The Bo Jackson Minute: Hillsdale, meet your alter-ego: Davidson college
Jack Hittinger
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Sports
Any Hillsdale College student who watched the NCAA Tournament last weekend and didn't root for Davidson College should be ashamed. Not because they should necessarily be rooting for the underdogs, but because in many respects, Davidson strikes me as similar to Hillsdale.
Sure, the parallels aren't exact: I'm sure Davidson takes federal money, and they probably don't require all of their students to take courses in Western Heritage and the Constitution, but I think we can forgive this slight oversight.
Davidson has a student population of 1,600 - only about 300 more than Hillsdale - and seems like a fairly sound liberal arts college. Davidson's academic curriculum yields no trace of the stupid majors which seem to plague other schools with Division I sports programs.
And the members of the basketball team don't cop out either. Senior guard Jason Richards and junior forward Andrew Lovedale, who emerged as a secondary go-to-guys aside from emerging sophomore star Stephen Curry, majored in history and political science, respectively.
I can't speak to the quality of the academics, and I don't know anyone personally who goes there, but US News and World Report consistently ranks Davidson in the top ten liberal arts schools.
Disappointingly, all the teams in the Final Four this year are sports factories - some of them might have decent academics. Most of the student-athletes at these types of schools major in things like hotel management and sports business - probably not the hardest of majors.
Despite this, Davidson's Elite Eight run proves you can still be a small school with excellent academics and be competitive in major college sports. Hillsdale does it, too, though on a slightly smaller scale and smaller division. But having five All-Americans at a school of 1,300 isn't easy.
P.S. To all Hillsdale College donors who happen to be reading this: If any Charger sports team ever gets to a major playoff game, maybe we could take a cue from the Davidson Board of Trustees and pay for any student who wants to attend. Sure, might be expensive, but it can't be any more costly than a Sweet Sixteen game.
Reach Jack at jhittinger@hillsdale.edu
Sure, the parallels aren't exact: I'm sure Davidson takes federal money, and they probably don't require all of their students to take courses in Western Heritage and the Constitution, but I think we can forgive this slight oversight.
Davidson has a student population of 1,600 - only about 300 more than Hillsdale - and seems like a fairly sound liberal arts college. Davidson's academic curriculum yields no trace of the stupid majors which seem to plague other schools with Division I sports programs.
And the members of the basketball team don't cop out either. Senior guard Jason Richards and junior forward Andrew Lovedale, who emerged as a secondary go-to-guys aside from emerging sophomore star Stephen Curry, majored in history and political science, respectively.
I can't speak to the quality of the academics, and I don't know anyone personally who goes there, but US News and World Report consistently ranks Davidson in the top ten liberal arts schools.
Disappointingly, all the teams in the Final Four this year are sports factories - some of them might have decent academics. Most of the student-athletes at these types of schools major in things like hotel management and sports business - probably not the hardest of majors.
Despite this, Davidson's Elite Eight run proves you can still be a small school with excellent academics and be competitive in major college sports. Hillsdale does it, too, though on a slightly smaller scale and smaller division. But having five All-Americans at a school of 1,300 isn't easy.
P.S. To all Hillsdale College donors who happen to be reading this: If any Charger sports team ever gets to a major playoff game, maybe we could take a cue from the Davidson Board of Trustees and pay for any student who wants to attend. Sure, might be expensive, but it can't be any more costly than a Sweet Sixteen game.
Reach Jack at jhittinger@hillsdale.edu
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