During the Civil War, no Northern college sent a greater percentage of soldiers to battle than Hillsdale. So many went willingly that not one student was drafted. According to the Hillsdale Historical Society, Albert Castel wrote that “there were few places in the North, and certainly no campus, where the fire of the Civil War burned more brightly than at Hillsdale College.”
Today, we have a statue honoring their service. The college offers “Patriot scholarships” which give full room, board, books, and tuition to student veterans. As of 2013, the college had 20 veteran donors financing this aid. We currently have 11 student veterans at Hillsdale, according to Assistant Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers, a Navy veteran.
Despite this heritage, the college did not honor Veterans Day by giving students, staff, and faculty a day to reflect on the holiday.
“I cannot say I recall the specific reason in this case, but as you know, not every federal holiday finds us canceling classes,” Provost David Whalen said.
Instead, life on Nov. 11 went on normally — people bustling in and out of Central Hall, grading papers, writing papers, and frantically finishing reading assignments.
Americans have celebrated the day for nearly a century. First called Armistice Day, it commemorated the one-year anniversary of the end of World War I. In 1928, it became a national holiday to remember the soldiers who fought and lived to tell their heroic and heartbreaking stories. Hillsdale’s appreciation of veterans began long before our country created a special day to honor them, but since this holiday has existed for nearly 100 years, it’s unfortunate that we don’t formally recognize it on campus.
Perhaps some students would have abused the privilege with beer and Netflix, but they might have done that with classes anyway. No one would argue that the college should ignore Thanksgiving because some students will complain instead of cherishing their blessings. Nor would anyone say we should ditch Christmas break because some students may spend it chugging spiked eggnog and sleeping instead of honoring the reason for the season.
Because students had a Tuesday packed with classes, homework, and meetings, they lacked time to stop and reflect on what the day means. It was simply another day of Hillsdale busyness.
A day without classes might have provided a moment to linger at the Civil War statue between Lane and Kendall, or watch “Saving Private Ryan” or “Lone Survivor” and remember what our veterans have done for us. It might have given us time to contemplate what “pursuing truth” and “defending liberty” mean when you’re suited in camouflage and pounds of gear in a war zone. Instead of burying our heads in textbooks and laptops, we might have had time to sit with student soldiers and thank them for for what they’ve done. We could have visited that elderly veteran next door and listened to his story.
Recognizing Veterans Day isn’t about having a day off during the chaos of the semester for leisure or debauchery. It’s about having time to think about what this national holiday really means. Maybe if students didn’t have classes, they could organize an event to honor their fellow classmates who have served.
“When a day of classes is removed, a day must be added at either the front or back end of a semester in order preserve the same number of class days — something important for many courses,” Whalen said. “And adding a day often poses an additional problem as the ‘wrong day’ might be added. That is, if you lose a Monday/Wednesday/Friday class meeting, and add a Tuesday/Thursday at the end of the semester, you have not really supplied the want. So, simply adding a day here or there is more difficult than it may appear.”
The college may get away with ignoring Labor Day or Columbus Day for a shortened semester. But since these soldiers fought for the very education Hillsdale gives, we should have dropped a reading day or came to school early for their sake. Our veterans deserve it and our commitment to liberty requires it.
