Philosophy is a “discipline whose pedagogical aims explicitly include exposing students to competing arguments,” the researchers state. Yet students are not made familiar with the heated debate between the two scholars. Huntington is only assigned in 758 of the courses that assign Said—less than five percent of the time.
For instance, professors who assigned Forman assigned The New Jim Crow 82 percent of the time. And even if Alexander was not taught with her critics, the research team found that similar—sometimes even more radical voices—were often assigned in place of The New Jim Crow. There are also pragmatic benefits to liberalizing these classrooms—even if such “controversial” courses are in the minority.
CMC Class of 2029: First-Year Class President Statements
Through the “Open Syllabus Project” (OSP) database, the researchers had access to 27 million syllabi scraped from university websites dating back to 2008. “The surprising thing about the database is how little it’s been used,” Professor Shields noted in an interview with The Forum. With features tracking how often specific texts are assigned and paired with those expressing opposing views, the team could use this tool in an innovative way—to examine if syllabi fairly assigned both canonical texts and their criticisms. Second, I already know many of you—not just names, but your halls, teams, classes, interests, and backgrounds. From athletes to artists, scientists to lawyers, north quad to south quad, internationals to locals—I’ve listened to and laughed with you. Connecting with diverse people is my biggest joy, something I’ve done across 40 countries (Antarctica, I’m coming for you next).
Claremont Professors Find Lack of Ideological Diversity in University Syllabi
In such a crisis, it becomes the obligation of the university as an institution to oppose such measures and actively to defend its interests and its values. Claremont McKenna College claimed first place in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 Free Speech Rankings on Tuesday, while Pomona College clocked in at 247th of 257 colleges. The other Claremont Colleges’ placements spanned between the two, with all but CMC earning an “F” grade. I bring the perspective of an Italian-American who has lived abroad and seen how different ideas strengthen a community.
FIRE’s 2026 Free Speech Rankings: How the Claremont Colleges Fared
After landing 73rd in the 2024 report following accusations of professors’ classroom speech being punished, CMC climbed to sixth place in the 2025 ranking. As your FOB president—Funniest On Ballot, Freshest On Board, or Free Office Boba—you’ll get humor, energy, and inclusiveness. Even if you don’t rank me #1, I’ll always be here to hear you out—whether it’s ranting about classes, policies, dining hall food, or the meaning of life. With so many passions and perspectives at CMC, we deserve a leader who can bring us together, not divide us.
- Yet students are not made familiar with the heated debate between the two scholars.
- These issues have also been omnipresent during the research team’s teaching tenure.
- The researchers note that the department primarily responsible for teaching Thomas—philosophy, which accounts for 90 percent of the occurrences of Thomson’s work across syllabi—may play a role in fostering this openness.
- Survey data is also obtained in partnership with College Pulse—a community-based survey platform—to accompany the speech code ratings in the ranking process.
- These incidents, if considered, could have dropped the colleges’ points in FIRE’s subcriteria.
CMC Class of 2029: First-Year Class President Statements
Staying silent while the Trump Administration lays siege to higher education will not protect us. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow—assigned 4,309 times in classrooms since 2012—argues that though formal racial discrimination ended with the Civil Rights Movement, the carceral system has replaced the old Jim Crow. Critics like James Forman Jr., John Pfaff, and Michael Fortner argue that Alexander fails to consider favorable Black attitudes to incarceration and overemphasizes the role of drug convictions in prison growth. Despite criticisms of FIRE’s methodology, the organization’s broad reach and coverage have been celebrated for providing insights upon which to build better speech climates at American colleges. On the policy front, CMC earns a Green Light, particularly for its adoption of the Chicago Principles and commitment to institutional neutrality as far back as 2018.
Among these principles are the belief that universities must commit to individual freedom, open inquiry, and serve as a forum for diverse ideas. The Kalven Committee argued that universities that did not maintain neutrality endangered these principles. Of all the opposing texts co-assigned with The New Jim Crow, Forman’s essay “Racial Critiques of Mass Incarceration” was the most common. However, Forman was assigned only 149 times in the 4,309 syllabi that include Alexander. Simply put, only three percent of students reading The New Jim Crow have also read its top critic.
CMC Class of 2029: First-Year Class President Statements
As the semester ramps up and the Class of 2029 settles into college life, a familiar fleet of banners hang outside Appleby Hall. The First-Year Class President campaigns are in full swing, and six eager candidates are vying for the opportunity to represent the newest cohort of CMC students, promising events, food, community, and memories. Standing with our fellow institutions of higher education is not a declaration of partisanship. It is a reaffirmation of our principles, values, and unyielding dedication to academic freedom.
- Standing with our fellow institutions of higher education is not a declaration of partisanship.
- However, Forman was assigned only 149 times in the 4,309 syllabi that include Alexander.
- It protects the academic freedom of students and faculty and facilitates the open and constructive dialogue that CMC has made so central to its identity.
- The three focus topics were selected for their disciplinary breadth—criminal justice draws on sociology and law, Israel-Palestine on political science and history, and abortion on philosophy.
All of these authors have provoked pushback, with their critics raising subtle complications and, other times, offering full-throated rejections. The question remains whether these critics are being taught and, if so, at what frequency. Moreover, CMC is said to have “deplatformed” commencement speaker Salman Rushdie as its singular controversy, when the motivation behind Rushdie’s withdrawal remains unknown. These discrepancies may suggest that FIRE strongly weighs subjective student experience, or at the very least, receives much of its information from the FIRE-College Pulse surveys.
Instead, they read texts that reaffirm Alexander’s thesis; the texts most frequently co-assigned with The New Jim Crow are Angela Davis’s Are Prisons Obsolete? I largely agree with the Kalven Report and generally support CMC’s institutional neutrality. It protects the academic freedom of students and faculty and facilitates the open and constructive dialogue that CMC has made so central to its identity. Since the paper’s release, critics have questioned whether “closed classrooms” are the norm.
The three focus topics were selected for their disciplinary breadth—criminal justice draws on sociology and law, Israel-Palestine on political science and history, and abortion on philosophy. These issues have also been omnipresent during the research team’s teaching tenure. Criminal justice and the Israel-Palestine conflict have been the two most polarizing campus issues for the past decade, Shields observed, whereas abortion is the most enduring issue in the broader American culture wars. 166 of the 257 schools surveyed received an “F” for their speech climate, and only 11 schools received a speech climate grade of “C” or higher.
By no means should academics avoid teaching certain fashionable thinkers, Shields added. “The academy has always been…faddish and taken with certain intellectuals.” The concern lies in whether they are presented in conversation with critics or presented as infallible. Higher education through one-sided narratives has created “closed classrooms.” The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a premier First Amendment watchdog group, analyzed the climates of public and private colleges nationwide.
For instance, Scripps is said to have experienced “0 controversies” in 2025, which neglects prolonged debate and controversy over the Motley’s closure in October 2024. Pomona is also said to have had “0 controversies,” despite the occupation of Carnegie Hall, also in October 2024. These incidents, if considered, could have dropped the colleges’ points in FIRE’s subcriteria. According to FIRE’s featured section on CMC, the college now ranks in the top ten in self-survey components for “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” “Openness,” and “Self-Censorship,” among others. To accomplish this, there’d be survey links at every function to get immediate feedback for improvement. I want to set up “office hours” or fireside chats at Beckett’s Fireplace on a weekly basis where I can talk individually with any of my classmates.
Instead, I’ll focus on small, tangible wins—like improving campus life with simple, practical changes that matter day to day.
FIRE’s 2026 Free Speech Rankings: How the Claremont Colleges Fared
Professors Jon Shields (CMC), Yuval Avnur (Scripps), and Stephanie Muravchik (CMC) have recently released a working paper analyzing diversity of https://traderoom.info/cmc-markets-a-wholly-reliable-brokerage/ thought in American college syllabi. FIRE’s ranking is based upon their speech code ratings of “Red,” “Yellow,” and “Green” for each school’s policies, indicating the degree to which each policy promotes expression through clarity, content neutrality, and other measures. Survey data is also obtained in partnership with College Pulse—a community-based survey platform—to accompany the speech code ratings in the ranking process. For the 2026 report, 68,000 students were surveyed from January 3 through June 5, 2025. CMC cannot claim to value open inquiry, academic freedom, and responsible leadership if it stands silent while those principles are challenged. This article is not a call for partisanship or an end to institutional neutrality.
