Tennessee’s embrace of conservative Michigan college sours

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After riding high on a promise to bring 50 charter schools to Tennessee, the relationship between the president of Michigan’s Hillsdale College and Gov. Bill Lee has cooled over the past several months. Lee has been dogged by questions after leaked video showed that Larry Arnn told a small, private Tennessee audience in June that teachers “are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges.” The governor sat on stage with Arnn and didn’t refute the comments. Three Hillsdale-affiliated charter school applications have been rejected by local school boards in Tennessee since then. Republican Rep. Mark White posted on social media that “any hope that Hillsdale will operate in Tennessee has been shattered.”