WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Collegian Week in Review: September 18th, 2025

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

On this episode of the Collegian Week in Review, hosts Catherine Maxwell, Alessia Sandala, and Megan Li go through the top headlines of the week. Then, they talk to senior Legacy Board member Rachel Dunphey about the Class of 2026's class gift. Finally, they talk to Sophia Bryant about a Hillsdale professor's trip to Israel. 

Welcome to the Collegian Weekend Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Here are your hosts, Alessia Sandela, Catherine Maxwell, and Megan Lee. Welcome to Collegian Week in Review, where we give you an inside look into Michigan's oldest college newspaper. We're your host, Alessia Sandella, Megan Lee, and Catherine Maxwell. And today we'll be talking to senior legacy board member Rachel Dunphy about the senior class gift, and assistant editor Sophia Bryant about a visiting professor's summer trip to Israel. Our first bit of news this week is something very fun and interesting. Our college is beginning a scooter registration program.

So apparently there's been a lot of scooters on campus as of late that students are bringing in, I believe, and the college is now requiring us to register them. Not requiring, actually. It's been a little bit confusing with some conflicting messaging. They are recommending that students register their scooters. There was an email that got sent out, I think, before the semester started, that said registration was required. Oh, yeah, I saw that one. Yeah, but then there was more communication between administration and security, and they decided to just encourage it.

And they say it's because apparently if they get lost, they can track them down more easily. I don't know how you lose a scooter. Somebody might accidentally take your scooter thinking it was theirs. That's true. That's true. The other day I was walking a saga and there was a row of completely identical scooters parked right outside of it. Yeah, they all look the same. Which I thought the, my initial thought when I saw that was that the college is like rent.

out scooters for students to use, all with the same brand. No, I think there were just people's. But yes, thank you for the correction, Catherine. It's literally in the pool quote. Well, it's been confusing, and that's part of the reason we ran this piece. I don't think students would have been super happy about being required to register scooters. Although registration is free, correct? It is. And apparently they have something similar for bikes, and they would, were able to use the registration to find a bike that had gone missing. I don't know if the bike had been stolen.

The Hillsdale City Police Department had it. So I don't know if they just found it somewhere or how they got it. But they're able to get in touch with security and run some numbers and get it back to whoever lost it. Maybe we've done this before, actually. I don't remember. I would love to talk to people who use these scooters. They're all athletes. Learn about the scooter.

Learn about the scooter culture. The scooter cultures. I think Thomas did a piece on this last year. He may have. On football players who ride scooters. Also in the news this week, the military history department hosted its annual conference on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. It was a mix of Hillsdale professors and some guest lecturers.

And it sounds like there were a lot of interesting perspectives, especially Mark Moyer. He's the William P. Harris Chair of Military History. And he talked about the Vietnam War using sources from North Vietnam. And I don't know a lot about the history of the Vietnam War or the sources that people usually use. But Paul Ray, also professor of history, who helped organize this event, he said that that's really really. unique because most history that's been done on the Vietnam War has only included American sources. And apparently no one's really tried to use North Vietnamese sources, even though there's a bunch of them. And obviously they provide an important perspective.

This week in City News, the Hillsdale Municipal Airport revealed its new terminal at its annual Patriots Day fly-in. The new terminal is basically a modernized version. of the old one. It's very fancy inside. And I went to this event and they had helicopter rides and plane rides you could take. So it was really cool how they tied the reveal of the new terminal into an annual event that they do. And I actually got to ride in a helicopter with this mom and her four-year-old son. And it was one of the cutest experiences I've ever had. them in the helicopter? That's so cool. It was incredible. So we got to see all of Hillsdale from the sky. The new terminal from the sky looks really amazing. Also, the college. We saw that as well.

How long was the ride? Where all did they take you? It was probably like five, ten minutes. I mean, it wasn't long, but it was just a circle around Hillsdale, probably in the flight pattern. It's interesting how this event really brought a lot of new people to the airport. The mom that I rode in the helicopter with Casey Rhodes, she said that it was the first time she had ever been to the airport and she lives three miles down the road. So she always sees the planes but has never gone to the airport. So events like this and then the new terminal are expected to bring a lot of business and just other community interaction with the airport, make it a more integral part. Did they tear down the old terminal or is this an additional terminal for the airport?

No, I'm pretty sure it's still there. There's another building that's attached, and they have a lot of hangars there as well, which the former airport manager said are all full. The photos, I'm sure don't do it justice, but it looks very impressive because back in my city news days, I went down there to get pictures of it when it was in construction. And it definitely had the outline of the building, but it was not at all close to Now that it's finished, it looks really nice. It does. It's very modern.

Even on the inside, you can tell that it's meant to have a very different vibe than the old terminal. And it's meant to be a welcoming place where if people fly in for business, they can go and wait for their flight. They can kind of just relax for a little bit. And it's a very, it's very business oriented in a way. Is it mostly private flights out of this airport? Yeah, it's a municipal airport, so it's recreational mostly, and then also there can be like business. And I know the college uses it a lot as well. One of the city council members, Bob Flynn, mentioned that Meyer used it when they were coming to scout the location.

So it's also used for business and recreation. In addition to this airport reveal, we've also had some development in other construction projects. What's going on with the Kiefer Hotel, Alessia? Well, the Kiefer and the real estate company, Seattle Real Estate, who is redoing the Kiefer, they requested an Oprah deadline extension until December 31st, and this would extend how long their property tax exemptions go till. And for those of us who are not well versed in how property taxes work, is this essentially saying they don't have to pay property taxes until? construction is finished. Is that what this is supposed to help with? I'm not sure if it's completely they don't pay property taxes or if they pay a reduced amount.

It's definitely less or none though while they're working under Oprah. And then when Oprah runs out, they will have to pay the full amount. And if their hotel isn't open and up and running, they'll be losing money at that point. It sounds like. But they said that they're getting closed. and they requested December 31st for their extension, and the city council will vote on that on October 6th. It was good to see that they're making what sounds like good progress.

I honestly don't pay much attention to the Kiefer when I drive past it, but it's the kind of building that when the hotel is finished would be really cool as a hotel. And I know it would be really nice for the city to have a place, a bigger place to stay since there's always so much fighting over rental houses and Airbnb's in the area when parents are coming in for graduation or parent weekends. So I'm sure everyone in the city is really wanting to get this project done. Yeah, and it's a really cool historic building as well. So I hope they're keeping the historic charm. Well, those are our top headlines from this week.

now we'll be talking to Legacy Board Coordinator Rachel Dunphy and Assistant Editor Sophia Bryant. You're listening to The Collegian Week in Review. I'm Catherine, and today we're talking to Legacy Board Coordinator, Rachel Dunphy, about the senior class gift. Rachel, thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to talk about it. So the 2026 senior class gift was just unveiled. What is it? So this year we've decided that 2026 senior class gift is going to be a scholarship

in memorial for our classmate Emerson, Emmy Sigerson. She was a member of the 26 class that she would have graduated with us. But unfortunately, she passed away last year on September 8th after a brief battle with cancer. So we wanted to put a little memorial out there. to help some students who might also suffer from similar struggles that she had will here on campus. That's awesome. Who will the scholarship be for what kind of students are y'all open to help? So when working with the financial aid office, we try to keep them somewhat open-ended just so that a large variety of students can receive the scholarship in years to come because we never really know what situation students are going to be in. However, the ward of students do need to be students who are already going to Hillsdale College.

It won't be for incoming. It will be students who have already gone through a year or semester, however long, at Hillsdale College, and then need some supplemental funding due to family hardships, especially giving preference to illnesses of their own or in their immediate family or like an unexpected financial circumstance that would stop them from returning to Hillsdale. Again, mostly giving focus to people who also dealt with illness. or hardships because of that. What drew the legacy board to a scholarship and especially a scholarship in honor of Emmy?

Yeah, well, as we can all see at the moment, there's a lot of construction going on at the college. So we definitely all wanted something that would be able to be seen on campus pretty quickly, the effects of it seen on campus pretty quickly. And so while the last two senior class gifts have been amazing was a greenhouse and a fireplace, place, we were really wanting to do something that we were able to see here on campus now. And so the idea of doing a scholarship came up. And I can't remember if it was our leader, Kaylee, DeChello, or one of the students, but they suggested, you know, what if we look into giving it as a memorial scholarship for Emmy?

And instantly, everyone jumped on board with that because that's a fantastic idea. She was such a light and spark here on campus that it only seemed fitting to put something on campus that will immediately help a number of students. that also just puts her name out there in Memorial because she literally was one of the kindest, sponkyest, most helpful people I knew. It's so beautiful to name the scholarship after her. And I know students following the class of 26 are going to appreciate not having another construction project. Yeah, I hope so. I do.

How are you all raising funds? Yeah, so we've already raised about $1,300 already, which is really exciting. but students have been donating by signing up for reoccurring a monthly gifts to the 1844 Society. But honestly, some students that are not even seniors have been donating already. We've had a few alumni donate. And then we've also had some underclassmen, freshman, sophomore, juniors who knew Emmy were touched by her donate as well, which is really, really fantastic. Emmy was a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority, which you are also a member of. Yes, I am.

Did you know Emmy through the sorority and what was your relationship with her like? Yeah. So she was a member of Pi Beta Phi. I was actually her, what we call a new member mom, when she was going through the process of becoming a new member and becoming a Pi Beta Phi Phi. And honestly, she was like the brightest light in like someone who just stands out in my memory before everything. She always was so bubbly, so excited to be there. She was one of the most fun people to like just be in the basement with. with a group of people and she's just one of those ghosts who could talk to anybody and I'd be doing my homework and then someone would start a conversation I'd look up and we would just all the group of us would end up talking for hours and Emmy would tell the funniest stories like genuinely one of

the best storytellers I've ever met so I mean obviously I wasn't super close to her but just always getting to be in the same room with her left me with a smile and so the fact that she was able to make such a big impact on my life. And I wasn't like her best friend says I feel like a lot about her as a person. And I know that I'm not the only one who feels that way. There are so many students here on campus who were so touched by her, but maybe only had a few interactions with her. But she was just one of those people who were always saying hi to everyone in the hallway and would remember your name and would like really care about you and want the best for your well-being. That was Legacy Board Coordinator Rachel Dunphy. Rachel, thanks for coming on. Thank you so much.

You're listening to the Collegian Week in Review. I'm Megan, and today we're here with Assistant News Editor Sophia Bryant to talk about Dr. Weingrad, a visiting professor at Hillsdale, who spent his summer in Israeli bomb shelters. Sophia, welcome to Collegian Weekend Review. We're so happy to have you here. Could you tell us who is Dr. Weingrad? Dr. Weingrad is a visiting professor at Hillsdale. He's been here since January of 2025. He is a professor of Jewish studies. He was teaching at Portland University, and he was invited by Dr. Arn. This summer was a bit unique, though. He was spending a lot of time in bomb shelters. So what was the situation with that in Israel? It was during the 12-day war, as I believe some people have been calling it.

with Iran. Israel was trying to take out Iran's nuclear sites and Iran was retaliating. He was in Israel when Iran started really firing missiles. Why could I observe some things about, you know, how the locals were reacting to these missiles? What was their reaction? He said they were very good natured. He said that like people would come in and their bathrobes at five in the morning with a direct quote as humor and real gentle compassion for everyone in the room. And what kinds of people would be coming into these bomb shelters? What did it look like in terms of distribution? Really all kinds of different people. He described it as very diverse. He said that there were, to quote him, religious and secular, Jews and Arabs, Israelis and guest workers from India and Asia,

cute dogs, babies, tourists, and everyone was pulling together and passing the time. And he said it was one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen. To be able to draw together in that kind of fortitude, even when such scary things were happening, it's very impressive. Wangrad spoke a bit more about the culture of Israel that he experienced while he was there. What did that look like? He described it as very trusting, and he told a story about he was, in a bookstore and the owner just left.

Like she had to run an errand and she asked if she could leave him there and he said yes. And she just left and was gone for 45 minutes and he was there with her store, her phone. But it was a high trust society. And when she finally came back, she said she'd run into her dad and they'd had a cup of coffee, just that they're able to have that trust between strangers, despite everything that happens and all the violence is really incredible. It looks like students at Hillsdale have some connections back to Israel as well. You write about senior Tully Mitchell, who was on a passages trip to Israel, a trip that Hillsdale does every year.

What did she say struck her about being in Israel? So she made friends while she was on her trip to Israel, and she was really struck by like what, like, they were more concerned with like not being able to like go to work or go to the gym than they were. with the fact that they were being bombed. A friend texted her and said, my city is getting bombed, L.O.L. but I'm fine. Just sad because work got canceled a day and the gym was closed.

Like, I don't know, kind of a crazy reaction. And then there's sophomore Yali Salzman, who is Jewish himself, I believe. His brother is serving in the Israel defense forces, especially in the conflicts with Hamas and Iran this summer. What was his perspective on? what his brother was going through.

He said it was really scary. His brother, just with him being over there, his brother felt very afraid. And then he said that every day is scary because they don't know, like, what's going to happen next. I was really struck by how Israelis respond to getting bombed all the time. Because to read the quote about people coming into bomb shelters

in their bath robes, It feels almost like how you see people react in dorms on campus when the fire alarm goes off, and everyone just kind of wanders outside and, okay, here we go again, wait for the fire department to show up. But no one's in danger when it's the fire alarm. And here it's actual missiles and maybe not a super high chance of death because the Iron Dome is really impressive. Still, a much higher chance of death than any of us face walking outside at 2 in the morning from a fire alarm. Did he say how that affects the Israelis and their fortitude or just their mental state, how they go about their daily lives, just dealing with this constant threat? He talked a lot about how Israelis live with joy and gratitude and just how much they love life.

he said at one point these people love life they're going to live life no matter what and then he said it felt like a privilege to be there just the way he described like the compassion they had for one another and their bravery and gratitude even while they were being bombed was really striking you said he was in a panel discussion about why traveled to Israel what were some of the arguments that he posed for going to Israel I saw in the paper there are these stunning people pictures of this monastery in Jerusalem. And it seems like there's a really, I mean, not seems, we know that there's a rich culture there in Israel. What were some of the things that he said about that? He mostly, again, just talked about, like, how incredible it was that everybody came together and had compassion for one another. In the article, it talks a little bit about the Jewish community on campus. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Sophomore Yali Salzman. is the president of the Jewish Mishpaha, and they have events throughout the semester. Dr. Weingrad sponsored their first event of this semester, which was a Shabbat dinner.

Salsman said that it was really good to have that Jewish connection on campus and have Jewish professors. Thank you so much. That was Sophia Bryant, assisted news editor talking about Dr. Michael Weingrat's summer in Israel. Thank you so much, Sophia. Thank you. You've been listening to the Collegian Week in Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Catherine Maxwell. I'm Alessia Sandala. And I'm Megan Lee.

You can find the Collegian Weekend Review online at cwir.transistor.fm. You can find more news at Hillsdale Collegian.com. Instagram at Hillsdale Collegian. You're listening to Collegian Weekend Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7F.