Many students come to Hillsdale College enamored of its institutional character, of its presumed political affiliation, and of its steadfast refusal to accept government aid of any kind. Yet by senior year, some have adopted an ironic posture toward the college. They look with contempt on the visitors wandering about campus, ogling at the statues, sitting in eagerly on classes, asking earnest questions at CCAs. They scoff at frequent invocations of liberty, the Founding, and the tyrannies of the outside world that supposedly threaten the college daily. Content in their own studies and in their own subcultures, they remain cynically aloof from both the college’s external marketing and from their more politically earnest peers.
To some extent, this is unavoidable. Indeed, it is preferable. Our campus culture benefits from a multitude of viewpoints that revolve around a common set of ideals and sources. To expect a universal consensus on what our college means and ought to be is to expect what cannot be produced.
Yet those cynical about the college would do well to remember that some of the aspects of the college most easily scoffed at are the very same elements that allow the college to exist as it does. It truly is expensive, not only to educate a student here, but to resist the ever-looming teat of government aid, especially when societal pressure bears down in favor of yielding.
So seniors, as well as others who look with a jaundiced eye at some of the college’s practices, remember that these practices are integral to the college’s existence. It may not be a perfect system — what is? — but it’s far superior to the alternative. Continue to discuss freely, but try to avoid cynicism. It’s the easiest sentiment to express against something with actual ideals. We’re better than that.
