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=== The Claremont Colleges ===
=== The Claremont Colleges ===
[[Image:Bridges Auditorium, Pomona College.JPG|right|230px|thumb|Bridges Auditorium, part of the Claremont University Consortium.]]

Claremont McKenna is the a member of the '''[[Claremont Colleges]]''', and much of student life revolves around the five colleges, or "5C's." Claremont McKenna College, [[Pomona College]], [[Scripps College]], [[Pitzer College]] and [[Harvey Mudd College]] all interact socially, but also share dining halls and libraries spread throughout the bordering campuses. All five colleges are part of the '''[[Claremont University Consortium]]'''.
Claremont McKenna is the a member of the '''[[Claremont Colleges]]''', and much of student life revolves around the five colleges, or "5C's." Claremont McKenna College, [[Pomona College]], [[Scripps College]], [[Pitzer College]] and [[Harvey Mudd College]] all interact socially, but also share dining halls and libraries spread throughout the bordering campuses. All five colleges are part of the '''[[Claremont University Consortium]]'''.


Revision as of 02:51, 18 April 2007

Claremont McKenna College
File:Cmclogo.gif
MottoCrescit cum commercio civitas (Civilization prospers with commerce)
TypePrivate
Established1946
EndowmentUS $373 million
PresidentPamela Gann
Undergraduates1,059
Postgraduates0
Location
Claremont
,
CA
,
USA
CampusSuburban, 50 acres (4 km²)
NicknameCMC
MascotsAthenas (women), Stags (men)
Websitewww.cmc.edu

A member of the Claremont Colleges, Claremont McKenna College is a small, highly selective, private coeducational, liberal arts college enrolling about 1100 students with a curricular emphasis on government, economics, and public policy. CMC is located in Claremont, California, 35 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles.

History & Reputation

File:Bauer sanbernardino.jpg
Bauer Center

Claremont McKenna College was founded in 1946 during the end of World War II as Claremont Men's College. CMC was founded with the mission to foster leadership in its students in the fields of government, business, and international affairs. The school became coeducational in 1976 and was renamed after Donald McKenna, a founding trustee, in 1981. Its mission has stayed the same, as reflected in the College's motto, "Leadership in the Liberal Arts".

Despite its youth, the College has been ranked among the top colleges in the country under numerous categories:

  • In 2003, The Atlantic Monthly ranked Claremont McKenna as the 22nd best undergraduate college in the nation based on admission rate, SAT scores and rank in high-school class.
  • In 2007, 16% of applicants were admitted to CMC, making it the most selective liberal arts college in the country tied with Pomona College.[2] [3] Claremont McKenna College is one of 46 undergraduate institutions that practices need-blind admissions.
  • According to quality-adjusted publications, CMC has the top-ranked economics department among liberal arts colleges.[4]
  • The Wall Street Journal has listed it as the eighth best liberal arts feeder school into elite graduate universities for law, business and medicine.[5]
  • The Princeton Review lists Claremont McKenna among the nation's top twenty colleges for the "Best Quality of Life," "Happiest Students," and "Most Politically Active Students." In addition, the Princeton Review ranks Claremont McKenna in the top twenty for having a "School that runs like butter," "Professors who make themselves accessible," "Best Campus Food," "Dorms like Palaces" and "Students Happy with Financial Aid."
  • CMC is a nominator (one of 67 US colleges and universities) for the Luce Scholars Program.[6]

Campus Life

Dorms

Claremont's dorms are divided into 3 regions: North Quad, Mid Quad, and South Quad. In addition, the student apartments sit on the East edge of campus, and are occupied primarily by seniors. All dorm rooms are attended to by housekeeping staff every other week.

North Quad is comprised of Appleby, Boswell, Green, and Wohlford dormitories and are the campus' first dorms. In the north quad dorms, every room opens to the outdoors instead of opening to an interior hallway. North quad rooms are all doubles grouped into suites of four rooms that share a bathroom. North Quad is the center of the social scene at CMC and at the greater 5C community.

CMC's Mid Quad is home to Beckett, Benson, Berger, Marks, and Phillips Halls, which feature long interior corridors, double and single rooms, large shared-bathroom facilities, and all-dorm lounge areas. Commencement was formerly held in Badgley Gardens, the green space just south of Beckett Hall. Due to the construction of a new dorm on Badgley Gardens, Commencement has been moved to Pritzlaff field, behind Bauer Center, on the east end of campus. Construction on the new dorm in Badgley Gardens is scheduled to begin in summer 2007, pending blueprint approval from the Board of Trustees.

The tallest buildings in Claremont are in the last residential area - South Quad. Better known as "The Towers," Auen, Fawcett, and Stark Halls, make up South Quad. Each tower has seven floors with approximately twelve students per floor. Each floor has a common area and a large shared bathroom, and there is an all-dorm lounge area on the ground floor. Stark Hall, the newest of the South Quad dorms, is substance-free, meaning that no alcohol or drugs are allowed or tolerated.

Senior Apartments

The Senior Apartments lie to the east of the college's athletic facilities and to the west of Claremont Boulevard, and are divided into four buildings numbered 651, 661, 671 and 681. Each apartment is divided into four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and an apartment application must have four names on it. Until recently, half the apartments were reserved for men and half for women, and apartments were allotted based on credits. However, in 2005 the college abolished the 50/50 male/female ratio and began to assign apartments strictly on credits, which has had the effect of skewing the ratio slightly toward the female side. In any given year, most of CMC's 260 - 300 seniors can live in the apartments, though due to limited space some must live in the dorms.

Living in the apartments is considered highly desirable amongst CMC's senior class. Seniors get the chance to live with three friends of their choice, and do not have to worry about potentially obnoxious underclassmen. They also have the option to stay on a meal plan and eat at one of the 5-C dining halls, or cook for themselves. Apartment dwellers do not get the maid service of the dorms, but they do get a cable hookup, which the dorms don't have. Noise levels are more manageable, and tend to be quiet during much of the week and in the days leading up to thesis, and loud from Thursday to Saturday. Most parties and social events at the apartments take place between buildings 661 and 671 or on the "dunk hoops" (a small basketball court with 7 foot hoops).

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum hosts more than one hundred dinner and lecture events with distinguished speakers each year, serving as the College's central intellectual and social hub. Students enjoy getting to know their professors at wine and cheese receptions and formal dinners preceding lectures by eminent visitors such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General Janet Reno, filmmaker Spike Lee, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak, Paul Rusesabagina (the man portrayed in Hotel Rwanda), and the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Athenaeum hosts speakers four nights a week, and also serves daily afternoon tea in its library, featuring chocolate-covered strawberries and pastries. Afternoon tea, like all Athenaeum meals and events, is free to students, faculty, and staff.

The Claremont Colleges

Bridges Auditorium, part of the Claremont University Consortium.

Claremont McKenna is the a member of the Claremont Colleges, and much of student life revolves around the five colleges, or "5C's." Claremont McKenna College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Pitzer College and Harvey Mudd College all interact socially, but also share dining halls and libraries spread throughout the bordering campuses. All five colleges are part of the Claremont University Consortium.

Over the years, a rivalry has formed between the opposing sports teams CMS (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) and PP (Pomona-Pitzer). These teams, however, mostly consist of students enrolled at Claremont McKenna and Pomona, which has intensified the rivalry between these particular neighbors. Recently, the rivalry has spread off the field and into classrooms and parties, making the rivalry not just athletic, but social and academic as well.

Traditions

File:Cmcfield.jpg
IM Soccer on Parents Field
  • Many incoming freshmen participate in W.O.A.!, or "Wilderness Orientation Adventure." W.O.A.! is a student-run preorientation program. Options include backpacking, camping, and rock-climbing at Yosemite, canoeing down the Colorado River, and beach camping at Catalina Island. Each trip is led by current students and a member of the faculty or alumni. W.O.A.! allows incoming students to develop friendships and get a sense for the college community before the formal beginning of their college careers.
  • The "Madrigal Feast" is an annual dinner held in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Both current students as well as alumni typically attend. Guests are treated to a medieval-themed feast, complete with wassail, and a spirited musical performance put on by other students in medieval dress.

Several of Claremont McKenna College's traditions are water-related:

File:Waterfight.jpg
Freshman water fight
  • The incoming freshman class and those students overseeing freshman orientation participate in a large-scale water fight at the college's north quad at the beginning of every college year.
  • Unlucky students get ponded (thrown in to one of the two fountains located on campus) by their peers on their birthday.
  • Graduating seniors hold an impromptu celebration in the Flamson Plaza fountain on the due date for senior theses at the end of the year. Bystanders and passerby can expect to get wet.

Academic Programs

General education requirements

Although its specialty is public policy and economics, Claremont McKenna College does hold to the idea of a liberal education by requiring students to add breadth to their knowledge through the completion of course in natural and social sciences, humanities, and foreign language.

First Year Requirements

Literature 10 - Composition and Literary Analysis

Unless waived for a transfer student, every student must take in their first year at the college. This introductory literature class covers all the major literary genres and is designed to improve each students critical thinking and writing skills. The specific works studied and course format varies depending on professor. There are plans in the Literature department to eventually phase out this class as a requirement and for the first year in 2006, students with an appropriate AP score in English may substitute any literature course for their Literature 10 requirement.

Civilization 10 - Questions of Civilization

Question of Civilization was designed to provide a unifying experience of Claremont McKenna students while fostering the exploration of universal thoughts and ideas. Directed by Prof. Robert J. Valenza, each year a core set of text is chosen for all section of Civilization 10, with each professor free and challenged to add his/her own insights or works to the course. Although not common in all sections, Prof. Valenza encourages the Civ faculty to provide interaction through discussion. Many students, though far from most, find this one of their most cherished CMC experiences.

Nevertheless, the course is not without its critics. Some students have complained that the course attempts to do too much and ends up teaching nothing. The course is designed to be a combination of literature, philosophy, and religious studies, though it too often ends up as none of the above. The class has been called, by both students and professors, "pointless".

Majors

The academic strength of Claremont McKenna College lies in the social sciences, particularly Economics, Accounting, Government, and Organizational Psychology. It is also known for its version of the Oxford-style Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major. Claremont McKenna is especially known for its social and natural science programs, with over two-thirds of alumni attending graduate schools within five years of graduation. Business, law, and medical school top the list though CMC grads go on to all types of graduate programs.

For a complete list of CMC's majors, visit the CMC catalog at the Office of Registrar's Website.

Sequences

Claremont McKenna College does not offer traditional minors. Instead, CMC offers a group of sequences, which are minor-like groups of courses on a particular interdisciplinary theme.

CMC's sequences include:

Research Institutes

Bridges Auditorium, part of the Claremont University Consortium.

CMC sponsors 11 different on-campus research institutes and centers. They seek to produce new research and publications while involving undergraduate students in rigorous academic work. Many are named in honor of the college's donors.

Athletics

Athletes from CMC, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College compete under one program - CMS Athletics. The men are the Stags, and the women are the Athenas. The teams participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

(Rivalry is touched upon above under the sub-article, Campus Life: The Claremont Colleges)

Controversies

Like all colleges, CMC is not without controversy. For example:

  • On the evening of March 9, 2004, after attending and speaking at a campus forum concerning a recent spate of racist and racially-insensitive incidents, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Kerri F. Dunn reported that her car had been vandalized and painted with racist, sexist and anti-semitic slurs. In response the Claremont Colleges cancelled classes the next day, and a series of demonstrations, candle-light vigils and community meetings were called to address the threat posed by an alleged and previously unknown group of violently intolerant students. Subsequent investigaton by the City of Claremont's police department and the FBI revealed that Dunn had, in fact, slashed her own tires and applied the insulting phrases to her own vehicle. She was subsequently found guilty of filing a false police report and attempted insurance fraud. She was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay a fine of approximately $19,000 in restitution.
  • A new issue is the planned expansion of the student body. Current president Pamela Gann, a controversial figure among more conservative alumni, is now considering increasing the student body by 60 students. While a modest number, critics of the plan say it will change the student dynamic by making the community less intimate and requiring the building of a new dorm.

Presidents

Notable Faculty

  • John Roth [1] - noted Holocaust and genocide scholar
  • Charles Kesler[2] - editor of the Claremont Review of Books and noted conservative scholar
  • Ralph Rossum [3] - biographer of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
  • John J. Pitney [4]- Government professor often quoted in media
  • Robert Faggen [5] - professor of literature and noted Robert Frost scholar
  • Andrew E. Busch [6] - professor of government and author of books on current American political landscape and Ronald Reagan
  • Jay Conger [7] - leadership scholar, renowned business consultant
  • Diane Halpern [8] - former president of American Psychological Association
  • Jonathan Petropoulos [9] - expert consultant in World War II art reclamation
  • Elizabeth Spalding [10]- professor of government in CMC's Washington DC semester program
  • Marc Massoud [11] - former president of the American Accounting Association

Alumni

Dropouts and/or Transfers

References

  1. ^ "America's Best Colleges 2007". U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  2. ^ Kaya, Travis (2007-04-06). "Once Again, a Record Breaking Class Admitted to Pomona". The Student Life. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  3. ^ "CMC Class of 2011 Profile". Claremont McKenna College. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  4. ^ Marc Weidenmier. "Liberal Arts Colleges Econ Department and Professor Ratings" (PDF). Claremont McKenna College. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  5. ^ "Ranking the Colleges: The Best Feeder Schools" (PDF). The Wall Street Journal. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  6. ^ "Henry Luce Foundation: Luce Scholars Program". Retrieved 2007-04-11.
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