This semester’s Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar on Winston Churchill had the highest attendance from outside visitors in CCA history.
More than 500 guests and nearly 200 students attended the CCA, according to Director of Programs for External Affairs Matt Bell.
The success of the Churchill CCA certainly had to do with increased advertising and President Larry Arnn’s new book, “Churchill’s Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government,” but Bell said this year also marked three big Churchill anniversaries, — 75 years since he became Prime Minister, the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, and 50 years since Churchill’s death — making it a popular time for Churchill enthusiasts to gather together.
“Churchill is ‘the man.’ He is ‘the man’ within living memory,” Soren Geiger, research assistant to the president, said. “Many of the attendees said they remember listening to him on the radio.”
Geiger said this was his first time working behind the scenes for a CCA. The visitors were more than just the “usual Hillsdale crowd” but included folks from all over who were informed about Churchill’s life and legacy, he said.
“Compared to others, the CCA was one of the largest and the response one of the most enthusiastic,” Arnn said in an email. “People like the idea that we are helping to recover something lost and prepare for its revival in the future.”
Arnn said it is hard to beat great events in history and many of Hillsdale’s best CCAs concern great events or prominent figures from the past.
Bell said he was uncertain if other CCAs going forward will have the same success as this one, but the CCA on money was not as large, attractingmore than 325 outside guests.
He said high CCA attendance has a positive effect on the college at large. As attendance grows, more people visit the Hillsdale campus and are able to see firsthand what the college does.
“Guests especially enjoy being able to interact with faculty and students. Many of those attendees go on to establish student scholarships, faculty chairs, or contribute to the college in numerous other ways,” Bell said.
Last year’s “World War I” CCA was also highly attended by visitors and attracted 249 students, Bell said. Yet, according to Collegian archives, the CCA most highly attended by students was the seminar titled “War on Film” CCA in 2005, which attracted 340 students and forced the college to close the CCA to students who didn’t register for the course.
The Churchill CCA’s dinners were some of the first events held in the new Searle Center.
“We got to show off the Searle,” Geiger said. “It worked really well and proves these kinds of events will be better than they ever have been.”
