Professors talked Taylor Swift, tattoos, and Colonel Sanders while eating hot wings on stage in the third annual Hillsdale Hot Ones event hosted by Niedfeldt Residence in Plaster Auditorium last Friday, April 19. 

Assistant Professor of History Miles Smith IV, Associate Professor of Classics Eric Hutchinson, and Chairman of the Psychology Department Collin Barnes volunteered as guests at the event inspired by the YouTube show of the same name. Proceeds from the event went toward the Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale.

Junior and Niedfeldt head resident assistant Harrison Layman and senior John Ritchey, Niedfeldt house director, asked professors questions while both professors and interviewers ate progressively spicier hot wings.

“The wings got so spicy that both the interviewers started getting lightheaded, delirious, and extremely sweaty,” freshman Jayden Jelso said. “It was clear they were in a ton of pain, all for our entertainment.”

Senior Christopher Dick, who also attended the event, said he found joy watching Layman struggle to finish his wings.

“The man went on a transcendent journey field by capsaicin and questions,” Dick said. “It’s fun to see Niedfeldt RAs in pain, and also seeing professors push through doesn’t hurt.”

Events like Hillsdale Hot Ones help humanize professors and improve the relationships between staff and students, Layman said. 

“Sometimes we think of professors as towering figures who hand out your grades, but then you see them eating spicy foods and in their personal lives just like you,” Layman said. “Every single Hot Ones, I’ve walked away liking the guests more than I did at the beginning because it feels like I’ve bonded with them in their suffering.”