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Claremont McKenna College

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Claremont McKenna College
File:Cmclogo.gif
MottoCrescit cum commercio civitas (Civilization prospers with commerce)
TypePrivate
Established1946
EndowmentUS $336 million
PresidentPamela B. Gann
Undergraduates1,059
Postgraduates0
Location
Claremont
,
CA
,
USA
CampusSuburban, 50 acres (4 km²)
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 and reputation

File:Bauer sanbernardino.jpg
Bauer Center

Claremont McKenna College was founded in 1946 as Claremont Men's College. The school became coeducational in 1976 and was renamed after Donald McKenna, a founding trustee, in 1981.

Despite its young age, CMC is consistently ranked as one of the country's top liberal arts colleges- U.S. News and World Report placed it 12th in the nation [1] while The Washington Monthly ranked it 7th. It should be noted that CMC is both the youngest and smallest college in U.S News and World Report's top 20 schools. Admission to the college is highly selective, with only 20% of applicants being admitted in 2005.

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."

CMC students continue to distinguish themselves after graduation. One in eight graduates currently holds a position in top management. Claremont McKenna College was ranked second among liberal arts colleges for yield on Fulbright applications by the Chronicle of Higher Education. It is also a nominator for the Luce Scholars Program.

Campus life

Dorms

Claremont McKenna'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.

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 is held in Badgley Gardens, the green space just south of Beckett Hall. Construction on a 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.

All dorm rooms are attended to by housekeeping staff every other week.

Pitzer Hall

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, and Paul Rusesabagina (the man portrayed in Hotel Rwanda). The Athenaeum 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.

Traditions

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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.
  • "Madrigal" 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 student 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 appropiate AP score in English may substitute any literature course for their Literature 10 requirement.

Civilization 10 - Questions of Civilization

Question of Civilization was designed 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 Psychology. It is also known for its version of the Oxford-style Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major.

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

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.

Controversies

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

  • On the evening of March 9, 2004, after delivering a campus lecture on hate crimes, 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

Alumni

Dropouts

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