[8] Arnn is a member of the board of directors of the Henry Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World at Claremont McKenna College, the Center for Individual Rights, the Claremont Institute, and a member of the board of advisors of the Landmark Legal Foundation.

[11] Discussing politics at Hillsdale, Arnn remarked, "If you take the reading of an old book on the view that it's valuable, you have already discarded the modern Left.

"[12][clarification needed] Arnn supported Donald Trump for President in the 2016 United States presidential election.

In testimony against Common Core's curriculum standards, Arnn expressed concern about government interference with educational institutions, and he recalled that shortly after he assumed the presidency at Hillsdale, he received a letter from the State Department of Education that said his college "violated the standards for diversity," adding, "because we didn't have enough dark ones, I guess, is what they meant."

"[14] Michigan House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel condemned Arnn for his comments, which he called "offensive" and "inflammatory and bigoted", and asked for an apology.

[16] In July 2022, as an education advisor to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Arnn made a number of remarks condemned by people in both parties, saying: "The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country....You will see how education destroys generations of people....It's devastating.

They moved to Michigan in 2000, when Arnn succeeded George Roche as president of Hillsdale College.

[19] Arnn's father-in-law was Colonel Denis Arthur Sydenham Houghton, who was once the High Sheriff of Lancashire.