Hillsdale College

Hillsdale College is a co-educational, non-profit liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States. Most of the curriculum is centered on the study of the Western heritage as a product of 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, providing private financial assistance to its students.

History

Founding

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. While still a Christian institutution, 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.