Mr. Roche's impressive performance here reminds one why conservatives were so

dismayed by his downfall eight years later. The "political funding" of the title refers to

the way government funding is used as a wedge to impose affirmative action on private

colleges. That is why Mr. Roche famously established Hillsdale's policy of refusing any

government funding. GR: "We had matriculated blacks and women on the Hillsdale

campus for over one hundred years before the government took any interest in the

question one way or another." WFB: "Back when it was passing the Fugitive Slave

Laws." GR: "That's right. In fact, for equal treatment irrespective of race or sex,

Hillsdale was the first institution in the United States to formally write that into its

charter."