Mich. college president calls minorities 'dark ones'

Lori Higgins | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption College president calls minorities 'dark ones' Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn has issued an apology after referring to the faces of minorities on his campus as "dark ones" during an appearance before a legislative subcommittee.

The school%27s president said state officials visited his campus to see whether enough %27dark ones%27 were enrolled

Several Democrats found the comment offensive

Arnn said the college will accept students without regard to race

The president of Michigan's Hillsdale College took heat from several lawmakers during a hearing today in which he said state officials visited his campus to determine whether enough "dark ones" were enrolled.

Larry Arnn, the president of the private college, made the comments during a subcommittee hearing on Michigan's adoption of the Common Core State Standards. Arnn, who spoke in opposition of the standards, prefaced his comments by describing an experience when he began as president in the early 2000s in which state officials criticized his college for, as he said, not having enough "dark" students.

When it was time for lawmakers on the committee to question Arnn, several Democrats on the committee said they found his comments offensive.

"You're the president of a college. I would expect better out of you," said Rep. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights.

Arnn tried to explain that his school's charter says the college will accept students without regard to race. But he was cut off.

Later, subcommittee chair Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, asked Arnn whether he wanted to clarify the comments.

He said the state of Michigan - several weeks before he became president in 2000 - sent a group of people to his campus with clipboards to "look at the colors of peope's faces and write down what they saw."

Arnn said his college doesn't keep those kinds of records.

"What were they looking for besides dark ones?" Arnn said.

The conservative Hillsdale College, founded in 1844, is famous for rejecting all federal and state funding to help guarantee its independence. A 2012 Detroit Free Press story said it was the first U.S. college to prohibit in its charter discrimination by race, religion or gender.

Arnn, the 12th president of the college, began his tenure there in 2000. One of his previous jobs was as president of the Claremont Institute in California. While there, he was the founding chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative, which pushed for the prohibition of racial preferences in state hiring, contracting and admissions.

Arnn is a 1974 graduate of Arkansas State University, where he received a bachelor's degree. He received a master's degree and a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate School.

Michigan is one of 45 states that have adopted the common core standards, which for the first time provide common expectations of what students should learn from one state to the next in math and English arts. But state lawmakers have barred the Michigan Department of Education from spending state money on the implementation of the standards — and a test that will be given based on the standards — until the subcommittee can hold hearings on whether the state should move forward with the standards.