by Ellen Donohoe
Executive Director of the Founders Campaign

When my colleagues and I are visiting with benefactors of the College, there is often a firm and good directness to their questions. The inquiries focus on the College. More often than not, the questions are about the future.

Because of their civic-minded viewpoints, they place many reflections and observations at the forefront of their hopes, concerns and plans. Some ask, “Who is addressing the future of liberty and the future of our country?” Others pose, “Will our children and future generations know and live by Constitutional principles?” In response, we can demonstrate in word and deed extensive and effective good work toward these aims. All the while, like the College’s founders, we hold fast to hope and believe in God’s providence.

Earlier this year, a group of Hillsdale alumni, parents and benefactors met at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. They saw firsthand a massive, rugged panel of the Berlin Wall. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn addressed the gathering and helped us recall that historic moment in 1987 when President Reagan courageously implored the Soviets to “tear down this wall.”

Now, almost 20 years later, the heft of that graffiti-painted cement still contains the antithesis of liberty. It is hard for us as citizens of a free Republic to imagine being forced against one’s will and nature to live in a certain way; but that is part of a good many histories.

America’s founders and Hillsdale’s founders understood that a person is not free until a person can act free from coercion or distress. Such a person is thus free to act as he sees fit. The more important question is: What is the action that person sees fit to pursue?

A classical education is the important “middle” to acting as a free person. Year after year, Hillsdale students undertake the study of liberty and always with the important “middle” in mind. Aristotle called it “the Golden Mean,” and a life of “nothing in excess.” Aquinas some centuries later adopted that notion while arguing that liberty is acquired. The purpose was still that important “middle,” the “middle” of Divine Law.

Now in its seventh year, the College’s capital and endowment Founders Campaign is ever mindful of the motto: “Pursuing Truth and Defending Liberty Since 1844.” As our students hear and discuss, education is preparation for the future, and a Hillsdale education is preparation for liberty. As parents, you know that President Arnn and the College faculty ask our students, “What is the meaning of liberty?”

In and out of class, our young men and women come to reflect and understand that liberty is natural to the human condition. True liberty is rational compliance to objective standards or, as voiced in conversation and reading, compliance to the “permanent things.”

The liberty to teach and to learn is voluntarily underwritten by the College’s donors to the Founders Campaign. Over 170,000 gifts have been given to date, of which 8,565 gifts and pledges totaling $8,934,761 have come from parents of Hillsdale College students enrolled from January 1, 2001, to present. More than $20 million has been given for endowed undergraduate faculty teaching chairs. And another $10 million is still needed. More than $63 million has been given for endowed student scholarships and loans. And another $25 million is still needed.

Building projects completed in the amount of $56 million are most easily observed. Another $50 million in construction needs such as the Intramural Building and a chapel have yet to be realized. Progress abounds to be sure, as do many plans, hard work and hopes for the future.

The $400 million Founders Campaign exemplifies a generosity that knows no parallel in higher education. Together, the College is working with parents, alumni and friends to bring about the future of liberty and the good future for tomorrow’s young men and women. Thank you for joining in this ongoing noble pursuit.