A hundred years ahead of our homonym
Daniel J. Williams
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Focus
When the staff at a small Oklahoma college tried to register the domain name for their Web site, they had to improvise - hillsdale.edu was already taken.
Such episodes can be expected when two schools share the same name. But in this case, it's intentional. The Hillsdale in Oklahoma is named after the one in Michigan.
"In some cases we may know more about your history than some of your students," said Timothy Eaton, president of Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, a Christian liberal arts school in Moore, Okla.
While the schools share a name, Eaton said Free Will Baptist heritage and liberal arts pride is the real connection, despite geographic distance and a shroud of relative mutual unfamiliarity.
President Larry Arnn said he is aware of no active relationship between the two schools, and his own exposure to the Oklahoma Hillsdale has been brief.
"Once in Oklahoma, I met somebody who worked at that college," Arnn said. "And he was charming and nice and we had a conversation. And that's the first time I ever heard of it. And I later saw a sign on the highway, a billboard about it. And that is actually the only evidence of its existence that I've ever encountered."
Matt Baccus '01 of Hillsdale Free Will Baptist and a resident of Poteau, Okla., said he was mildly familiar with the relationship between the two schools.
"I had heard things about it," Baccus said. "I knew there was a connection."
Scott Blair, an Oklahoma City resident and a graduate student in the school's ministry program, said he was only "vaguely" aware of the Hillsdale connection.
The other Hillsdale formed as Oklahoma Bible College in Tulsa, Okla. in 1958, with classes beginning in February of 1959. After transitioning through several Oklahoma cities, the school settled into its permanent quarters in Moore, Okla., just south of Oklahoma City. It remained Oklahoma Bible College until 1970, when it changed its name briefly to Trinity College. After the Oklahoma Secretary of State vetoed the decision due to a name conflict with another Oklahoma school, the board of trustees settled in April of 1971 on the name of yet another school, this one further away, but historically close.
Such episodes can be expected when two schools share the same name. But in this case, it's intentional. The Hillsdale in Oklahoma is named after the one in Michigan.
"In some cases we may know more about your history than some of your students," said Timothy Eaton, president of Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, a Christian liberal arts school in Moore, Okla.
While the schools share a name, Eaton said Free Will Baptist heritage and liberal arts pride is the real connection, despite geographic distance and a shroud of relative mutual unfamiliarity.
President Larry Arnn said he is aware of no active relationship between the two schools, and his own exposure to the Oklahoma Hillsdale has been brief.
"Once in Oklahoma, I met somebody who worked at that college," Arnn said. "And he was charming and nice and we had a conversation. And that's the first time I ever heard of it. And I later saw a sign on the highway, a billboard about it. And that is actually the only evidence of its existence that I've ever encountered."
Matt Baccus '01 of Hillsdale Free Will Baptist and a resident of Poteau, Okla., said he was mildly familiar with the relationship between the two schools.
"I had heard things about it," Baccus said. "I knew there was a connection."
Scott Blair, an Oklahoma City resident and a graduate student in the school's ministry program, said he was only "vaguely" aware of the Hillsdale connection.
The other Hillsdale formed as Oklahoma Bible College in Tulsa, Okla. in 1958, with classes beginning in February of 1959. After transitioning through several Oklahoma cities, the school settled into its permanent quarters in Moore, Okla., just south of Oklahoma City. It remained Oklahoma Bible College until 1970, when it changed its name briefly to Trinity College. After the Oklahoma Secretary of State vetoed the decision due to a name conflict with another Oklahoma school, the board of trustees settled in April of 1971 on the name of yet another school, this one further away, but historically close.
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Tom Alciere
posted 5/13/08 @ 7:56 AM EST
Kind of like Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan's 8th Congressional District and Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama's 3rd Congressional District.
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