Hillsdale College, a prestigious liberal arts undergrad school located in Michigan, has recently opened a graduate school in Washington, D.C. The college opened "Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C." on September 17. Classes will officially begin in January 2020, but a select group of students will attend classes and lectures this semester.
"Most graduate programs in D.C. are really designed to teach you how to accommodate to the status quo," Matthew Spalding, vice president of Washington operations and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Governmen, said in a statement.
"What’s different about our program is we want to teach them how to think about politics, so they can then actively participate in current politics. That’s a very different thing. We’re not going to teach Health Care Policy 101. We’re going to teach about political thought, American politics, and statecraft," he added.
Spalding credited the school as the "vision" of Hillsdale's president Dr. Larry Arnn.
"On the one hand, the idea for this graduate school, as Dr. Arnn has pointed out, arises from an idea of George Washington’s about having a graduate school that can teach and prepare those who will govern the nation," Spalding said. “In more specific terms, this has really been a vision Dr. Arnn has had for a long time."
According to the school's website, the graduate school will be "[c]onsistent with Hillsdale’s mission and established liberal arts curriculum, the graduate school offers a Master of Arts in Government focused on how to consider and practice those liberal arts that are required for truly just and excellent government."
Hillsdale was founded in 1844 and has prided itself on the study of western civilization and judeo-Christian values.