Larry Paul Arnn (born October 8, 1952) is an American educator and writer. He has served as the twelfth president of private college
Hillsdale College in
Hillsdale, Michigan
Hillsdale is the largest city and county seat of Hillsdale County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,036 at the 2020 census.
The city is the home of Hillsdale College, a private liberal arts college noted for its academics ...
, since May 2000.
[Hillsdale College faculty page](_blank)
He is a political conservative who has been influenced by the thought of
Leo Strauss and Strauss’ student and Arnn’s teacher
Harry V. Jaffa.
Early life and education
Born in
Pocahontas, Arkansas
Pocahontas is a city in Randolph County, Arkansas, United States, along the Black River. According to the 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city was 6,608. The city is the county seat of Randolph County.
Pocahontas has a number of hist ...
, Arnn received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and accounting from
Arkansas State University
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osa ...
in 1974. He earned graduate degrees in government from
Claremont Graduate School
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna C ...
– an M.A. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1985.
[John Locke Foundation webpage](_blank)
/ref> Arnn studied international history at the London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
and modern history at Worcester College
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
, Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
. While in England, he worked as Director of Research for Martin Gilbert
Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
, the official biographer of Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,[Thomas Nelson webpage](_blank)
editing the final six document volumes of the Churchill biography.[ His wife Penny is British. The couple married in 1979 and later moved to California where they had three children and adopted a fourth. They moved to Michigan in the year 2000, when Larry Arnn succeeded George Roche as president of Hillsdale College. Larry Arnn's father-in-law was Colonel Denis Arthur Sydenham Houghton of Broughton, who was once ]High Sheriff of Lancashire
The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lanc ...
.
Career
In 1980, Arnn became an editor for Public Research, Syndicated in the United States. He was one of four founders of the Claremont Institute
The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank based in Upland, California. The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa. It produces the ''Claremont Review of Books,'' ''The American Mind'', and other publications.
...
in Claremont, California, and served as its president from 1985 to 2000.[Claremont Institute webpage](_blank)
In 2000, he was named the twelfth president of Hillsdale College. In this capacity, he set the ambitious goal of $400 million for the college's Founders Campaign, beginning in 2001, and under his watch, several new buildings have arisen on the campus.
Arnn has been a trustee of the conservative Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...
since 2002. In 2012 the Foundation offered its presidency to Arnn, who decided to stay in academe instead.
Arnn also sits on the boards of directors of the Henry Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World at Claremont McKenna College, the Center for Individual Rights
The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) is a non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm is "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked auth ...
, and the Claremont Institute
The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank based in Upland, California. The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa. It produces the ''Claremont Review of Books,'' ''The American Mind'', and other publications.
...
. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for Landmark Legal Foundation
The Landmark Legal Foundation is an American conservative legal advocacy group. The President as of 2018 is Richard P. Hutchison. Through litigation and direct interfacing with government agencies, Landmark Legal advances a conservative platform o ...
. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is an international organization composed of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders.Michael Novak, 'The Moral Imperative of a Free Economy', in '' The 4% Solution: Unleashing the E ...
, the Churchill Centre, and the Philanthropy Roundtable
The Philanthropy Roundtable is a nonprofit organization that advises conservative philanthropists.
History
The Roundtable was founded in 1987 as a project of the now-defunct Institute For Educational Affairs. It was founded as a conservative al ...
. As of 2014, he was listed as a member of the Council for National Policy
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative and Republican activists in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHaye and the Christian rig ...
in their directory.
Discussing politics at Hillsdale, Arnn remarked, "If you take the reading of an old book on the view that it's valuable, you have already discarded the modern Left." Arnn supported Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
for President in the 2016 United States presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
.
In December 2020, he was appointed chair of the 1776 Commission.
Controversies
Comments about Common Core
In 2013, Arnn was criticized for his remarks about ethnic minorities when he testified before the Michigan State Legislature
The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article IV of the Michigan Constitution ...
. In testimony against the Common Core
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conc ...
curriculum standards, in which Arnn 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." 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?" Michigan House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel condemned Arnn for his comments, which he called "offensive" and "inflammatory and bigoted", and asked for an apology. The College issued a statement apologizing for Arnn's remark, while reiterating Arnn's concern about "state sponsored racism" in the form of affirmative action policies.
Comments about teachers
In July 2022, as an education advisor to Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, Arnn made a number of remarks condemned by people in both parties, including the following:
"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."
Governor Lee refused to condemn Arnn's remarks, but did say Arnn was only talking about "left-wing" teachers.
Bibliography
* ''Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education'' (2004)
* ''The Founders' Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It'' (2012)
* "''Churchill's Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government''" (2015)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnn, Larry Paul
Living people
People from Pocahontas, Arkansas
Arkansas State University alumni
Hillsdale College people
Heads of universities and colleges in the United States
The Heritage Foundation
Arkansas Republicans
Michigan Republicans
California Republicans
1952 births