Hillsdale College Seal
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Former names
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Michigan Central College |
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Motto | Latin: Virtus Tentamine Gaudet |
Motto in English
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Strength Rejoices in the Challenge |
Type | Liberal arts college |
Established | December 4, 1844 |
Endowment | $494 million (2015) |
President | Larry P. Arnn |
Provost | David M. Whalen |
Academic staff
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124 full-time, 48 adjunct |
Undergraduates | 1,486 |
Location |
Hillsdale, Michigan, US 41°55′59″N 84°37′55″W / 41.933°N 84.632°WCoordinates: 41°55′59″N 84°37′55″W / 41.933°N 84.632°W |
Campus | Rural, 400 acres (84 buildings) |
Colors | Blue and white |
Athletics | NCAA Division II – GLIAC |
Nickname | Chargers |
Website | www.hillsdale.edu |
Hillsdale College is a co-educational, non-profit liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States. Most of the curriculum is based on and centered on the teaching of the Western heritage as a product of both the Greco-Roman culture and the Judeo-Christian tradition. Hillsdale requires every student, regardless of major, to complete a core curriculum that includes courses on the Great Books and the U.S. Constitution. The college declines to accept federal financial support, instead providing private financial assistance to its students.
In August 1844, members of the local community of Freewill Baptists resolved to organize their denomination's first collegiate institution. After gathering donations, they established Hillsdale College as Michigan Central College in Spring Arbor, Michigan on December 4, 1844. Although religiously affiliated, the college remained officially nonsectarian, stating that "no person shall be excluded from any privilege, immunity or situation in said college on account of his religious opinions." In the 19th century Hillsdale and Bates College in Maine were the only American colleges associated with this denomination. Hillsdale no longer has any denominational affiliation, and Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Oklahoma was founded after the college disaffiliated itself with the denomination. However, Hillsdale is still considered a Christian institution, with students expected to follow moral tenets of Christianity as commonly understood in the Christian tradition.
Under its first president, Daniel McBride Graham, who held the office from 1844 to 1848, Michigan Central College opened within a two-room store and admitted five students. In March 1845, the government of Michigan incorporated the college by an act of legislature, and the college enrolled 25 undergraduates by the end of its first year.