college conservative

Hillsdale College

maintaining freedom by refusing government money and standing on principle

Type

Private non-profit liberal arts college

Overview

Basing its curriculum on the Western heritage produced by Creco-Roman culture and Judeo-Christian tradition, Hillsdale supports Constitutional government, free enterprise and individual freedom and responsibility. Its offerings include liberal arts majors and programs for pre-professionals, teachers and journalism. Concerned with the need for good government policy, the "Graduate School of Statesmanship" was created in 2012 to focus on American political philosophy.

Refuting liberal stereotypes, Hillsdale, considered one of the most conservative colleges in the country, was the first American college to prohibit admissions discrimination based on race, sex, or religion in its written charter and has refused to accept federal money since 1984 in order to maintain its commitment to non-discrimination.

Worldview

National Review has described Hillsdale as “the conservative Harvard”

Programs

Imprimis

Imprimis is a monthly digest on liberty, defending America’s founding principles that highlights the wisdom of noted leaders by sharing their remarks at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. The free print version is mailed to over 2.8 million people each month. It is also available online in both print and audio versions, including archived issues back to 1972, at Imprimis.

Non-discrimination and Affirmative Action

In keeping with its long standing tradition of non-discrimination, Hillsdale College has taken the position that affirmative action is racial discrimination. As a result it does not track the ethnicity of its student population and in 1984 discontinued receiving federal money as the result of court rulings that required all colleges that receive federal money to enact affirmative action policies.

In light of the fact that Hillsdale College was the first American college to prohibit admissions discrimination based on race, sex, or religion in its written charter, and that black students were admitted immediately after its founding in 1844, it cannot be legitimately criticized as a racist institution. It was also second school in the nation to grant four-year liberal arts degrees to women.

Hillsdale College is one of the least discriminatory schools in the country and has paid and will continue to pay a high price to maintain its real non-discrimination policy.

Center for Constitutional Studies

The Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship is an extension of Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C. It teaches the the principles that give the United States Constitution meaning through a study of the historical source documents. It seeks “… to inspire students, teachers, citizens, and policymakers to return the Constitution to its central place in the political life of the nation.”

For more information see: Center for Constitutional Studies & Citizenship

K-12 Charter Schools

The Barney Charter School Initiative is a privately funded project of Hillsdale College devoted to the education of young Americans through the creation of K-12 charter schools. The intent is to train the minds and hearts of young people through a classical education in liberal arts and sciences, along with the principles of moral character and civic virtue.

Reforming American public education requires a foundation of classical liberal arts that supports a free society. Hillsdale College works with groups of parents and local citizens who care about education, helping them develop charter schools based on these principles in their local communities, assisting the creation and implementation of the school’s academic programs.

To learn more see: The Barney Charter School Initiative

Online Political Education

In furtherance of its objective of promoting the principles of liberty, Hillsdale College offers a series of free online courses including:

The Meaning and History of the Constitution
The Principles of Free Market Economics
American Heritage—From Colonial Settlement to the Reagan Revolution
Western Heritage—From the Book of Genesis to John Locke
The Progressive Rejection of the Founding and the Rise of Bureaucratic Despotism

Finances

Hillsdale is a non-profit college that has refused to accept any government money since 1984 in order to maintain its independence. It is supported by a private endowment, that amounted to $295 million in 2011, that pays for about half of the educational costs for all students. Student billed costs , with the annual billed cost to the students of approximately $23,600, not including room and board.

Financial aid packages are also available which averaged $16,700 per student in 2013 with $14,300 in the form of gift aid. As a result the cost of an education at Hillsdale College is very competitive when compared to other top-tier private liberal arts colleges.