The White House is partnering with a prominent conservative Christian college in Michigan to produce videos ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary — a stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s ongoing battles with higher education institutions deemed adversarial by his administration.
The White House’s rapid response team announced a partnership with Hillsdale College on a video series related to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence, in a post to X this week that included the first installment of the project.
“The White House has partnered with @Hillsdale to tell our story of a rag-tag army defeating the world’s mightiest empire and establishing the greatest republic ever to exist,” the post read.
The collaboration serves as a seal of approval for the college — which has deep ties to the Trump administration — from the president, as the White House presses forward with its campaign against elite universities across the country. In recent weeks, the administration has pulled billions in federal funding and launched investigations into institutions over what the White House views as antisemitism on campuses.
The most prominent punching bag for the White House has been Harvard University. Earlier this month, the Ivy League college chose to defy White House orders to institute broad changes to its governance and policies, prompting the administration to slash over $2.2 billion in federal funds to the institution. Harvard has since sued the Trump administration, calling the freeze “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.”
In the video, Hillsdale President Larry P. Arnn tied the project’s focus on honoring American independence to Trump’s iconic “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“Part of the purpose of this series of lectures is to remember,” Arnn said in the video. “President Trump does this in part I think — I won’t speak for him — but the word ‘again’ is important to him. He has a famous slogan that I will not repeat here but everybody knows what it is.”
Hillsdale did not receive financial compensation for helping produce the series, college spokesperson Emily Davis said in a statement to POLITICO Tuesday.
“Hillsdale is not taking a dime of federal money for this video series; in fact, we’ve worked with the White House and the Department of Education to provide these videos to the American public at no cost to the government,” Davis said. “The Department of Education has an agreement in place with Hillsdale College to provide this educational content to the American people as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday.”
The White House and the Education Department did not respond to requests for comment about the video series.
Hillsdale’s connection to the White House stems from Trump’s first presidential campaign, which Arnn and other college faculty members endorsed in 2016. Hillsdale College was also on the advisory board of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the next administration.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Arnn suggested Harvard give up its reliance on federal funds if it doesn’t wish to comply with Trump’s orders. Hillsdale doesn’t accept government funding, Arnn said, and instead relies on private donations and its endowment to avoid having to adhere to federal regulations.
“My suggestion [to Harvard] would be to go in the right direction,” he told Fox. “It’s written in your own history. And you should probably do it with your own resources if you don’t like bureaucrats in Washington telling you what to do,” he said.