Dive Summary:
- A legislative debate Wednesday over Michigan's Common Core standards adoption became racially charged when Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn used the words "dark ones" to describe minority students.
- While discussing a Michigan Department of Education letter he received shortly after becoming president of Hillsdale in 2000, Arnn referred to racial diversity concerns regarding the institution, saying, "They said we violated the standards for diversity because we didn't have enough dark ones, I guess is what they meant."
- Following Arnn and Hillsdale Professor Terrence Moore's testimony on the need to teach classical literature, Reps. David Knezek and Adam Zemke criticized Arnn for his "offensive" language and for distracting from discussion about the Common Core standards.
From the article:
... Arnn seemed unapologetic for his choice of words, saying that education department officials had visited the campus before he became president to collect demographic data on students, as the university did not record that information.
“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," Arnn said. "We don’t keep records of that information. What were they looking for besides dark ones?" ...