2.16 The Hillsdale Collegian

Republican presidential

candidate Rick Santorum

will speak on campus Mon-

day night, Hillsdale College

administrators and represen-

tatives from his campaign

invited Newt Gingrich, Ron

Paul, and Mitt Romney to

speak at what could be the

time, their campaigns had not

Santorum said he was

looking forward to visiting

Hillsdale to participate in the

“I am excited to share my

and the life experiences that

have helped shape those posi-

The Hillsdale College

Constitution Symposium, a co-

alition of students representing

campus groups, is sponsoring

the event which will take place

College President Larry

approved of students’ plans to

“We have agreed that this is

a good thing to the extent that

it does not disrupt the work of

-

lege takes no position on who

Senior Elliot Gaiser,

president of Students in Free

Enterprise and chair of the

Constitution Symposium, said

he approached Santorum’s

campaign over Christmas

Break to gauge the former

Pennsylvania senator’s interest

in coming to campus before

the Michigan presidential pri-

“Forums such as this are a

great way for voters to learn

where

the can-

didates

stand,”

San-

torum

Stu-

dents

from the

Hillsdale

College

Republi-

cans, the

Classical

Liberal

-

nization, and SIFE are col-

laborating to put on the event,

”My hope is this will

shine a bright light on what

candidates believe about the

presidential race to focus on

the document we expect our

next president

to protect and

defend,” Gaiser

Before last

semester’s Her-

man Cain event,

Hillsdale had

never hosted a

presidential can-

didate, College

both Ronald

Reagan and

Theodore Roos-

evelt visited Hillsdale, neither

of them was a candidate for

the White House at the time,

Sources close to candidate

Ron Paul’s campaign indicated

that the Texas congressman is

not likely to attend Monday’s

event, due to scheduling logis-

alumni have signed an on-line

petition asking him to come to

The campaigns of Gingrich

and Romney would not com-

Gaiser said the event will

play an important role the

Michigan primary, which in

“The Michigan primary

is like the Gettysburg of the

victory here could be deci-

sive for Super Tuesday just

Michigan could be in play for

the strength of a candidate’s

Spend an afternoon at the

Roche Sports Complex and

it’s clear the athletic programs

are in desperate need of more

team occupies the hardwood

court, the football team runs

sprints and does plyometrics off

to the side, and runners charge

around the track dodging shot

basketball and volleyball teams

— as well as non-athletes who

want to work out — round out

“Every time we come around

the track we have to yell,”

freshman runner John Wierenga

times where people just got

The college is responding to

the high demand for use of the

sports complex by planning to

build a 75,000-foot track and

track and four tennis courts will

be constructed to the northwest

side of the sports complex, next

For men’s head track and

building will alleviate sev-

eral problems and create more

opportunities for one-on-one

instruction, recruiting, and fun-

draising with events like high

“It’ll mean that we can practice

on a regular basis and not try

to have to practice with other

also increase the safety of the

-

istration Rich Péwé said the

college originally estimated that

“I’d love to keep it under $6

million but it’s probably going

to be more than that,” Péwé

That money all has to be in

the bank before the administra-

themselves into debt to build

been trying to raise it and get it

The college has already

purchased steel for the build-

roughly nine months and Péwé

said he wants to see things

“If we wait too much longer

the price will go up,” Péwé

The college began conceptu-

alizing and fundraising for the

time, plans have shifted from

the creation of an intramural

sports building to a tennis and

plans for renovations to the

sports complex, and eventu-

ally the construction of a turf

Péwé feels the current plan

will better serve the needs of a

“The components of the IM

building are in this plan,” Péwé

Renovations to the sports

complex include the removal

of the track, the addition of two

basketballs courts and their

reorientation to face east and

the creation of a second story

mezzanine on the north side of

-

ness equipment, a smoothie bar,

additional locker rooms, and

“It has the effect of everyone

getting what they need from

a physical standpoint without

compromising their time,”

In the meantime, Péwé said

the biggest concern is to bal-

ance the site, consider retain-

ing walls, and lay plans for the

building in order to optimize

space, space that every coach

“It’ll be really good for the

Vol. 135, Issue 16 - 16 Feb. 2012Michigan’s oldest college newspaper www.hillsdalecollegian.com

A8

In Spaces...

A5

A5

B4

TWITTER.COM/HDALECOLLEGIAN

FACEBOOK.COM/HILLSDALECOLLEGIAN

Marieke van der VaartEditor-in-Chief

“I am excited to share my vision for a brighter America, and the life experiences that have helped shape

those positions.”

— GOP candidate

Rick Santorum

More CPAC coverage

Campus Chic

Weddings

In News...

In Arts...

Trees are felled by the Roche Sport Complex in prepara-tion for a future intramural building. (Schuyler Dugle/Collegian)

Preparations underway for new track and tennis building

Conservatives from across the nation

-

The three-day conference, which was

the hotel to hear speeches by leading con-

servatives including presidential candidates,

The theme of the conference was taken

from author and constitutional scholar Mat-

thew Spalding’s book “We Still Hold These

-

ministration’s policies and called for a return

Hillsdale College sophomore Melika Wil-

Constitution reigns at CPAC Morgan Sweeney and

Caleb Whitmer Copy Editors

See A3

Students plan presidential symposium

Santorum coming to townSee article below

Gingrich

Paul

Romney

Santorum

CONFIRMED

Phillip MorganSenior Reporter

(Caleb

Photo courtesy of Rick Santorum for President Facebook

There was no shaving cream or pickup truck motorcades this time. But it wasn’t Waterman Tea either.Fraternity pickup this semester

combined the spirit of clamorous motorcades in years past with the formality of recently established ceremony. “We tried to combine the

energy of old traditions with the solemnity of the new ones,” said senior and Interfraternity Council President Victor Tenbrink.This past Sunday, Feb. 12,

15 men pledged fraternities in a recently reworked ceremony designed to show the fun of brotherhood and the seriousness of pledging. Delta Tau Delta fraternity

picked up four students. Sigma Chi fraternity picked up six — not including four men who were unable to activate last fall for various reasons, and Alpha

Delta Sigma Phi fraternity did not participate. “There where 35 guys who

rushed,” said Associate Dean of Men Jeff Rogers. “Out of the four fraternities at Hillsdale, only three were allowed in the rush process.”In comparison, 30 men

pledged fraternities last spring. Sigma Chi picked up seven and ATO six, while DSP did not participate. Delta Tau Delta, how-ever, picked up 17.Out of the three fraternities

that rushed, Delta Tau Delta -

dents this semester. Scott Rode, junior and fraternity president, said the fraternity looks for qual-ity not quantity of men picked up.“We don’t have a goal num-

ber,” Rode said. “We’re looking for guys who’ll be leaders in the school. Overall, we picked up four quality guys. We’re excited about what they can bring to the fraternity.”He said that some years people

are just not as interested in the Greek system as they are in other years. Some students have theorized

that the smaller rush numbers stem from a feeling on campus that the administration is trying

system. Fraternity members them-

selves, however, do not think that impression of the administration is accurate. “It’s easy to make the situa-

tion out to be a debate or power struggle of some sort,” said sophomore David Wilhelmsen, ATO’s public relations chairman. “It’s really important to realize that the administration cares very much about the Greek system and the Greek system very much respects the administration.” Members agree that many

different elements affect who rushes, from who attends the col-lege, to how the Greek system is

foot on campus, to how fraterni-ties recruit. “There are so many differ-

ent components that it’s hard to pinpoint one,” said Sigma Chi President Ethan Smith, a junior. “I think it’s a combination

of things. With all the fraternity troubles last year and this year, there have been a lot of things happening,” said DTD senior Josiah Hersey. “It’s not that the entire system in trouble. Guys are just waiting.”Students who pledged this

semester participated in the rush process, which started on Feb. 5 with an interfraternity round table. The next day, men attended open houses for each fraternity. “Guys have to go to each

house during open houses to demonstrate that they’ve evalu-ated each one equally,” Tenbrink said. “This helps eliminate dirty rushing and false impressions of particular fraternities.”Since Delta Tau Delta cur-

rently does not have a house, the brothers hosted their open house in the Formal Lounge of the Grewcock Student Union. “The kind of guys that we’re

looking for are not disenfran-chised by the fact that we don’t have a house, but attracted to the fact that we are spread across campus,” Rode said. Rogers said that fraternities

can develop strong bonds but that shouldn’t be based on a physical house. They should be bound by something greater. He encourages men to look beyond the walls of their houses.

“I want you to uphold the prin-ciples of your fraternity across the hall, down the street, and around the world. I may not be around the world to watch you do it but you’ve given your word,” Rogers said. “That’s an old school idea. Saying what you will do and doing what you will say. How novel.”Once the men attended

open houses, fraternities hosted invite-only preference parties for students they were interested in picking up. “After that point, fraterni-

ties vote which of the rushees to extend bids to,” Tenrbink said. Over the weekend, students

turned in their bid cards, fraterni-ties made their choices, and the deans played matchmaker.Pick-up on Sunday started

when students were brought from their dorms by fraternity mem-bers. The day concluded with a formal ceremony in Phillips Auditorium. “[An Interfraternity Council]

decided to switch up the format a little,” Smith said. “Before the fall of 2010, we used to just do an informal pick up. Last year, in the fall, they made it more formal.”The formal ceremony included

speeches from Rogers, Tenbrink, the presidents of each fraternity, and John Lovinger, who is a local lawyer and Sigma Chi alumnus from the University of Arizona.“The rush process this year is

better,” Rode said. “The speeches and the ceremony were all great.”Rogers said he wanted to use

his speech to remind the men that they both chose their brothers and were chosen by them. That, he said, is a great luxury. “I am expecting results, not

excuses. The Greek system is a system that works when men come together and push toward their noble principals that make their particular fraternities shine,” Rogers said. “I admit what I said was sobering, but what did you expect? I wanted them to see the serious side of [fraternities], in the light of the current environment.”The goal of fraternities is to

pursue the truth as their missions statements say, Rogers said. “You’re pledging yourself

to be a man of noble character. 24/7,” he said. “In the classroom and out of the classroom.”

NEWS16 Feb. 2012 A2

www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Fraternities pick up 15

Sally Nelson

Web Editor

Of all the seniors walking the stage this May, 17 will be honors students. That means almost half of the honors students of the origi-nal class of ’12 will not complete the program.The Hillsdale College Honors

Program admits 30 students each fall plus a four-person waiting list, said Richard Gamble, associate professor of history and head of the honors program. Gamble said the college ex-

pects some attrition because of the rigorous standards of the program — honors students must maintain a 3.4 GPA — and because of vari-ous personal reasons.“There is going to be a certain

type of attrition that maintains the standards of the program,” Gamble said. “The attrition rate usually speeds up as seniors start having to make hard life decisions. This is certainly something we want to improve on. My goal is to keep students in the program. We’d like to see all 30 complete the program each year.” To accomplish this goal,

Gamble said he is going to work on building the right ethos and on

effectively.

AttritionThis year’s small honors class

size seems to be a recent trend. In 2009, the honors program gradu-ated 15 students. It graduated 20 both in 2010 and 2011.Senior Trevor Anderson of-

past fall, even though he said he started thinking about dropping it after his freshman year.Anderson said he dropped be-

cause of the calculus and advanced science requirements.“I was intimidated by the

academic rigour,” he said. “Now I think that was a foolish thing to do.”Anderson’s strongest incentive

to stay was the quality of people in the program.The program could be better,

he said, by fostering its distinctive community more. The highlight of Anderson’s time in the pro-gram was the bonding experience provided by the freshman honors core classes.“We are considering some addi-

tions to the program that will help with retention,” Gamble said.Gamble said he could not men-

but said decisions are weeks away.He said he wants to make sure

students are committed to the program from the beginning and said the annual fall retreat seems to be successful in that regard. In addition, he said he wants to communicate why the program deserves retention.The honors program is com-

pletely voluntary and does not include any additional scholar-

ships. The program does boast

spring break trip, a trip to Turkey for juniors, community service projects, and weekly meetings. Gamble said he wants to com-

effectively.Senior honors student Kirsten

Block remained in the program

though she did not go to Turkey,

what she had started freshman year.“I loved being integrated into a

community of peers right away,” she said.

were not enough to keep senior David Gordon in the program. He dropped out his freshman year.

with other people in the program,” Gordon said. “I enjoy learning, but I’m not particularly academic.”Gordon said he decided to

other honors students decided to major in the humanities.“The program catered to a dif-

ferent kind of student than I am,” he said.Another factor in Gordon’s

decision was his grades from fall semester. Gordon said he needed to drop something for the spring semester, especially since he wanted to play rugby. The Senior ThesisThe biggest challenge to gradu-

ating students from the honors program seems to be the honors thesis, Gamble said.Some seniors tend to drop out

of the program at the beginning of the spring semester. When they are

presentation, reality starts staring them in the face, Gamble said.Senior Michael Blank dropped

the program this year because of the thesis requirement.“I was planning to complete

the program,” Blank said, “but the thesis was a big component. The honors program has been disorga-nized. I didn’t start working on my thesis until senior year and even then there was no pressure.”Blank said by the time he

decided on a topic, there was not enough time to research, write, and complete his normal academic coursework.To help overcome this obstacle,

Gamble said he plans on helping students start their thesis early. He would like to have students solidify their topic and committee by the end of their junior year. This should help improve retention and create a better overall experience.Honors students who need to

complete theses for their major have a hard decision. To stay in the program, they would need to write two theses. Gamble said he is willing to work with these students to create some overlap on a case by case basis. But just how much overlap is

allowed depends on each depart-ment’s requirements. Gamble works with each department to make sure the honors thesis does not interfere with departmental requirements.In the past, some students have

been able to simply expand their major thesis and do a second pre-sentation to complete their honors thesis;; however, some students have had to write two completely separate theses.Block said writing the honors

thesis was actually an incentive to stay in the program.“I wanted to be able to write

a thesis and it wasn’t required in my major [Greek],” she said. “I wanted a capstone project. I want-ed to tackle something I wanted to research and to be my own director of a project.”

Increasing Retention“Gamble is adding organiza-

tion,” Blank said. “You’re not go-ing to see the mass drop outs you do this year in the future.”Block said she advised against

eliminating requirements from the the program to make it more attractive.“If you got rid of the things

that make students leave,” Block said, “you wouldn’t really have an honors program. It’s all part and parcel of the program.”Instead of subtracting, Gamble

seems to be restructuring.This year, the weekly honors

meetings, or forums, have fol-lowed up on the “As You Leave this Place” project from last year.Last week, Professor of History

Mark Kalthoff shared on one of his additions to the book project, Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” Earlier this year, Associate Professor of Art Barbara Bushey discussed one of her favorite books, Mat-thew Crawford’s “Shop Class as Soulcraft.”“One of our goals is that profes-

sors model the life of the mind,” Gamble said. “This is especially effective when they share about something outside of their area of expertise.”

overseeing over 100 students in a single program.“Often why [students] leave

is out of the hands of any direc-tor,” he said. “I try not to guilt trip them.”For Gordon, the honors pro-

semester by helping him meet new people on campus.“The program could appeal

to more students by being more practical,” he said.Gamble said more changes

are coming but he took this year as a learning year, watching and observing so that he can base his actions next year on experience.“I think [Gamble] is going to

do great things for the program,” Anderson said.

Honors retention rate drops

Emily Johnston

Senior Reporter

Hillsdale Honor’s students pose near Troy, Turkey this summer. Four seniors

dropped the program in the last months, bringing the tally of graduating honors

students to 17, almost half of the original 30-member class. (Bonnie Cofer/Collegian)

Top: Delta Tau Delta picked up four men last week. (Courtesy of Jonathan Laliberte)

Bottom: ATO picked up five men (Courtesy of Jacob Mueller)

Changes planned to accomodate students

Low turnout a result of changing traditions, other factors

What do you think about Obama and the Health and Hu-man Services mandate?I think it’s not only wrong, it’s

dumb, and I think his political advisers must be telling him that. But it proves that the feminists are in control of the Obama admin-istration. They demanded it, and they won’t let him retreat. And what he announced yesterday is not a compromise. He calls it an “accommodation,” which really doesn’t get us anywhere, or get him anywhere. He has alienated a lot of people. It’s a religious liberty issue. But it’s also an issue that shows if you let government control health care, they’re going to tell you what you get and what you don’t get.

Years ago, you fought very strongly against the Equal Rights Amendment. Why did you oppose that and how are today’s feminists connected with it?Well the Equal Rights Amend-

ment is a big subject, and it had

so it was a fraud. In 10 years of

give women whatsoever. At the same time, it was a big takeaway of rights women then had. At the time it came out of Congress we had a military draft, we were in a war, and I had sons and daughters about 20 years old. They thought it was the dumbest thing they ever heard that you say you’re giving women a new Constitutional

they have to sign up for the draft like their brothers. If the Equal Rights Amendment had been rati-

marriage 25 years ago, because the word in the amendment was

The feminists, as Harvard

written, are anti-men, anti-mas-culine, anti-morality, and anti-motherhood. In their peculiar view of society, they think American women are second-class citizens because they’re oppressed by the

of oppression is that mothers are

That should be a societal respon-sibility. That’s why they’re for

Do you believe that children should be raised in a traditional, Judeo-Christian, one-man, one-woman family, dedicated for life?That’s certainly the best plan,

that children will be raised by their own mother and father, married to each other.

What was behind the baby boom, the marriage boom, and the decline in the divorce rate that happened in the ’50s? A lot of us attribute that to the

That was not due, in one way or the other, to the New Deal. The

1948, passed by the Republican Congress over Harry Truman’s

return, which treated the family as a unit. If the husband was the prin-ciple money-earner and his wife was a full-time home-maker, they

as two people because the family was treated as a unit. That was a

be a cause, but it was a beginning to the so-called baby boom.

In the panel at CPAC, you

conservatism cannot be sepa-rated. Is the family essential to a well-working economy?

The main reason for that is that you have to ask, “What are we spending the money on? Why do

are we piling up the debt? What are they spending it on?” Well, we’re spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on the problem of broken marriage — of marriage absence. It used to be that the husband and father supported his family. Well, if you’ve got 21 percent illegitimacy in this coun-try — which we do now — the mothers are going to look to Big Brother government to support them. The government is support-ing the children — the illegitimate children — and, well, it’s terribly costly. You simply can’t separate

that our country is putting out for fatherless children. It is a tremen-dous issue.

If you had one piece of advice for young conservatives, what would it be?Well, I think, work marriage

into your life plan. Unfortunately, in the women’s studies courses and all the courses that the girls take in college, they’re encouraged to plan a life that has no space for marriage and family. Ten years, 20 years later, they’re sorry. They can’t live their life over. And, of course, the guys aren’t planning marriage either. But marriage is a wonderful way to live. Sure, it’s got its problems, so does every-thing else.

And women can still achieve a lot in the political and working world?Yes, of course. Of course.

When I got married, all I wanted was a dryer, so I didn’t have to hang up my diapers. And now everybody has washers and dryers and dishwashers and all kinds of conveniences — which makes the work in the house very limited compared to what it used to be, even 20 to 30 years ago. But be careful who you pick for a wife. Don’t pick a feminist. Feminists are the source of most problems today.

Mitt Romney won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) last week, but the integrity of the win has been questioned.Of the 3,408 straw poll votes,

38 percent went to Romney, 31 percent to Rick Santorum , and 15 percent to Newt Gingrich.Politico’s Jonathan Martin

source that Romney’s campaign purchased tickets, and used their

poll. The New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny reported that the Romney campaign also bused students in to support their candidate.On Thursday, Feb. 9, there

were virtually no Romney fans to be seen, said the Hillsdale students who attended the conference. It was the Santorum fans, rather, that

Park Hotel with stickers, signs, and other campaign material. On Friday, groups of Romney fans showed up, but stayed together in tight groups.

there were a whole lot of San-torum posters, a lot of stickers

day, all of a sudden the Romney stickers started showing up, and after his rally, his paraphernalia really started going around,” said Audrey Gray, a sophomore at Hillsdale College.“There were a bunch of them

in clusters holding signs [before Romeney’s rally on Thursday].. It was out of the blue,” said sopho-more and Collegian Copy Editor Morgan Sweeney. “On Friday, there were Santorum supporters standing across from Romney supporters, and it seemed to get

heated.”Junior Baillie Jones said the

announcement of Romney’s win brought grumbling from the at-tendees.“There seemed to be a gen-

eral resentment,” said Jones, and added, “A lot of people seemed to be disappointed. It seemed like not a lot of people wanted him to

[Politico] article.”On CNN last Sunday, San-

torum insinuated Romney had rigged the straw poll. “I don’t try to rig straw polls,” he said. “You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought.”

News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade that Santorum had “sour grapes” about the loss, and questioned whether Santorum could prove that the straw poll was rigged.

NEWS A3 16 Feb. 2012www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Q&A WITH PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY: FEMINISM AND THE IDEAL WIFE

Tyler O’Neil

Collegian Freelancer

loughby made the trip to CPAC“There was such an empha-

sis on social issues,” she said, “which really surprised me because it’s not something that has been in the forefront this election cycle.”A straw poll sponsored by

The Washington Times was conducted during the conven-tion. The results were announced in the afternoon of Feb. 11. Mitt

percent, Rick Santorum second with 31 percent, Newt Gingrich third with 15 percent, and Ron Paul, who was the only can-didate not to speak at CPAC, received 12 percent of the votes.The three candidates who at-

tended CPAC spoke on Friday.Rick Santorum focused on

social issues and American

congressman from Pennsylvania said that while social conserva-tism is often considered super-

former is just as important as the latter.“People...that believe in that

very basic network of family, community, and self — that’s what makes America the greatest country in the world,” Santorum said. “These are the issues that hold us together, and these are the issues we cannot back down on.”Mitt Romney pointed to

his record as governor in the Democratic state of Massachus-setts as proof that he is ready to lead the country. Romney

traditional marriage, entitlement reform, and protection of unborn children. “It’s not enough to show how

[the Obama administration] has failed,” Romney said. “We need to show how we can lead.”Gingrich was the most

do if elected and recalled how the media often called Ronald Reagan’s goals “unrealistic,” though they were ultimately suc-cessful. He rattled off promises

balancing the federal budget, ending American funding of abortion overseas, and remov-

among other things.His proposed solutions were

an attempt to deal with what he called the “greatest challenge of [the] campaign.”“We have virtually no discus-

sion about what does it really take to take the most complicat-ed society in the world, the larg-est economy in the world, and move it back to being the most successful, most prosperous, saf-est and [most free] country in the world,” Gingrich said.Although the candidates’

speeches differed, each wanted to see Obama ousted.Romney spoke for all when

he voiced their hope that “his-tory will record the Obama administration as the last gasp of liberalism’s great failure and a turning point for the conserva-tive era to come.”Although Willoughby

enjoyed watching many of the speeches, she said that CPAC was not just a chance to see famous conservatives but an opportunity to network with Washington organizations.More than 100 booths from

different organizations were featured at the convention, and on Saturday a room was re-

internship fair. The room was packed with students looking to connect with various think tanks,

organizations.“Networking is an immeasur-

Willoughby said.Throughout it all, members

of Occupy D.C. made sporadic appearances. A small group of protesters blocked a TV airing

crowd. At lunch on Friday, a large group gathered in the street outside the hotel and erected

cat” holding a consumer by the throat.Occupy’s most ostenta-

tious demonstration came Friday evening. More than 100 protesters gathered outside the main entrance of the Marriott, preventing the conference goers from leaving the building. “Hey, hey, ho, ho, CPAC has

got to go,” the group chanted.Police with riot shields

eventually pushed the group away from the entrance and down a hill before the occupiers dispersed.On Saturday, former Alaska

Gov. Sarah Palin wrapped up

and packed Marriott ballroom — with a rousing speech calling Republicans to “stand united,” no matter who becomes the nominee.“Competition [between the

GOP presidential candidates] strengthens us,” she said. “Com-petition will lead us to victory in 2012.”Palin’s speech was Hillsdale

sophomore Brianna Walden’s favorite.

-ble,” she said. “It was electric…

Hillsdale College Republi-

Kleber said he felt the conserva-tive base was “really energized” after attending the conference.“In spite of the fact that there

are vast differences between the candidates, I think the things they agree on tell a lot about where the conservative base is this year,” he said. “[W]e have our eyes set on great goals and the right things, and if we can carry that into November, I think we’ll have a great year.”

CPAC

From A1

CPAC 2012 coverageStraw poll politics, Hannan, and more

What gives you hope and

what is discouraging to you about the state of the American political system?Well the system itself is based

around the constraint of govern-ment in a way that almost no other system in the world is. And that goes right back to the Constitution. The Constitution has done precisely what its authors in-tended in Philadelphia. It’s served to keep the government small and the citizen free. But that’s the

-ism. Don’t imagine that it’s some intrinsic, inherited optimism in the people or some genetic qual-ity. The reason that this country has been prosperous and success-ful and independent is because the structures that were designed by the founders were conceived with that objective. And if you change

-pand the government, and you go down this European road toward

and more dependency, you see how very quickly Americans will start behaving like Greeks, and start protesting about every inher-ited entitlement that they think is theirs by some kind of divine right. It can happen very quickly. Don’t imagine that there’s some law of nature that means it won’t happen here. What things can young con-

servatives do to become better advocates for their beliefs?

about what your audience might

think. First of all, it fails in its own terms, because you come across as less than straightfor-ward, less than frank. Secondly, why are you in

politics if not to try and change minds? I think that a widespread critique of elected representa-tives in your country and in mine and everywhere else is, “They’re hedging, they’re trim-ming, they’re not saying what they really think, they’re dodging the question, they’re waiting for public opinion and then they’re coming in behind it.” For a lot of people that is a valid criti-cism of what they do. I think it

people feel in their representative institutions, but it also means that the person doing it is going to be much less happy in politics. Speak your mind — it doesn’t

matter if people disagree. If they disagree but they know that you mean it, they’ll respect you. There’s nothing worse than hedging and being cautious and not opening your mouth until

everybody else has. What is the root of your

conservatism?Conservatism isn’t really a ter-

ribly ideological thing. It’s more an instinct than an ideology — or at least an amalgam of instincts. I am a quite unusual conservative in that I tend to read these books by the Hayeks and the Rothbards and so on. My wife is a much better conservative than I am, because she’s an un-ideological one, and for her conservatism is a series of attitudes: distrust of

because she’s not political she’s therefore a proper conservative. I remember when I was 15 — this was really a great moment in my political development — there is a conservative philosopher in the UK called Roger Scruton, very brilliant man, incredibly intelli-gent, and he came to speak to the philosophy society at my school. And I asked him, “What’s the role of a conservative thinker?”

And he replied, “The role of a conservative thinker is to reassure the people that their prejudices

right? On most issues, people have got it right and their govern-ments have got it wrong. People were against the bailout, people

people are against mass immigra-tion, and people are against giving up their sovereignty. It’s a clack

these things. And so the role of the conservative politician is to make sure that public opinion rules the polity, and that the elected representatives remember that they are representatives and not rulers. Wasn’t it Edmund Burke

who said, “The individual is foolish but the species is wise”?Edmund Burke actually put it

-tions on the French Revolution.” In one of the most powerful metaphors in all of political phi-losophy, where he said: “Because

half a dozen crickets concealed

ring with their importunate chink while thousands of cattle take their repose in the shade of the mighty oak and chew their cud in silence, pray do not imagine that those who make all the noise are

Is there a better analysis of our present discontent than that? We wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in if public opinion four years ago had prevented these massive

institutions. That was something that all the political parties, all the media elites all rushed to say that we desperately needed, to pump in this public money into the banks. Had there been a referen-dum in your country or in mine or anywhere else it would never have happened and we wouldn’t now be facing the debt crisis that we have.

Romney poll win questioned

Q&A with Daniel Hannan: true conservatism and Roger Scruton

Sam Gilman

Collegian Reporter

Elliot Gaiser

Opinions Editor

(Caleb Whitmer/Collegian)

NEWS A4 16 Feb. 2012 www.hillsdalecollegian.com

KATE’S TAKE

KATEOLSON

PDA hater: valid?

Dear Kate,

I have a conundrum. This is a silent, beautiful, nuzzling conundrum. The most god-like of couples — truly dear people — across campus have resorted to expressions of their tenderness that are, distracting at best and disturbing at worst. Kate, do I hate love? Do I resent the way these darling people stare into each other’s eyes, oblivious of the world around them? Am I a bad person for cursing when I come upon them in front of doors across campus, gently murmuring into each other’s shoulders, wrapped in a muted rapture? Is there a special place in the Inferno for people who resent couples for sharing one bench at a table in A.J.’s?

I just don’t know anymore.

Please help. —A very distracted student

Dear Distracted,

Ah, young love. It’s a beautiful thing. Why come to Hillsdale to study and read wonderful books, talk to professors about truth, or take challenging classes when you could just fall in love, block door ways, and spend your time cuddling on a couch in the Union or playing footsie in the library? That’s what these areas of campus were made for anyway, right? I do have to disagree with you. Who are you to interrupt these lovers with your whines about trying to concentrate on Dante or Aristotle? They, after all, will repopulate the earth, (hopefully with very conservative children who believe in the divine connection between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution). Their work will most likely save our good nation. So let me ask you again, who are you to demand peace and quiet to read such useless things as can be found in our Western Heritage reader? Good gracious!

nuzzling partner and begin the ever-so-essential work of falling in love, wedding, and rearing children in the way of the Founding Fathers! A very distracted student indeed, attempting to spend your time in pursuit of higher truth, when the higher truth is to be found in the opposite sex sitting right next to you! The percentage of seniors who were engaged last year was 13 percent (I might be making this number up, unfortunately, which seriously detracts from the serious-ness of this very important column) but I argue that it should be 33 percent! Or 300 percent! Ladies and gentlemen, where on this green earth

so many men and women who agree with every single thought in your own head? Only at the Kirby Center in D.C., I dare say, and only a select few of you will have the enormous privilege to go there. Make use of your four years here wisely and pair up. In conclusion, the more nuzzling, the better!

Love, a civic duty

WOMEN ZUMBA FOR FITNESS

On Wednesday nights at Hillsdale College, more than 40 women crowd into Curtis Dining Hall, dancing away to the beat of Latin music.

Zumba, a form of dance

of weeknight exercise classes.

class on Mondays, an Insanity

on Wednesdays, and strength

workout session begins at 7

Zumba is led by freshman

by the Wellness Club as “for girls only.” Freshman Julie Finke was one of the many

class.

really fun.”— Abi Wood

On a campus where most students rely on wireless In-ternet for homework, research, scheduling, and entertainment, a wireless outage like the one last Friday, Feb. 10, wreaks havoc.Luckily, the short-term out-

said Patrick Chartrand, network systems manager at Information Technology Services.“[With] bad hardware [it] is

often hard to diagnose exactly which component is bad. In this case we were thinking is was

“In the end we discovered it

The faulty hardware has been replaced, so it should not affect

The outage on Friday was the second recent manifestation of the problem.But Chartrand said now that

module, he does not expect any more wireless problems in the near future, especially not of this nature.

recognize it was a hardware issue and we simply worked

But Chartrand cautioned that there is no guarantee when working with wireless technol-ogy.“Wireless in general is prob-

Emily JohnstonSenior Reporter

Wireless outage fixed

Abundance of R.A. hopefuls

Responsibility, passion, en--

sion, integrity, magnanimity, and trust.A resident assistant at Hills-

dale College must exhibit all of these qualities and set a worthy example for those students un-der their care, the deans said.

Central Hall, the selection pro-cess for RAs has recently begun. Fifty men and 73 women ap-plied for positions for the 2012-13 academic year. There are 12

23 spots for the women. Return-ing RAs have already been placed.Rebekah Dell, associate dean

of women, said the number of applicants is almost exactly the same as last year, indicating a steadily high interest in the RA positions.This is especially true in

Simpson Residence. Of the 50 applications sent in from Hills-dale men, 25 of those came from Simpson.Senior John Bonvillian, one

after this semester, is proud of the enormous number of

underclassmen who applied for a chance at the position.“I believe these men wanted

to step up and become RAs so -

ences and leaders for the present and future residents at Simp-

such quality applicants, Dean Pete and Chief Rodgers are go-ing to have a hard time deciding who will be the next RAs in Simpson. They [the Simpson ap-plicants] are highly involved on campus and are quality young men looking to make a differ-

With so many applicants and

Dell and Jeff Rogers, associate dean of men, will select RAs based on a few key factors.

you have to be willing to make

rewarding at the same time. You need a desire to help your fellow

Being an RA in Simpson for the past three years was an incredibly rewarding experience for Bonvillian.“It has allowed me to grow

as a leader, and I have met and become friends with guys that I would have otherwise never known if I had lived off

grateful that I was given the op-

Rogers said. “I would call that a success. I would be concerned if

With so many applicants and

Dell and Rogers will select RAs based on a few key factors.

you have to be willing to make

rewarding at the same time. You need a desire to help your fellow

Rogers agreed with Dell that an RA is more of a mentoring position rather than a walking set of rules.“I’m not hiring police. I’m

hiring guys who are interesting

need guys that are compassion-ate and want to build a relation-

Being an RA comes also with enormous amounts of responsi-bility, Rogers said. But Rogers believes should be no trouble

“RAs are an extension of

Rogers said. “What we’re look-ing for, we should already have. It’s the honor code. It’s what [the students] should be doing

Roxanne TurnbullArts Editor

HILLSDALE SUBMITS LAUREATES APPLICATIONS

Last week, Hillsdale Col-lege science majors submitted

--

is an acronym for Labratory

Chris Van Orman said there -

both faculty and students in

students will be working.Van Orman said there was

an added requirement to the

students must agree to write

Weekend.-

members. Van Orman said decisions will be made soon

Weekend in March.

PRESIDENT’S BALL

queen.

be on the court with great guys and then to be chosen was a huge honor

nominated by the faculty to be

candidates are judged on “aca-

faculty.

“We considered it a huge suc-

not to make any major changes to

-sidering teaching. “I am not exactly sure yet, but I am allowing doors to

know what God wants me to do,” she said.

gone out and he is waiting to hear back and make a decision.

— Emmaline Epperson

(Marieke van der Vaart/Collegian)

Applications three times the open slots

Hillsdale City Council voted 5-0 to give Domestic Harmony $5,500 this year, an increase of $250 from last year.Two years ago, Domestic

Harmony’s contract was cut from $5,500 to $5,250 to accom-modate the 5 percent budget cuts across the state of Michigan.“When the state of Michigan

came down with all their cuts, we were passing that down to everyone on our end,” said Ward 2 Councilwoman Ruth Brown.Domestic Harmony is the

only charity City Council contracts with. Brown said they have had to turn down other charities that have come to Council to ask for funding.“Domestic Harmony is differ-

ent because it affects the police,” Brown said. “So that’s where we made the distinction.”With the 5 percent cut no

longer in place, City Council put aside $5,500 for the charity this year.“When we wrote in to request

for the contract, we wrote in for the lesser amount, not knowing that they had budgeted $5,500,” said Georgia Mason, executive director of Domestic Harmony.Even though City Council

had put aside $5,500, the con-tract was still for $5,250. The vote to amend that amount to $5,500 was a split vote, 5-4.Brown said she was against

increasing the amount to $5,500.“We still don’t have extra

money to give away,” she said. “I don’t think it looks good to do that.”Brown also said that funding

from City Council only makes up 1 percent of Domestic Har-mony’s budget, so $250 would not impact them that much. And Brown said the money could be put to good use elsewhere in the community.But Mason said that small

amount still could help them tremendously.“The City Council award

represents 1 percent of our an-nual budget, and yet without that contract, we would have a bud-

have a very lean budget with no fat to trim. We’ve trimmed everywhere we could trim in the past three years without cutting into services for clients and still meeting our goal to increase our prevention education programs.”Mason also said that with the

$20,000 hole left in their budget from the closing of Hillsdale’s United Way, any extra money is appreciated.

“That was a really painful budgeting issue for us,” she said.

money in a small town during tough times.”

gap, Domestic Harmony has increased fundraising efforts. They are holding a pancake and sausage breakfast fundraiser at the Elks Club on Mar. 24 from 7 a.m. to noon. They will also hold their annual Duck Derby fundraiser in May.Mason also said the commu-

nity has stepped up to help out the charity.“The community is certainly

very supportive and generous to Domestic Harmony,” she said. “Everything from people donat-ing paper towels to soup — it all saves us from having to spend money on those items.”Mason said the fundrais-

ers and community support are really what help sustain the charity.“We’re optimistic that —

with the City Council contract being awarded, and with the wonderful people that we have on our board that are going to work tirelessly to make sure that

year,” she said

One local businessman claims that big government broke his small business. Brian Ricketts, the former owner of Yor Hair, scribbled those words on the front of his building after his business closed down.Ricketts, 45, is a third-

generation salon owner. He opened Yor Hair in 1994 and saw continual growth for more than a decade. In 2005, his salon posted $549,000 in revenues.But according to Ricketts,

high revenues weren’t enough to offset Yor Hair’s exposure to the government’s unemployment insurance program.He claims that generous

employees away from work.“I couldn’t get them to come

in,” he said. “I had people that I was turning away that came to my business forever and they refused to come to work.”Over the last few years, Yor

Hair hemorrhaged workers. “I had 44 workers, then 18,

then 3,” said Ricketts.By leaving Yor Hair, his

former employees were able to

“I can offer them more, but it’s easier [to collect state aid] and it seems to be what people are used to,” he said. Ricketts invested resources

into training his employees, get-ting them to a level that he calls “the Yor Hair standard.” He claims that they left to work for competitors that didn’t require them to pay taxes.David Paas, professor of

business law, said it’s common

cash-based industries like hair-dressing. The former employees can avoid taxes by underreport-ing earnings or starting home

track.By working under the table,

the former employees remained eligible for unemployment

Bruce Ikawa, professor of accounting, called that “a clear violation of unemployment.”

Ricketts tried to turn those former workers in, but claimed that the state has an interest in ignoring his complaint because Michigan gains revenue from additional unemployment claims.

allegedly told Ricketts that he went into the wrong business. “It’s been a cash business, it will always be a cash business,” the

You should have done some-thing else.”Besides the costs associated

with high labor turnover, Yor Hair faced higher labor costs as more former employees started

Unemployment insurance is a joint state and federal program. In Michigan, it is funded by a variable tax rate placed on the

earnings. The tax rate rises as the number of former employees

“Yor Hair had to close down because the Michigan Employ-ment Security Commission was going to have us pay 12 per-cent,” said Ricketts.He said Yor Hair couldn’t

handle those costs since many competitors avoided taxes altogether. Those problems were aggravated by the fact that many of his former employees were drawing customers away. “They go down the road and

they dilute the market,” he said.But even when customers did

show up, Yor Hair wasn’t able to serve them due to its lack of employees. Ricketts keeps a list of 100 customers that he had to turn away in a three-week period.Other burdens exist for small

businesses in the community. For example, barbers are re-quired to be licensed in the state of Michigan.Gary Wolfram, professor of

political economy, argued that occupational licensing drives up the price of labor because “it’s a barrier to entry.” Yor Hair faced a restricted

supply of workers because it could only hire workers who had state-issued licenses. According

to Wolfram, licensing in hair-cutting “is particularly stupid because if you get a bad haircut, you just won’t go back.”Wolfram also pointed out that

-courage the unemployed from searching for work. By paying people to be unemployed, the government is reducing “the marginal cost of being unem-ployed, and you’re going to get more unemployment.”Wolfram questioned whether

Yor Hair’s employees quit to collect unemployment, but he did argue that those who are al-ready collecting unemployment

Small businesses in the com-munity also have to deal with many policies, requirements, and regulations that untrained businessmen may not be aware of. In Paas’ words, “A good bookkeeper in the backroom is always a nice thing to have.” When asked whether they

thought that big government broke Yor Hair, both Paas and Ikawa expressed skepticism.“It could be that he got

slapped with high taxes,” Paas said. “But if there’s anything I know about the taxman, it’s that he’s willing to negotiate. These days taxes are negotiable.” The chances that unemployment insurance taxes shut down the business are “less than 50-50.” He pointed out that “it sounds like a lot of other things hap-pened.”Ikawa said that Ricketts’ sto-

ry “is possible.” But he pointed out that the government’s role was indirect, and even without unemployment insurance, Rick-etts’ employees would have left to start sideline companies.With the closing of Yor Hair,

Ricketts, who is the single father

new source of income.He now works at “Roy Hair,”

which is located at 130 N. West Street.Having failed to carry on his

family’s tradition of salon own-ership, Ricketts said, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m lost.”

A man was sentenced on Monday for his involvement in November’s methamphetamine lab explosion in a house near Davis Middle School. This is one of many dangerous and expen-sive meth crimes committed in Hillsdale County in the last year.Jim Lutz Jr. was sentenced to

10 to 15 years in prison by the Hillsdale County Circuit Court. He will be serving two sen-tences –– possession of meth as a habitual offender and operating and maintaining a lab involving meth, according to a probation

On the evening of Nov. 20, Lutz was cooking meth on a hotplate at a house on N. West Street, said Deputy Chief Kevin

and he rushed the plate into a bathroom tub to try to extinguish

The Hillsdale Fire Depart-ment was dispatched and they

However, the building sustained serious damage. Pauken said the house would most likely be bulldozed.“The last conversation I had

with the proprietor, that was the plan,” he said.

However, other tenants in the multi-unit home were left home-less and at least some of them were put up by the Salvation Army.Undersheriff Bill Whorley

said meth is a growing problem in Hillsdale County

In the past, the creation of meth required a lab apparatus and a knowledge of chemistry. In recent years, recipes have been

need as little as a two-liter bottle and common chemicals to make the illicit drug.“[Meth producers] need so

much less to cook,” Pauken said. “They’ve streamlined it so well they could do it out of the back of a car.”Whorley described the chemi-

cals involved in meth production as “vile” and “volatile” and said lab explosions are a danger to anyone attempting to produce meth.Not only is meth production

a danger to the cookers, but it is expensive to those in charge of cleaning up the chemicals.“The average cost [of meth

chemical cleanup] is really to the tax payer,” Whorley said. “It comes out of a budget we’ve approved to pay for this. It’s kind of an unexpected expense.”Last April, the Hillsdale

County Sheriff’s Department incurred a total cost of $8,400 in meth lab cleanup. That was for four investigations.“We have an obligation to the

entire county, our jurisdiction,” Whorley said. “We haven’t just a legal obligation, but a moral obligation to deal with these il-licit drugs.”Several weeks ago, the sher-

iff’s department made a meth arrest after obtaining a warrant to enter an apartment at Village Green Apartments. They were accompanied by members of

Pauken, in case there was an

explosion.

in this arrest, but disposal of the chemicals still cost the sheriff’s department about $800.Tenants of Village Green

were unaware their fellow rent-ers were cooking meth.“We should have left [the

cookers] with the other tenants,” Pauken said. “They were about to lynch them outside.”In the past, Congress allo-

cated federal money to deal with illicit drug clean-up. But due to budget cuts in recent years, that money has disappeared.“These are the kind of things,

if they keep up,” Whorley said, “that can really upset your apple cart on a budget basis.”Currently the city works with

Drug and Laboratory Disposal out of Plainwell, Mich., for

chemical clean-up.Whorley said the state will

soon be starting a drop-off system for dangerous chemicals. The sheriff’s department will put the chemicals in barrels and haul them to sites designated by the state. From then on, the chemi-cals are the state’s problem.This doesn’t, however, com-

pletely eliminate the cost. The local department must still pay for safety gear to deal with the hazardous chemicals, including

-tors. They must also pay for a trailer to haul the barrels.Until the new system is put

in place, the department will have to continue paying for meth clean-up out of its general budget.

2011 fall semester at Hillsdale College were still steamy with the vestiges of summer, but, unfortunately, one of the more popular summer haunts in Hillsdale closed down just as students started pouring back onto campus.Mancuso’s, an ice cream and

pizza drive-through located on Hillsdale Street, put up a ‘For Sale’ sign only a week after the fall term started. The pizza shop has sat vacant ever since, but owner Terry LoPresto said he is thinking about opening the place back up in April. LoPresto formerly owned a local body shop in town, which he also sold

“The ice-cream place was supposed to be a fun thing for me,” LoPresto said. “Well, it got too big. It was hard for me to go to the body shop and work eight hours and then go down there and work from 5 o’clock to 11 o’clock.” The former owner is in his

late sixties now. He completed two tours of duty in Vietnam and became a self-made million-aire by the age of 42. LoPresto said if he could do

it over, he would franchise the Mancuso’s chain. The busi-ness did very well in Hillsdale, especially during the summer season, and LoPresto said he thought it would do well in cit-ies like Ann Arbor and Detroit.“I just don’t need a full-time

job anymore. I don’t want the hassle,” he said. “It’s too much work for somebody my age –– I don’t even know what I was thinking.”If LoPresto can sell the Man-

cuso’s building he said he will never work again. His business did not fail, however. In fact, the body shop thrived for over forty years. LoPresto chocks the success of Mancuso’s and the body shop up to old-fashioned principles.“It’s important to be honest

with people –– it’s important for a businessman to keep his word,” he said. He also said it’s important to

keep in mind that the “biggest thing in Hillsdale is Hillsdale College,” and to tailor your business plan accordingly.Small-business owner Jonna

Macy, however, disagrees. Macy owns Toasted Mud, a pottery shop downtown, and she said her busiest time was during the summer.“In September, when school

starts, it drops off,” she said.So how does a small business

manage the down time during its off-season? Macy said it was important to make sure there was “money in the pot” to carry the business through the slower times. She said another critical aspect of successful small-town business was versatility and a unique business plan.“Toasted Mud works because

there’s nothing like it. I don’t have three of these down the sidewalk,” she said. “I’m open seven days a week, and also open in the evenings. I also think it’s successful because we cater to every single age.”Terry Tucker, owner of

Sweets for Life, agreed with Macy about versatility. She said

successful because it presented a unique product in an interest-ing way.“There really isn’t any other

candy store in Hillsdale that does the candy and the ice cream,” she said.Sweets for Life also has a

resale side of their store where they sell old books, antiques, and china.“People [buy] more of the

resale stuff. Because of the economy they aren’t buying new as much,” Tucker said.

CITY NEWS A5 16 Feb. 2012 www.hillsdalecollegian.com

CASES OF THE FLU INCREASE

-

-

-

-

The following is a list of calls compiled and reported by the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department.

Hillsdale City Police

Feb. 13A 40-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were arrested on the 70 block of Cherry Tree Lane in Hillsdale on suspicion of domestic assault. One $1,000 bond was posted, and the other $1,000 bond was not posted.Feb. 8A 23-year-old woman was arrested on the 2100 block of Studebaker Street in Decatur, Ind. on a felony warrant for two counts of safe break-

ing. A $600,000 bond was not posted.

Michigan State Police

Feb. 14A 22-year-old man was arrested on the 1500 block of Ridge Road in Yp-silanti on a felony warrant for second-degree home invasion. A $50,000 bond was not posted.Feb. 12A 34-year-old man was arrested on the 10100 block of Day Road in Pittsford on a felony warrant for the delivery and manufacture of narcot-ics and the possession of marijuana. A $51,000 bond was not posted.Feb. 10

Road in Jonesville on suspicion of aggravated assault. No bond was allowed.

Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department

Feb. 13A 20-year-old man was arrested on the 70 block of Logan Street in Hillsdale on two misdemeanor warrants for two counts of selling and furnishing alcohol to a minor, allowing the consumption of drugs and alcohol on the premises, and children contributing to delinquency. A $2,000 bond was posted.Feb. 9A 24-year-old man was arrested on the 7300 block of Cambria Road in Hillsdale on a misdemeanor warrant for domestic violence. A $1,000 bond was not posted.

-Compiled by Sarah Leitner

Police Blotter

Local man sentenced for cooking meth near middle school Caleb Whitmer

Copy Editor

Abi WoodCopy Editor

Sarah LeitnerSports Editor

Charles CougerCollegian Freelancer

OPINION16 Feb. 2012 A6 www.hillsdalecollegian.com

THE COLLEGIAN WEEKLYTHE OPINION OF THE COLLEGIAN EDITORIAL STAFF

33 E. College St.Hillsdale, MI 49242

Newsroom: (517) 607-2897Advertising: (517) 607-2684

Online: www.hillsdalecollegian.com

Editor in Chief: Marieke van der Vaart

News Editor: Patrick Timmis

City News Editor: Betsy Woodruff

Opinions Editor: T. Elliot Gaiser

Sports Editor: Sarah Leitner

Features Editor: Shannon Odell

Arts Editor: Roxanne Turnbull

Design Editor: Bonnie Cofer

Design Assistant: Aaron Mortier

Web Editor: Sally Nelson

Ad Manager: Will Wegert

Circulation Manager: Emmaline Epperson

Copy Editors: Tory Cooney | Morgan Sweeney

Caleb Whitmer | Abigail Wood

Staff Reporters: Emily Johnston

Phillip Morgan | Teddy Sawyer | Sarah Anne Voyles

Photographers: Joe Buth | Shannon Odell

Greg Barry | Bonnie Cofer | Schuyler Dugle | Chuck

Grimmett | Joelle Lucus

Illustrators: Dane Skorup

Faculty Advisers: John J. Miller | Maria Servold

The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve

the right to edit all submissions for clarity, length and

style. Letters should be less 350 words or less and include

your name and phone number. Please send submissions

to [email protected] before Sunday at 6 p.m.

“It’s kind of like

supervising a bowl

-

”

I If Andrew Breitbart wasn’t famous enough already, he is now. In an ill-timed breakdown, he screamed

and ranted at a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters who were chanting outside of CPAC and one of them put footage of his charming comments on Youtube, where the video has gotten more than 250,000 hits.“You are freaks and animals!” he

yelled at the group. “Stop raping the

The problem isn’t just Breitbart,

everything that’s wrong with CPAC. This conference does more harm than good to the conservative move-ment.CPAC is a coming-of-age ritual

for conservatives –– if you’ve never been, you’re kind of a poseur. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been at a conservative happy hour

and all the other 20-somethings have launched into their favorite stories of getting black-out drunk and losing their hotel keys, wal-

the conference. If you’re a College Republican and you don’t have one of these stories, you should prob-ably make one up –– you’re nothing but a catechumen in the church of conservatism until you’ve made a terrible mistake at CPAC.Here’s the problem with the

conference: It mixes the worst of every brand of conservatism in one dogmatic, inarticulate, hungover weekend. Between hardcore liber-tarians’ gold-obsessed paranoia and immigration alarmists’ xenophobia, CPAC brings out the Right Wing’s worst and weirdest.One gentleman spent most of

the weekend wearing a bright green -

and three-piece suit, carried a sign

that read “Crony Capitalism.” There were the predictable Tea Partiers sporting britches and faking bad British accents, as well as a lanky mustachioed Marlboro Man look-alike in a T-shirt emblazoned with

MARIJUANA / ASK ME WHY.”And, of course, there were the

booths. Just about every major conservative organization in the country gets a booth at CPAC. Most are tasteful and understated, but then there’s one in the back corner blast-ing heavy metal music and plastered with signs about taking down the Taliban. Another sold T-shirts with slogans like “7 Billion People /

you don’t like that label, you won’t like my gun,” and “Why the ?!@$#! should I have to dial 1 for English?” And the Clare Boothe Luce table had a sign sporting photos of sexy, pouty-lipped female conservative pundits saying, “I am a Luce lady”

and “We Empower.”

of gay Republicans, wasn’t allowed to be at CPAC. I guess its members might have said something offen-sive. It should come as no surprise that

someone who spent two days in this oasis of civil discourse would march outside and yell that a large group of people he’d never met before were rapists.Conservatives can’t afford this

kind of nonsense. It’s one thing to rally the base, but another to encour-age its radicalism, and that’s often what CPAC does. If Republicans are

for the country, they shouldn’t have to resort to the right-wing version of the rhetoric that’s made Occupy fa-mous. The facts don’t need theatrics, and if you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t have to yell to be heard over the riffraff at the door to your hotel.

With an unprecedented reading day fast ap-proaching, we at The

Collegian thought you might be wondering what what you could possibly do with an extra 24 hours in your weekend.

paralyzed with the possibilities, we have compiled our top 10 sugges-tions to inspire you.

debt sink your intellectual credit. Rebuild while you can.2. Catch up on the last two sea-

sons of TV shows you’ve missed this year. There’s nothing like a six-hour marathon of Parks and Recreation to restore the soul.

4. Make all the crafts on your Pinterest board. No time like a reading day to turn a rake into a coat-rack, melt some crayons into art, or build mini-terrariums.

walk.6. Play pranks on your friends.

Fill their bathtubs with Jell-O, freeze their underwear, MelCat

inappropriate books on their library card accounts, set their clocks backwards. Nothing like a prank to endear yourself to the people you love.7. Explore the town. Have you

eaten Thai food at The Coffee Cup recently? There’s a whole culinary world outside Saga, Inc.—maybe it’s time you discovered it.8. Play Solitaire online. Can

you beat the most recent Facebook record?9. Learn the latest LMFAO

dance moves (i.e. work out).

-didates. This one might be the most

a-lifetime chance to hear the future Republican nominee.Whatever you do though, don’t

delude yourselves into thinking that you can catch up on all that leftover reading, the outstanding projects, and overdue coffee dates. It simply is not possible.That said, have fun and plan

ahead — get the most of your extra day!

Some look at Hillsdale and see a campus of white, Christian, politically conservative students getting a Republican education with

a focus on the classics. However, a closer look tells an entirely different

story. Take me for example. I’m Jewish. When I

decided to come to Hillsdale, religious diversity in a college was a big concern for me. I come from a very large Jewish community and was worried about coming to a school that is predominantly Christian.Upon arrival at Hillsdale, I found something

completely different than I expected. I found a strong religious community that, although it does not entirely agree with my views, allows me to be outwardly religious without feeling judged for my beliefs. It is the common ground of faith and belief in

In my time here, I have fostered relationships with other Jewish students on campus. We have successfully created a club for Jewish students. Part of our goal with this club is to encourage relation-ships with the Christian community on campus.The fact that we are able to do this at Hillsdale

speaks to the acceptance and understanding of religious diversity on campus. Politically speaking, there is no question as to

the campus’ tendencies to the Right. That said, opinions on nearly every political issue vary from one extreme to the other, with everything in be-tween.This is an election year, so there have been

ample opportunities for political discussion and debate. I have attended countless screenings of the Republican presidential debates and heard large groups as well as pairs of students ranting back and forth about their different takes on candidates and issues. While the majority of the student body may have

similar leanings, we are in no way in unconditional agreement when it comes to politics. Hillsdale draws from 49 states and 7 foreign

and women without regard to race. And we went to the Supreme Court to defend our belief that skin color should not be a measure of diversity.If we are to take the mission of the school seri-

ously, “pursuing truth, defending liberty,” we must take the Aristotelian ideal of striving toward a com-mon good seriously.

-tions communicate when they state that the purpose of a university is diversity. These two terms are absolute contradictions, literally.To reach the common good described in our

mission, there needs to be a sense of unity in mor-als and goals across campus.Hillsdale’s campus, though diverse in many

of purpose and are striving, united, toward a com-mon good. It is because of this cohesive effort that we are able to embrace a variety of educational, religious, and social communities.

Moral unity,intelectual diversity

ONE TIME AT CPAC . . .Betsy WoodruffCity News Editor

Kelsey DrapkinSpecial to the Collegian

“There is a story that two of the great-

law, Justice Holmes and Judge Learned Hand, had lunch together and afterward, as Holmes began to drive off in his carriage, Hand, in a sudden onset of enthusiasm, ran after

justice.’ Holmes stopped the carriage and reproved Hand:

job to apply the Law.’” So goes the famous anecdote as relayed by Judge Robert Bork in his book, “The Tempt-ing of America.” This scene aptly speaks to one of the greatest tensions in American jurisprudence today between two sides of thought: that of activist judges “doing justice”

notions, and that of applying the law by looking to the text of the Constitution. Justice Holmes raises a

key point in understanding the scope of the judiciary: the proper role of a judge is not simply to “do justice,” but to do justice under the law. Judges are bound by law. They are bound by the Constitution and by the original objective public meaning of its text. Their job is to say what the law

-cisions over what the law says are left to the people and their representatives — through the creation of new laws. But many in today’s

judiciary disregard the text of the Constitution in favor of in-terjecting their personal views of justice, policy preferences, “progress,” or “empathy.” They take upon themselves du-ties that lie solely in the scope of the people and the legisla-tures. This is judicial activism. Conservatives and liberals

alike are guilty of distorting -

sonal preferances and concep-tions of “good” and “justice.” Those in both camps have

“bad” with “unconstitutional” and “good” with “constitu-tional” without looking to

the Constitution’s text for its actual meaning. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is especially guilty of this. Last week, the Ninth Cir-

cuit — the most liberal court

longstanding union with judi-cial activism when it upheld the decision of the California Supreme Court to throw out California’s Proposition 8, a citizen initiative amending

marriage as a union “between one man and one woman.” For the activists sitting on the court, laws prohibiting same-sex marriage do not conform to their conceptions of justice and are therefore unconstitutional. The court found the con-

stitutional violation in the fact that California changed their law to recognize same-sex marriage and then tried to change it back. The circuit’s opinion — to no one’s surprise — proclaimed Proposition 8 a “distinct constitutional violation” of the oft-cited Fourteenth Amend-

Protection Clauses, though no such protection of marriage can be found in the actual text of the Constitution. Their reasoning, if one can

call it that, is that the people of California had no “legitimate reason” to enact such a law, despite going through all of the proper procedures. Trans-lation: “We the elites on the Ninth Circuit can determine better than the people what the law ought to be. We have crafted a standard of justice, although it has no grounding in the Constitution, and you are required to meet it.” The rul-ing effectually transforms the Constitution into a “one-way ratchet” — once cranked in a single direction, it can never be

face of our founders’ vision. The founders set up a gov-

ernment to deal with the limits of human nature — a govern-ment based on the rule of law. Because reason and experience

proved that men, including

trusted to restrain themselves and their passions, they put institutions in place that would allow ambition to counteract ambition. They set up independent

branches of government with distinct powers. Each branch then would check the powers of the other branches in order to prevent tyranny in any of its many forms. The court’s limited role was to have, as Alexander Hamilton described in Federalist 78, “neither force nor will, but merely judg-ment.” They were to decide cases and render an impartial judgment according to the law. Anything beyond that was outside their proper limited powers. Once judges usurp powers

not granted to them, they throw this sepa-ration off balance and risk losing the stable rule of

Regardless of your beliefs regarding Proposition 8, to op-pose it is to oppose American self-government. When judges assume pow-

ers not granted to them and attempt to ensure “correct” political outcomes that the Constitution does not compel, they undermine the rule of law and the self-government that our laws ensure. When they impart their own

will into the Constitution in-stead of applying the law, they effectively render the people’s recourse to the Constitution void.

for a “right” apart from the text of the highest law in the land, they assume powers that are not safe in the hands of fallen human beings. The activist judges on the Ninth Circuit have made a mockery of our judiciary, our constitution, and our civilizations’ fundamental knowledge about the nature of man.

When I was a freshman roughly three and a half years ago, I lived on the illustrious

who did not appreciate booming bass music at four a.m., sporadic screaming, shouting, hooting, squawk-ing, drunken wrestling matches tapping at my cham-ber door, or — my favorite — splotches of vomit awaiting me on my doorstep. As a weak-stomached

sought sanctuary elsewhere in order to, oh, I don’t know: study. But I could not escape the mayhem for long, no matter how hard I — or Allstate — tried. All of the major buildings on campus closed at 2 a.m., forcing me to return to Simpson and dream, if I managed to sleep, of a day when I could stay in a building all night away from Mr. Mayhem’s rude and intrusive grasp. That grasp has driven me to propose that Hillsdale College have at least one building open 24/7 while classes are in session. Besides the rampages of Master and Madame Mayhem, there are two major reasons demand the opening of a building for 24 hours and 7 days a week: 1) it promotes educa-tion, and 2) its cheap and easy. First, a 24/7 building promotes education.

Why? We are a college…need I say more? Students need to be able to study. Frankly, it is startling that I even have to write this article to call for a 24/7 building. Hillsdale College promotes high aca-demic standards that rival Ivy League schools. Students

who take this seriously should not be prevented from

Additionally, there is the gender problem. Men and women have no way to study with one another

say often? I meant usually. Students should not have

of the opposite sex. I know many, many guys and girls who want to study together. From a guy’s per-spective, I know women are smarter. I want to study with them. Hillsdale, please allow me to do so. Second, a 24/7 building would be cheap and

easy to maintain. It’s kind of like supervising a bowl

pretty uneventful. It would be very easy to supervise students at these hours of the night. I work on the security team and I kick out at least 10 people every school night, and that number only increases close

People want to study during these times. Even if there is not a huge number of people studying, it still leaves the option open and encourages studying whenever it is necessary. From working security, I also know a little

about building supervision. Basically, the only time we don’t have paid supervision in places like Lane,

a.m. And even during those times, we have custodi-ans in the buildings. So, all we have to do is hire a

incredibly easy to do. Students currently work in the security building 24/7, and I am sure others would be willing to do the same in other buildings when minimum wage is involved. Basically, Hillsdale should have a 24-hour

building because it further allows students to be “du-tiful in study and service,” as the Honor Code calls for, at a very low cost. If Hillsdale would do this, students would not only study more, but also rest as-sured that they’re in good hands after all.

Tiffany BatesSpecial to The Collegian

Blake FaulknerSpecial to the Collegian

PROP 8: THE ROLEOF JUDGES

A 24/7NEED

Tonight, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee will end their Pink Wave breast cancer philanthropy event by selling T-shirts at the Hillsdale College men’s basketball game.SAAC not only initiates and

promotes volunteer activities for athletes, but also plans social events and votes on NCAA leg-islation, SAAC faculty advisor and head women’s tennis coach Nicole Dzubay said.In addition to the Pink Wave

event, SAAC also hosts phi-lanthropy events to donate to the Make-a-Wish foundation. It is also considering expand-ing to help King’s Cupboard and the Humane Society, said senior Clara Leutheuser, SAAC president.Leutheuser said SAAC mem-

bers focus on service and being the best athletes possible.“We want to make Hillsdale

College athletes visible outside of the campus,” said junior Scott Lantis, SAAC vice-president.In addition to Leutheuser and

Lantis, the organization has two secretaries and two academic coordinators who help freshman register and encourage academic discipline. Three to four athletes per sports team participate in SAAC.Lantis joined SAAC his

freshman year after his coaches recommended him for the posi-tion. He said that once part of the organization, athletes usually stay in SAAC until they gradu-ate. Graduating seniors nomi-

position.“The goal is to be leaders,”

Leutheuser said. “We honor success by having events for athletes with high GPAs and by hosting the athlete formal as a kind of celebration at the end of the spring.”Dzubay said she has been

impressed with Leutheuser’s leadership this year.“[Leutheuser is] amazing,

and she’s been doing a lot for the group,” she said.Even though Leutheuser and

Lantis run most of the meetings, Dzubay does play an integral role as SAAC advisor. She said one of her primary roles is to help ex-plain NCAA legislation to SAAC members. She also helps them decide how to vote on potential legislation changes and helps manage the budget.Dzubay also presents ideas

from her time as a SAAC mem-ber at the University of Dayton. She served as SAAC president as an undergraduate there for two years. “It always felt good to be in

a leadership role,” Dzubay said. “Now as an advisor, it’s good to see students taking initiative. It’s also rewarding seeing each student get excited about events and seeing the results of all their hard work.”Every school in the GLIAC

has a SAAC chapter. Hillsdale’s SAAC chapter represents the interests of Hillsdale College athletics by voting on changes in the conference as a whole.“We are the voice for Hills-

dale Charger athletics,” Leu-theuser said. “We take pride

in representing the rest of the athletes. It’s something unique to SAAC.”SAAC members meet about

every two weeks. “It’s a good way to check

in and touch base with every-one since we’re all on different schedules,” Lantis said. “Volun-teering is a good way to connect and have fun together.”While SAAC members are

in charge of planning volunteer and social events, teammates are encouraged to participate. Non-athletes can even be invited as dates to the spring formal dance.“It’s all about comradery,”

Leutheuser said. “We get to use our platform as student athletes to do something more important than just athletics. We could volunteer independently, but it’s great to use our platform.”Lantis said when SAAC

members visited Samuel J. Gier Elementary school, it was encouraging to be examples to children who obviously looked up to college athletes.“It was a great reminder that

there’s more to being a student athlete than practice and school,” Leutheuser said. “It helps keep us focused on more important things.”Dzubay said she would stay

on as advisor next year to pro-vide some stability after Leu-theuser graduates.Next year, Dzubay said she

hopes to get SAAC started plan-ning events earlier in the year. She even said they may add another event.“There’s always room for

improvement, but they’re doing a great job,” she said.

SPORTSA7 16 Feb. 2012www.hillsdalecollegian.com

SAAC focuses on service, academics

Senior Amanda Putt con-tined her school record break-

State University’s Big Meet on Feb. 11.Putt automatically quali-

5,000-meter run, after taking second at GVSU in a time of 16:29.95. She is the only person in the country to automatically qualify in the 800-meter, mile, and 5,000-meter run, women’s head coach Andrew Towne said.“With the Big Meet, I believe

people come to this meet look-ing to run their best,” Putt said.Putt was also named GLIAC

female track athlete of the week. This is the fourth week in a row that a member of the Hillsdale women’s track team was named athlete of the week.However, Putt was not

the only one breaking school records this past weekend at Grand Valley.Both the men’s and women’s

Distance Medley Relay teams

nationals and broke their respec-tive school records.The women’s DMR team,

which is made up of freshman Amy Kerst and seniors Chelsea Wackernagel, Jennifer Shaffer, and Putt, ran 11:42.57 and are currently ranked second in the country. “They ran a provisionally

qualifying time, so they are not guaranteed a spot at nationals,

but with their current ranking, I can’t see how they wouldn’t go,” assistant coach Amanda Mirochna said.The men’s DMR team was

senior Jeff Wysong, sophomore Jarod VanDyke, senior Jerry Perkins, and freshman Matthew Perkins. Together the team beat the school record and joined the women as provisionally quali-

“For the most part, we felt like we left part of it on the track, but we were hoping to have a better qualifying time for nationals,” Jerry Perkins said “Breaking the school record was a great boost to go out and get it.”

17th in the mile at 4:13.46. He was followed closely by

4:13.64. But while Matthew Perkins earned the provisional cut, Wysong fell short by a tenth of a second. Senior Skylar Dooley took

-ter dash at 22.10 seconds and sophomore Maurice Jones fol-lowed in second place by only .12. Jones also provisionally

dash at 48.38 seconds.“This was our best weekend

yet, posting many [personal records], a couple of provisional marks, and a school record,” men’s head track coach Jeff

Forino said.Shaffer provisionally quali-

run at 2:12.95. She was also in the women’s 4x400-meter relay with juniors Kayla Caldwell and Erin Benjamin, as well as Wackernagel, that took second place at 3:55.04. Junior Kathy Dirksen threw

18.01 meters to come in fourth in the women’s weight throw,

eighth by throwing 17.11 me-ters. “Kathy and Cat, I think, are

feet farther, and I expect it to happen,” Forino said.Both Dirksen and Nass pro-

-tional meet, but will most likely need to automatically qualify in order to go to nationals with the tough competition this year.“The reason why the auto

mark is necessary this year is because the weight throw for the women is really strong,” said Towne, who noted that many women throwers have already

This coming weekend the team will be headed back to Grand Valley for the GVSU tune-up meet. However, in preparation for GLIACs in two weeks, both Towne and Miroch-na said that some of the distance runners will have this week off.

Emily JohnstonSenior Reporter

(Joe Buth/Collegian)

Sarah Anne VoylesCollegian Reporter

Pink is not a school color, but both of the Hillsdale Col-lege basketball teams will be sporting rosy colored warm-ups at 6 p.m. tonight. Basketball teams through-

out the GLIAC will be wear-ing pink shirts and shoelaces this month in support of breast cancer research. Women’s coach Claudette Charney said that she and her team gladly participate in the cause. “We will wear the T-shirts

and pink warm-ups before the game, as will all other teams in the GLIAC conference,” Charney said. In 2007, the Women’s

Basketball Coach Associa-tion began Pink Zone, which has since changed its name to Pink Wave, to raise awareness of breast cancer. The initiative has raised over $3.3 million involving more than 4,700 participants since its concep-tion. The Pink Wave partners with the Kay Vow Cancer Fund during the doubleheader

events to raise money for breast cancer research.The Hillsdale Student

Athlete Advisory Committee has taken on Pink Wave as its primary charity event on campus. All the money raised will be for the Pink Wave and Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Shirts for fundraising will be sold at lunch and at the tonight’s game against Ohio Dominican University. T-shirts are sold for $8, and long sleeve shirts are $12. Every dollar raised for shirts will be sent back for breast cancer research.“We’re not offering a

different source of entertain-ment, the cool thing is that both [basketball] teams are shifting their focus from themselves to a bigger cause,” said senior Clara Leutheuser, SAAC president. “We’re hop-ing to raise $1,000 or more this year.”During the men’s half

time game, there will also be a 3-point shooting contest to raise additional money. After paying $1, participants are paid back $2 for each basket they make until the reach

three baskets. Each basket

earn prizes from the team tables, which will have Hills-dale shirts and hats. Among the other half-time

contests, there will be a 50-50 -

lected. Names that are drawn can choose prizes from the team tables.“It would be great if the

Chargers and the cause saw a lot of support,” Leutheuser said. Yesterday, members of the

SAAC volunteered at Hills-dale’s Kroger grocery store by bagging groceries and hand-

community in the Pink Wave event on campus. Leutheuser and SAAC advisor Nicole Dzubay both agreed that ev-eryone has been pitching in to this Pink Wave event to make it successful. “It’s our team’s last home

game so that’s a good reason to come.” Leutheuser said. “Other than that, it’s always good to support something big – like a cause to eliminate breast cancer.”

Baily PritchettCollegian Freelancer

Pink Wave raises breast cancer awareness

team won’t know who will be invited until Feb. 29. Three-time

is Hillsdale’s most probable

promising,” Okonkowski said.

the end of February. It’s a nerve-racking process”Kirner was quick to credit

Okonkowski.

This year she dropped her time

Kirner said. “It speaks directly to her work ethic.” Okonkowski said the season,

though not yet over for her, was a very successful one for the swimming and diving program.

“It was by far the best GLI-ACs ever,” Okonkowski said. “It was my best season, not just in terms of times but in getting to know my teammates.”The Chargers are all but

they won’t be resting long. In just a few weeks the team will be back in the weight room training for next season.

SWIMMING

Senior Katie Lamb (top) sprints to the finish at the 2012 GLIAC Championships. Freshman Ali Bauer (bottom) races the 200-yard breastroke in the consolation finals. The team broke 11 school records during the meet. (Courtesy of Amanda Geelhoed)

The Hillsdale College swim

team matched last year’s sixth

The highlights of the meet

Sports16 Feb. 2012

NATE ENGLISH

You have done two big sports since coming here — football and

(Collegian Stock Photo)

The Hillsdale Chargers’

spot for the Chargers was

The Chargers play their

David GordonCollegian Freelancer

Morgan DelpCollegian Freelancer

Q &

Phil MorganSenior Reporter

Senior Michaela Wolfe swims the mile in the final

session of the GLIAC Championship meet on Sat-

urday. The Hillsdale Chargers placed sixth in the

conference. (Courtesy of Amanda Geelhoed)

B1 16 Feb. 2012www.hillsdalecollegian.com

(Sally Nelson/Collegian)

Planning a whirlwind wedding

As March 17 fast ap-proaches, Liz Kirk, ’10, and senior Blake Faulkner are put-

wedding plans. The couple has been together for more than two and a half years, over a year of which they have been engaged and planning their wedding.Between both of their busy

lives, planning a wedding has been a balancing act. Kirk, who majored in history and elemen-tary education with a minor in English, is a full time substitute teacher in the Hillsdale area while Blake is double-majoring in Christian Studies and Speech.“When he proposed, the

whirlwind began,” Kirk said. “It has been a lot of work for him to be doing school and plan-ning at the same time. And even though I’m working full time, it’s a lot, but it’s easier.”Spring break worked out to

be the best time for Kirk and Faulkner to tie the knot, a time when family can take time off work and friends will be on break.The couple agreed that being

engaged a longer time eased much of the stress of the plan-ning process. Kirk had experi-ence with friends trying to plan a wedding in six months and did not want to have that experience planning her wedding.“It was hard, because

initially we didn’t know what we wanted. I know a lot of women stereotypically have the

wedding planned before they are engaged. They have the Cinderella fairytale planned, and that wasn’t me. I was not the person that had everything

-book just waiting for someone to propose,” Kirk said.The couple took care to work

out the larger issues in the plan-ning process before diving into the details including location, caterers, and decorations. They had to make reservations for the location the wanted a year in advance. “The lesson we learned is

that if you don’t have the big el-ements like catering, the recep-tion hall, the DJ…if you don’t have that before Valentine’s Day of the next year, you’re not going to have it,” Kirk said.Kirk’s search for the per-

fect dress was one of the many details to be worked out. Kirk would Skype and call her mother, who lived in Califor-nia, after every appointment to discuss the dresses. Eventually, Kirk found “the

one.” She recalls sending her mother a photo and calling her right away. “She started to cry on the

phone, and I knew from her reaction and the looks on my bridesmaids’ faces, that we’d found a winner,” Kirk said.“But if there was one most

was the invites, oddly enough. Liz wanted to design them. More hours went into this than any other part,” Faulkner said.Designing invitations early

will force all other aspects to be taken care of because the catering, venue, registries, and schedule all have to be in order by the time the invites are sent, he said.All these preparations can

couple manages to stay relaxed.“Every time it gets stressful,

we could just take a deep breath and say, ‘It’s OK, we’re going to Florida.’ That’s kind of been our rock,” said Kirk.Kirk and Faulkner have

planned a two week honeymoon in Florida.“It gives you a goal to strive

for and a light at the end of the dark tunnel, which is engage-ment,” Faulkner said.After Faulkner graduates, the

couple will move to Cincin-nati, Ohio, where he will attend Cincinnati Christian University pursuing a Master of Arts in Theology.

“We’re ready to be mar-ried. We’ll be happier and less stressed,” Kirk said.“Engagement sucks,”

Faulkner said. “The only way you can mediate it is if you spend a lot of time together. You’re not really dating, but you’re not married, either.

You’re just in limbo. If it was a matter of our relationship, we would have gotten married the night I proposed.”Neither Kirk nor Faulkner

are nervous about getting mar-ried partly due to planning far in advance.

“Even if everything we want to happen fails, we will be mar-ried at the end of the day, and that’s really all that matters,” Faulkner said. “Who could ask for anything

more?” Kirk added. “Sure I’ll be upset if the cake falls over, or the wrong food shows up, but

hey, at least we’ll have a good story to tell. I get to stand in front of our friends and family and pledge to God that I’ll stay by his side for the rest of my life. I couldn’t get any luckier, so I’m not nervous one bit.” [email protected]

Kelsey Drapkin


WEDDING TRENDS

WINTERElegant and formal weddings are gaining ground this year in the wake of the royal wedding.

Long sleeves are back, thanks to Kate Middleton’s spec-tacular dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.

DIY chandeliers

made from ribbon and waxed paper add elegance and diffuse the harsh lighting to be found in some venues.

Lace not only dons dressed and decora-tions but cakes as well! Marzipan and delicately piped butter-cream can be used to create this romantic effect.

Candy tables are a great way for guests to mix and match their own gifts and satiate a post-cake sweet-tooth.

Baby’s breath, with it’s ethereal appearance and lace-like texture is a great way to create volume without allot of cost.

AUTUMNRustic weddings give a “homey” and casual

-sonal details and warm elements.

Illusion necklines are a great way to in-corporate the immensely popular lace into a gown without risking the “doily” effect while remaining modest and fashionable.

Tarts and pies are not going to re-place wedding cakes for good any time soon, but dozens of brides are turning to this tasty alternative.

Candid shots are great for capturing memories with-out spending hours primping and posing.

Comfort food, such as mashed potatoes, mac n’ cheese, and meatloaf high-light the family-get-togeth-er aspect of weddings.

SUMMER“Green” weddings bring an environmental awareness to the festivities, often utilizing

advantage of outdoors areas.

One-shouldered dresses lend

providing an alternative to the traditional strapless princess gown. Laura George Designs, Photo by Shima Studios

Peonies and dahlias re-

centerpieces, providing lush, textural displays.

Cupcakes will continue to maintain their popularity, cut-ting costs and reducing waste.

Panoramic photos incorporate the wedding as well as the party, showcasing the special venue selected for the special day.

DIY video invites cut down on paper that will eventually hit the trash and provide couples with a chance to show off their

Popsicles are a fun way to incorporate local fruits and juices into the wedding, especially when “matured” with additions such as vodka or Bailey’s Irish cream.

Personalization is the main trend for 2012 weddings, inspiring couples across the country to embrace an as-

and personalities. But some trends still seem to stand out, strutting the runways, walking the aisles, and mak-ing waves in the bridal industry.

SPRINGVintage weddings began to gain popularity a couple years ago but are taking center stage in a big way this year, taking inspiration from the ‘50s

Cookies bring a sweet touch, especially when made from old family recipes and paired with milk, served in cham-pagne or shot glases!

Galoshes and umbrellas are a fun accessory enabling brides to hold outdoor photo-shoots as planned, even if April showers

Flowerless bouquets take center stage when crafted from antique broaches or

with an ageless alternative

Vintage

Green

Elegant

Rustic

DIY headpieces save a good deal of money, whether it’s deco-rating a comb or headband with

-ing your own veil with a plastic

Formal portraiture nods to the royal wedding, providing a sense

-tional brides.

DIY centerpieces

using autumn leaves, river rock, or even lace and burlap tucked into Mason jars give a cheap alternative to costly cascades of blossoms.

Carnations are another cheap and seasonable answer to one of the unexpectedly large wed-

Arts Say “I do”Blush and pale gold dresses spotted the runways this year and are expected to

Since tea-length dresses are also gaining popularity, 1950’s prom dresses could

(Shannon Odell/Collegian)


(Roxanne Turnbull/Collegian)



(Roxanne Turnbull/Collegian)

(Courtesy of Beth Buwalda)

(Tory Cooney/Collegian)

Design by Katherine Yelken, Photos by Andy Yelken

By Tory Cooney

(Elena Salvatore/Collegian)(Elena Salvatore/Collegian)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

* stock photo

ARTS16 Feb. 2012 B2 www.hillsdalecollegian.com

IN FOCUS

EVAN BRUNE

On marriage:A male perspectiveI may be going against the usual trend here at Hillsdale, but

the whole idea of “ring by spring” is the scariest thing I have ever heard. In fact, the mere mention of it sets my teenage anti-com-mitment alarm screaming, which usually manifests itself exter-nally with a nervous chuckle and a drawn-out, “Yeahhh…’bout that…”

What I have garnered from my extensive experience with all things marital (two hours spent awkwardly standing around at a friend’s reception) is that the wedding is all about the girl. Men are missing out on some awesome opportunities by letting women plan out their Disney-based fantasies. Let’s think about it: if a guy were put in charge of his own wedding, it’d probably end up with a crowd in football jerseys standing in front of a beer fountain screaming, “GIT ‘R DUUUN!” while the rings are brought in by a Special Forces team as the fuel-air explosions rock the founda-tions of the church, barely drowning out the sound of the heavy metal band in front of the Jesus statue. If you do not feel the urge

A wedding also gives you a chance to spend money like the president! Seriously, just blow everything you have and more. Car? Sold. Apartment? Gone! Her parents’ retirement savings? HAH! Just dump that sucker right into the wedding coffer! You only get one chance to celebrate the disappearance of your independence and freedom, so why not go out with a bang? No, seriously. I’m thinking cannons. Please? If you do, I’ll go. Think about the bonds you’ll forge with each other as you’re living out of a box on Main Street. I can already see the divorce rates plum-meting.

I haven’t even gotten to the best part of all of this yet. Re-member the whole “’Til death do us part” thing? Yeah, buddy, you can do whatever you want now! You are not trying to impress anyone anymore. You could eat Doritos and chocolate covered bacon for every meal! What could she possibly do? I’ll tell you what: absolutely nothing. Your very souls have been entwined by God. There is no way she is getting out of that knot.

Marriage will be the greatest party of your life. You can do whatever you want with nobody to tell you otherwise, and who hasn’t wanted to blow all the cash they have on something that only lasts for eight hours? It is going to be the…Oh, wait, she wants kids? Well, you are screwed.

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The trailer for “Safe House” was awe-some. When Denzel Washington told a young CIA agent that “I am already in your head,” it became a must-see movie. Who wouldn’t want to see him manipulate and charm his way through two hours of an inter-national espionage thriller?So much potential. So little accomplished.The basic plot is familiar. Rogue agent

Tobin Frost (Washington) is in Cape Town, South Africa, trying to sell a secret that im-

With the ubiquitous Eastern European thugs closing in, Frost takes refuge in the American consulate and turns himself over to the CIA. But whoever wanted to kill Frost in

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Matt Weston, played with lots of vulnerabil-ity by Ryan Reynolds.At this point, the movie essentially be-

comes Weston chasing Frost through Cape Town’s streets, slums and soccer stadiums. Along the way, he learns some shocking secrets about the CIA, unless you’ve seen the Jason Bourne movies, in which case you know what’s coming.It’s impossible not to compare this movie

to the “Bourne” trilogy: unfavorably, as it turns out. Reynolds simply can’t carry a movie like this. He is too nice and sympa-thetic, and too short on Matt Damon’s lock-jawed determination.Washington, meanwhile, shows why he’s

a multiple-Oscar-winning star. The best parts of “Safe House” come when Frost, dripping with seductive sangfroid, plays psychological games of cat-and-mouse with his would-be captors. Reynolds is also at his best when in-teracting with Washington, struggling to keep

his values and his sanity in the face of Frost’s dominating presence.Unfortunately, these scenes make up

far too little of the movie. Director Daniel Espinosa has all the pieces for a phenomenal thriller, but most of the screen time is spent on running, punching, and erratic machine-

-oped, and forget about any secondary charac-ters. Weston’s girlfriend Ana (French actress Nora Arnezeder), for instance, is really only there to look good in advertisements.

minutes, and female moviegoers probably

something better to do with your evening. Have you seen the trailer for “Act of Valor?” Now that looks sweet.

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Patrick Timmis

News Editor

I’ll admit it: I have a low tolerance for cheesy romance movies. Yet there I was, sit-ting in the theater on the opening weekend of the Vow, surprised by an endearing and sigh-inducing movie that did not have the typical

featuring the washboard abs of Channing Ta-tum and the cutesy star of “The Notebook”, Rachel McAdams, turned out to be different

Early on we see the love and marriage between Leo (played by Tatum) and Paige (McAdams). Their relational quirks are high-lighted, all with Tatum’s charming narrative of special moments together. These moments,

who we are.

When a car accident takes Paige’s short-term memory, erasing memories of their relationship and marriage, Leo works to earn her back and make her fall in love again. The story takes us on an emotional roller

boyfriends, high school friends, and family feuds threaten to replace Leo, and he steps up to the challenge by showing his dedication to her. Part of Paige’s journey of re-assimilation includes a search for true identity.The struggles of trying to make her

remember, of putting the pieces together again, are heart-wrenching. With each new endeavor to win her back, hope dangles precipitously in anticipation of that moment that she might recall their life together. Leo works so diligently at winning her back that the viewer wants to remember for her, just to

end his agony. The impressionable part of this movie

was the human element – the arguments

believable, and the tears felt real. Leo’s ro-mancing of Paige goes to a whole new level of commitment, perseverance, devotion, and yes, love.Men, beware. If you take your girlfriend

to go see this movie, be prepared to be chal-lenged. Tatum’s husband role has enough reality to strike a chord with everyone, his anger and frustration mixed with attentive-ness and commitment, making it sigh-worthy for the fairer sex and raising the bar for those who wish to emulate him. It’s a perfect re-lease in time Valentine’s Day –– a representa-tion of real life, real heartache, and real love.

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Natalie Mitchell


‘The Vow’: A heart-warming surprise

‘Safe House’: An unfortunate letdown

From Central Hall to apple orchards:

Senior Kyle Forti Hope Nowak are what you could call high school sweethearts. When he moved to Michigan to go to college and she stayed in California, they made it work by developing their own way of staying close despite more than 2,000 miles separating them.“We always sent each other our itinerary before we

visited,” Forti said. “So I photoshopped my itinerary and surprised her at the hotel she was staying at with her fam-ily at 4 a.m. and said, ‘come with me.’ I started driving and asked her where she wanted to go–”

After driving most of the night, they arrived at about 10

he would propose that very morning.“It was the same beach [where] my grandparents got

married, we were engaged, and we’re getting married,” Nowak said.The week following graduation, the two will be married

in Carmel. After being engaged for almost a year and a half and spending months apart because of distance and

“I guess you could say we knew what we wanted, even if we didn’t know at the time,” Forti said.

For seniors Nikki Yancho Logan Shoup, loca-tion was crucial for both the engagement and the wedding plans.“I’d been planning on asking her for a while,” Shoup

said. “She loves apple orchards, and I found a couple right around here. I was going to take her to pick apples and then get around to asking her there, but it turned out there were no pick-your-own apple orchards.”After driving around to a couple different orchards for

a few hours, I looked up more orchards on my phone, she said.“By then I began to suspect something,” Yancho said.

“We ended up at this orchard after driving several hours from Hillsdale, and we were the only ones in the whole orchard.”“I found one on my phone and [when we arrived] he

got me jumping for high up apples and then when I turned around he proposed!” Yancho said.The couple has rented out the Hillsdale College Arbore-

tum and McNamara Hall for June 22, 2013.“We found it’s kind of our place,” he said.

Senior Casey Holmes Jon Gregg ,’11, reached new heights the night Gregg popped the ques-tion.“I always told him I would only go up [to the top

of Central Hall] if he got signed permission from the president to go up,” Holmes said. “And he did! Dr. Arnn gave him permission, and I knew he was going to propose.”After arriving in Hillsdale several hours before she

expected him to, Gregg got some friends to bring her

signed permission to ascend Central Hall together.“And then he proposed on top of Central Hall at

about 3:45 in the morning,” she said. “It was really important to me that he took the initiative and picked the ring and decided when to propose, and he did.”Having been engaged for only a little over a week,

Holmes said the daze hasn’t quite worn off and wed-ding planning will commence sometime in the near future.

In proposing to senior Natalie Kerner, Carl Avery ‘11 mixed the perfect amount of romantic spontaneity with planning ahead to sweep her off her feet.“Over Fall Break I went to visit him in Virginia where he

is going to law school,” she said. “On Friday he was going to take me to the beach after his classes, and then he called me in the morning saying he had overslept and just wanted to skip his classes and take me to the beach he picked out.”Keeping her convinced it was a happy accident, Avery had

time to prepare the whole morning.“He surprised me with a picnic and made a bunch of really

good food –– I think I started suspecting around then –– and then he proposed on the beach.”While their plans aren’t complete yet, the couple will be

married on July 29 of this year and are continuing to plan while apart.

At times it is best to wait for that perfect moment, and in others it is your actions which make the perfect moment. In the case of Junior Amanda Rubino and Chuck Grimmet, ‘12 the moment was made by the inability to wait.“It was over Christmas break, he had the ring for two days and had breakfast

with my dad to ask permission. He was going to wait till Spring Break, but he couldn’t wait,” Rubino said. “I went out with his family for dinner, and he just couldn’t wait. He called me at 12 a.m. and woke me up and asked me to meet him at the front door with my coat. He normally plans everything ahead to keep things in order and work perfectly, but he isn’t like that with me,” she said.

-posed,” she said, “and I thought it was perfect.”Rubino and Grimmet are planning their wedding for June 22, 2013, after she

has completed her degree.

(Joelle Lucas/Collegian)

(Courtesy of Amanda Rubino)

(Courtesey of Natalie Kerner)

(Courtesey of Casey Holmes)

(Courtesey of Kyle Forti)

Teddy Sawyer

Collegiain Reporter

Hillsdale couples share their stories

Director of Mary Randall Preschool Stacy Vondra

loves Hillsdale as both a school and a community

P r a c t i c a l a r t i s t r y

SPACES B3 16 Feb. 2012 www.hillsdalecollegian.com

In Their EyesSharon Barrett


After her graduation from Hillsdale College, Stacy (Bryan) Vondra ‘95 didn’t move across the country like most graduates. She simply moved next door. “Hillsdale College is more than an

alma mater,” she said. “It is part of my life. I think once you have the Hillsdale College experience, nothing matches it.”Vondra ‘95 is in her seventh year as

director of the Mary Randall Preschool on Hillsdale’s campus. Tucked among the trees next to Mauck Residence, the small, domed building is easy to miss. But for Vondra, it is where she makes a difference in children’s lives, as well as a nexus of relationships between stu-dents, faculty, and the wider Hillsdale community.Vondra graduated from Hillsdale

in May 1995, and was hired as head teacher at the preschool just three months after graduation. During her time as a student, she

completed her student teaching and received the Outstanding Student Teacher award. She volunteered at the preschool while pursuing a triple minor in english, Spanish, and early child-hood education. Vondra now teaches two education

courses and supervises between 30 and

40 student volunteers each semester.Vondra was inspired to choose

Hillsdale by her high school Spanish professor, who was an alumnus. “I was very well prepared for

graduate work because of [Hillsdale’s] rigor,” she said.

from her home in Boyne City, Mich., Vondra said she was able to make the transition to college life in part because of Hillsdale’s unique strength: faculty who build supportive relationships with students. “Dr. Kathy Connor [then director

of the preschool] took me under her wing. She was my mentor,” Vondra said. “I still talk with her several times a week.”In addition to Connor, Vondra said

many of the professors who had a memorable impact on her still teach at Hillsdale: for instance, Professors of Spanish Sandra Puvogel, Carmen Wyatt-Hayes, and Kevin Teegarden. Vondra was active on campus as

a member of Student Federation and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and still keeps in touch with many of her soror-ity sisters.Vondra’s face glows with happiness

as she describes her job at the pre-school, especially the joy of watching student volunteers interact with the children. “Working in this building is the

greatest place on campus,” she said. “I have an opportunity to work with a

wide age range and affect education at many levels.”About a third of the children en-

rolled at the preschool are children or grandchildren of Hillsdale faculty and administration. The rest belong to fami-lies from the surrounding community.The preschool curriculum covers

nine learning areas including cognition, language, and character development. “People call it liberal arts for the

preschool child,” Vondra said.For instance, Professor of Chemistry

Chris Van Orman recently came down to make “slime” with the children.

learned about fossils, a preschooler who found a sparkly rock insisted, “I want to send this specimen to Dr. Swinehart!”So Vondra made sure he was able to

do so.Vondra said she enjoys impacting

college students as well as preschool-ers. Today, she said, students who she taught in the preschool are now her college advisees. “They come to me for their class

schedule, and for advice and counsel,” she said. “They’re still seeking guid-ance at a different life stage. That’s a real treasure. It’s unique and yet so rewarding.”Vondra received her master’s degree

in child development from Michigan State University. She has always had a special interest in how children with language disorders learn, so she is cur-

rently pursuing a second master’s degree in speech language pathol-ogy.Vondra sees the preschool as

an opportunity for students of any major to gain experience with children. For instance, she said, students majoring in business may want to open a childcare center in a corporate setting. Students majoring in speech or psychology may be preparing for competitive graduate programs in speech pa-

plan to work with children.For Vondra, working with chil-

dren is not only an aspect of the many ways a person can serve others, but it may open the door to a life call-ing. When seeking student volunteers for the preschool, Vondra said, she encourages them with her own story, saying: “This could be you!”Vondra sees relationships as the life-

blood of Hillsdale’s educational experi-ence, something that has not changed since she matriculated. “Facilities are updated,” she said,

“but the heart of the campus is still constant and essential.” The same supportive network she

found as an undergraduate she now enjoys as a member of the faculty and of the community.Vondra’s husband works as super-

intendent of Hillsdale Community Schools, and she volunteers in the school system as frequently as she can.

“I’ve always been community-minded,” she said, whether that means working as a reading tutor or teaching Sunday school in her parish. For college students, Vondra said,

the city of Hillsdale may not have much appeal because students tend to look within their college networks for their sense of belonging and to see volunteerism as “reaching out” into a community outside them. But, “When you’re ready to raise a family, it’s what you’re looking for.”Vondra considers Hillsdale—both

the College and the community—her home. “It’s more than volunteering,” she

said. “It’s a sense of belonging, beyond the college.”

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“ ”

She was a force of nature, built like a tank and utterly ageless. “That isn’t what you want,” she informed Assistant Professor

of Music Rene Clark, then a recent transplant to New York City in search of a ball of yarn for a repair project. Before the younger woman could respond, a set of needles were stuck into her hands.“And the next thing I knew, I was knitting,” Clark said, who has

since become an avid and impressive knitter, recreating a Victorian lace shawl from the original pattern. The shawl took more than 600 hours to make.“It’s a traditional craft and I’m all in favor,” said Professor of

English John Somerville, who permitts students to knit during his classes, though few students have taken him up on the offer in recent years.

like knitting and spinning, are all part of that,” he said. “The click-ing of knitting needles isn’t any more distracting than typing of a laptop, so I see no problem with it.”Many students across campus engage in various traditional

textile arts, ranging from sophomore Rachel Yerke, who just began knitting in October, to senior Becky Schoon, who began crocheting at the age of six.The reasons why these various students began to knit vary,

though most cite mothers or friends willing to teach them. Their reasons for continuing to knit, however, are largely the same: a love of the craft, and knitting’s relaxing quality that earned it the title of “the new yoga” in a New Jersey newspaper.“I don’t knit things to be hung on a wall,” Clark said. Instead, she knits items for friends and family as well as herself,

also sending an annual box full of children’s and baby’s items to the Indian reservation where she spent a good deal of her childhood. “There is just something really fundamental about making some-

major knitting project was a baby blanket for her goddaughter. “It’s really satisfying to make something that someone wears. It’s

one of my favorite things,” she said.“It’s crafting something,” Yerke said. “You didn’t just go out and

buy it.”The ability to directly impact someone’s personal comfort along

with creating something beautiful is one of the most unique aspects of knitting, Allen said. “It’s very human, a product of skill and work, and a type of

everyday beauty that is very important,” she said.Last year, a group of Hillsdale students formed a club named

“Sticks and Strings,” to work on their own projects in a group as a break from their academic endeavors.“We would meet to talk about our days and weeks, knit for a

couple hours, and then go do homework,” said Schoon, a previous member. “You can’t think about other things too deeply or you’ll mess up, so you have no other options but to relax.”

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“I’d love to do that again.” she said. “I dunno, we think about all of these high and lofty things here and people just forget the importance of a practical skill.”Through Shelly, the Russian-Jewish woman who taught

her to knit, Clark met a motley group of women who dubbed themselves “The Monday Knights of the Knitting Order” and would meet once a week to meet and talk.“They were wonderful women. Wonderful. But under

other circumstances, we would never have met, much less spent time together,” Clark said.There was a young Asian woman with a child affected

by Downs Syndrome who didn’t speak much English, a quirky psychologist, two enthusiastically liberal Russian-Jewish immigrants, and the quiet and conservative Mi-chelle, Clark said.“Knitting was this great equalizer. You just talk,” Clark

said. “Talking and knitting. It’s beautiful.”“My fellow knitters are also very happy I’ve joined the

dark side….the knitting side,” said Yerke. “I am too.”

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Tory CooneyCopy Editor

SPACES B4 16 Feb. 2012www.hillsdalecollegian.com

I N H E R I T I N G A D R E A MSarah Anne VoylesCollegian Reporter

Senior Ashlee LeCompte has spent her whole life around horses. From delivering her first foal at age 8 to participating in horse shows for her entire life, horses are LeCompte’s life. After graduating from graduate school, her dreams will become reality as she goes on to inherit her family’s horse farm. (Courtesy of Ashlee LeCompte)

Senior Ashlee LeCompte has a dream-come-true on her horizon. The farm girl from Oakwood, Ill. will inherit the family farm after completing graduate school at Michigan State University.LeCompte is going to gradu-

ate school for an Animal Science degree, specializing in equine. She and her mother made an agreement that LeCompte could receive the

school.“She loves going home to ride

and is good friends with the trainers, so it never crossed her mind that she would not go back to either her family farm or start her own,” said senior Sally Klarr. In 1991, The LeCompte family

moved to their family farm in order to make room for their growing family. There were only about 10 stalls

boarders. The farm was

named Oak-wood Farms for her grandfather who grew up in Oakwood, Ill.LeCompte

when their mare, Annie, gave birth to a foal named Bella.

all of a sudden this mare drops a foal,” LeCompte said. About two years later, Bella got

her face stuck in a hayrack. The accident ripped three nerves from the horse’s face, and the family was certain the young horse would never

they decided to breed Bella, who was a beautiful black horse. Now they have a third generation foal at the farm.

horse after she joined a pony club. Her mom had a few conditions, however. She would have to wake up at 5 a.m. in the morning before school to go feed and turn out the horse.

“It taught me a lot of responsi-bility. It is like having a dog, but a very high maintenance dog,” LeCompte said.LeCompte grew up riding in

She would throw me off whenever she could,” LeCompte said.

when her horse dumped her off right in the middle of the arena. Her mom, upset with the horse, went right into the arena to teach the horse a lesson. The horse dumped her right off, too, LeCompte said.That is when the horse was

sold. LeCompte’s mother found the

“She wanted me riding a good horse,” LeCompte said.It was during

her sophomore year that LeCompte took horse-riding as a physical education course so that she could continue to train and be ready for summer shows. However, with the demands of school, LeCompte was not

enough. It became necessary for the horse to go back to Oakwood Farms.Growing up on Oakwood Farms

--

ence has also aided LeCompte in her entrance into grad school. She said it was great to enter MSU with

horses at home. Now LeCompte plans to go

home before heading off to MSU to receive her masters. This summer, LeCompte will be an apprentice to the Oakwood Farm manager, Mer-edith Burgess.“Ashlee will be doing everything

that I do and then some;; it is tough being an intern,” Burgess said.Oakwood Farms is very family-

oriented.

It now has 60 stalls with 45 horses currently living there. There is also a full-service operating room, where LeCompte hopes to bring a full-time veterinarian in the future. Burgess said that running a

boarding barn is like working retail –– you have to make sure that cus-tomers are happy. Once the summer is over,

LeCompte will head off to MSU with her two horses so that she can continue to train. Even so, she will come home to her farm each sum-mer and work there.“I want to live there until I die,”

LeCompte said. “I want to raise my children there so that they can have

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Style: “Mountain Romantic” Fashion Icons: “My grand-mother. She was just classy and el-egant in everything she did. She had beauty on the outside and the inside regardless of what she wore. !at’s my goal.”

Favorite Designers: Fossil, Ralph Lauren, Eddie Bauer, Lands’ End Fashion and Literature: “Literature transports you to another place, and I think clothing does too.”

“Fashion in and of itself is trivi-al. But the e!ects it can have on

a person are important. Con"dence is very important.”

“!e way you dress can have a big impact on your atti-

tude. I feel sorry for people who wear sweats everyday. I feel like they aren’t living up

to their full potential.”

With experiences ranging from deliveries to dressage, senior Ashlee LeCompte is ready to inherit her family’s horse farm

— Compiled by Rachel Hofer;; photographs by Mel Caton

CAMPUS CHICMacKenzie McGrathFreshman English MajorColorado Springs, Colorado

“I want to live there until I die. I want to raise my children there so that they can have the same experi-ences I did.”

— Senior Ashlee LeCompte

2.16 The Hillsdale Collegian

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