Student Life

Learn what student life is like at Hillsdale College's Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C. Listen as current students describe our convenient location, the importance of what you'll learn, and how they balance both their professional work and coursework.

 

 

Student Community and Resources

The graduate student life is that of busy and serious professionals, who share an intellectual and social bond by reason of their common courses, required foundational texts, and concern for excellence in the governing arts. A common study makes for a shared friendship. Just so, graduate students participate in intellectually stimulating and social events specific to the graduate program.

We invite graduate students to take part in our public events and lectures. We occasionally have Hillsdale alumni events and other programs that may run throughout the year. While participating in these programs and events is not mandatory, we encourage M.A. students to partake in the other events and programs offered by Hillsdale in D.C.

Students enrolled in the M.A. in Government program will have full access to the library resources of Hillsdale College. There is a non-circulating reference library in the Kirby Center, which contains over 4,000 volumes. Students may request books from the Michigan campus Mossey Library, which houses over 952,000 volumes in its main collection. M.A. students will also have access to the online library resources of Hillsdale College such as JSTOR, LexisNexis, Project Muse, and Hein Online.

We have WiFi, printers, scanners, copiers, and a computer station for the purpose of serving our student body. We also have numerous study spaces for our students throughout our campus.

Campus

The School of Government is based just blocks from the United States Capitol at Hillsdale’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., located at 227 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002.

Students may access the Kirby Center from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 a.m. (midnight) Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

For more about the Hillsdale in D.C. campus, see Visit the Kirby Center.

Getting Here

Being located on Capitol Hill offers accessibility to some of country’s important buildings and institutions. The D.C. campus is located near Union Station and several restaurants and coffee shops that students can take advantage of.

The Hillsdale College D.C. campus is accessible in so many ways! We are only a five-minute walk from Union Station, which is a D.C. metro stop located on the red line. Union Station also is a train station and has Amtrak train lines and the MARC (Maryland) and VRE (Virginia) commuter train lines.

While parking is limited to street parking surrounding and nearby the D.C. campus, there are numerous bike and e-scooter racks available, and our convenient location makes it easy for shared-ride services, such as Uber and Lyft, to drop off students as well.

Student Organizations

We encourage students to organize and form new academic, social, and professional groups on our D.C. campus. While studies always come first, we very much promote the fraternal bonds that form good character, academic success, professional relationships, and shared hobbies and interests. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Honor Code

In keeping with the original and abiding mission of Hillsdale College, each entering student signs the following document, committing himself or herself to participate fully and honorably in that mission.

A Hillsdale College student is honorable in conduct, honest in word and deed, dutiful in study and service, and respectful of the rights of others. Through education the student rises to self-government.

True education of the mind and heart teaches and requires self-government. Self-government calls for the active cultivation of intellectual and moral excellence and humility before our Creator. It commands courage in pursuit of justice and diligence in performing the duties of scholarship. Self-government instructs each person to hold honor sacred.