Two Claremont Colleges Make Top 20 Ugliest Campuses List

And the winners for ugliest campuses in America are....

Harvey Mudd College at #14.

Pitzer College at #10.

I'm having a hard time linking up the photos so be sure to check them out on this link. There are some real doozies.

Hat tip: a 85% bidirectional friend.

Kesler Talkin' Bout The Declaration

Professor Charles Kesler, director of the Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna, spoke with FrontPageMag.com about the American Founding. With characteristic Keslerian wit and charm, the interview is a good read. Enjoy. (Even though who aren't Kesler groupies will like it. Seriously)

Free Speech At Pomona Ought To Be Non-Negotiable

I won't beat a dead horse on the whole immigration debate at Pomona over a month ago by going into the details of what did and did not go right. In the end, what matters most is that Pomona uphold free speech rights of its students and its guests.

Though I found everything from the canned arguments to the students' sloganizing one of the issues of our days unfortunate, President Oxtoby's decision to involve himself in the debate about whether or not to have free speech at Pomona because some might censor others struck me as particularly unattractive. In his article in Pomona's The Student Life, President Oxtoby suggested that free speech might not be possible at Pomona, after all.

In any event, Foundation For Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) wrote President Oxtoby and reminded him of the promise that Pomona College makes to Claremont students to honor free speech. Here's Adam Kissel of FIRE on Oxtoby's commitments.

FIRE wrote President Oxtoby on November 29 about the possible further restrictions on free speech at Pomona. We reminded him of Pomona’s stated commitment to free speechin the Student Handbook, his own ringing endorsement of free speech in a convocation address, and the endorsement of free speech by Pomona Board of Trustees member John Payton in a commencement address.

In response, President Oxtoby wrote FIRE on December 10, again reaffirming Pomona’s traditions of free speech, free inquiry, and academic freedom.

It is now up to the Executive Committee of the Faculty to take the next step. Maybe free speech will be curtailed—as the “hate speech” policy already seems to do—or maybe the committee will again reaffirm Pomona’s historic commitments.

FIRE, a watchdog group for individual rights in higher education, is right to remind President Oxtoby and others of the commitment Pomona makes to all of us: free and open speech.

Someone may comment that Pomona is a private organization and as such can restrict the speech of students all it wants. Not so. By promising free speech as it does to prospective students, Pomona has entered into an explicit contract with all of us at the 5-Cs. They cannot go back on their word, lest we sue them for breach of contract.

We need to constantly remind administrators of our rights as students and consumers, lest they disappear without any debate at all. College administrators must learn that we will hold them account for any restrictions by naming and shaming them.

Thank you, FIRE.

Pomona Has High Crime Rate For College

Several weeks ago I blogged about Pomona's policy of keeping out criminals by not admitting students who had criminal records.

Now I see why they have that policy in place.

Forbes has run the numbers.

Reported crime incidents at U.S. colleges range vary widely, from over 40 per thousand at schools like Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., to less than two per thousand at the main campuses at the University of Texas (Austin) and the University of Florida (Gainesville)....

Pomona is typical of several schools relaying its crime numbers to the OPE--76 of its 87 reported crimes were burglaries, resulting in a high per capita crime rate of 57 per thousand despite virtually no violent incidents.

"It's a relaxed atmosphere, maybe a bit too relaxed," says Dr. David Oxtoby, the school's president. "People leave their doors open, which leads to crimes of opportunity."

I know we all love to blame the Townies for all that goes wrong, but isn't it more likely that our fellow students let us down?

I wonder what the other four colleges' crime rates are.