Today I visited Pitzer College, another college within the Claremont Consortium of Colleges. Pitzer College’s core values permeate all aspects of academic and student life. These core values include social responsibility, intercultural understanding, interdisciplinary learning, student engagement, and environmental sustainability. Arguably, Pitzer is the most progressive of the Claremont Consortium. This top ranked liberal arts college of 1200 students emphasizes a flexible and innovative curriculum where students are encouraged to design their own interdisciplinary major. The most popular majors include environmental analysis, secular studies, human biology, political studies, and global/local studies. A Mathematical Economics major and an Introduction to Public Health are some new additions to the curriculum.

Civic engagement and social justice form cornerstones of the Pitzer experience. Every committee on campus sends representatives to the Pitzer College Student Senate which meets weekly to govern campus life. The Senate even lends a hand in the hiring, firing, and tenure of faculty. Pitzer leans the most left of the Claremont colleges. Some traditions include spray painting on the “Free Wall” as an expression of student activism. Free speech reigns and no one is permitted to erase what is written. With one of the core values of the college being sustainability, many of the buildings are LEED certified, native plants flourish throughout campus, there’s a student run garden, a farm to table student run café, and a chicken coop giving students the freshest of egg sammies! I love how each of the Claremont College Consortium colleges have a unique culture and offer so much excellence for diverse and talented students.