Larry P. Arnn | |
|---|---|
 Arnn speaking at 2018CPAC, February 2018 | |
| 12th President ofHillsdale College | |
| Assumed office May 2000 | |
| Preceded by | George Roche III |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Larry Paul Arnn (1952-10-08)October 8, 1952 (age 73) Pocahontas, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Education | Arkansas State University (BA) London School of Economics Worcester College, Oxford Claremont Graduate School (MA,PhD) |
| Awards | Bradley Prize (2015) |
Larry Paul Arnn (born October 8, 1952) is an American educator and academic. He has served as the twelfth president of privateHillsdale College inHillsdale, Michigan, since May 2000.[1]
Arnn was born October 8, 1952, inPocahontas, Arkansas. He attendedArkansas State University inJonesboro, where he received aBA degree in political science and accounting in 1974. He earned two graduate degrees in government fromClaremont Graduate School: anM.A. degree in 1976 and aPh.D. degree in 1985.[2] From 1977 to 1980, Arnn studied international history at theLondon School of Economics inLondon and then modern history atWorcester College, Oxford.[3][4]
As a graduate student inEngland, Arnn was the research director for SirMartin Gilbert, the official biographer ofWinston Churchill,[5] editing the final six document volumes of the Churchill biography.[6]
In 1980, Arnn became an editor for Public Research, Syndicated in the U.S. He was one of four founders of theClaremont Institute inClaremont, California, and served as its president from 1985 to 2000.[2][7] In 2000, he was named the 12th president ofHillsdale College.[7] In 2001, he committed to raising $400 million for the college's Founders Campaign. Since becoming the college's president, several new buildings have been built on the campus.
In 2002, Arnn was appointed a trustee atThe Heritage Foundation. In 2012, the foundation offered its presidency to him, but he instead opted to remain in academia and the foundation instead hiredJim DeMint, aU.S. Senator fromSouth Carolina, as its president.[8]
Arnn is a member of the board of directors of the Henry Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World atClaremont McKenna College in Claremont, theCenter for Individual Rights inWashington, D.C., the Claremont Institute, and a member of the board of advisors of theLandmark Legal Foundation.[9] He is a member of theMont Pelerin Society inLubbock, Texas; theChurchill Centre in Washington D.C., and thePhilanthropy Roundtable in D.C. As of 2014, he was listed as a member of theCouncil for National Policy also in Washington D.C.[10]
In December 2020, he was appointed chair of the1776 Commission, an advisory committee on patriotic education, but the commission was immediately terminated by PresidentJoe Biden on the first day of his presidency.
Arnn is a political conservative who has been influenced by theLeo Strauss' thinking and Strauss' student,Harry V. Jaffa.[11] Discussing politics at Hillsdale, Arnn said, "If you take the reading of an old book seriously on the view that it's valuable, you have already discarded the modernLeft."[12][clarification needed] Arnn supportedDonald Trump for president in the2016 United States presidential election.[13]
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In 2013, Arnn was criticized for his remarks about ethnic minorities when he testified before theMichigan State Legislature.[citation needed] In testimony againstCommon Core's curriculum standards, he expressed concern about government interference with educational institutions. He recalled that shortly after he assumed the presidency at Hillsdale, he received a letter from the State Department of Education that said his college "violated the standards for diversity," adding, "because we didn't have enough dark ones, I guess, is what they meant."[This quote needs a citation]
After being criticized for calling minorities "dark ones", he explained that he was referring to "dark faces", saying: "The State of Michigan sent a group of people down to my campus, with clipboards... to look at the colors of people's faces and write down what they saw. We don't keep records of that information. What were they looking for besides dark ones?"[14]
Michigan House Democratic LeaderTim Greimel condemned Arnn for his comments, which he called "offensive" and "inflammatory and bigoted", and asked for an apology.[15] The college released a statement reiterating Arnn's concern about "state sponsored racism" in the form of affirmative action policies, saying Arnn was "sorry" if "offense was honestly taken" and that none was intended except to "the offending bureaucrats".[16]
In July 2022, as an education advisor toTennessee GovernorBill Lee, Arnn remarked:
The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country... You will see how education destroys generations of people. It's devastating. It's like the plague... We are going to try to demonstrate that you don't have to be an expert to educate a child because basically anybody can do it.[17]
While his address was condemned by individuals in both of Tennessee's main political parties,[clarification needed][citation needed] Governor Lee refused to condemn Arnn's statement, but attempted to clarify them, saying that Arnn was only talking about "left-wing" teachers.[17][18]
Arnn and Penny, who is British married in 1979. They moved toCalifornia, where they had three children and adopted a fourth. They moved toMichigan in 2000, when Arnn succeededGeorge Roche as president of Hillsdale College.[19] Arnn's father-in-law was Colonel Denis Arthur Sydenham Houghton, who was once theHigh Sheriff of Lancashire.[20]
No offense was intended by the use of that term except to the offending bureaucrats, and Dr. Arnn is sorry if such offense was honestly taken. But the greater concern, he believes, is the state-endorsed racism the story illustrates.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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