Overview

The Dow Program in American Journalism is linked to the Hillsdale College Mission Statement and devoted to “the restoration of ethical, high-minded journalism standards and to the reformation of our cultural, political and social practices. Through academic challenge and practical application, the Dow Program seeks to educate students to become defenders of traditional values, passing on to posterity the blessings of our American heritage and the legacy of First Principles intended by our Founding Fathers.”

An “Enlightened” Free Press

During our country’s founding years, a group of patriots assembled for the purpose of examining the idea of freedom.  They had in common a singular dedication to the freedom of the individual and the strength of educated inquiry into the sources and contents of freedom.  The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are the Founding Fathers’ testament to the role of freedom in modern civilization.

Appropriately, the Founding Fathers believed a free press would be vital for a creative society and one of its  most important values.  If freedom were to prevail, it would be through an informed public’s knowledge of the issues facing a free and open society.  Vital in building a moral nation, a free press became a metaphor for liberty. 

The moral challenge facing the American public in the early years of the 21st century is whether today’s journalists are patiently and humbly preserving that liberty or inexcusably delinquent by abusing that liberty at the expense of an “enlightened” American public.

The mission of the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism is to educate generations of journalists who desire to preserve that liberty and who believe that journalism is an indispensable social asset for a creative society as well as the means to “enlighten” the American public.  Journalists are educators with an ethical responsibility to the community.  Through their understanding of history, economics, theology, philosophy, business, literature, the arts, psychology, sociology, and politics, journalists contribute to the standards of civilized conduct.  They hold a major responsibility in the realm of public beliefs.

Tomorrow’s journalists must be broadly and generally educated in the liberal arts and deeply aware of the values and traditions and operating principles of a free society.  To that end, students who fulfill the requirements of the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism will be prepared to revitalize the Founding Fathers’ sense of America’s mission and the role of a free press in preserving that mission.

For further information, please contact:

Director of the Herbert H. Dow II
Program in American Journalism
Hillsdale College
33 East College Street
Hillsdale, MI 49242
(517) 607-2706

For Herbert H. Dow II Scholarship information, please contact:

Jeffrey Lantis, Director of Admissions
Hillsdale College
33 East College Street
Hillsdale, MI  49242
(517) 607-2327
admissions@hillsdale.edu