History & Staff

The Collegian is Hillsdale College’s weekly student newspaper. The paper delivers local, campus, and national news that is written, photographed, and videoed by Hillsdale students. The Collegian is the oldest college newspaper in Michigan.

The college has produced a student newspaper since 1876, when the Hillsdale Herald was first published. The Collegian was started as a rival paper in 1893, and in 1896, the two papers merged becoming the Herald-Collegian. Eventually Herald was dropped, giving the paper its current name, The Hillsdale Collegian.

The Collegian seeks to follow the highest standard of journalistic ethics and produce top quality stories. As a result of the paper’s consistent drive for excellence, it has won multiple Michigan Press Association Awards in the last few years, including General Excellence in 2011, and best College Weekly in 2016.

The paper’s writers have gone on to write for The Wall Street Journal, The Express, Fox News, ESPN, National Review, Daily Beast, Politico, Nashville Public Radio, National Review, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily, Congressional Quarterly, The Daily Caller, The Hill, and more.

The Collegian recognizes that the paper is a training ground for journalists as well as a service to the Hillsdale campus, alumni community, and friends and supporters of the college.

The Collegian is affiliated with WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale, which was launched by Hillsdale College in 2015 as a way to give students opportunities in radio hosting and production. It can be heard in the area surrounding Hillsdale, Michigan at 101.7 FM.

2025 – 2026 Staff: