One of the best parts of Hillsdale College is its exemplary professors. Not only do they make themselves available for office hours, invite us to their homes for dinner, and remember our names without fail, but they also possess undeniable expertise.
The college has worked tirelessly to hire professors who will excel in the classroom and provide a top-notch education to the studentry.
But at CCAs, we do not highlight these brilliant faculty members for students and donors alike. Instead, we push them to the side. On Wednesday afternoon, during each CCA when donors have gone home, students (who have to attend) show up to a sparse auditorium to listen to the faculty roundtable.
Strangely, the roundtable usually consists of one professor who knows about the topic, and then two faculty members who are experts in other fields but not in said subject matter.
So for 45 minutes of the 60-minute session, students listen to professors attempt to talk about something they never studied and may have no interest in whatsoever.
But why?
Hillsdale boasts of our faculty. We do have experts. Usually that third member of the roundtable could give an entire hour-long talk that would engage the studentry and the donor base.
So we should let that professor have the floor.
By refusing to let Hillsdale professors, who are real experts in Epic Literature, the Environment, and the Federal Income Tax give a full speech, the CCA office subtly tells donors, “Sure, our professors are OK, but they aren’t good enough to wow the audience.”
As students, we say that’s just not true.
Let’s get rid of the faculty roundtable and replace it with a riveting speech from one of our own experts, for which both students and donors will actually want to stick around.
