Tomorrow night, various Hillsdale students from all over campus will go to Brooklyn, an off-campus house, for blind dates with other Hillsdalians chosen for them by junior Haley Talkington and senior Carly Hubbard.
The two women started this blind dating service, which they call “Date Party,” and which others have dubbed Hillsdale’s “Underground Dating Ring” after Hubbard vented to Talkington about her frustration will Hillsdating on campus.
Urban Dictionary defines “Hillsdating” as: “Dating, Hillsdale College style. Which means basically not at all… A relationship where a guy and a girl who like each other spend every waking moment together but refuse to admit or agree that they are dating.”
“We wanted to end Hillsdating and the unhealthy culture that we’ve developed,” Talkington said.
Hubbard explained that hook up culture abstracts the body from the soul, but something about Hillsdating that abstracts the soul from the body.
“It’s like being different than friends is somehow wrong,” Hubbard said.
So after some discussion, Hubbard and Talkington decided that blind dates could help solve the problem.
“The idea is you go on a date with the knowledge that you are just going, no strings attached,” Talkington said. “And the next week you go with a new person and the group rotates. We have 40 people on the email list.”
The general structure of the Date Party starts with arriving at Brooklyn around 5:30p.m. Guests then mingle all together, Hubbard and Talkington hand out numbers, and everyone has to search for their date whose number matches their own. From there, they will go on whatever activity Hubbard and Talkington planned, which have included dinners, bowling, and a scavenger hunt. The night ends back at Brooklyn with more mingling.
So far, the group has attracted people from all over campus: Greeks, Honors Program members, science majors, athletes and “the hipster crew,” as well as freshmen through seniors
Senior Micah Meadowcroft has gone on three blind dates, and he said that even though he is happy being single and not looking for a relationship right now, he had a lot of fun.
“There is no pressure,” Meadowcroft said. “Everyone knows going in exactly what’s going on. I think everyone has really enjoyed it.”
He added that people who stop going on the dates either do so because they get into a relationship or they want to get intentional. Those who stay do so because they like the casualness.
“It’s a good opportunity to realize it’s not a big deal; just a date is not a big deal,” Meadowcroft said. “It’s kind of sad that it takes a blind dating club to be able to put in practice at Hillsdale truly no-strings-attached casual dates.”
Senior Amanda Tindall also went on three blind dates, one of which was supposed to be with the person who is now her boyfriend, but he was unable to make it to the party.
She also said she had a great time on her dates.
“Honestly it was a lot of fun,” Tindall said. “I had good conversations, and everyone I went with was interesting. At the end of it I wasn’t like ‘I want to date this person seriously,’ but thought, ‘Wow, you are a cool human being’.”
Talkington said they’ve had many people come who have never been on a date before.
“You can’t leave college without ever going on a date,” she said.
Hubbard agreed, adding that a date is nothing.
“That’s 90 minutes of your time. That’s a nap, or Netflix,” Hubbard said “You need to relax. Go on a stinking date.”
Hubbard said girls get worried about things like “what if he doesn’t want six kids – I want six kids” and that shouldn’t matter on a first date.
Neither woman has a long-term plan for the group because Hubbard is graduating and Talkington is going abroad in the fall.
“The whole point is to run ourselves out of business,” Talkington said.
The woman said their mottos for Date Party are, “You just got to get those reps in” and “Punching Hillsdating in the face, one date at a time.”
“We deserve a better option than Tinder, and a better option than Hillsdating,” Hubbard said. “Spend an hour and half having a conversation with a beautiful soul.”
