands that it will face battles for preserva- Those principles and that mission tion in the future, given that both government require the College to provide “sound and many of its competitors today hold to differ- learning” to all willing students, and ent principles and move in different directions. to do so in a way that perpetuates “the But it is strong, and it is determined to be of ser- blessings of civil and religious liberty” vice in reversing these trends. and “intelligent piety” in the land.

The entanglement of the federal govern- Extending Hillsdale’s ment in the financing of colleges and Mission: Imprimis universities, and the consequent regulation of these institutions by federal agen- The College’s national speech digest Imprimis cies, violate the idea of limited govern- was founded under the leadership of President ment embodied in the Constitution. Roche in 1972. Twenty years later, he looked back to its beginning, and marveled at the growth it Such violations are inherently corrupt, had achieved to that point: as seen in attempts by the Department of Education to force Hillsdale College [I]t was Nobel economist and long-time to count its students by race, in direct Hillsdale friend F.A. Hayek who said, “We violation of the noblest principles of the must make the building of a free society College and of America. once more an intellectual adventure” . . . . In its own way, Hillsdale College has taken Hillsdale College will continue zealously Hayek’s message to heart. That is why to defend and uphold, against all threats Imprimis was created…to publish, in a and inducements, its independence from lively and entertaining format, some of the federal government regulation; and the lectures presented in the College’s unique Administration of Hillsdale College, with on- and off-campus forums. Meaning “in the support of the Board of Trustees, will the first place,” Imprimis was first sent to a continue to provide not only the finest little over a thousand friends with the mes- liberal arts education, but also national sage, “If you like this, share it. We’ll give leadership in promoting the principles of anyone interested a lifetime free subscrip- liberty across the land, and it will pursue tion—no strings attached.” these aims in strict avoidance of all sub- sidy from the federal taxpayer. And how it has grown! As I write, our circulation is 335,000; [soon] that figure will be This resolution was published on a full page of obsolete. We are growing at a phenomenal the New York Times on December 3, 2003. rate. In a few years, we hope to reach a half- Today, more than ever in modern times, million readers every month. For a journal Hillsdale College adheres to the mission stated of opinion like Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, in the preamble of its founding document. Every National Review or the New Republic, student who enters the College signs an honor code that kind of circulation would be outstand- derived from that document. Both applications and ing; Imprimis is, in fact, already far larger academic standards have reached a peak and are than all of these. For a rural liberal arts trending still upwards. The College is nine-tenths of college with a mere 1,200 or so students, the way to meeting its goal in a $400 million cap- it would be, in short, a miracle. Anyone ital and endowment campaign, called the Founders familiar with this little school’s nearly Imprimis > HIllsdale College: eduCatIng for lIberty sInCe 1844 June 2007 • Volume 36, number 6 < www.hillsdale.edu

150-year past knows, however, that miracles are our specialty.

In the 15 years since then—last month marked 35 years since the first issue, which contained a speech by free-market economist Henry Hazlitt called “The Dangers of Price Controls”—the circulation of Imprimis has grown to exceed 1.25 million. The quality of Hillsdale speakers who have been published in Imprimis is as impressive as these num- During its 35-year history, Imprimis has bers. One could mention undergone several changes in design, only Ronald Reagan and while remaining devoted to its original Margaret Thatcher and stop purpose: extending the mission of Hillsdale there. But there are others: College to a national audience. statesmen such as Benjamin Netanyahu and Clarence Thomas; business- history. Its earliest founding document contained men like Dave Thomas and Steve Forbes; Nobel the idea of the College’s duty to the nation. This economists such as Milton Friedman and James idea has remained strong at Hillsdale, even as Buchanan; historians of the prominence of David other colleges and universities have fallen prey to McCullough and Victor Davis Hanson; leading doctrines of moral and cultural relativism, “diver- journalists like Brit Hume and George Will; and sity” and multiculturalism. Imprimis is a means cultural critics of the note of Charlton Heston and of serving that idea by extending Hillsdale’s educa- Michael Medved. But even more important, the tional mission to a national audience. message of Imprimis has remained constant, as Maintaining the College’s independence, then, it has promoted the ideas of limited government, is part and parcel of fulfilling Hillsdale’s mission by individual rights, personal responsibility, free- expounding the ideas that are necessary to pre- market economics, and a strong national defense. serve—and, when necessary, revive—the prin- People often ask about Hillsdale’s reasons ciples and institutions of free government. The fact for sending Imprimis free of charge to so many that these ideas are under fierce assault from almost people each and every month. There are two main every other quarter in academia makes Imprimis answers to this question, each of them connected to all the more important to maintain. Indeed, efforts the unique history of the College recounted above. are under way to increase its circulation and its The first is connected to Hillsdale’s recent history. influence ever further as it heads toward its fifth To remain independent decade of publication. in the face of the federal hillsdale college government’s consider- educating for liberty since 1844 *** able efforts to centralize NOTE: Please use the control of higher education, did yOu KnOW? attached business reply Hillsdale College needs the official hillsdale motto is “Virtus envelope to send us the tentamine gaudet,” which translates many friends. And Impri- “strength rejoices in the challenge.” and names and addresses of any mis has proven, through every entering freshman at hillsdale family members, friends college agrees to and signs an honor the years, to be an effective code which reads in part: “a hillsdale or business associates who vehicle for making them. college student is honorable in conduct, you think might enjoy and honest in word and deed, dutiful in The second is con- study and service, and respectful of the benefit from receiving nected to Hillsdale’s older rights of others. through education the Imprimis free of charge. student rises to self-government.” 5 Added! MONTREAL | QUEBEC | BOSTON | NEW YORK YORK NEW | BOSTON | QUEBEC | MONTREAL

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