The Collegian investigated claims this week that Hillsdale College’s website is getting a facelift.
We are happy to report that the rumors are true.
Thank God.
For too long, our website has embodied the some of the most significant criticisms of this school and its conservatism — the claims that our college is an antiquated institution, unable to communicate or exist in a rapidly shifting, ever-branding world.
It’s hard to argue that conservatism matters in a rapidly changing world when our college’s website is about as efficient as a Ford Model-T. We’re surprised it doesn’t require a hand crank.
To signal the impending death of our homepage, let us remember together some of the site’s most noteworthy aspects .
1. The color scheme. Although Hillsdale.edu is not badly designed, we hope our designer friends ditch five of the six shades of blue. Less is more, Moss Hall.
2. The “search engine” feature. What exactly did this feature search? We are not sure. But we hope with the new site, we will not have to search Google to find content on Hillsdale’s site.
3. The Helvetica font on the front page. Font affects credibility. At least use a font that you can read.
4. The hopelessly outdated information on clubs and honoraries.The last Everett speech transcript posted on the site was from 2007, Praxis and College Republicans have both held elections since Fall 2010, and The Collegian’s page might have its editor or faculty adviser updated before next year, but we are not holding our breath. We hope the new site will be easier to update so it can stay current.
5. Design. Assorted rectangles is not a design aesthetic. We look forward to a new, streamlined site that is as nice to look at it as it is informative.
Moss Hall, we know you have a lot to handle over the next few months. Thanks for making time for the website.
Our current website validates many of the negative stereotypes about conservatism, including that it’s boring, dysfunctional, and change-phobic. We’re glad that Moss finally decided that it’s time to clean it up, and we hope that soon we can be just as proud of the website as we are of our school.
