Criticism is good for Hillsdale. Nolan Ryan | Collegian

Liberal media criticism about Hillsdale College only make the school stronger.

These hit pieces artfully take facts about the college and present them in a way that attempts to discredit the school and promote a leftist agenda.

“Hillsdale has mixed fast-moving streams of education, politics, culture, patriotism, and religion into a roaring rapids of what some might call militant, white, Christian nationalism,” the Detroit Metro Times declared in November.

In its lengthy article, The New York Times subtly suggests the college engages in multiple kinds of discrimination. “As a result, the college does not follow Title IX guidelines on sex discrimination and the handling of sexual assault cases and it has refused to engage in the otherwise required reporting on student race and ethnicity, let alone develop an affirmative action plan,” the Times said in 2018.

Articles like this appear to be bad publicity for the school, but they are actually beneficial in two key ways.

The first is advertising.

Hillsdale is no stranger to advertising. One can find their ads on the biggest conservative talk shows and news stations, and their publications reach millions. But even here, in an area where Hillsdale has such a stronghold, a good (or bad) hit piece can make a difference.

Take the publications that have written about Hillsdale in the past few years. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic have written “unbiased” stories attacking the school. Michigan-based papers like Detroit Metro Times have also attempted to discredit Hillsdale. Combined, they reach millions of readers.

The impact is significant. The average reader of Imprimis is not, for instance, the most likely person to read theNew York Times on a regular basis. Many of those publications’ readers would have never heard of the school prior to those hit pieces. They certainly are not the type to listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox News. Each of those articles, then, reached millions of people whom Hillsdale never could have found.

While it is tempting to lump all the readers of theNew York Times, Washington Post, and Atlantic into one group and assume they always believe what they read, one should not make that mistake. Many would read about Hillsdale’s mission statement and agree that it is the most racist thing they have ever seen. Others, however, would be curious, and that curiosity would eventually lead them to the truth about Hillsdale.

Even if no one was curious, however, it would not be a problem. When people become incensed about something, they tend to rant about it. To their friends, on social media––any possible method to make as many other people angry about the same thing.

Eventually that ranting would reach people who agree with Hillsdale, or at least do not want to write them off so soon. Those people would do their own research and perhaps become the school’s newest supporters.

The second way hit pieces are beneficial is that they confirm that the school is heading in the correct direction.

To illustrate this point, one must look at the values the publications of these articles espouse. They promote almost if not total leftist ideology and condemn anything that dares contradict their beliefs. Anything widely concerned good or true must be seen as evil or false.

If a paper with those values attacks Hillsdale so viciously, Hillsdale must be doing something to draw their ire. Most recently that has been the charter school initiatives, which a  Washington Post editorial accuses of “[spreading] the gospel of the right-wing” and “[rewriting] American history, particularly when it comes to civil rights.”

In other cases, the mere existence of the school is enough. Those papers are desperate to prevent Hillsdale from achieving its goals, which is proof that Hillsdale must press on.

It would be easy to ask, for the sake of fairness, that so-called journalists stop writing their hit pieces. I ask them to do something very different––write them. Publish as many as you can.

Hillsdale’s future supporters and students thank you.