Seeds of Tolerance Are Taking Root : Claremont: The colleges are committed to racial harmony through racial diversity.

The Claremont Colleges are hardly paradise, but neither are they a hotbed of racism. We are a diverse community that has worked hard for more than a decade to be increasingly inclusive at every level, and to be sensitive to the experience and perspectives of those who make the colleges each year a more varied, vibrant place. While far from perfect, we are making progress.

To base one’s perspective of Claremont on statements in the Reginald Clark case--claims that are vigorously contested here and are now on appeal to the California Supreme Court--misses the true nature of this community, a consortium of six independent colleges--Pomona College, the Claremont Graduate School, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College.

For example:

--An African-American is dean of the well-known Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management Center at the Claremont Graduate School. Of the dozen most recent faculty appointments at the school, one is a distinguished Chicana scholar, one is Korean-American, a third is Latino and six of the group are women. More than 15% of the graduate students are members of historically underrepresented groups, and in the last three years enrollment of African-Americans has increased more than 40%.

--In the last three years, the percentage of the entering class of Scripps, the women’s college in the consortium, has grown from one-quarter to one-third women of color. Over the last three years, of four tenure-track faculty positions available, Scripps has hired two nonwhites. Of the mid- to senior-level administrative hires in the last three years, one-third are women of color.

--More than 40% of the incoming class at Claremont McKenna College are nonwhite and foreign-born. Twenty percent of appointments to the college’s tenure-track faculty in the past four years have been from underrepresented groups.

--Next fall, more than 25% of Harvey Mudd College’s students and almost 20% of its faculty will be nonwhite. Outreach programs at the college--Upward Bound and MESA--each year reach about 700 secondary school students, virtually all from underrepresented groups.

--Of Pitzer College’s 59 faculty, five are Latinos, three are African-Americans and three are Asian Americans. Its commencement speaker was Superior Court Judge Emily A. Stevens, who is black; its convocation speaker was David Hwang, noted Chinese-American playwright; and its incoming Student Senate president is an African-American. Pitzer’s Early Outreach Office brings hundreds of elementary school students of all racial and cultural backgrounds to campus.

--Of the 16 administrative areas that serve all six of the colleges in the consortium--from the libraries through financial services through campus security--nine are headed by women. Of the 16 directors, three are African-American and one is Latino; 23% of the central programs’ staff are nonwhite.

--International Place provides a wide range of support services for the more than 650 international students enrolled at the colleges. In an ongoing program, more than 70 international students are hosted in family homes throughout the Claremont community.

No human community is perfect. Incidents sometimes happen here that disturb and appall all of us. We are saddened when any member of the community experiences prejudice. To the extent that any faculty member, student or staff member has felt the sting of bias or unfair treatment, we share and regret the hurt. Each of our member institutions is committed to doing and being better. We are working to make the colleges--as nearly as possible--communities of racial, cultural and intellectual diversity. And I believe we are succeeding.