Information about Claremont Colleges

The Claremont Colleges are a consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate schools of higher education located in Claremont, California. Unlike most other collegiate consortia, such as the Five Colleges Consortium in Massachusetts and the Tri-College Consortium in Pennsylvania, the Claremont College campuses are adjoining and within reasonable walking distance of one another. Put together, the campuses cover roughly one square mile.

The purpose of the consortium is to provide the specialization, flexibility and personal attention commonly found in a small college, with the resources of a large university. Their compartmentalized collegiate university design was inspired by Oxford University.

James A. Blaisdell, the creator of the Claremont Colleges, declared in 1923 "My own very deep hope is that instead of one great, undifferentiated university, we might have a group of institutions divided into small colleges-somewhat of an Oxford type-around a library and other utilities which they would use in common. In this way, I should hope to preserve the inestimable personal values of the small college, while securing the facilities of the great university."

The Wall Street Journal wrote that the five undergraduate Claremont colleges are the "intellectual capital of the western world," a statement that appears in many college guides.

Colleges

The five undergraduate colleges are:

• Claremont McKenna College, a small, coeducational, liberal arts college which specializes in economics, political science, international relations, and public policy. It also maintains a broad set of majors, including the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
• Harvey Mudd College, a small, coeducational college specializing in engineering, mathematics, computer science, and the physical and biological sciences.
• Pitzer College, a small, coeducational, liberal arts college offering an alternative curriculum, noted for interdisciplinarity. It also has a particular emphasis upon social justice. Pitzer is part of the SAT optional movement among liberal arts colleges.
• Pomona College, a small, coeducational, liberal arts college which offers majors in both the sciences and humanities.
• Scripps College, a small, liberal arts, women's college, which offers majors in both the sciences and humanities.

The five undergraduate Claremont Colleges are commonly referred to as the "5Cs."

The two graduate universities are:

• Claremont Graduate University
• Keck Graduate Institute, a biomedical graduate school

The Claremont School of Theology is affiliated with the consortium, but not a member.

Shared facilities, programs, and resources

Each college is independent in that, for example, students receive their degrees from the one college in which they are enrolled and administration and admissions departments are independent. However, large or expensive facilities and programs are shared.

Shared academic departments include the Intercollegiate Women's Studies Center, the Intercollegiate Department of Chicano Studies, the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies, the Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies, the Intercollegiate Department of Religious Studies, and the Five-College Theater Department.

Shared intercollegiate programs include the European Union Center of California, the Chicano/Latino Student Affairs Center, the Office of Black Student Affairs, the Office of the Chaplains, Hillel, the Asian American Resource Center, the Queer Resource Center, and the Women's Union. The Colleges also coordinate budgets and course schedules to allow for cross-registration.



Shared facilities include the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, Campus Safety, the Tranquada Student Services Center (which houses Baxter Medical Center, Monsour Counseling Center, and the Health Education Outreach,) McAlister Center (home of the Office of the Chaplains and the Claremont Card Center), Huntley Bookstore, all dining facilities and several sports facilities.

The oldest 5C student newspaper is The Collage, and is wholly independent from the Colleges.

In addition, three of the Claremont Colleges, Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, and Scripps College, share a single, joint science program. These three colleges pool their resources to create the largest academic department in Claremont. There are no graduate studies that take place there. However, the Joint Science Department asserts that the intimacy of the department and amount of undergrads that perform research is outstanding. Research is conducted at and courses utilize the Robert J. Bernard Field Station, an 86 acre nature preserve of native Coastal Sage Scrub ecosystem. For more information regarding the field station click here: [1].

KSPC 88.7 FM is the non-profit community radio station associated with the Claremont Colleges. Students from the colleges host KSPC shows and help run the station.

Athletics

Athletics teams from Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College compete as one team. Male athletic teams are called the Stags, and women's teams are called the Athenas. The teams participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Pomona College and Pitzer College compete together in the SCIAC. Their team is called the Sagehens.

In addition to the Stag/Athenas and the Sagehens, there are several prominent 5C club sports teams, including men's and women's rugby, both of whom attended Division II Nationals in 2006, men's lacrosse, field hockey, crew, cycling, women's ultimate frisbee (The Greenshirts), who attended Nationals in 2004 , and men's ultimate frisbee, (), who were ranked 26th in the nation in 2006, missing their chance at Nationals by one game against UCSB.

Additionally, the Claremont Men's Volleyball Club had its inaugural season in 2007. Despite its novelty, it proved to be one of the most successful clubs this season, finishing in 5th place out of 48 Division II teams at the National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

Administration

All seven Claremont Colleges are served by the Claremont University Consortium.

External links

• Claremont Colleges
• Claremont Student Newsmagazine
• KSPC 88.7 FM

•  • [ e] Claremont Colleges
Claremont McKenna • Harvey Mudd • Pitzer • Pomona • Scripps • Claremont Graduate University • Keck Graduate Institute • Claremont University Consortium