Larry Paul Arnn (born October 8,1952) is an American educator and academic. He has served as the twelfth president of private Hillsdale College in Hillsdale,Michigan,since May 2000.[1]
As a graduate student in England,Arnn was the research director for Sir Martin Gilbert,the official biographer of Winston Churchill,[5] editing the final six document volumes of the Churchill biography.[6]
Career
In 1980,Arnn became an editor for Public Research,Syndicated in the U.S. He was one of four founders of the Claremont Institute in Claremont,California,and served as its president from 1985 to 2000.[2][7] In 2000,he was named the 12th president of Hillsdale 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 at The Heritage Foundation. In 2012,the foundation offered its presidency to him,but he instead opted to remain in academia and the foundation instead hired Jim DeMint,a U.S. Senator from South Carolina,as its president.[8]
In December 2020,he was appointed chair of the 1776 Commission,[11] an advisory committee on patriotic education,but the commission was immediately terminated by President Joe Biden on the first day of his presidency.
In 2013, Arnn was criticized for his remarks about ethnic minorities when he testified before the Michigan State Legislature.[citation needed] In testimony against Common 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?"[15]
Michigan House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel condemned Arnn for his comments, which he called "offensive" and "inflammatory and bigoted", and asked for an apology.[16] 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".[17]
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.[18]
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.[18][19]
Personal life
Arnn and Penny, who is British married in 1979. They moved to California, where they had three children and adopted a fourth. They moved to Michigan in 2000, when Arnn succeeded George Roche as president of Hillsdale College.[20] Arnn's father-in-law was Colonel Denis Arthur Sydenham Houghton, who was once the High Sheriff of Lancashire.[21]
The Founders' Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It (2012) ISBN1 59555472 6ISBN978 1 59555472 7
↑Higgins, Lori & Jesse, David (August 1, 2013). "Hillsdale President Gets Heat Over Racial Remark". Detroit Free Press (FreeP.com). Detroit, MI: USA Today—www.FreeP.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2025. 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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