The Long Arm of the Federal Government Monster
This morning I read something immensely disturbing on the Wall Street Journal opinion page (access requires subscription). It reconfirms for me (as if I were ever in doubt) how controlling the federal government wants to be of our everyday lives. They want to be the arbiters of what we eat, what our healthcare should be, how we express our political beliefs (recall the IRS scandals here, and here, and here), and now what we should be allowed to learn.
Hillsdale College is a small liberal arts college that is 171 years old. It offers a classical “great books” style of education that used to be synonymous with a university education, but is rare in these days of post-modern, PC-minded, leftist universities. One of the hallmarks of Hillsdale is that it has gone to great lengths to remain independent from government, particularly the federal government. For example, Hillsdale’s students are not allowed to accept federal aid such as Pell grants. Larry Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, told the WSJ that “We thought that direct aid to the colleges was illegitimate. We’re the trainers of citizens and statesman. If the government funds us, it’s controlling that process.”
Never to be thwarted from asserting power, Washington said that it could still regulate Hillsdale because Hillsdale’s students accepted federal scholarship money. In response Hillsdale banned their students from accepting federal scholarships in 1984. Instead, Hillsdale set up their own internal financial aid program. In 2014 the average Hillsdale student received $17,317 from this internal program.
Staying independent of the federal monster allows Hillsdale to ignore a whole raft of federal regulatory requirements. Although they practice colorblind admissions, Hillsdale does not have to provide the Department of Education with statistics on the racial composition of the student body. When Mr. Arnn is asked how many students Hillsdale has in any particular racial group, he declares that he has no idea. “It’s hugely better if you can just ignore all that stuff,” he says.
Yet the federal government is still trying to find a crack in the wall Hillsdale has erected to protect them from the federal monster. They may have found one in the need Hillsdale has for accreditation by independent accrediting agencies. In the 1960s the federal government choose these independent agencies as the arbiters of eligibility for federal money. You might think that this should not matter to Hillsdale since neither they nor their students accept federal money. You would be wrong. The accrediting agencies must now satisfy standards set by the Department of Education, and Hillsdale is coming under increasing pressure for meeting federal requirements due to their need for the college accreditation.
So why should the federal government be so interested in regulating little Hillsdale College? Hillsdale College is that rarity in higher education: a college with a predominantly conservative reputation. An organization called TheBestSchools,org ranks Hillsdale College as number one in their list of the 20 best conservative colleges in America. The institution is also very visible in offering online courses with a conservative tone. One cannot suppress the suspicion that a federal government with a primal urge to control all of us would like to suppress the influence of Hillsdale college.
What do you think? Should Hillsdale be subject to federal regulation?
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