hillsdale college put on a nice reception at the beautiful south coast westin hotel...it began with an hour of good food (lots of gourmet cheese and crackers, wine, beer, soda, water, fruit, and meat roasted on the spit in front of us, albeit a bit too rare for me)...then we gathered in the conference room and Mike Morrel (republican representative, 40th district california, ie san berdu area) introduced us to Larry Arnn the president of Hillsdale College in southeast Michigan. The room was packed. I think most people have become famililar with hillsdale and Larry due to the 870am friday show with Hugh Hewitt where Hugh and Larry discuss philosophy and history in a erudite educated manner. Also the online HIllsdale course re the constitution caused a lot of people to raise their hands when asked who has taken them. Hillsdale is proud that they take NO federal money and therefore are able to resist certain suffocating federal mandates that "liberalizes" education in a bad way. So i've been listening to the Hugh Hewitt show for some time now and heard Hugh mention it on the radio, and decided to go see what it was all about. Very nice shindig. Before the speaking part, as mentioned, there was time for food and fellowship, and as I stood eating my food I noticed a short , slightly bearded, man standing nearby ...he was moving his way thru the crowd. I didn't know who he was but for some reason I sensed his presence. Later, I realized this was Larry Arnn himself. I had never seen his picture, but only heard him on the radio. I wish he had worn a nametag so I could have said hello. Anyways, we also watched a short video about hillsdale. I was surprised to see Pat Sajak from Wheel of Fortune in the video. He is one of the board of trustees members. Then Larry spoke to us for about 45 minutes, emphasizing the decline of education due to liberalism. He mentioned the recent issues at University of Missouri and other colleges where minority students are protesting their feelings of mistreatment. He thinks they are too young to know better. It was a mostly white crowd for that matter, but there were a few African-Americans and Latinos. One of the African-Americans stood up and asked a question at the end during the Q & A about the constitution. I was also interested in Hillsdale given I myself grew up in Michigan..and attended Calvin College. One of my relatives also attended Calvin College but also took classes at Hillsdale. And so I keep hearing about Hillsdale mostly on the conservative radio stations...they seem to be making waves in a good way, trying to turn the tide of liberalism back in the right direction. Let's remain "compassionate conservatives"...using our brains as well as our hearts...all in a good way for the sake of the cross ! after the speaking event, we went back to more good food...great slices of pie, cake, and cookies, and coffee. Thanks Hillsdale! Keep up the good work. 
