WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Collegian Week In Review: September 4th, 2025

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

This week on the Collegian Week in Review, hosts Catherine Maxwell, Alessia Sandala, and Megan Li talk to Francesca Cella about a new Mexican restaurant opening in the area, Martha Kennedy about the campus reaction to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s recent engagement, and Caroline Kutas about a Hillsdale freshman's bike ride to get to the College. 

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 the Collegian Week in Review, where we give you an inside look into Michigan's oldest college newspaper. We're your host, Alessia Sandela, Megan Lee, and Catherine Maxwell. And today we'll be talking with Francesca Sella about a new Mexican restaurant, Martha Kennedy about Taylor Swift's engagement and Caroline Kurt about a freshman who rode his bike to college. But first, we're starting with some top stories.

Trent Moyar, the son of history professor Mark Moyer, died at the end of August after a year's long battle with bone cancer. We'd like to have a moment of silence to honor Trent's memory. Some top headlines from this week. College President Larry Arne is entering his 25th year as the Hillsdale College president. In this week's issue, we have a photo of the newspaper release announcing Arne as the president of Hillsdale College released on September 9, 2000, almost 25 years ago. Hillsdale also took third place in Forbes financial rankings.

Hillsdale's endowment investments totaled more than 900 million. as of June 24, and the four-year average of the endowment balances is about $800 million, according to Assistant Director of Media Relations, Bruno Cortez. Three Hillsdale professors were also awarded Heritage Foundation honors. Heritage Foundation announced Associate Dean of Van Annal School of Government and Assistant Professor of Government Matthew Meant as one of its 2025 Innovation Prize winners in June. And in July, Professor of Philosophy and Religion Nathan Schleet, and history professor Mark Moyer were recipients of heritage's freedom and opportunity academic prize.

This week in City News, the county commissioners voted to extend Lifeways's lease to 2030, leaving the 2B district court without a home and needing to find one within three years. A part of M34 will be named after fallen deputy sheriff William Butler Jr., who was shot and killed during a traffic stop in June of 2020. 24. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Joseph Bellino and State Senator Jonathan Lindsay. Downtown Hillsdale also got a new mural this summer. The mural depicts Hillsdale's past and has scenes from Hillsdale's founding, its settlement, and also the coming of the railroad. Those are this week's top headlines, and now we welcome our three guests.

You're listening to the Collegian Week in Review. This is Alessia, and I'm here with Francesca Sella, a collegian reporter, and we're going to be talking about the new Mexican restaurant that's going to be opening where a gas station currently is on Carleton and also a new band that is part of the Theta Epsilon Men's Music Fraternity. Hi, Francesca. Hi, Alessia. So do you want to tell me a little bit about this Mexican restaurant that's coming? Yeah, so I was telling my friends on Saturday that I needed to go to the gas station to interview somebody, and they were all laughing at me because they thought it was funny. We were writing an article on this. And I also thought it was

funny that I was doing this because it's kind of comical. All I knew was there was a gas station and a restaurant that was opening somewhere associated with it. So I talked with the man behind the register who, it turns out, was going to be the head chef. And he told me that there's a building that's attached to the Shell gas station currently on Carlton Road. he is going to be leading the charge on this restaurant opening. It's called Coopers, and it's going to serve Mexican-American-style food, and they hope to open it within the next two weeks. So you said Mexican-and-American-style food.

So did they mention anything specifically? They really emphasized the protein rice bowls. They kept kind of talking about how it would be sort of like Chipotle, but more family-style, less of a chain restaurant. They also mentioned some barbecue chicken egg bowlers. sprals, smash burgers, chicken wings, and subs. So I guess the subs and the chicken wings are where the American comes in, but the ricefuls is more the Mexican side, which I think is their emphasis. And so where did they get this idea from? The man I spoke with, George Shama, is a chef for 20,

he's been a chef for 20 years and he's, he has started restaurants before in other countries even. So I think this is his business. This is what he does and this is what he thinks about. So I think he was looking for an opportunity to open a restaurant with this gas station that he's associated with. But they got this specific idea to open a protein rice bull sort of restaurant because they had the gas station redone as when they purchased it back in April. And the workers there mentioned something about going all the way to Jackson to get rice bowls, which is about 45 minutes away from here. So that was, I think, what prompted them to think about opening something like that. because one, people were seeking this kind of food and driving 45 minutes to get it.

And two, it's a very different kind of food than what we have here in Hillsdale. Like they noticed everything that we have is fast food or not a full meal, like a coffee shop. So we don't have many cultural food options besides maybe Elserritos. So are the gas station and the restaurant going to be connected in any way? Yes, I think the management will be fairly separate. So the gas station restaurant combo is owned by Shukri Abdullah, who owns gas stations across all of Michigan. And he and his nephew really worked together to run these gas stations. But once the restaurant opens, it will be mostly under the charge of the chef, George Shama.

He's going to be taken care of it along with his friend Rami Jogman. And they entered into the restaurant business together with the gas station owner Abdullah. So it will be mostly run separately. I believe Shukri Abdullah's nephew will be running most of the gas station work, and then Shama will be taking care of cooking in the restaurant and also getting it off the ground business-wise. Okay, let's transition to your other piece about the new Theta Epsilon Men's Music Fraternity Band. Can you just tell me how they started this band, what the background on that is? So Theta Epsilon's had a band for the last 12 years that they call their flagship band, or they pick four or five members. that represents their skill as a fraternity,

that they think will represent them well on stage. And the musicians phase out every year. As they graduate, then they leave the band, obviously. So they have to find somebody new. And the bands, often at Hillsdale or just in general, college bands are normally centered around a group of people that works together throughout all four years. And this is different because it's centered around the fraternity.

And so it's been existing. far longer than most other bands because the fraternity has continued to stay around. So instead of ending the band, they say this is really the same band that started 12 years ago and we just replace a new member when someone graduates. Some members are on this band for three years. Some members are only on for one year if they come on their senior year. So this year we have Aidan Christian is the lead singer and it's his first year and he's a senior. So he will be an example. He will be an example of someone who only has a year on this band. And also something interesting about this particular year of the band, Jet Cruise and the Bahama Mamas, they're all seniors. So it'll be interesting to see how

they replace themselves because normally there's a continuity from band to band, but they're all graduating this year. And in fact, one of them is graduating a semester early. So they'll have to replace him in the spring semester. So they were saying this will be an interesting band turnover because normally they don't have a group of seniors only. Great. Thanks for coming on, Francesca. Yeah, thanks for having me. Radio Free Hillsdale's The Collegian Weekend Review continues. This is Megan, and today we have Martha Kennedy, a Collegian reporter with us,

who wrote a piece in culture about Taylor Swift's engagement, which is pretty hot news lately. Martha, are you a Swifty? Are you a fan of Taylor Swift? Ms. Swifty. I've grown up listening to Taylor Swift's music. I feel like that's a little bit controversial here, but like, kind of like Violet said in the piece, I appreciate her music. I'm not necessarily like endorsing everything she does in her personal life. But yeah, I like her music. Was the engagement a surprise to you personally? It was a surprise to me. Honestly, okay, it wasn't a surprise to me that they got engaged because they seem really happy and like I was kind of expecting it, but it was more of a surprise to me that they announced it, like on Instagram so publicly.

I think after her previous, like, long-term relationship, which was like six years and very private, it was just like a little bit of a shock that she's like, oh, like here we are on Instagram. We're engaged, like telling the whole world, which is great. And I'm glad. I'm very glad. But it was a little bit surprising to me. From all the people that you spoke to in this article, if you could summarize the reactions or like the reactions of anyone you've spoken to about what happened, the news of the engagement.

What would you say Hillsdale's general reaction seems to look like? I would say Hillsdale's general reaction is they're all very happy that she's getting married, but not necessarily very hopeful for the marriage. But one thing that was really nice is that they are, everyone is very happy that they're getting married. They're happy that they're taking this next step. And they think it is a good step forward in our culture for people to see. that. Yeah. I love that you got Professor Nathan Schleeder on this article. Nathan Schleeder is a professor

of philosophy and religion. And was he, what was his reaction to the engagement? Did he know about it? Yes, he did. And actually, he like was honestly telling me some things that I didn't know about it, which was awesome. He said he has some daughters and people in his life who are, who are Swifty's. So I think the daughters have definitely cultured him. And it was. is awesome because he teaches a philosophy of love, sex, and marriage here at the college. And I was just excited to get his opinion on it because of that. He, like, popped into my mind first as soon as I took this piece. And I definitely, he did not disappoint. He had some great, great takes. Do you think that the fact that Taylor Swift, who has been, who has had a lot of

boyfriends over the years is now getting married? Do you think this is a good thing for young girls? young Swifties to see her. I think it is. I really think that, you know, she has this reputation of being kind of a serial dater and having all these relationships and kind of just like having these boyfriends and then breaking up with them and then writing an album. And I think it's good for people to see that that's not necessarily what makes you happiest and that might not necessarily be what's actually happening with her. I think that she really, she's kind of living her best life now and I'm I'm happy for that. And I think it's good for girls to see this woman who has this, this history, taking the next step, going forward with marriage. And I also think in the past, she's really,

she's talked a lot about how marriage is like what she wants. She wants to find this, like, the person for her. And she wants to, you know, have this, this end goal of marriage and, and find the one. And so, while it might not be the perfect example of like a sacramental marriage or whatever, I think that it is good for the culture who doesn't really have that in view anyway to see someone getting married and see this high-profile person going through with that. That was Martha Kennedy, Collegian Reporter, talking about Taylor Swift's engagement. Thank you so much, Martha. Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. You're listening to The Collegian Week in Review.

I'm Catherine, and today I'm talking to Collegian Opinions editor, Caroline Kurt. Caroline, in this piece you wrote for features, you said, some students drive to Hillsdale College, others take a plane. But one particular freshman did something very different. How did he get to college? Yeah, so freshman James Burkett rode his bike 300 miles from Pennsylvania with his dad to Hillsdale College. So they took the journey over three days. And what's notable especially is that although his dad is a fairly seasoned cyclist,

James really only picked up cycling this past summer between high school and college. And so this trip was the first time he had ever, had ever, you know, cycled over 100 miles, which in like cycling terms is, that's called a century ride. So, you know, he hit his first 100 mile long continuous ride on the second day of this trip. They live in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania, so fairly close to the Ohio border. So it was Pennsylvania to Ohio, to Michigan, three states, three days, 300 miles. What motivated James to ride his bike to college, especially given he had just seriously started riding and was going to take on this 300-mile trip? It was funny.

You know, when I talked to James and then separately interviewed his dad, neither of them could quite place who came up with this. idea but what they did say was you know james was wanting to kind of shake things up after and do something kind of challenging and adventurous the summer before college he had some experience in endured sports he was a cross-country athlete which he said and his sister said as well like he grew to like but wasn't his passion and so was able to take his experience in endurance sports and you know kind of following his dad's footsteps and take up cycling which he did explicitly so he could ride to Hillsdale. And so, you know, starting in, it sounds like May, you know, they bought a used bike for him. He biked in his Bloodstone boot, Bluntstone. They're a pretty well-known brand of like Chelsea boots,

knot. He started doing, you know, 40-mile rides, 60-mile rides, which are like several hours long to practice. So worked up to there. But when they left for, you know, this three-day trip, he had still not come close to, you know, a sentry ride. So this was really kind of, you know, we think we can do this. We think this is manageable. And again, his dad had experienced, but it was a little bit of a shot in the dark, which I think sounded like, yeah, that's the fun of it. What were some of the highlights of his trip?

Three days is a long time. Obviously not biking the full 72 hours. But I'm sure they encountered some interesting obstacles, an interesting route. What were they up to? I think in some ways it sounds like things went smoothly, which is good. His dad especially was saying, you know, we had perfect weather. The first day of the trip, they rode 71 miles, so not hitting that century yet. And got to a family friend's house.

The second day, one of the stops they made was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. And that's also later that day, that's when they hit the century ride and got ice cream to celebrate, as one does. And broke up the ride with a decent amount of stops, obviously. And then the third day, it sounds like, is when really things got a little challenging because on kind of the last stretch of the ride, you know, you can imagine they're super tired. They've been doing this for two full days now. They're almost at hill still, but they hit a pretty strong headwind, which is, you know, you're riding into the wind.

And so there's a lot of resistance there, especially when you're not going super slow. They weren't going like a race pace, but still. And so that headwind combined with a lot of exhaustion sounded like it was a pretty physically and mentally challenging pilot trip. But they made it. This made, didn't make it in the article. But earlier, they ran into a small problem with James's bike that they were able to fix. So nothing huge or dramatic. The last thing I'm left wondering after hearing this story is what happened to James' stuff?

How did it get to college? This was, I think, one of my first questions when I heard about it. him doing this. First of all, I didn't realize his dad had gone with him, but the second was like, oh my gosh, what about his stuff? And so James has a rock star sister named Rue, who is a sophomore in college. She doesn't go to Hillsdale. But she, along with their three younger siblings, drove the family man, like the family van with the stuff to Hillstale. So the fun part about that was she left and arrived to Hillsdale on that third day of the cycling. And so they were able to a little bit of a family kind of drive by somewhere in Michigan, I believe. And yeah, she was like,

you know, we slept in, like, we packed the car, James forgot some stuff and kind of made this about four-hour trip to Hillsdale and still got in earlier than James and Peter, his father. Rue was maybe the champion, the one who made this all possible by taking this stuff. Did James have any big takeaways from the trip? Was there anything he learned on this 300-mile ride? Great question. James and Peter, his dad, both kind of talked about this as being kind of really formative to be able to go into your freshman year of college, having really pushed yourself in this way.

Scott had a really beautiful way of talking about it as kind of a metaphor for college. You know, you're leaving home and you're doing something really changed. challenging and you don't know if you're going to make it. There's risk there, but you do and you surprise yourself with that. And James, for his part, you know, said, you know, this, this like puts college in perspective. You know, if I can bike three under miles, like, I'm kind of extrapolating from what he said. Like, you know, if I can bike it, if I can bike three under miles, like I can make it through Western Heritage. And really the money line and all of this was, he told me at the end, know, like worst comes to worst freshman year.

I can just ride through 300 miles back. So I just was so tickled by that. That was Opinions Editor Caroline Kurt. Thanks for coming in, Caroline. Thank you so much for having me. It's joy. You've been listening to the Collegian Week in Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

I'm Catherine Maxwell. And I'm Alessia Sandella. And I'm Megan Lee. You can find the Collegian Weekend Review online at cwir.transistor.fm. You can also find more news at Hillsdale Collegian.com and our Instagram at Hillsdale Collegian. Thank you all for listening to the Collegian Weekend Review at Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.