Hillsdale College Releases Statement On Its President’s ‘Dark Ones’ Remark

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Hillsdale College on Thursday issued a statement of clarification on behalf of its president, Larry Arnn, who referred to minorities as “dark ones” in a debate yesterday.

“A controversy has arisen over Dr. Arnn’s use of the term “dark ones” to describe the non-white students the state bureaucrats were there to identif,” the statement read. “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.”

At a debate on whether Michigan should adopt the Common Core State Standards at the state legislature, Arnn recalled receiving a Department of Education letter that voiced concerns about racial diversity at his institution.

“They said we violated the standards for diversity because we didn’t have enough dark ones, I guess is what they meant,” Arnn said in his opening remarks.

According to campaign finance reports, Arnn has widely donated to GOP candidates throughout the last several years, including the campaigns of Mitt Romney, former Sen. Scott Brown, Reps. Tim Walberg (MI) and Tom Cotton (AK), who recently announced he would be challenging Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AK) in 2014.

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