Hillsdale is the only college in Michigan that does not accept federal funding, operating completely independently of government handouts and subsidies. Schools like Michigan State University and the University of Michigan are learning that federal dollars come with strings, and those strings are taught.
The two colleges—the biggest in the state—are both members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance and have passed, or are urging their faculty senates to pass, a “mutual defense compact” out of fear of retaliation from the administration.
Rutgers University initiated the charge, urging Big Ten schools to pass similar resolutions to commit funding and legal resources to defend the schools against potential federal funding withdrawal.
Hillsdale, however, requires no such compact because, since 1984, the college has rejected federal funds.
“Hillsdale does not accept even one penny of federal or state funding for student grants, loans, or scholarships,” the college’s website reads. “Being steadfastly and completely independent of taxpayer support is essential to being a truly independent institution—one not beholden to government regulations that conflict with our educational mission.”
Some of Hillsdale’s Michigan neighbors fail to recognize those same principles yet assert that the Trump administration meets their demands, not the other way around.
The administration cites pro-Palestinian protests and rhetoric, as well as destructive DEI measures on campus, as reasons for pulling funding.
“Shouting, preventing people from going to class, threatening them personally. That breaks down the academic community,” Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said. “They shouldn’t be doing that. And it’s, you know, because the [1964] Civil Rights Act is written in a certain way; if they permit that kind of activity, Harvard is in violation of that act, and that act applies to every organization in America.”
Ironically, Hillsdale’s financial freedom is rooted in similar frustrations about the federal government asking the college to do things it didn’t want to do. In Hillsdale’s case, it was recording and collecting diversity statistics.
