Honor Code Introduction
At the end of August you will begin one of the most significant experiences of your life. It is an exciting and worthwhile adventure. You will leave home to live away from your family, likely for the first time. You will live among people your own age, who are all engaged in the same important work. This is a unique experience in life. You will find it thrilling, demanding, and elevating.
As the conditions under which you will live are unusual, so is the purpose you will pursue. This purpose dictates the conditions.
For as long as there have been great books to study, the young and keen have gathered to live near and study with the older and more learned. The best kind of learning is rare, so those who possess it attract students to be near them. These students engage in a common task with one another and with their teachers.
The classic books say that human beings are naturally social in a way that exceeds any other earthly being. They have the gift of speech, logos, and this gift is inseparable from the gift of reason. We were made to talk with each other, to reason together, to learn from one another. We, therefore, take the enterprise of education, of teaching and learning, as serious business. A liberal arts education is a high thing. At Hillsdale you will sit in small classes, and you and your fellow students will be vital to what takes place in them. Outside of class you will work and eat, train and compete, think and study, laugh and joke, worship and pray together. This common action will occur in an atmosphere of respect, high courtesy, and warm affection each for the other, where all are treated alike. The activity is grounded in what we have in common—our humanity—and it is inseparable from the most important thing you have come here to do.
This special kind of common action has been carried on at Hillsdale College for more than 170 years. The purposes for which it aims have been constant here from the beginning of the College to the current day. These purposes are summarized in the Honor Code which forms the basis of our working together. You will find that we do not have a lot of rules here: there are precisely seventeen major student rules. They add detail to the comportment we must have with and to one another.
Linked on this page is a copy of the Honor Code and a booklet describing what it means to be a Hillsdale student. Prior to the start of classes, we will gather and discuss them. Afterward, you will be invited to sign the Honor Code and agree to participate in the mission of the College. It is a requirement of all who work and study here.
These documents form the foundation of the work we will do together. I urge you to read them both with care and give them serious thought before arriving on campus. They constitute an invitation to you to make a commitment that is matched by our own commitment to you. On this basis, we will be what we must be, namely partners in this wonderful enterprise. We look forward to welcoming you to campus.
Warmest regards,
Larry P. Arnn
