# Hillsdale College A small Michigan liberal arts college (1,600 undergrads) that punches far above its weight as conservative intellectual infrastructure. Under president **Larry Arnn** (2000-present, a student of Claremont's Harry Jaffa), Hillsdale has become a factory for conservative cadres, a publisher reaching 6 million homes monthly, and the architect of a K-12 charter school network spreading constitutional originalism to the next generation. Hillsdale's defining feature: it accepts **zero federal funding**, including student financial aid. This principled rejection of government money — maintained since 1984 when it refused to sign a Title IX compliance agreement — gives Hillsdale independence from federal regulation and enormous credibility among conservative donors who fund the gap. ## The *Imprimis* Empire Hillsdale's most outsized influence comes not from its campus but from its publishing: - ***Imprimis*:** A monthly digest sent to **6+ million subscribers** — the largest circulation of any conservative publication in America (larger than National Review, [[The Daily Wire]], or any comparable outlet). Each issue is a single essay by a conservative intellectual or political figure, often adapted from a Hillsdale lecture. Free to subscribers, funded by donations. - **Free online courses:** "Constitution 101," "Introduction to the Constitution," and similar courses have been taken by millions. These courses teach constitutional originalism as the default interpretive framework. - **Hillsdale College Press:** Publishes books on constitutional history, the founding, and classical education. The combined reach means Hillsdale shapes how millions of conservatives *understand the Constitution* — not through policy papers (Heritage) or philosophical essays (Claremont) but through *education* at scale. ## The Charter School Network Hillsdale's K-12 strategy represents the education wing of the broader conservative institutional project: - **30+ Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools** across multiple states - **Barney Charter School Initiative:** Provides curriculum, teacher training, and the Hillsdale brand to classical charter schools - **The 1776 Curriculum:** Hillsdale's K-12 curriculum was adopted by multiple states (Tennessee, South Carolina, others) as either required or recommended American history curriculum. Trump used Hillsdale's [[1776 Commission]] as the counter to the New York Times' 1619 Project. ### Overlap with CREC Classical Education Hillsdale's classical education model and the [[CREC]]'s ACCS school network (550+ schools, overseen by [[David Goodwin]]) represent two parallel pipelines for conservative education — one secular-originalist (Hillsdale), one explicitly Christian (CREC/ACCS). They share: - Classical curriculum philosophy (great books, Latin, rhetoric) - Conservative intellectual formation as core purpose - Rapid growth through charter/private school networks - Overlap in faculty, board members, and donor base Together, they represent a **parallel education system** designed to produce the next generation of conservative intellectuals, politicians, and cultural leaders outside the mainstream public education system. ## The $300M+ Endowment and Zero-Federal-Funding Model Hillsdale's refusal of federal money means it depends entirely on private donations — and those donations have grown dramatically: - **$300M+ endowment** (enormous for a school of 1,600 students) - **~$80M in annual donations** - Major conservative donors fund the gap left by forgoing federal student aid - The zero-federal-funding stance is itself a fundraising tool — it signals independence and principle to conservative donors This model is philosophically significant: Hillsdale demonstrates that a conservative institution can survive and thrive entirely outside the federal funding ecosystem. This success story feeds the broader conservative argument for defunding or dismantling the [[Department of Education]]. ## See Also - [[CREC]] — Parallel Christian classical education network ([[Douglas Wilson]], David Goodwin) - [[Claremont Institute]] — Shared intellectual DNA (Harry Jaffa → Larry Arnn) - [[Heritage Foundation]] — Complementary policy infrastructure - [[Turning Point USA Ecosystem]] — Conservative youth pipeline (different model: activism vs. education) - [[Christian Reconstructionism]] — Deeper ideological connection through classical education philosophy - [[Think Tank Ecosystem]] — Full think tank landscape