ED 377 775 HE 027 959 TITLE A Brief History of The Group ...GEORGE C. S. BENSON. President Emeritus....

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HE 027 959

A Brief History of The Group Plan of the ClaremontColleges.Claremont Univ. Center, Calif.93

54p.

Claremont University Center, Harper 122, 150 E. TenthSt., Claremont, CA 91711 ($10.50).Historical Materials (060) Reports Descriptive(141)

MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.*Cluster Colleges; *College Planning; *Consortia;Cooperative Planning; Cooperative Programs;Educational History; Higher Education;*Intercollegiate Cooperation; Library Cooperation;Library Networks; Private Colleges; Shared Resourcesand Services; Universities

IDENTIFIERS *Claremont Colleges CA; Claremont Graduate School CA;Claremont McKenna College CA; Harvey Mudd College CA;Pitzer College CA; Pomona College CA; Scripps CollegeCA

ABSTRACTThis publication summarizes the history and evolution

of the Group Plan of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of sixsmall independent colleges in southern California. The ClaremontColleges include Pomona College; Harvey Mudd College; ScrippsCollege; Pitzer College; Claremont McKenna College; and ClaremontGraduate School. The Group Plan, the vision of Pomona College's earlypresident James A. Blaisdell, is the organizational structure thatbrings these institutions together so that, while they maintain thecharacteristics of the small college, they also gain the advantagesof a large university. The main section recounts the origins andevolution of the Colleges and the Group Plan and includesdescriptions of southern California in the late 1800s; the foundingof Pomona College; first formulations of the Group Plan;establishment of the Central Coordinating Corporation in 1925; thefounding of Claremont Graduate School and Scripps College; thegroup's evolution during the 1920s and 1930s; the war years; foundingof Claremont McKenna College; acquisition and holding of land;library development; affiliated ;nsEitutions; addition to the groupof Harvey Mudd College; the 1950s .nd 1960s; the addition of PitzerCollege; intercollegiate committees and the Claremont UniversityCenter; and developments to the present. Closing sections brieflysummarize lessons of the past and look at future challenges; list thecolleges, presidents and administrators; and present a timeline ofmilestones in the Group Plan's development. (Contains endnotes andfive references.) (JB)

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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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ClaremontUniversity

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Pomona College

ROBERT J. BERNARD

The Funding for this publication was provided by

Thomas Warren, Pomona College '26, son-in-law

of James A. Blaisdell.

JAMES ARNOLD BLAISDELL

4

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

THE GROUP PLAN

OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

GEORGE C. S. BENSON

President EmeritusCLAREMONT McKENNA COLLEGE

Founding TrusteeHARVEY MUDD COLLEGEAND PITZER COLLEGE

FRANCES BERNARD DRAKE

Assistant DirectorBLAISDELL INSTITUTE FORADVANCED STUDY IN WORLD CULTURESAND RELIGIONS1965-83

THE CLAREMONT GRADUATE SCHOOL1983-86

ELEANOR A. MONTAGUE

Vice President for Administration and Planningand Executive Officer of the CouncilCLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER

(7.laremont t huversity :ewerFall I Q93

JOSEPH B. PLATT

President EmeritusHARVEY MUDD COLLEGEPresident Emeritus

CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER

MASON MCCANN SMITH

Associate Director of Public RelationsTHE CLAREMONT GRADUATE SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION 4

ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION 6

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN TILE LATE 18005 6

PomoNA COLLEGEThe Presidency ()flames A. Blaisdell

Ti IE GROUP PLAN: A NEW CONCEPT IN HIGHER EDUcATION 10

THE CENTRAL COORDINATING CORPORATION 12

Early Joint Services

THE CLAREMONT GRADUATE SCHOOL 14

SCRIPPS COLLEGE 16

EVOLUTION DURING THE 1920s AND 19305: DEFINING ROLES,

RESPONSIBILITIES, AND RELATIONSHIPS IsDr. Blaisdell Looks Back

THE WAR YEARS: TIIE GROUP OPERATING AGREEMENT AND THE

REORGANIZATION OF CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER 20

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE 22

THE MATTER OF LAND 24

Preservation of the Land

THE LIBRARIES OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES 26

AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS 28

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE 30

THE 1950s AND THE EARLY 1960s 32

PITZER COLLEGE 34

COLLABORATION AT TI IE COLLEGE LEVEL 36

INTERCOLLEGIATE COMMITTEES

AND CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER 38

THE MID-1960S TO THE PRESENT 40

THE LESSONS OF THE PAST-THE CHALLENGES OF THE FUTURE 42

THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES TODAY 44

THE CLAIC:MONT COLLEGES, PRESIDENTS AND ADMINISTRAT07.:S 46

MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF

THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES GROUP PLAN 47

EN DNOTES 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY50

THE GROUP PLAN OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

INTRODUCTION

The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of six small,independent colleges, located on adjacent campusesand sharing joint facilities and services, representsan evolving idea that has been imitated in theUnited States, but has not been duplicated.

Each of the academic members of TheClaremont Colleges--in order of founding: PomonaCollege, The Claremont Graduate School, ScrippsCollege, Claremont McKenna College, HarveyMudd College, and Pitzer Collegehas developedits own identity, which is expressed in every respectfrom distinctive academic emphasis to architecturaldesign and social climate. Each has gained nationalprominence as a highly-regarded institution ofhigher education.

It is the Group Plan, however, that gives TheClaremont Colleges its unique and creativecharacter. Six small colleges on adjacent campusesand a coordinating institution (ClaremontUniversity Center) afford the best of two worlds:collegial communities of personal, human scalewhere the value of teaching has not been forgottenin the quest for academic distinction, and theuniversity-scale facilities and opportunities of one ofAmerica's great centers of learning.

Several distinct attributes characterize theGroup Plan. As the pioneer in the United States ofthe "cluster" or "group" plan of organization, thecolleges have demonstrated repeatedly the ability to"reproduce themselves." With thoughtfuldeliberation and vision, additional colleges havebeen created to serve new generations of studentswith distinctive aczk:mic programs and tostrengthen the group as a whole. Each new collegewas established on land adjacent to the existingcolleges and as expressly founded to be a memberof the group. The colleges' academic programs arecharacterized by a free and flexible interchange ofstudents and faculty between and among campuses.And a central coordinating institution offers a widerange of programs and services.

The Claremont Group Plan was horn as thedream of a single man, James A. Blaisdell, presidentof Pomona College from 1910 to 1928. He and hiscolleague and assistant, Robert J. Bernard, draftedthe plans and enlisted the support to make thedream a reality. During a period when PomonaCollege was experiencing pressures to expandbeyond its small size, Dr. Blaisdell asked theessential question: Is it not possible to greatlyimprove higher education in this country by

4

developing centers of learning that combine thespecial virtues of the small college and theadvantages of the large university? Dr. Blaisdellbecame convinced that the "Oxford" model wasadaptable to the needs of Pomona College and thegrowing Southern California area. In 1925, with theestablishment of a central coordinating institutionand its graduate programs, and Scripps College,which soon followed, the Claremont Group Planwas born. During the next four decades, three moreundergraduate colleges were added to the group.

Although the idea of the Group Plan arosefrom a singular vision, its evolution was, andremains, a complex expression of the hopes,ambitions, and dreams of many gifted and capableindividuals. The Group Plan of The ClaremontColleges is the result of shared experimentation,competition, cooperation, occasional disagreement,good will, and dedication to excellence.

Through the years there have been threeconstants in the consortium:

Each member maintains its own identity, having adistinct curriculum, student body, social climate,faculty, administration, gov.;rning hoard,endowment, and academic emphasis.

The members are bound closely together by physicalproximity, course cross registration, shared services,and constant intellectual and social interchange acrosscampus boundaries.

Each member, no matter how strong orcomprehensive, benefits through its membership inThe Claremont Colleges.

The individual identities of the members ofThe Claremont Colleges create an atmosphere ofdiversity not open to conventional universities. Atthe same time, the colleges are grounded in commoneducational philosophies: freedom of thought andexpression; liberal arts blended with morespecialized training and practical application; highacademic standards; a residential community; andintimate size enabling close relationships amongstudents, among faculty, and between the twogroups.

The sacrifices inherent in such a Group Planare modest compared to the benefits that accrue toevery constituency: to faculty members, who teachin a small college setting while enjoying frequentinterchange with a relatively large number ofscholars in their own and other fields; to students,who enjoy close faculty-student relationships andthe social environment of a small college

community while having access to a total facultynumbering more than 500; and to collegeadministrators, who appreciate the economics andvalue-added benefits of sharing resources such as a1.7-million volume library system, common studenthealth and counseling services, and a shared campussecurity department. The colleges have shown theirbelief in the benefits of the Group by vigorouslyassisting each new college in its formative years.

The Group Plan of The Claremont Colleges isnow in a position of enviable strength. The sixinstitutions are financially found and their national

reputations, individually and as a group, achievenew heights each year.

The pages that follow summarize and celebratethe evolution of the Group Plan of The ClaremontColleges, chronologically from the founding of fivenew institutions during the span of four decades(1925-1963) to its current organization. The Groupnow has prospects for new members, continuing intothe 21st Century Dr. Blaisdell's dream and thevision of the many who have followed.

5

Aerial view,The ClaremontColleges.


ORIGINS ANDEVOLUTION

SOUTHERN CALIFOLCNIA

IN THE LATE 1800s

9

As the great cattle ranchos of the Spanish eradeclined in the 1860s, interest in agriculture,especially citrus, increased. In the 1870s, a thrivingcitrus industry took hold. Word of the specialnature of southern California began to spreadeastward. The Southern Pacific opened a railroadline between San Francisco and Los Angeles in1876, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Feentered Los Angeles from the Middle West in1885. From 1880 to 1890, the population ofsouthern California nearly tripled, causing anincredible boom in the value of land. TheClaremont Colleges consortium is a product ofwhat was in the early years of the Group Plan adistinctive environment created by these economicand cultural changes that were transformingsouthern California.

Among the early immigrants from the Eastwere members of a number of well-establishedProtestant denominations with long traditions offounding churches and colleges. It was in thiscontext, with a heady economic boom promisinggood fortune for southern Californians, thatPomona College was founded.

JAMES ARNOLD BLAISDELL - THE FOUNDING VISION

President, Pomona College, 1910 - 1928President, Claremont Colleges, 1925 - 1935

James Arnold Blaisdell seemed destined from birth for a career in a college environment. Born and raisedacross the street from Beloit College, in Beloit, Wisconsin, where his father was a long-time professor ofphilosophy, Blaisdell himself attended Beloit. After graduating in 1890, he spent two years in preparation forthe ministry at Hartford Theological Seminary. The year 1882 witnessed his ordination as a Congregationalminister, the start of his first pastorate - at a church in Waukesha, Wisconsin - and his marriage to Florence

Lena Carrier.He thoroughly enjoyed the ministerial calling, but after eleen years, the lure of academia became too

strong to ignore. He returned to Beloit College as college pastor, librarian, and professor of Biblical literature

and ancient Oriental history.In 1910, his wide experience came to the attention of the Pomona College hoard of trustees, who were

then searching for a new president for the college, and he was invited to visit the campus.As Blaisdell would write in his autobiography, he was then "hungering for a renewal of those

constructive tasks in society" which he had experienced as a pastor. "1 wanted to he a builder and to have alarger right of way to that end." He saw the presidency of Pomona College as just such an opportunity, andwhen the post was offered to him, he accepted.

The student publication, Metate, said: "We felt then that the right man was coming to us, but we felt itmore that first morning when we rushed him into a double seater and away from the old station, half ahundred fellows pulling the rope for all they were worth and breaking the Claremont speed ordinance. Wefelt it at the reception, and after the opening chapel address we had no doubt, he had our hearts."

7

Holmes Hall (left)and Sumner Hall,ca. 1900.


POMONA COLLEGE'

Established in 1887 by Congregationalists, thecollege's first home was in the city of Pomona.Instruction began in 1888, with a faculty of six, 27students in the pre-college "preparatorydepartment," and three students in the "collegiatedepartment."

The new college was founded at what provedto he the worstand the bestpossible moment:the sudden collapse of the 1880s land boom. Thecollege found itself in unexpected financial straits,as the donors on which it had been depending lostmuch of the value of their investments. However,the failure of the land-speculating boom led a groupof developers to donate to the college the newlycompleted, never occupied, and practically valuelessHotel Claremontknown to later generations ofPomona College students as Sumner Halland 260additional lots of land.

Possession of the hotel prompted the collegeto move to its current home in Cbremont inDecember 1888. The land provided space in whichto expand and a modest source of income. Purchasesand gifts of land to he held in reserve for futureexpansion became an established theme that runsstrongly throughout the history of the ClaremontColleges group.

The quality and enthusiasm of the initialfaculty earned an excellent reputation for the youngcollege. The college emerged from severe financialdifficulties in the mid-1890s to a position of greaterstrength, partly as a result of gifts but largely becauseof the dedication of able faculty members,presidents, and trusteesCharles Sumner, GeorgeMarston, Nathan Blanchard, President GeorgeGates, Dean Edwin Norton, Professors FrankBrackett and Phebe Estelle Spalding, to name a few.

118

The decade between 1899 and 1908 saw theconstruction of half a dozen major buildings. By1908, the student body was 507, of whom 60 percentwere in the "collegiate department." A faculty of 38taught in 21 departments of instruction. But thecollege was still in debt, with an uncertain future.

The Presidency of James A. Blaisdell

James Arnold Blaisdell, a Congregationalminister and professor at Beloit College, Wisconsin,became president of Pomona College in 1910. In hisinaugural address, he stated his belief that a collegeof 700 students would he most conducive to"securing an environment sufficiently large to makethe strongest pull upon the different sides ofpersonality, offer range and opportunity offriendship," and yet still retain "that close andintimate personal influence which is the glory of thesmaller colleges."

His presidency was marked by dramaticexpansion of facilities and fund-raising efforts thatvirtually eliminated fears for the college's long-termsurvival. Within 11 years, Dr. Blaisdell, always thebuilder, more than quadrupled the resources ofPomona. However, new external pressures wereemerging. By 1919, the college, now dedicatedexclusively to post secondary education, had anenrollment of 685a number that was taxing itsfacilities and resources. Between 1920 and 1926, thepopulation within sixty miles of Claremont doubled.As President Blaisdell later wrote, "The regionabout Pomona College received one of the mostamazing treks of new population which had ever inthe world's history centered upon so limited an area.A million people moved with the mass and speed ofa human avalanche into the territory which PomonaCollege had set itself to serve." It was soon turningaway two out of three students applying foradmission. "We are greatly perplexed," Blaisdellwrote at the time, "as to how to care for the largenumbers coining to us. . . . Should Pomona remain asmall college in the face of overwhelmingapplications for admission, or should it become what

t.

used to seem the only alternative, a great universitywith its overwhelming crowds in attendance?"

It was in this context in the early 1920s, withPomona in a stronger position financially butexperiencing great pressure to expand beyond itssmall-college character, that Dr. Blaisdell firstproposed the development of a group system of smallcolleges. Thereafter, though Pomona Collegeretained its distinctive character and enhanced itsreputation, its future was inextricably intertwinedwith the Group Plan and with the new institutionsthat the plan engendered.

1 2

Sumner Hall,Pomona College,1993.

0

"This building is asymbol of a housenot made with handswherein shall dwellthe spirit of truth,justice, andcomradeship."

ELLEN BROWNING

SCRIPPSat the dedication of

Harper Hall

[My hope is] "thatinstead of one great,undifferentiateduniversity, we mighthave a group ofinstitutions dividedinto small collegessomewhat on theOxford typearound a library andother utilities whichthey would use incommon. in this wayI should hope topreserve the inesti-mable personalvalues of the smallcollege while securingthe facilities of thegreat university.Such a developmentwould be a new andwonderful contrib-ution to Americaneducation."

JAMES A. BLAISDELL1923


THE GROUP PLAN:A NEW CONCEPT iNHIGHER EDUCATION2

In 1923, Blaisdell wrote to Ellen Browning Scripps,"I cannot but believe that we shall need here tinsouthern California] a suburban educationinstitution of the range of Stanford. My own verydeep hope is that instead of one great,undifferentiated university, we might have a groupof institutions divided into small collegessomewhat on the Oxford typearound a library andother utilities which they would use in common. Inthis way I should hope to preserve the inestimablepersonal values of the small college while securingthe facilities of the great university. Such adevelopment would be a new and wonderfulcontribution to American education."

Blaisdell suggested to the trustees that "theadvantage of close relationships between studentsand between students and faculty might perhaps bepreserved by the developing of a group system."Professor Frank Brackett discussed Blaisdell'ssuggestion. "Each college was to be a separateautonomous institution, but the group of collegeswould be united in one organization having threerather distinct functions: first, that of a federationuniting the component units in a joint body forownership of land and other property and forcontrol of common interests; second, that ofproviding and directing divisions of work belongingto the group as a whole, such as a great library, aschool of education, and a health service for all;third, that of an advanced scho.)1, primarily forgraduates but not for them alone."

There wer.., Brackett noted, "a considerablenumber, who did not like the idea. Faculty andalumni were divided. Some of the alumni especiallydid not favor it. Would not Pomona he submergedin the larger organization? Would not much of theinterest and support that went normally to Pomonabe diverted?" One distinguished educatorcommented, "Do not do it; Pomona's record and

1013

standing in the Southwest is unique and enviable.You have the opportunity to establish here a smallcollege of the very first rank. Such a goal is moreworthwhile, and more truly a fulfillment of itsoriginal raison d'etre."

In the end, moved by Blaisdell's appeal andbelieving it likely to he a boon for Pomona College,the board approved the idea of the collegiate group.

An alumnus addressed the most importantissues for F ,ona College: "In the next few yearsPomona will have to make a definite choice. ShallPomona retain for all time the size and coherence ofa small college or shall she swell into one more drabuniversity of the usual American type... ? Or shallshe dare to be original and strive to develop a newand better organization that will combine theadvantages without the disadvantages of both theold forms? Now it is obvious that such a plan bristleswith difficulties. It can be made to succeed only by agroup of men and women who believe in its possibil-ities and will patiently seek the goal through decadesof effort. These devoted spirits will have to resistcontinually the common American passion for seek-ing the easiest course and the utmost simplicity.. ..The start must be made in such a way as to commitPomona definitely to the broad outlines of the plan.The only way to accomplish this would seem to beto walk boldly out into the sagebrush and stake outcollege number two."'

In early 1924, the trustees charged acommittee with the "duty of studying the futureorganization of this institution and such matters asmay be involved in any form of reorganization."Miss Ellen Browning Scripps designated a gift forthe purchase of 250 acres around the Indian HillMesa, north of Foothill Boulevard. This gift, plusother land purchases and exchanges south ofFoothill Boulevard, created a resource for futuredevelopment.

In 1925, the Pomona College AlumniAssociation resolved: "Whereas President Blaisdellhas envisioned a plan of a group of small colleges,each. with its own individuality and charm, but allwith the high standard and ideals of Pomona, be itresolved .. . that we heartily approve the principleof a group of small colleges centering around andmultiplying our Pomona; and we do enthusiasticallyreaffirm our faith in the President of our College, inits trustees and faculty, and their ability to unfold tosuccess the plans for progressive Pomona."'

Blaisdell committed his vision of thecollegiate consortium to writing. "The institutionsshould he distinctly and wholly separate, theadministration of each to consist of a hoard of

trustees and a faculty, with their typical powers.While these various college corporations should heseparate one from another, they should he held tocommon standards and to loyal cooperation. .. .It has been suggested that jealousies might arisebetween these institutions, to the serious loss of theinterests of all. But on the other hand, it is urgedthat it is quite as likely that a stimulating compe-tition will thus he encouraged. It is suggested thatthe institutions should not be of the same size. ...Inevitably they will come to emphasize differentvalues, and varying traditions will grow up. It is tothe great advantage of this proposed plan that it willencourage intramural competitions and activities ofall sorts."

As to the central coordinating corporation,Blaisdell wrote, "For the purpose of holding thesecolleges to a community of interest, it has beensuggested that one college he organized on speciallines, with the purpose that it shall serve as a generalclearing house of the interests of the various othercolleges and as an instrument of their mutualservice, and that its organization he careful!,formulated so as to gather up the enthusiasms andloyaky of the other colleges." Among the functionsthat he suggested for such a central corporation weregraduate-level instruction, summer school activities,and joint services and facilities.

He added, "It seems to be generally acceptedin any such hypothetical scheme that the variouscolleges should interchange their academic facilitiesof all sorts to the largest possible degree, so thatevery college may rrofit by the offerings of everyother college; but nis facility of exchange shouldnot operate to prevent each col:ege from having itsspecial requirements and anhieving its particularindividuality. The whole effort should be distinctlyagainst that of securing uniformity; rather the idealshould he that of differing personalities joined in acommon enterprise."

"While we are lo.:ated in a new country,where conditions ar.: plastic, we nevertheless aresurrounded by a great and increasing populationwhich is singularly interested in intellectual values.[Pomona[ is located in a somewhat isolated spot andin a sympathetic community where we anunusual chance to formulate our own program underthe conditions of a residence institution. At no greatdistance from us we have sufficient financial meansand persons deeply interested in unselfishbenevolence. We already have a college ofhonorable name, singularly permeated withdemocratic spirit and practices. .. ."

i

'11 .

C or i-IAL "IASI Iws.

11 I 1. k .4- ,m101L I -A al rill quail

h.--7; rilih

Landscape architect's preliminaryproposal for The Claremont UniversityCenter and Graduate School.

141 I

"We are relyingwholly upon theforces of mutt,interest and gwill as the cotelemertis."

JAMES A. BLAISDELL

1930


THE CENTRAL COORDINATINGCORPORATION

The central coordinating corporation' (hereafterreferred to as Claremont University Center or CUC,though it has possessed several official titles over theyears) was incorporated on October 14, 1925 (thethirty-eighth anniversary of the founding of PomonaCollege) when Robert J. Bernard (Pomona College,'17) filed the papers in Sacramento. Bernarddescribed it as "a noble act of faith, for the newinstitution had almost no capital funds, yet it had adistinguished board and chairman who were notafraid to build on a great idea. The Group Plan, thefirst of its kind in the United States, struck fire." Sothe Group began, without a constitution or otherformal document of organization by the express wishof Blaisdell, "who felt that decisions should he Lakenin the light of future needs and opportunit:.:s."

In October 1925, Miss Scripps announced hergift of 250 acres of land to implement the GroupPlan. Miss Scripps' gift gave "wings to the wholefuture plan."6 At its organizational meeting inDecember 1925, the CUC Board of Fellows choseBlaisdell as its head fellow (president), Seeley W.Mudd as chairman, William L. Honnold as vicechairman, and Robert J. Bernard as secretary.

Initially, four functions were proposed forCUC:

To initiate the founding of new colleges and todetermine the conditions under which individualcolleges mciy become and remain members of thegroup.

To conserve, enlarge, and strengthen the centralphysical facilities.

To enrich the instructional, intellectual, andenvironmental opportunities available to all studentsin Claremont through advanced (post-baccalaureate)study.

To serve as a coordinating agency, both educationallyand financially, for the group.

121.5

The consensus was that CUC would notoperate with the highest degree of effectiveness untilthe group included three colleges at least. Planningwas underway for Scripps College as the secondundergraduate member of the Group. For a thirdundergraduate college, the committee proposed aresidential college for men with an emphasis onbusiness and economics within a liberal artsframework. However, the Depression and theSecond World War would delay the founding ofClaremont Men's College (now ClaremontMcKenna College) by an unexpectedly large spanof years.

Blaisdell resigned from the presidency ofPomona in 1928. He gave full time to ClaremontUniversity Center and moved its administrativeoffices to a rented house at 818 North CollegeAvenue, a move that helped to establish an identityof its own. A gift from Miss Scripps, combined withgifts from other sources, made possible theconstruction of an academic and administrativebuilding for CUC, named after founding boardmember Jacob C. Harper. At Harper Hall'sdedication in 1932, George W. Marston, a memberof the CUC Board of Fellows and chairman ofPomona College's Board of Trustees, emphasizedthat the building represented "the inherent idea ofthe [Group], the idea of a voluntary unity in anassociation of colleges and a use in common ofcertain advantages afforded by a central institution."

Early Joint Services

In addition to academic cooperation, one ofthe primary reasons for locating a number of smallcolleges on adjoining campuses and creating acentral corporation was to achieve the benefits fromjointly-funded, shared programs, services, and

lities. In many cases, these are more extensiveand comprehensive than a single small college couldprovide for its students. The Libraries of TheClaremont Colleges (to he described in a latersection) are undoubtedly the most dramatic exampleof the advantages of such cooperation, but they arenot alone.

Very early, some business functions weretransferred from Pomona to CUC. Next, thecolleges organized a joint student health service.From 1930 through 1932, CUC embarked on anextensive building program. One of the leastdramatic but important projects was the centralheating plant, originally located at the east end ofMarston Quadrangle, then relocated to First Streetto make room for Mabel Shaw Bridges Auditorium.

Since its dedication in 19.32, the 2500-seat BridgesAuditorium has been an important centralizingforce in the Group Plan as a site of many jointconvocations, baccalaureate services, and otherevents.'

Over the years, the combined efforts of thegroup have provided numerous support services thatmeet one or more of the following criteria: thecentral service (1) is less expensive than if done on

a campus-by-campus basis (for example, CampusSecurity), (2) is more extensive than could beprovided by an individual college (for example, theLibraries and Huntley Bookstore), and/or (3) createsan advantage of scale in negotiation with outsidesuppliers (for example, employee health benefits,insurance, utilities). The current central corporationis described in a later section on intercollegiatecommittees and Claremont University Center.

Dr. Bialsdell's house at Ninth Street andDartmouth Avenue (currently: institute forAntiquity and Christianity).

16 13

"The questionsBlaisdell raised andthe problems heforesaw? remain vividtoday. Now as then,the question iswhether the partic-ipant colleges andtheir members havethe will to make thePlan work. Have wethe vision, the mutualcommitment, thecapacity for construc-tive compromise andthe spirit of fore-bearance required bysuch a complexventure? Andwe the will to moveforward to the nextnew venture?"

JOHN D. MAGUIREPresident

Claremont University Centerand Graduate School

1981-present


THE CLAREMONTGRADUATE SCHOOL

The adoption of the Group Plan secured a place forgraduate work in Claremont as one of the functionsof the coordinating corporation. Early on, Scrippsand Pomona faculty taught graduate courses, but thegraduate program also engaged some faculty of itsown (a move which was contrary to Blaisdell's ownvision of the graduate program). Today, the graduateprograms of CUC are called The ClaremontGraduate School (CGS).

That the central corporation included agraduate school raised an interesting questionregarding the granting of degrees in the group. It wasgenerally recognized that each of the colleges,including CUC, would grant degrees in its ownname. The question was what degrees should CUCconfer, and on what basis. The solution and currentpractice is that each undergraduate college confersthe bachelor's degree and The Claremont GraduateSchool confers the master's and doctoral degrees.

Graduate instruction began in the 1920s witha few master's candidates and students seekingteaching credentials.' Growth of the graduateprogram was hindered by the financial stresses of theearly thirties and the Second World War, but thedream of a quality program persisted in the minds oftrustees and members of the undergraduate andgraduate faculty. In the period after the war to 1970,the dreams were realized; it was a time marked bygrowth, maturation, and stability.. From 1970 to thepresent, The Claremont Graduate School (CGS)has grown considerably in the size of its faculty andstudent body, developed innovative curricula inmany areas of academic endeavor, and gained areputation as an excellent regional and, in someacademic programs, a national institution.

The Claremont Graduate School is a "freestanding" graduate school; that is, it offers noundergraduate instruction.' This difference fromother universities affords graduate students uniqueopportunities. Classes are small; most students enjoyan unusually close relationship with their professors;and it is relatively easy to create broadlyinterdisciplinary graduate programs designed to meetthe needs of individual students. Throughout its

14 1"

history, the graduate faculty has balanced effectiveteaching with research and writing."

The Graduate School mission is "to prepare adiverse group of outstanding individuals throughteaching, research, and practice in selected fields toassume leadership roles in the worldwidecommunity." In the words of John D. Maguire,president of Claremont University Center andGraduate School: "By deciding to initiate

management programs for which there were noundergraduate counterparts lin the early 1970s1,CGS effectively declared that there were certainthings it could do uniquely well, and, indeed, had todo to fulfill its responsibilities as a graduateinstitution.... Parity has been realized betweenprograms that prepare students for non-academicprofessions and those that prepare professors for theacademy. For example, management programs at

CGS have, from the outset, had a distinctive flavorthrough the mandatory inclusion of humanitiescomponents in the curriculum. ... This brings aspecial qualitya breadth, a range, a depthto theeducational process. Therefore, when the graduatesof these programs assume leadership roles, they willhave an extra advantage and a sophistication thatcan only come from their unusual involvement witha wide range of disciplines and perspectives."

McManus Hall, TheClaremont GraduateSchool

BEST COPY AVAILABLE1 8

15

"The paramountobligation of acollege is to developin its students theability to thinkclearly and indepen-dently and the abilityto live confidently,courageously, andhopefully."

ELLEN BROWNING

SCRIPPSbenefactor of

The Claremont Colleges


SCRIPPS COLLEGE

Scripps College was incorporated and the board oftrustees took shape in spring 1926. With ScrippsCollege as the first "new" undergraduate college inClaremont, the Group Plan pushed forward. MissScripps wrote: "I have identified myself with theuphuilding of an enterprise that seems to me ofgreater outlook and vaster significance than theordinary college and with infinite possibilities."Long a supporter of women's rights, philanthropist,and pioneering newspaper publisher, she viewed thisnew college for women as the most important of hermany opportunities to promote the widening ofhuman knowledge.'

In a hold move on the part of Ernest J. Jaqua,Scripps' founding president and former dean ofPomona College, women comprised half of theinitial Scripps hoard (a ratio that has remained orbeen surpassed through the years). All were strong,highly educated women with professional, business,or community interests.

Determined that Scripps College should he apremier independent educational institution in itsown right, the trustees shaped a curriculum designedto develop critical judgment and intellectualcuriosity. Basic liberal arts was planned for the firsttwo years; during the second two years, theeducation committeeassuming that every womanwith a college education would want a profession orcareerrecommended career-related training.

16

As the core of the first faculty, Dr. Jaquasought out five well-known scholars who haddemonstrated outstanding abilities in teaching andresearch, and who would he eager to formulate aunique program in the humanities. One of the goalsof the Scripps humanities program that emergedfrom their cooperative effort was, and still is, toassure to every graduate a comprehensive view ofthe history of ideas. With the early addition ofmusicologist Henry Purmort Eames and artistMillard Sheets to the faculty, Scripps soondeveloped a strong emphasis in the fine arts thatsupported and supplemented its distinctive programin the humanities. Today, still in the context of theliberal arts, students have opportunities to major inthe sciences and social sciences in addition to thearts and humanities.

The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculumhas been a hallmark of the Scripps education fromthe beginning. Because Scripps women learn to seethe connections not only between academicsubjects, but between the major areas of their ownlivespersonal, professional and communityalumnae often remark that Scripps "prepared me forlife." This ability to make crit:cal connections andanalyze those connections provides Scripps womenwith the strengths and abilities they need to livelives of confidence, courage and hope.

Believing that the residential community ofthe college was integral to its educational enterprise,the founding trustees determined that the firstbuilding on campus should be a residence hall. Withthe simplicity and balanced proportions ofMediterranean architecture as his model, architectGordon Kaufmann designed the general plan of thecampus: the first four residence halls (1927-30),Denison Library (1931), Margaret Fowler Garden(1934), Florence Rand Lang Art Building (1935-37), and the President's House (1939). SumnerHunt was architect of Balch Hall (1929). Theoriginal buildings on campus were entered on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1984. In1992, Scripps began construction on the MillardSheets Art Center and, along with ClaremontMcKenna College and Pitzer College, constructedthe W. M. Keck Science Center, a stare -of- the -artfacility.

The Scripps College campus.

"It is written in thestars that this is tobe one of the impor-tant educationalcenters of the world."

JAMES A. BLASIDELL,1928


EVOLUTION DURINGTHE 1920s AND 1930s:DEFINING ROLES,RESPONSIBILITIES, ANDRELATIONSHIPS

A major task of the late 1920s and early 1930s wasto formulate the relationships and operationalprocedures among the three institutions. AnAdministrative Council was established in 1930,charged with considering "the establishment ofmutual services such as libraries, laboratories, amuseum, and any program of community or groupservice." Each institution would "so far aspracticable" keep the Council informed on mattersof major concern. Largely advisory, the Council wasnot charged with the actual administration of anyjoint facility; that power remained vested in CUC.

To appreciate the evolution of the GroupPlan, it is important to understand that in practicethere were departures from some aspects ofBlaisdell's vision. Blaisdell believed that there

should be no formal constitution or bindingcommitments among the colleges. Rather, hebelieved that intercollegiate relationships should bedeveloped in the light of experience and thatcooperation should he voluntary. "We are relyingwholly upon the forces of mutual interest and goodwill as the cohesive element," Blaisdell wrote in1930, but conflicting viewpoints were alreadydeveloping.

Blaisdell's concept for CUC was expressed inits motto, Multa Lumina, Una Lux (Many Lamps,One Light). "The plan For CUC]," he wrote, "wasthat it should be the separate colleges operatingtogether. [CUC] was not a third separate institution,but all of us acting together to promote just so far aspossible the matters we could carry on in common....[CUC] was organized as the central and inclusivebody.... It corresponded to the University, asrelated to the colleges, at Oxford."

However, even early in its history, Blaisdell'svision was not universally shared, as heacknowledged in a 1930 letter to Jacob C. Harper:"Strangely enough, there has grown up a tendencylately to deny to [CUC] its function as a universityorganization and to insist that it is only a graduateschoolvirtually a third separate college."

ELLEN BROWNING SCRIPPS -HEARTFELT COMMITMENT TO THE COLLEGES

School teacher, businesswoman, newspaper publisher, philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps would havebeen an exceptional woman in any era. For her to have achieved what she did during a lifetime that spannedthe years from 1837 to 1928 was truly remarkable.

At the age of seven, she immigrated with her father and her five siblings from England to Rushville,Illinois. In that rural setting, she was raised in an extended family which farmed extensive tracts.

Education was highly valued by the Scripps family, and most of her siblings made their way to smallMidwestern colleges. For Ellen Browning, the route to higher education led through Knox College, inGalesburg, Illinois. Women students at that time were relegated to a separate, three-year course of study, earnedcertificates instead of degrees, and even' had commencement ceremonies separate from those of the men. In1911, when Miss Scripps was 74 years old, Knox College would make amends by awarding her the honorarydegree of Litt.D.

With a small bequest from her late grandfather and savings from her wages as a school teacher inRushville, Miss Scripps joined several of 'ner brothers in founding a newspaper, the Detroit News. At the News,she served as copy editor, columnist, and reporter and her business acumen, on which her brothers depended,was a tremendous benefit to the venture. In the years that followed, the Lcripps family founded or purchasedmany newspapers. Eventually, the Scripps chain numbered more than 50 newspapers.

The family's success provided Miss Seriph, who never married. with capital that she took great pains toinvest in philanthropic causes where it would make a significant difference. It was said of her after her deaththat she "dreaded the thought of leaving a large fortune to he distributed by an executor." Among herphilanthropies were large contributions to Knox College, funds to create the Scripps Institute of Oceanography(with her brother E. W. Scripps), and the establishment of Torrey Pines Park near the home of her last years inLa Jolla, California. Finally, when she was in her eighties, too aged to travel as far as Claremont but still deter-mined to make a positive impact, she made the gifts of land that made the Group Plan and Scripps Collegepossible, and she provided generous contributions to the construction of several of Scripps College's first buildings.

18 21

In 1932, the three hoards jointly consideredquestions of the exact nature and functions of thecentral corporation and its Board of Fellows. In theend, they agreed that CUC should have thefollowing functions and activities:

Developing facilities and departments to serve theGroup as a whole;

Offering graduate study;

Performing research as part of the graduate program;

Promoting the establishment of new colleges; and

Coordinating intercollegiate committees.

As affected by the Depression as the rest ofthe country, the colleges endured a severe budgetpinch through the 1930s. CUC's budget, inparticular, was unable to support even limitedactivities, and the question arose as to whether itought to he dissolved and its assets distributed to thecolleges. In 1935, a committee appointed toconsider the issue reported "that an institutioncorresponding to [CUC] was logical and inevitablein the general educational scheme at Claremont;that if [CUC] were to he discontinued, theorganization of another institution to carry on itspresent functions would he compelled. TheCommittee unanimously reaffirms its confidence inthe conception of a group of colleges at Claremontin which [CUC] should fill the central andcoordinating place, all as originally conceived andstated by Dr. Blaisdell." In 1936, the IntercollegiateCouncil was created to take over the functions ofthe Administrative Council.

Blaisdell felt deeply about this principle, asreflected in his 1936 statement to the Board ofFellows: "Any conception of ]CUC] as solely agraduate college, simply because one of its mutualfunctions is that of administering a graduate school,or any divorcing of it from other functions of amutual character or indeed any conception of it assolely a third institution is to invalidate the essentialnature of the plan. Whether or not abandonment ofthe plan is advisable, it should he evident that this isthe abandonment of the plan."

CUC had its own governing board andpresident, its own buildings and campus, andadministered the graduate program and granteddegrees. To Blaisdell and others who held his views,these facts were only legal expedients. To manytrustees, faculty members, students, and alumni ofthe undergraduate colleges, CUC looked like athird, and at times competing, institution in theirmidst. As a result of these internal and externalfactors, the true role of CUC was not establishedand accepted until many years later.

Dr. Blaisdell Looks Back

A joint convocation in Bridges Auditorium onFebruary 7, 1936, celebrated the tenth anniversaryof the Group Plan, the tenth anniversary of ScrippsCollege, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr.Blaisdell's service in Claremont. Blaisdell retiredfrom the presidency of CUC on March 31, 1935. Asa last official act, he turned his pen to a final look atthe Group Plan that his original vision hadengendered. In reviewing the situation, he wrote,"three facts are most obvious....

"First, the remarkable increase in the richnessof our educational resources and environment.When one compares the Pomona of 10 years agowith the present accumulation of privileges in ourgroup of institutions it is impossible to think thatany such development in facilities, Bourses orpersonnel would have taken place except as a resultof our intercollegiate form of organization.. ..

"The second fact is that while this progresshas been made we have retained that inestimableadvantage of the historic college as compared withthe large university, namely the influence of thosepersonal associations and more familiar contractswhich are possible within the smaller educationalgroup.. ..

"A third, and perhaps the most notableconsideration of all is the general good will in whichthis development has taken place... .

"In an educational organization such as weare developing the wise balance between the indepen-dence of the autonomous individual colleges and theprovince and function of the central body is inevi-tably a matter of constant interest and thought... .Put in its simplest terms it is the problem of willingindividual consent to the common good. Of allproblems of our modern day it is the problem towhich a college should supply its wisdom and giveits leadership, for if the problem is ever resolved, itmust first be so resolved in a society of wise andself-controlled men."

The first decade of the Group Plan was farfrom conflict-free, but despite the inevitablefrictions and differences of opinion, by 1935 theGroup Plan had proven itself, on balance, aresounding success. Despite the Depression, PomonaCollege was at a strong point, Scripps College wasoff to a good start, the colleges were moving closerto an effective mechanism for providing graduateinstruction, the Group boasted shared andindividual facilities that were the envy of smallcolleges across the country, and there was land fornew colleges.

)ti19

"The organization ofa plan . .. is pioneerwork and deserves allthe clear thinkingthat can be bestowedupon it....Experience only cantell us where the linebetween theindividual college andthe common interestsshould best bedrawn. One thingabove all othersshould be madeclear. It is vital thatthe independence ofthe individualcolleges be pre-served at all points.No control, direct orindirect, should beexercised by acentral organizationor by its faculty, overthe recrirements,

(Continued)


THE WAR YEARS:THE GROUP OPERATING AGREEMENT AND THE REORGANIZATIONOF CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER

Through the 1930s, the three institutions workedtogether with no formal agreement. As they grewand, in particular, as CUC became a more vigorouseducational institution in its own right with theflourishing of graduate studies, the absence of aconstitution made the arrangement increasinglyunwieldy. The system of charging each other forstudent cross registrations had become especiallytroublesome. "The fundamental weakness of the[Group Plan]," reported CUC's president RussellStory in 1940, "lies in the absence of a knowndelineation of functions which serve as a basis foreffective and authoritative jurisdiction. No timeshould be lost in the effort to provide effectiveimplementation of constitutional arrangementsacceptable to all concerned." An intercollegiatecommittee was a;. ked to draft an agreement "togovern the relationships between [CUC], PomonaCollege, and Scripps College and such otherinstitutions as may later be brought within thisGroup, and to clarify the procedures andresponsibilities of their respective administrations inrelation to each other."

The result was an "operating agreement""rather than a constitution. In the handling ofinterinstitutional matters, the Intercollegiate

'ouncil replaced CUC and its Board of Fellows andbecame the coordinating body of the Group. No

20

I )

new college could join the group without theapproval of the council. Payment for instructionalservices between and among the institutions wasdiscontinued; that is, cross registration withoutpayment among the institutions becameandremainsthe Claremont normative procedure.

The operating agreement was adisappointment to President Blaisdell, who objectedto the delegation of powers to the newIntercollegiate Council. He envisioned CUCplaying the role of the "university" at Oxford orCambridge; that is, serving as a "coordinating" andnot a "merely coordinate" institution. Referring tothe new Intercollegiate Council, he objected to thecentral functions of CUC being controlled through"an unincorporated committee the membership ofwhich is primarily occupied in other duties."

William Clary, a member of the board offellows, agreed with Blaisdell but attempted torespond to his concerns: "The change is more in themachinery by which we function than in theessential character of the enterprise." The board offellows had merely recognized a new principle in themanagement of joint facilities, the title of whichcontinued to be held by CUC. In addition, CUCretained the right to take the lead in theorganization of new colleges and the establishmentof new facilities for the graduate school and for thegroup.

In 1944, CUC was divided into anInstructional Division and a Division of Corporateand Group Responsibilities under a "Plan forAdministrative Reorganization." The InstructionalDivision was called Claremont Graduate School toemphasize that graduate-level education hadbecome a primary functionif not the primary

functionof the organizational entity thatPresident Blaisdell had envisioned, not as a separateschool, but as part of the "coordinating" institutionof the colleges.

The concept of a rotating headship was basicto the new organization. The head of CUC wasgiven the title "provost," a position that was to beheld in rotation by the undergraduate collegepresidents. An academic dean of ClaremontGraduate School was also appointed. The provostmodel was facilitated by placing the Division ofCorporate and Group Responsibilities of CUCunder a "managing director." This position was filled

Robert J. Bernard, whose personal loyalty to theUroup Plan was unquestioned.

After the frequent rancor of the 1920s and1930s, it seemed that an era of good feeling amongtrustees, faculties, and administration had arrived.Benefactor William Honno ld declared, "Claremontwill be one of the great academic centers of theworld."

Finally, with the end of the Depression andthe Second World War and with the colleges onsolid ground financially and organizationally, it wastime to proceed with a primary goal of the GroupPlan. It was time to turn CUC's attention to thetask of founding another college.

CUC President Russell Story.

2421

curriculum, orstandards of anyindividual college inthe group. Coop-eration, not control orsupervision, is theonly thing that calbring about the endswhich are sought tobe attained. The firstnecessity in for-warding the greatundertaking was theunromantic task ofsecuring an area ...to give assurancethat the initialexpense of estab-lishing additionalcolleges was notprohibitive."

JAMES A. BLAISDELL

"The ClaremontColleges resembleOxford University

in having a group ofindependent colleges

in common use of jointfacilities, and

in offering courses at anycollege for students of anyother college.

"We differ fromOxford in that wehave

no central institutioncomparable to theUniversity of Oxford,

no minimum entrancestandard for all colleges,

Ei no organization of thefaculties of all thecolleges by field of study,

no system of openlectures plus tutorials,and

no common examiningboards settingexaminations for all thecolleges.

"We hope to build aneducational centerwhich in distinctionand influence will befor the Western worldwhat Oxford has beenand is to the oldworld."

WILLIAM CLARYhistorien of The Chtremont

Colleges, 1 960

Ti IE GROUP PLAN OF TliE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Since the founding of Scripps College, there hadbeen discussions about founding a new men's collegewhich would offer a curriculum emphasizingpolitical economy and government. TheIntercollegiate Council approved the venture in1936, and major planning took place under CUCPresident Russell Story in the years just beforeWorld War II, which cut short the effort. As the wardrew to a close, Robert J. Bernard realized that theeducational benefits provided to veterans by the G.I.Bill of Rights made the time ripe for reviving theproject. On June 4, 1946, after he and buirdmember Donald C. McKenna took the lead inraising gifts and pledges totaling $88,000, the Boardof Fellows approved launching the ClaremontUndergraduate School for Men.

George C. S. Benson was selected as the firstpresident. During that summer, with the president-elect 3,000 miles away at Harvard, Bernard workedmiracles in raising funds, recruit;ng an enteringclass, securing temporary living quarters andclassroom space moved from former military bases,and refitting an old mansion on the propertyrenamed Story Houseas a dining hall. Meanwhile,Benson recruited a superb founding faculty,including several Harvard Ph.D.'s.

An entering class of 86 men arrived inSeptember 1946 (just three months after the college

22

was appioved!). The temporary living quarters werenot ready, so Bernard furnished the BridgesAuditorium basement as barracks. Most of the firstclass were veterans mature, curious, and eager for afirst-rate education.

There were helpful factors in the Group Planthat served to alleviate many of the pains andproblems of starting a college on such short notice.Central services such as libraries, the business office,student medical services, and the physical plantdepartment were readily available for CMC's use.Not least, through the lean years preceding thecollege's founding, CUC Board chairman HarveyMudd had personally held its site to keep it freefrom development, and he conveyed the land toCUC to he given CMC.

The new college, independently incorporatedas Claremont Men's College in 1947, quicklythrived. What accounts for its prompt success? TheG.I. Bill, the number of returning veterans, andsouthern California's exploding population filledclassrooms as quickly as they could be built. Inaddition, George C. S. Benson hewed to PresidentStory's plan for an emphasis on economics andgovernment within a liberal arts framework, andsoon built a faculty with a national reputation..

In 1976, the college became coeducationaland in 1981 took the name of Claremont McKennaCollege. It has maintained its excellence byadhering closely to its original academic emphasisand by adding centers of research in public affairs.

_I-

26 13

(top)Claremont Men'sCollege students intemporary quartersin BridgesAuditorium.

(bottom)McKenna Auditorium,Claremont McKennaCollege.

THE GROUP ['LAN OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

THE MATTER OF LAND

From the first consideration of the Group Plan inthe early 1920s, it was obvious that an ongoingconcern of the Group would be the acquisition andholding of land to meet current and future needs.The early 1920s found the City of Claremontundergoing rapid subdivision; if there were to heroom to establish future colleges, Blaisdell realizedthat it was "now or never" to acquire land.

In 1923, Blaisdell appealed to Ellen BrowningScripps in his prophetic letter which described .

"small colleges somewhat on the Oxford type ...."At stake were two major parcels: 50 acres east ofDartmouth Avenue and south of Foothill Boulevardand 250 acres north of Foothill Boulevard, fromMills Avenue to Indian Hill Boulevard andincluding a beautiful 50-acre mesa (Indian Hill). In1924, Miss Scripps purchased all 250 acres north ofthe boulevard and much of the area to the south.She was so committed to the Group Plan that she

borrowed a substantial portion of the quarter milliondollar purchase price. Other friends of the GroupPlan, including the Mudds, William Honnold, J. C.Harper, George Marston, and Frank Harwood,pooled their funds, $160,000, to round outownership of key holdings south of the boulevard.Miss Scripps noted that she considered her gift "as acontribution on my part to the general project asoutlined by President Blaisdell."

Preservation of the Land

On two occasions, extensive tracts of the landheld for future colleges have either been sold oroffered for sale. In 1945, developers offered to buy75 acres northwest of Indian Hill Mesa. ScrippsCollege urged the sale, and the CUC Board ofFellows acquiesced. According to Bernard, the$37,500 supplement to the Scripps Collegeendowment which resulted from the sale "proved tobe a paltry sum in terms of land values thatdeveloped later. But more important was the error ofassuming that any part of Miss Scripps's great gift forfuture colleges was expendable for any other thancampus purposes . . .." The land was neverdeveloped, and just three years later the RanchoSanta Ana Botanic Garden, relocating toClaremont, was forced to buy back 55 acres at ahighly-inflated cost. In the mid-1960s, CUCrepurchased 12 more of the original acres at asignificantly higher price.

ROBERT J. BERNARD - A CLEAR SENSE OF WHAT HAD TO BE DONE

Born in 1894, Robert J. Bernard first attended Colorado College. Then, when his family moved to California,he attended junior college. Little did he know, when he began studies at his third undergraduate institution,Pomona Cc -*.ege, that he was embarking on a life-long commitment to the educational community ofClaremont.

Graduating cum laude in 1917, the same year he married fellow Pomona College student GladysHoskins, Bernard was appointed assistant to president James A. Blaisdell. an association that continued untilDr. Blaisdell's retirement in 1935. Early in this span of years, Bernard was Blaisdell's personal emissary tosome 20 colleges and universities across the country, in search of a model for what would become TheClaremont Colleges.

In 1925, Bernard was appointed secretary of Claremont Colleges. In that role, he filed its Articles ofIncorporation with the Secretary of State in Sacramento on October 14, 1925, which marked the historicbeginning of the Group Phn of the Claremont Colleges. He would later serve the central institution of theColleges as administrative director, managing director, and president. In all, his service to the Collegesspanned more than 45 years, from July 1, 1917, to February 1, 1963. Bernard's integrity, unselfishness,abundant energy, and love of people were qualities which endeared him to those who knew him. His enduringlegacy include, the monumental book, An Unfinished Dream - A Chronicle of the Group Plan of TheClaremont Colleges.

24

"In order to achieve the ownership of essentialholdings we often went into debt," noted Bernard ina 1974 memo to the Claremont University CenterBoard of Fellows, "but we were buying campuses andwe could hardly accept someone's garage andclothesline in the middle of a quadrangle. Withoutthe sacrificial policy of acquiring and holdingproperty. . . we could not have founded half of thecolleges in Claremont. . .." By holding land in thename of Claremont University Center, it will not be

AWOL% r to'

.A.Nrorihma....1.2.

necessary for any future college to purchase a site.Rather, CUC will he in a position to grant a site tothe new institution."

The most recent group investment in thefuture was the purchase in 1988 of 84 acresa former gravel pit east of Claremont Boulevardfor $1.5 million. An engineered fill will bring thearea to grade level in 30 to 50 years. This purchasemeans that CUC now holds more land than it did adecade ago.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden,center, with Claremont High Schos,51 (nowGriswold's) at lower left and FoothillBoulevard in foreground, ca. 1950.

2525

"When ClaremontColleges is older andricher and the libraryrooms are over-flowing with books,there will rise on thecampus the greaterlibrary that is in ourplans for the future."

GEORGE W. MARSTONat the 1932 dedication of

Harper Hall


THE LIBRARIES OFTHE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

Creating a truly university-scale library is an.ionumental task that would have been far beyondthe reach of each individual small college, but theGroup Plan of The Claremont Colleges made itpossible.

In 1927, the decision was made to have threeseparate libraries: Pomona's Carnegie Library, aHarper Hall library, and a library at Scripps, in thebelief that "having more points of intimate serviceto students and faculty would outweigh theadvantages of centralized completeness andservice."" By 1946, however, access to material wasbecoming increasingly difficult. Librarian WillisKerr, by then, had reached "the definite andcompelling conviction that the problems ofacquisition, housing, and marshaling of librarymaterials for a group of colleges such as ours are too

insistent, too complicated, too expensive of timeand money, and the ramifications too great for us tocarry our books in three baskets. The older we getand the larger our separate libraries become, themore complicated and expensive and trying willthese problems become."

In his argument for consolidation in a centrallibrary, Kerr wrote, "We must do it nowor foreverhold our peace in a sort of vexatious frustration,thinking what an opportunity we passed up!"

Donors soon presented themselves. WilliamHonnold had been a Pomona College trustee andlater chair of the CUC Board of Fellows. Strongsupporters of the idea of graduate education inClaremont, the Honnolds eventually left theirestate, amounting to more than $5.5 million, toCUC. Their first large gift to the colleges, $1million for the construction of Honnold Library, wasannounced in 1946.

There was little controversy over the need fora central library.'6 At the dedication of HonnoldLibrary on October 23, 1952, Harvey Muddexpressed the importance of the library in thesewords: "Probably no building better represents theadvantages of the Group Plan than does HonnoldLibrary.... It marks the fulfillment of a primeobjective that brought the founders together to

WILLIAM AND CAROLINE HONNOLD -

A LIBRARY WORTHY OF THE COLLEGES

Born in Illinois and, like Ellen Browsing Scripps, an undergraduate at Knox College, William L. Honnoldwent on to study mining engineering at the Michigan College of Mines. In 1895, the same year that hegraduated from the College of Mines, he married Caroline Burton, his partner in a career that would takeboth of them to the far corners of the globe, as well as a partner in his commitment to the Group Plan of theClaremont Colleges.

During the first seven years of his career, Honnold was engaged in mining and exploration inMinnesota and California. In 1902, he was invited to go to South Africa as a consulting engineer forConsolidated Mines Selection Company of London. Within a decade, Honnold was managing director of thecompany, which he was largely responsible for turning into one of the largest gold and copper miningconcerns in the world. In 1915, Honnold was appointed director of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, inwhich capacity he worked closely with his personal friend, Herbert Hoover.

A close associate of Seeley W. Mudd, Honnold came to share the interests of the Mudd family in theGroup Plan of the Claremont Colleges. A long-time member of the Claremont Colleges Board of Fellows, heserved as chairman of that body in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Recognizing that a great library is theenduring hallmark Of a great center of learning, the Honnolds made a contribution of $1 million for theconstruction of the library as a "symbol of the unity and purpose of the Claremont Group." With WilliamHonnold's death in 1950, during construction, the responsibility of distributing the actual funds for thelibrary fell to Caroline Honnold. She did so with these words: "The erection of the i_ibrary will fufill the longcherished aims of my husband and myself ... to enrich and strengthen the Claremont plan by providing sucha building for common use."

26

launch the plan of a federation of colleges." Robert J.Bernard noted Dr. Blaisdell's words: "The libraryseems to me one of the most sacred places in theworld. There ate no colored windows, but here isgathered a cloud of witnesses."

As the collections grew over the years,Honnold Library too became crowded. In 1967, agift of $370,000 from Seeley G. Mudd, $454,000 infunds from a Ford Foundation grant, and othermonies made possible the construction of the newSeeley W. Mudd Memorial Library, to the east ofHonnold Library. An anonymous donor (who waslater revealed to be Donald C. McKenna, member ofthe CUC and Claremont McKenna College boards)offered to contribute $300,000 for hooks for the newlibrary, on condition that the sum be matched in just90 days. The colleges rose to the challenge wellwithin the time allotted. In 1971, the colleges signedan Operating Agreement by which all libraries areadministered centrally under one director.

Yet again, in the 1980s, the Group's librarycomplex grew with the addition of a new librarybuilding connecting the Honnold and Muddlibraries, and with the construction of the seven-level multi-tier, free-standing stack in the MuddLibrary atrium.

Today, the Libraries of The ClaremontCollegesthe Honnold/Mudd complex, SpragueLibrary (on the Harvey Mudd campus), DenisonLibrary (on the Scripps campus), and Pomona'sSeeley Mudd Science Library (on the Pomonacampus)form a major resource for students andscholars. Altogether, the Libraries house collectionstotaling 1.7 million volumes, as-well as 4,200periodical and 1,700 other serial titles, a growingcollection of materials in electronic formats, afederal and state government depository, a largecollection of microforms, and numerous rare andspecial collections.

The Libraries have a history of applying state-of-the-art technology to the management ofinformation." Today, access to the collections isavailable, in the library and over the six-collegecomputer network, through the on-line catalognamed Blais after James A. Blaisdell. It also offersaccess to numerous CD-ROM databases and severalexternal databases, including several containing fulltext.

The Libraries are the pride and glory of theClaremont Colleges Group Plana set of facilitiesthat would be incomprehensible for any singlecollege to create or support.

'ill" 1 in4i.

(top)James A. Blaisdell,Carolyn Honnold,Harvey S. Mudd.

(middle)Honnold Library,Ca. 1952.

(bottom)The Honnold/MuddLibrary Complex.

"If there is a new andbetter age for highereducation, one majorcenter for itscreation will be TheClaremont Colleges."

CLARK KERRformer chairman, The

Carnegie Commission onHigher Education


AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

A hallmark of The Claremont Colleges has been theopenness with which they embrace new institutionsin a variety of affiliations. This has been a powerfulsource of intellectual stimulation and academicrichness through the years.

The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

In 1951, the privately-endowed Rancho SantaAna Botanic Garden relocated from Orange Countyto its present site on the Indian Hill Mesa. Thegarden was established by Susanna Bixby Bryant,Pomona College's first woman trustee, in memory ofher father. To add to the land the garden hadpurchased, CUC provided 30 acres without rent ofpurchase price, subject only to the condition that ifthe garden ever ceased operation, the 30 acres wouldrevert to CUC. Robert J. Bernard, who handled theelaborate transaction, reaffirmed the wisdom of notselling land near the group which would henecessary for future expansion or to take advantageof unforeseen opportunities.

Today, the gardenutilizing its own staff andthe CGS and Pomona College facultiesis the onlybotanical garden in the United States that bearsprimary responsibility for a doctoral-level botanyprogram.'' The garden also runs joint programs withMexican and Russian research teams. In the early1950s, Pomona College agreed to transfer itsextensive herbarium to the main building of thegarden. The joint collection now contains over onemillion specimens.

The School of Theology at Claremont

In 1956, the School of Religion of theUniversity of Southern California withdrew fromUSC, incorporated itself as the independentSouthern California School of Theology, and set outto acquire a new site. Recognizing the benefits of

locating in an established collegiate environment,the school began discussions leading to an affiliationwith The Claremont Graduate School. CUC sold15 acres of land north of Foothill Boulevard to theSchool of Theology, subject to the condition that ifthe School of Theology ceased to use the property asan educational institution, CUC would have theright to repurchase the land.

At first, faculty and staff were housed intemporary quarters owned by Claremont McKennaCollege. The first permanent building wasdedicated in 1960. Until that time, The ClaremontGraduate School had had no doctoral program inreligion. The Graduate School made its first facultyappointment in religion in 1959. Within 10 years,the graduate program in religion had become one ofthe Graduate School's four largest programs, and itscontribution to the School of Theology was notedby Ernest C. Colwell, STC president: "A top qualityschool of theology cannot exist without a vitalrelationship to a top quality graduate school."

The Francis Bacon Library

In 1958, Robert J. Bernard reported that theFrancis Bacon Foundation was interested in movingto Claremont if a site could be provided on which toconstruct a building to house its collection of booksand other material related to Francis Bacon, as wellas other books by and about Dante Alighieri and onthe Italian and English Renaissance periods.

CUC provided the land, near DartmouthAvenue and Seventh Street, free of charge for 50years, and for an additional 25 years at the option ofthe Foundation. A small but beautiful building,opened in 1960, houses an ever-growing collectionof extremely rare hooks and manuscripts.

Other Institutions Affiliated in the Past

Through the years, The Claremont Collegeshave welcomed many other institutions into theacademic community. These include such wide-ranging organizations as the College StudentPersonnel Institute (affiliated with CUC in 1950),the Blaisdell Institute for Advanced Study in WorldCultures and Religions (established in 1956), andthe Center for California Public Affairs (1970). Asthe existing colleges and institutions in Claremonthave contributed to them, so they, in turn, haveenhanced the range of intellectual activity inClaremont.

-"'""'"'"-"---

3229

(ton)The Schoo! ofTheology atClaremont.

(bottom)The Francis BaconLibrary.


HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE

In the early 1950s, the Claremont UniversityCenter Board of Fellows, by the urging of GeorgeC. S. Benson, began planning for the next college.A Committee on Future Colleges recommended acollege of engineering and science, with a strongcommitment to the humanities and social sciences.At that time, engineering education was inconsiderable national ferment. New approacheswere needed, with increasing attention to thescientific bases of engineering practice and to theeducation of engineers who could communicatetechnical choices to the rest of society.

Since Harvey Seeley Mudd, immediate pastchairman of the Board of Fellows and himself aninternationally known mining engineer, was anardent supporter of founding Scripps and CMC andhad endorsed the idea of an engineering college, theBoard of Fellows named the new college in hishonor after his death.

With gifts from Russell Pitzer, the Muddfamily, and others, a newly established board oftrustees purchased land for the campus from CUC

and Pomona and Scripps colleges, and selectedJoseph B. Platt founding president. Platt proposedand the board agregdthat Harvey Mudd College(HMC) offer an unspecialized degree in engineering,as well as concentrations in chemistry, mathematics,and physics; that all students take a common corecurriculum that included history, literature, thebasic sciences, and mathematics; and that thecollege be coeducational. The devotion of asubstantial portion of the curriculum to thehumanities and the social sciences immediatelydistinguished the college from other engineeringschools.

Harvey Mudd College was incorporated in1955 and opened its doors in September 1957; itscampus was comprised of one building, a dormitory.There were 48 freshmen and seven faculty. The newcollege benefited from the group.' During thecollege's first decade, Claremont McKenna Collegeprovided classroom, laboratory, and office space,made available to HMC students its dining facilities,and shared its physical education program and its

We are sometimes asked how it has been possible to found four new colleges at Claremont within thirtyyears. There are several reasons:

We bought the land at the right time.We built large central buildings that all could share.We limited the size of each college in the interest of quality.We designed each college to serve a definite need.We found public spirited people who are willing to pioneer a new adventure. Every generation has

them when a great opportunity appears.It is obvious that we have founded new colleges before the existing colleges are complete. This is as it

should be, for if we were to wait until the existing colleges are complete we would never start a new college,since no college really is ever complete. The considered judgment of those who elect to found an institutionis an important historical fact with which every succeeding hoard squares its thinking and renders an accountof its trusteeship. The act of founding is the zero hour in the history of the enterprise. It is preceded by acareful evaluation of objectives, and new history is soon made by the character of those who carry the attackand the way in which it is sustained. As long as the objectives continue to he realized, those who havepioneered and those who carry on are an unbroken company. For Thoreau was right when he said: 'A mansits as many risks as he runs. We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in thedark toward our success.'

ROBERT BERNARD1956

30

admissions office.2° CUC provided land, assistedwith the construction of laboratory facilities, andguaranteed the credit of the new college with fewtangible assets. HMC also shared in the library, thebusiness office, and other central services.

By 1965, Harvey Mudd College could boast ofeight buildings, a student body of 270, and a facultyof 38. The next 10 years saw the addition of fourbuildings; the student body grew to 500, and thefaculty to 5$. Since then, four more buildings havebeen added; the student body has increased to 630;and the faculty to 78. In the early 1990s, HMCadded programs in biology and in computer science.

Not long after the college was founded, acommittee (including trustees, faculty, and students)prepared a statement of purpose for the college. Itreads: "Harvey Mudd College will provide men andwomen with an educational opportunity to acquire

intellectual skills, understanding of society, andmotivation necessary to develop and managescience and technology for the benefit of society andfor the fulfillment of their own personal goals."The college now has nearly a thousand graduateswhose postgraduate professional careers extendtwenty years or longer. Many are indeed developingand managing socially important technology.Harvey Mudd College is beginning to fulfill itspurpose.

3431

Kingston Hall,Harvey MuddCollege.


"[Tensions] developfrom the interplay ofautonomous collegespursuing specificgoals while coopera-ting toward thereaNation of generalinterests. If thesetensions are fullyresolved, the clusterdissolves, and theassociation becomeseither a second-rateuniversity or a collec-tion of independentcolleges at war withone another or in astate of unproductivepeace. A clusterwithout tensions,then, amounts to acontradiction interms."

PETER CLECAK"The Claremont Colleges, An

Interloper's Account," 1975

THE 1950s ANDTHE EARLY 1960522

Three significant characteristics in the life of theGroup Plan are reassessment, reorganization, andredefinition in response to growth and the ever-changing cultural and educational environmenta situation that often came with the founding of anew college. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s,these questions were at the forefront of discussionsamong those entrusted with the Group Plan.

In 1950, the Colleges entered into an"Agreement on the Size of the Colleges," whichestablished a maximum enrollment for each of thecolleges. In 1959, a "Reorganization Plan" onceagain gave CUC its own president, Robert J.Bernard, who had been associated with the groupenterprise from the beginning. It also created theoffice of provost of The Claremont Colleges." The1962 "Articles of Affiliation" were intended toclarify the interrelationships within the Group Planand to redefine the coordinating functions.

The word constitution had been scrupulouslyavoided in organizational documents on the groundsthat it implied too much unity, but in 1967 aconstitution was adopted. "Coming to recognizethat our individuality as separate institutions issecure," as one of the presidents remarked, andseeing the need to he recognized as a combinededucational center for both financial and academicreasons, the colleges changed the name of thecentral institution to Claremont University Centerand restored to its Board of Fellows many of theresponsibilities lost in the Operating Agreementof I94:!. It also paved the way for increasedcoordination of Graduate School offerings withthose of the undergraduate collegesa reinforcement of its role as a central service ratherthan a competing institutionand more clearlydefined procedures for the establishment of newcolleges."

32

Looking northfrom Pomona College, 1958.

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"The ounding of fournew collegesbetween 1925 and1955, under thepressure for qualityand the pressure ofnumbers, attests tothe willingness ofable and generouspeople to pioneernew undertakingswith the sameforesight and cour-age that charac-terized the earlierfounders, when theissues are suffi-ciently compelling.Thus histoxy repeatsitself in each new eraas those with thefounding instinctassert their leader-ship in education."

ROBERT J. BERNARD


PITZER COLLEGE

Pitzer College was founded in 1963 on therecommendation of the CUC Board of FellowsCommittee on Future Colleges. George C. S.Benson and Robert J. Bernard implemented the planfor the new college. Accepting a plan for an under-graduate college for women with a focus on thesocial and behavioral sciences, Benson and Bernardobtained a pledge from Russell K. Pitzer for theconstruction of an administration building and adormitory.

Although Bernard was soon to retire, heaccepted the chairmanship of the Pitzer Collegehoard. John W. Atherton, then dean of the facultyat Claremont Men's College, was elected presidentof the new institution. With the generous assistanceof the existing Claremont Colleges, an initial facultyof 13 was recruited, an entering class was gatheredthrough the efforts of the HMC-CMC admissionsoffice, and classroom and dormitory buildings wererushed to completion. Pitzer College officiallyopened in the fall of 1964 with a total student bodyof 150 young women who began their studies in acurriculum that offered concentrations inpsychology, sociology, anthropology, andthroughacademic exchange with CMCeconomics andpolitical science.

The fledgling college grew rapidly toward itsgoal of 750 full-time residential students. Two newdormitories were added and three newclassroom/office buildings accommodated thegrowing faculty and student body. The addition ofMcConnell Center provided dining hall an] studentcenter facilities. The college admitted its first coedu-cational class, including 80 men, in the fall of 1970.

Today, Pitzer remains true to its foundingvision as a progressive liberal arts college with acurricular emphasis in the social and behavioralsciences. Its distinctiveness in the group is apparentin its commitment to an appreciation of humandiversity, awareness of the social consequences ofhuman acts, shared decision-making climate,flexibility to meet each student's individual needs,and commitment to conservation andenvironmental responsibility.

34

"Dear kir. Clary:

"We have knowneach other sointimately for thesemany years that youquite understandhow much my wholelife has been center-ed in the convictionthat here in Claremontwe have the oppor-tunity to create aneducational institu-tion of almost unbe-lievable conse-quence in the devel-opment of our futurewestern civilization."

JAMES A. BLAISDELL(age 85)

letter to William Clary1953


COLLABORATION AT THECOLLEGE LEVEL

The importance of contiguous campuses and thehereditary propensity for cooperative activitieswithin the Group to the advance of The ClaremontColleges is impossible to overstate. The proximity ofthe colleges nurtures an environment in whichprogram collaboration is created to the benefit ofthe individual colleges. These benefits extend farbeyond the model of collaboration among the groupas a whole. In numerous instances, two, three, four,or five colleges have seen ways in which theirresources and their needs mesh, and they haveaddressed needs in innovative, cooperative ways.Some of the collaborative programs are formal jointprograms, financially supported by the participatinginstitutions. Other programs are less formal andmore voluntai y in nature, and students areencouraged to participate through cross registration.

Cross registration is perhaps the clearestbenefit to students and faculty, one which hasexisted from the very beginning of the Group Plan."Cross registration" is an arrangement by which astudent at any one college can take courses orparticipate in programs at any other member of theGroup without cash transactions between thecolleges."

Joint Sciences: A Three-College Program

In 1964, three collegesClaremontMcKenna, Scripps, and the newest member, one-year-old Pitzerinaugurated a combined scienceprogram that was far more comprehensive and cost-efficient than that which any one of them wouldhave been able to provide on its own. The JointSciences Center was built on land held for centralscience facilities on Twelfth Street.

In recognition of the impressive success of theprogram, the W. M. Keck Foundation awarded agenerous grant toward a new $14.5 million building,which was dedicated in 1992.

Research is an important aim in the program,resulting in a required senior research project forscience majors. The joint science faculty includesbiologists, chemists, and physicists who pridethemselves on their commitment to teaching and toproviding the optimum educational environment forstudents of science and offering courses directedtoward students majoring in other disciplines.Accessibility, informality, and a strong sense ofcamaraderie among students of the three colleges aretraits of the Program.

Athletics

Athletics represent an important element inthe overall experience ir, The Claremont Colleges.Prior to the founding of Claremont McKenna,Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer colleges, Scripps andPomona offered autonomous physical educationprograms. When CMC began, its students initiallyparticipated on a joint team with Pomona Collegestudents. Then CMC and HMC fielded joint teams.When CMC became co-educational, CMC, HMC,and Scripps College began a joint women's athleticprogram, embracing intercollegiate competition,intramural sports, and physical education.

The joint Pomona-Pitzer athletic program alsofields competitive intercollegiate teams. PitzerCollege women have participated on PomonaCollege's women's teams since Pitzer's founding in1963, and Pitzer men have formed an integral partof Pomona-Pitzer men's teams since Pitzer beganadmitting men.

Music and Theatre

The Scripps College Department of Musiccoordinates a joint music program with HarveyMudd, Claremont McKenna, and Pitzer. Students atall the colleges are able to take music classes atScripps, including performing opportunities in aconcert choir, chamber choir, and the ClaremontChamber Orchestra. In an informal, cooperativemanner, graduate students participate in the four-college program as at extension to their graduatestudies. Pomona College also has a music program inwhich students from the other colleges participate(band, orchestra, choir, private lessons).

The Pomona College Department of Theatreoffers a theatre-arts program that is open to studentsof the other four undergraduate colleges. In additionto its academic offerings, the department produces avaried season of programs. Pomona's and Scripps'sdance programs are not jointly sponsored, but areopen to students of all five undergraduate programs.

39

International Place

International Place of The ClaremontColleges is an international, intercultural centerwhich provides orientation and ongoing assistanceto students, scholars, and faculty from abroad andseeks to create multicultural community through avariety of programs and activities. Located on theClaremont McKenna College campus, InternationalPlace welcomes United States and internationalstudents, faculty, and staff from all of TheClaremont Colleges.

Women's Studies

Women's Studies is an all-Claremontintercollegiate, interdisciplinary program whichutilizes faculty from each of The Claremont Collegesand The S( tool of Theology at Claremont. Coursesexplore issues of race, class, sexual preference, andgender as they affect the development of women ina variety of cultural, political, and personal contexts,document contributions made by women historicallyand cross-culturally, and serve as a voice for theachievements of women in contemporary society.

The Women's Studies Program encouragesalternative pedagogies, fosters development of newparadigms of knowledge, and explores the study ofwomen as a source of person? I, institutional, andsocial transformation. To this end, Women's Studiessponsors creative colloquia, and co-sponsors a filmseries. The program works closely with the ethnicstudies programs.

Intercollegiate Departmentof Chicano Studies

The Chicano Studies Program began in 1969.It has since developed into a mature joint programincorporating faculty and curriculum structures of allfive undergraduate colleges. The primary mission ofthe program is to pursue knowledge of Chicano/Latinopeoples, to promote students' intellectual growth,and to develop social consciousness among studentsand faculty.

The Chicano Studies program has thedistinction of being the second oldest program of itskind in the nation. Its longevity is, in large part, dueto the dedication of its faculty to its students and tothe Chicano/Latino community.

Intercollegiate Departmentof Black Studies

The Black Studies Program also began in1969. Now it is a joint program sponsored by four ofthe undergraduate colleges. The goal of the program

is to develop and teach courses related to theAfrican-American experience. The program offers astrong academic program in which all students ofThe Claremont Colleges have the opportunity tostudy the cultural, historical, economic, political,and psychological experiences of peoples of Africanancestry.

Cooperative Language Program

The Claremont Colleges recently undertookthe development of a coordinated intercollegiateprogram for instruction in modern foreign languages.Funded in the long run on the basis of equitableannual contributions by each of the participatinginstitutions, the intercollegiate language programwill enable The Claremont Colleges to strengthensubstantially the existing programs in each of thecurrently offered modern foreign languages.Coordinated programs in each language area willpermit the common testing and placement of allClaremont students engaged in the study of thatlanguage, as well as the free movement of studentsamong the colleges. The intercollegiate programswill allow faculty to utilize new pedagogicalapproaches and to develop advanced languagecourses centering on such disciplines as governmentand anthropology, and they will facilitate thedevelopment of an intensive all-Claremont summerlanguage program. The work is supported by aMellon Foundation grant.

4037

W. M. Keck ScienceCenter.

"The ClaremontColleges as a groupspecifically providefor future additionsto the group. In thisregard the group isunique it has builtinto it an expectationfor the future. Five ofthe present sixinstitutions havecome into beingbecause of thenurturing and directsupport of thepreviously existinginstitutions . .As individualpr. tidents, we havethe responsibility toassure both thecontinuance of theprocess and devel-opment of ourindividual institu-tions. The foundingand development ofeach institutionmakes the group notonly stronger buthelps to assure thefuture developmentof additional institu-tions. Centralservices gainstrength with eachinstitution's founding. . The ultimateobjective is theestablishment of agreat center oflearning inClaremont .. . . "

KENNETH BAKERPresident, 1 {arvey

College, 1Q76 1987


INTERCOLLEGIATE COMMITTEESAND CLAREMONT UNIVERSITY CENTER

The work of the group is coordinated by a series ofintercollegiate committees which meet monthly andin which each of the colleges and CUC arerepreSented: the Academic Deans Committee(ADC), the Student Deans Committee (SDC), theBusiness and Finance Officers Committee (BFOC),and the Development Officers Committee (DOC).These committees are supported by a series ofintercollegiate committees including the personnelrepresentatives, the facilities directors, the collegerelations group, the registrars' committee, and theClaremont Colleges computing committee.Recommendations flow from these committees tothe Council of Presidents of The ClaremontColleges, which acts as the operational hoard ofClaremont University Center. When appropriate,the Council sends recommendations for action tothe CUC Board of Fellows or the newly formedPolicy Council' of The Claremont Colleges.

Claremont University Center supports theconsortium by: promoting and planning for newcolleges, operating the central programs and ser-vices, holding land for future development, staffingthe intercollegiate committees, planning commonfacilities, and coordinating consortium planning.

Fundamental to The Claremont Colleges isthe availability of central programs and services(CP&S), funded by the members of the groupaccordint., to mutually agreed upon formulas anddesigned to meet one or more of these conditions:it is less expensive than if done on a campus-by-campus basis, it is more extensive than could heprovided by an individual college, and/or it isadvantageous because of scale in negotiations withoutside suppliers. Today, CUC offers a broad rangeof services. The Libraries of The ClaremontColleges were described in a previous section. OtherCP&S include the following:

38

4 1

Campus Security protects students, faculty,staff, visitors, and their property. To provide a safeenvironment, security officers patrol, monitor fireand intrusion alarms, offer crime preventionworkshops, enforce traffic and parking regulations,and provide assistance to people in need of help.

The Chicano Student Affairs Center and theOffice of Black Student Affairs address the educational,cultural, social, and political needs of Chicano/Latinoand African-American students, respectively.

Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant chaplainsform the Interfaith Chaplaincy, which affirms thediversity of faith traditions while encouragingcooperation and mutual understanding of oneanother's beliefs. The Chaplains conduct weeklyworship services and offer faith counseling and pro-grams in religious education at the McAlister Center.

Baxter Student Health Center offers primaryand urgent medical care to students, and the HealthEducation Outreach program provides health andwellness education. The mission of the MonsourCounseling Center is to promote the positivemental health of students by individual, couple, andgroup psychotherapy, crisis intervention, referralservices, and preventive educational programs.

Huntley Bookstore, the central bookstore forall six colleges, stocks approximately 2,800 academictitles as well as over 50,000 general titles.

The Faculty House, dedicated in 1956 and runas a membership club, offers daily luncheon service,catering, and rentals of guest and dining rooms.

The 2500-seat Mabel Shaw BridgesAuditorium is the home of a variety of programsand college events. The Fiske Museum of MusicalInstruments, in Bridges Auditorium, is one of theseven largest collections of antique, classical, andfolk instruments in the nation, containing 1,000instruments.

Personnel Services assists the colleges inassessing, developing, and maintaining effectivehuman resource programs and practices. In addition

to recruitment, testing, and orientation of newemployees, Personnel Services also providesconsultation on labor relations, collectivebargaining, and staff grievance procedures. FinancialServices provides a range of accounting and treasuryservices. The Office of Risk Management andInsurance Services administers a comprehensiveinsurance program and assists each college inprotecting and preserving human, physical, financial,and natural resources.

The Central Programs and Services FacilitiesDepartment maintains the buildings and grounds ofClaremont University Center and Graduate School.Telephone Services maintains existing telephoneequipment, cabling and trunk lines, and theoperation of the switchboard. The office providesconsultation for improvements, expansion, oralteration of communication systems for the group.There is a Campus Mail Service for intercampus andU.S. mail.

42 39

WOWMINN111.11111*mei,

(CU:kicky from top left)Faculty House.

Baxter StudentHealth Center.

Pendleton BusinessBuilding.

Mabel Shaw BridgesAuditorium.

". ..a brilliantlymoody piece, stormyand rumbling oneminute, sunny andrippling the nextmusic that isexquisitely weldedtogether yet alwaysthreatening to flyapart."

At the dedication of theLibrary's new automated

catalog (named Blais in honorof James Blaisdell), trustee

Donald C. McKenna shared aquote from Connoisseur

magazine describing Mozart'sQuartet in C Major , which he

declared could just as aptlydescribe the history of the

Group Plan of The ClaremontColleges


THE MID-1960S TO THE PRESENT27

One way to describe developments in TheClaremont Colleges from the mid-1960s isstatistically. For example,

Total enrollment increased 66 percent between1965/66 (2,973) and 1992/93 (4,528);

The number of students graduating increased from600 in 1965/66 to 1337 in 1992/93;

Faculty increased from 300 to over 500;

Library holdings expanded from 544,000 volumes to1.7 million volumes;

Library operating expenditures increased from$281,000 to $3.98 million;

Four new library buildings were opened;

Asset values increased from $40.7 million to $1.1billion;

Endowment increased from $39.5 million to $672.8million (hook value).

Overall, 44,000 students have graduated fromThe Claremont Colleges.

In a 1971 revision of the constitution, CUCwas reorganized, establishing a president of TheClaremont Graduate School, a provost to administerjoint programs, and a chancellor for long-rangeplanning. In 1976, the positions of provost andchancellor were eliminated and their functions wereassumed by vice presidents reporting to thepresident of CUC. Thereafter and through the late1980s was a time of relative stability at TheClaremont Colleges. From 1988 to 1990, there werechanges in the presidencies of Harvey Mudd,Pomona, Scripps, and Pitzer colleges. Each of thedeparting presidents had served at least a decade.During the same time, five of the six board chairs,three student deans, and six academic deanschanged. This was certainly a time of transition andof new challenges to the colleges individually and asa group.

In 1992, the Policy Council" was constitutedto deal with policy and long-range issues of thegroup. The constitution was modified in 1992 torecognize the Policy Council, increase the size limitsof four undergraduate colleges, and establish anenrollment limit on The Claremont GraduateSchool.

In the early 1990s there has been intensediscussion of forming a new college, includingattendant speculation about how much fundingwould be required to start such a venture, the sourceof the funding, and what its academic orientation .

and level should he. These exciting conversationsabout continuing Blaisdell's dream are ongoing.

The history of The Claremont Colleges ischaracterized by comprehensiveness and innovationon one hand and intimacy, academic excellence,and responsiveness on the other. The Group Plan isthe mechanism that makes this balance possible,creating an extraordinary environment for highereducation. In the Group Plan of The ClaremontColleges growth extends close relationships andassociations rather than destroying them, andchange emerges from established excellence.

In 1956, an article in Harper's declared thatthe Group Plan is a "boldly original effort to meetthe rocketing demands for higher educationnot byswelling the old universities to elephantine size, butby multiplying the high quality small schools....Robustly Californian, Claremont triumphs overproblems which harass the rest of the country. TheGroup Plan adroitly combines the irresistibleprinciple of growth in higher education withindividuality."

Each new college has. introduced a fresh visionor a new emphasis and has even sharpened itsdistinctiveness over time. With new colleges,innovation and experimentation are fostered inClaremont without transforming demonstrablysuccessful institutions and without the trauma ofoverturning vested interests, tenured appointments,committed physical plant, and establishedtraditions. In Claremont, innovation is grounded inestablished excellence.

In Claremont, friendly competition nourishesexcellence and innovation. The history of theGroup Plan clearly demonstrates that new groupmembers bring increased numbers of qualitystudents, increased faculty, and an enhanced level ofphilanthropic support. Each new college attracts anew constituency and, although each college has acore of liberal arts, it offers a different focus and isnot intended to he complete in itself.

Much of The Claremont Colleges' future liesin the values that have already emerged.

Evolution of common goal setting and governancealong with individual college freedoms.

A close .elationship between students and faculty.

The productive association among faculties.

Economy in the operation of joint services.

Continuing attention to graduate study as a commonventure.

U tilization of the strengths of the group for common

advancement.

A university center to coordinate joint a_avities andto hold land on behalf of the group for futuredevelopment.

Greater opportunity for faculty-trustee contacts.

A greater number of trustees in a multiple enterprise.

Enhanced opportunity for educationalexperimentation.

Greater impact in fund raising and public relationsefforts on behalf of the total enterprise and itsconstituent members.

Wholesome competition among the colleges and theopportunities to achieve the highest level ofperformance.

A.management structure that permits colleges to joincooperatively in creating major buildings, programs,and undertakings of common benefit to all.

An infrastructure and academic environmentconducive to the creation of new colleges, institutes,and affiliates.

Avoidance of pressure to increase beyond theoptimum the population within any single college by

establishing new institutions.

A built-in guarantee of greater diversity in faculty,students, and staff among the colleges.

The Claremont Colleges have demonstratedthat it is possible, under the right leadership, tocreate again and again new, innovative, andintellectually stimulating environments that attractthe ablest faculty and students. This is the strengthof the Group Plan; this is Claremont's gift toAmerica's higher education. The Group Plan works,and it will continue to work as the horizon movesahead of us and unfolds on each new frontier.

The history of the Group Plan of TheClaremont Colleges has shown repeatedly that thereare sufficient energy and resources both to found anew college and to deal with contemporarychallenges facing existing institutions. There havealways been challenges and there always will hechallenges. The strengthening of existing collegeshas moved and continues to move concurrently withfounding new colleges. Nowhere in this country isthe prospect for successfully founding a newinstitution greater than in Claremont. The resultwill he a stronger group.

4441

"The independentsector will be unableto perform itshistoric role ofproviding choices ifit does not expand.In California, absentgrowth by the privatecolleges, indepen-dent colleges couldcome to reflect asnarrow a part of thewhole as private pre-paratory schools topublic high schools."

JACK STARKPresident

Claremont McKenna College1970 - present


THE LESSONSOF THE PASTTHE CHALLENGESOF THE FUTUREEt'

Not long ago, emeriti presidents George C. S.Benson (CMC) and Joseph B. Platt (HMC, CUC)discussed with trustees the lessons learned inClaremont from these last 65 years together and theimpact those lessons may have on the future of TheClaremont Colleges. Here are some of theircomments:

The Founders' Visionsof the Growth of the Group

Early philanthropists who committedsubstantial sums of money for new colleges wereassured that current colleges would not increaseunduly in size; rather, new colleges would hefounded to.increase the size of the Group. WilliamW. Clary" recalled: "Historically the ... farreaching decisions were of course made beforeScripps College, [CUC], and [Claremont McKennaCollege] were established. Indeed, as we lawyers say,it was in consideration of the ... decisions ofpermanent policy as to the limit of numbers and thedevelopment of new colleges that millions of d. "arswere soon invested by those who were asked toinitiate the group plan through the establishment ofnew colleges. And again in consideration of thecontinuation of the pattern which had been pledgedand initiated, more millions have since been added

and we now have a great trust to maintain."J. Arthur Campbell" in his "Summary of

Committee Deliberations on a New College forWomen in Claremont [i.e., Pitzer]," August 3, 1960.

stated, "The outline for a small, residential, women'scollege assumes that more than a few more collegeswill be added to [the Group]. ... Failure of thisassumption would lead us to recommend againstfounding [Pitzer College]. . ."

At an Intercollegiate Council meeting in1960, President Hard of Scripps pointed out "that inClaremont we have already the criteria for the

42

establishment of new colleges on a liberal arts basis,and that the colleges would he quite negligent intheir duty if they were not to accept more studentsin Claremont under the framework of the Group...."Robert J. Bernard noted, "The founding of four newcolleges between 1925 and 1955, under the pressurefor quality and the pressure of numbers, attests tothe willingness of able and generous people topioneer new undertakings with the same foresightand courage that characterized the earlier founders,when the issues are sufficiently compelling. Thus,history repeats itself in each new era as those withthe founding instinct assert their leadership ineducation.""

It is easier to add a new college to TheClaremont Colleges than it would he to found anisolated college. Many of t1 2. common facilitiesneeded for a new college are already in place, and,in addition, the existing colleges may share theirown buildings and services with a new college whileit is getting established. An essential part of theGroup Plan is that we hold land which can he madeavailable to new colleges. Perhaps most importantlyof all: a new college in Claremont inherits areputation it has yet to earn.

From 1925 to 1963, five new colleges wereestablished. None has been added in the last 30years. Colleges are again overcrowded, bothregionally and nationally. We are ripe for our nextchallenge.

How Have We Done?

How well have we done in preserving "theinestimable values of the small college"? Quite well.Within each college, our students and faculty knoweach other. There are strong college loyalties. Eachcollege has its own individuality, its own character.Each undergraduate college is a liberal arts college,requiring of its students a substantial education inthe humanities, the social sciences, and the naturalsciences plus mathematics. We expect our graduatesto he literate and numerate. But each college has acharacteristic emphasis. Our students derive twobenefits from the diversity and the relative smallnessof our undergraduate colleges. One is the sense ofcloseness, the intimacy of the individual college.The other is that by walking a few blocks to take acourse at another college, one can enter a somewhatdifferent intellectual world.

Each new college has added strength to thegroup. The colleges compete as well as cooperate. Inthe competitive mode, each college has striven toaccomplish its mission, and established, as well as

45

new, colleges have been goaded into keeping highacademic standards across all fields. In thecooperative mode, each new college has broughtstrengths to the group which become available to allour students.

The record clearly shows that new colleges inthe group have resulted in increased numbers ofquality students and increased gifts for the existingcolleges. Each new college has appealed to a newconstituency. Although each college has a core ofgeneral studies and has offered a different focus nonewas intended to be complete in itself. PresidentHard of Scripps hoped that "any new college willemphasize fields neglected in Claremont foryears ...." He felt that "the Claremont Plan allowsfor such a college, that such an endeavor would nothe undertaken anywhere but in Claremont, wherewe have such excellent university-type facilitiesavailable and where the offerings of other collegesare available." A new college would enrich thewhole enterprise with its faculty, students, andcurriculum and reduce central programs and servicescosts for the existing colleges. Today, as in the past,there are areas of study into which a new college canmove without coming into competition withexisting colleges.

Vision and Reality

How does the vision of the Group Plan'sfounders compare with the reality of The ClaremontColleges today?

Concerning the concept, the founders spokein terms of a new and splendid contribution toAmerican education; a great achievement; a new erain the development of higher education. Theyaffirmed a bold new approach; a new and inspiringplan because it was both a sound and adventure- nething to do; an educational institution of almaunbelievable consequence in the developmentfuture western civilization; a magnificent center oflearning at Claremont.

Concerning the nature of the undertaking,the founders spoke of the virtues of the small collegeand the advantages of the large university; smallcolleges absolutely independent but associated incommon undertakings; the strength of union whileconserving the values of local independence,initiative, and neighborhood rivalry. The totalgroup would support and enrich all its parts and givea sense of largeness without violating the intimacyof the smaller unit.

Concerning the impact of new colleges on thegroup, Dr. Blaisdell spoke of the accumulation of

privileges in this group of institutions achieved as aresult of our intercollegiate form of organization.New colleges have indeed, invariably, strengthenedthe existing colleges as well as the group. Blaisdellsaid in 1953, "We have a form of organization whichto an amazing degree evidently invites newenlistments and the resources of a steadilyaccumulating cooperation."

As for the future, Blaisdell noted that "thesuccess of our undertaking is wholly dependent upona spirit of mutual good will and self-denial." Bernarddeclared: "I have a kind of implicit trust that locatedas we are and with our start, the really broad-gaugedpeople will not let selfishness or provincialism standin the way."

lie Conclusion

Has the Group Plan met its founders'expectations? We think, yes indeed! The need isurgent to strengthen the private sector of highereducation in this country. American highereducation has been built up as a dual system, thepublic and private sectors complementing eachother and each making its unique contribution toeducation, research, and public service. Neither is"better" or "more valuable" than the other.

In recent decades, as public institutions havegrown more rapidly than private ones, the privateinfluence has diminished relatively and may soonbegin to diminish absolutely. The need for a strongprivate sector is more urgent today because of theintense pressure on the public sector. Through thediversity offered by private institutions, the highereducational system can serve the needs of morepeople and offer more choices to students thanwould be possible, or at least likely, in a totallypublic system of higher education.

Some say that there are too many challengesfacing existing members of the Group, that there isnot enough energy to deal with these and found newinstitutions. There have always been challenges andthere always will he challenges. We believe there isenough energy for both strengthening theexisting colleges moves concurrently with foundingnew colleges. Nowhere in this country is theprospect for success greater than in Claremont andthe result will be an even stronger Group.

46 43

TilE GROUP PLAN OF THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES

THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES TODAY

Pomona College

Founded in 1887. The founding member of TheClaremont Colleges. Pomona is a coeducationalcollege dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge andunderstanding through studies in 37 subjectconcentrations in the sciences and humanitiesleading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. There arenumerous special programs, including study abroadprograms in over twenty countries. Seventy-fivepercent of Pomona graduates go on to graduate orprofessional schools. Its 140 acres form anexceptionally lovely campus, evocative of the NewEngland-style colleges of its Congregationalfounders. There are approximately 1350 studentsand a student-faculty ratio of less than 10 to 1.

The Claremont Graduate School

Founded in 1925. The Claremont Graduate School,which has an enrollment of approximately 1,700students, offers master's and doctoral degreeprograms in the humanities and social sciences, finearts, economics, botany, mathematics, management,and education. The core faculty of 70 appointees issupplemented by more than 200 faculty from theundergraduate colleges and other affiliatedinstitutions. Organizationally, CGS is divided intofive "centers of excellence": the Center for Politicsand Economics; the Center for Organizational andBehavioral S( iences; the Center for EducationalStudies; the Claremont Graduate HumanitiesCenter; and file Peter F. Drucker GraduateManagement Center.

Scripps CePsge

Founded in 1926. Scripps is a women's college withan enrollment of 600. Ellen Browning Scripps andthe founding trustees believed that talented womenflourish best in an environment where women arethe focus and the norm. Its interdkciplinarycurriculum offers a wide variety of courses inhumanities, fine arts, social science, and thesciences. Scripps offers the bachelor of arts degree inmore than thirty majors with extensiveopportunities for combined majors. Small classes (9to 1 student/faculty ratio) with a faculty committedto teaching promote discussion and strongstudent/faculty interaction. Scripps has risen in thenational rankings to be one ofthe top women'scolleges in the country. With a $72 millionendowment, Scripp's endowment per student ratio is

44

among the top 25 private colleges in the nation andamong the top five women's colleges. The success ofthe college's most recent capital campaign was dueto the commitment of Scripp's alumnae, 74 per centof whom contributed to the $52 million raised.Scripps' 6,000 alumnae of record pursue careers in awide variety of fields, including art, science,medicine, business and finance, teaching, research,journalism, law, music, and psychology.

Claremont McKenna College

Founded in 1946. Claremont McKenna is acoeducational liberal arts college with a specialemphasis in economics and government and thestudy of political atfairs and contemporary issues.Originally a men's college, Claremont McKennabegan admitting women in 1976. With sevenresearch institutes on campus, CMC involves bothstudents and faculty in on-going studies of politicaldemographics, international military and economicrelations, natural resources and related subjects. Itoffers majors in the fields of government, economics,history, foreign languages, literature, philosophy,psychology, sciences, mathematics, andmanagement-engineering. For a number of yearsCMC has been ranked in the top 20 colleges of thecountry, as reported by the U.S. News and WorldReport.

Harvey Mudd College

Founded in 1955. Harvey Mudd is the engineering,science, and mathematics member of TheClaremont Colleges, with an enrollment of 620 menand women and a student/faculty ratio of 8 to 1. Themission statement stresses that students must heprepared to "assume leadership... with a clearunderstanding of the impact of their work onsociety" and the human purposes and values thattechnology and science must serve. Harvey Muddoffers a B.S. in engineering, computer science,chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics, and(with CGS) a fifth-year master of engineeringdegree. The college leads the nation in funded perstudent undergraduate research. It also heads thenation in the fraction of its graduates who later earnthe Ph.D.

Pitzer College

Founded in 1963. The newest member of TheClaremont Colleges, Pitzer is a coeducational,undergraduate liberal arts college with a

curricular emphasis in the social and behavioralsciences. It currently enrolls 750 students. It iscommitted to fostering in its students a unicue set ofgoals: breadth of knowledge; understanding indepth; critical thinking, formal analysis, andeffective expression; interdisciplinary perspective;intercultural understanding; and concern for thesocial consequences and ethical implications ofknowledge and action.

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Claremont University Center

Claremont University Center is the coordinatingorganization for the group. It is responsible foroperating the central programs and services (e.g.,the library system, the student health andcounseling centers, a concert hall), supporting theintercollegiate committees, long-range planning forthe consortium, holding land for future uses, andplanning for future colleges.

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Map of TheClaremont Colleges,1993.


THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES,PRESIDENTS AND ADMINISTRATORS

Claremont McKenna College Harvey Mudd CollegeGeorge C. S. Benson 1947-1969 Joseph B. Platt 1956-1976Howard Neville 1969-1970 D. Kenneth Baker 1976-1987Jack L Stark 1970-present Henry E. Riggs 1988-present

Claremont University Center Pitzer CollegeJames A. Blaisdell 1925-1935 John W. Atherton 1963-1970William S. Annent (Acting) 1935-1937 Robert H. Atwell 1970-1978Russell M. Story 1937-1942 James B Jamieson (Acting) 1978-1979Robert J. Bernard Frank L. Ellsworth 1979-1991

Administrative Director 1942-1944 Paul Ranslow (Interim) 1991-1992Managing Director 1944-1959 Marilyn Chapin Massey 1992-presentPresident 1959-1963

William W. Clary (Acting) 1963 Pomona CollegeLouis T. Benezet 1963-1970 Cyrus G. Baldwin 1890-1897Howard R. Bowen Franklin L. Ferguson 1897-1901

President 1970-1971 George A. Gates 1901-1910Chancellor 1970 -1974 James A. Blaisdell 1910-1928

Barnaby C. Keeney Charles K. Edmunds 1928-1941President 1971-1976 E. Wilson Lyon 1941-1969

E. Howard Brooks John David Alexander 1969-1991Provost 1971-1981 Peter M. Stanley 1991-present

Joseph B. PlattPresident 1976-1981

John D. Maguire Scripps CollegePresident 1981 -present Ernest J. Jaqua 1927-1942

Margaret R. Bates Mary K. Shirk (Acting) 1942-1944

Executive Officer of the Council 1982-1985 Frederick Hard 1944-1964

Eleanor A. Montague Mark H. Curtis 1964-1976

Executive Officer of the Council 1986-present John H. Chandler 1976-1989E. Howard Brooks 1989-1990Nancy Y. Bekavac 1990-present

4 ;-)46

MILESTONES IN THE HISTORYOF THE CLARE/vIONT COLLEGESGROUP PLAN

1887 Pomona College founded.1893 Holmes Hall dedicated.1908 Carnegie Library dedicated.1910 James A. Blaisdell becomes president of

Pomona College.1924 Ellen Browning Scripps buys'250 acres of land

north and south of Foothill.1925 Claremont Colleges incorporated. James A.

Blaisdell becomes head fellow (president).1926 Scripps College founded.1927 Around this time, the term Associated

Colleges began to be used for the Group.1928 Joint student health services established. Dr.

Blaisdell resigned presidency of PomonaCollege.

1930 Administrative Council established.1931 Denison Library (Scripps College)

constructed.1932 Mabel Shaw Bridges Auditorium and Harper

Hall dedicated.1935 Blaisdell retires.1936 Intercollegiate Council replaces

Administrative Council.1942 Operating Agreement signed.

Intercollegiate Council assumes greaterresponsibility.

1944 Central corporation name changed fromClaremont Colleges to Claremont Collegeand divided into two divisions: InstructionalDivision (CGS) and Division of Corporateand Group responsibilities under "Plan forAdministrative Reorganization." Rotatingprovostship and position of managingdirector created.

1946 Claremont Undergraduate School for Menincorporated; (renamed Claremont Men'sCollege in 1947).

1947 Executive Committee of the IntercollegiateCouncil established to act on behalf of theIntercollegiate Council.

1949 Enlarged Executive Committee of theIntercollegiate Council established.Officially recognized in 1959.

1950 Colleges enter into an "Agreement on theSize of the Colleges."

1951 Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden locatesin Claremont.

1952 Honnold Library dedicated.1955 Faculty House opened. Harvey Mudd

College incorporated (opened 1957).School of Theology locates in Claremont.Provost term limited to one year.

1959 Reorganization Plan gave Claremont Collegeits own president. Created office of provostof CUC. Provost chaired the ExecutiveCommittee of the Intercollegiate Council.

1960 Francis Bacon Library opened.1961 Group name changed from The Associated

Colleges to The Claremont Colleges. Thecentral corporation became The ClaremontGraduate School and University Center,then Claremont University Center, and thenThe Claremont University Center andGraduate School.

1962 Articles of Affiliation signed.1963 Pitzer College incorporated (officially

opened in 1964).1964 Joint Sciences established by Scripps, CMC,

and Pitzer.1965 $5 million Ford Foundation Challenge grant

to The Claremont Colleges.1967 Seeley W. Mudd Library dedicated.

. Constitution of The Claremont Collegesadopted, provost responsible to CUC Boardof Fellows rather than the IntercollegiateCouncil.

1970 Pitzer College becomes co-educational.1971 Constitution revised and The Claremont

University Center and Graduate Schoolreorganized, creating a president of TheClaremont Graduate School, a provost toadminister joint programs, and a chancellorfor long range planning and development.The Council of The Claremont Colleges (sixpresidents) established. Library operatingagreement signed, bringing all libraries underone director

1976 Positions of provost and chancelloreliminated. Vice presidents replaced them,reporting to the president of ClaremontUniversity Center and Claremont GraduateSchool. Claremont Men's College becomescoeducational.

1981 Claremont Men's College renamedClaremont McKenna College.

1986 New library connecting Mudd and HonnoldLibraries dedicated

1988 Former gravel pit purchased by theClaremont University Center for futureGroup purposes.

1992 Policy Council formed; constitutionmodified.

5 0 47


ENDNOTES

This and the previous section were drawnlargely from E. Wilson Lyon, History of PomonaCollege.

This section was drawn largely from Frank P.Brackett, Granite and Sagebrush and E. Wilson Lyon,History of Pomona College.

'Written by E. H. Kennard, Pomona '07, in"Which Way, Pomona," Pomona QuarterlyMagazine, March 1925. Emphasis in last sentenceadded.

'E. Wilson Lyon, History of Pomona College.

'The name of the central coordinatingcorporation changed often during the years. SeeMilestones in the History of The ClaremontColleges Consortium.

'Quoted. in E. Wilson Lyon, History of PomonaCollege.

'William Templeton Johnson designed Bridgesin a free adaptation of Northern Italian Renaissancearchitecture. Its 22,000-square-foot ceiling, designedby John Smeraldi, depicts the signs of the zodiac inblue, silver, and gold. It rises 55 feet above theauditorium floor and spans 120 feet with no interiorsupports.

'Robert J. Bernard, a colleague of James A.Blaisdell from the earliest planning stages of theGroup Plan and president of Claremont University(and Graduate School) from 1959 to 1963, wrote abrief history of The Claremont Graduate School inwhich he attempted to explain the Group Plan, andthe Graduate School's place in it, to a generation ofClaremonters who were separated by a number ofyears from the founding of the colleges. Thebeginning portion of this section is drawn from thathistory.

'In 1927, Pomona College discontinuedgranting the master of arts degree and the Californiateaching certificate - responsibilities that werea,stimd by Claremont Colleges.

'Although graduate courses are open toqualified undergraduates.

48

"Faculty from the undergraduate collegesteach in The Claremont Graduate School with atwo-fold benefit: the Graduate School benefits fromthe teaching and scholarship of distinguishedundergraduate faculty and the opportunities to teachin the Graduate School draw eminent scholars tothe undergraduate colleges.

'Miss Scripps gave $500,000 in stock in theEvening News Association of Detroit, Michigan.

"Effective July 1, 1942.

"CMC, HMC, and Pitzer bought most of theirland. Lands now held by CUC are to be given, notsold, to new colleges in the future.

"Statement by Willis Kerr, librarian, asreported in Robert J. Bernard, An Unfinished Dream

A Chronicle of the Group Plan of The ClaremontColleges.

''The transfer of Pomona's Carnegie libraryand the smaller library in Harper Hall took place inthe summer of 1952. Scripps College did not jointhe central library organization until the 1971Operating Agreement that brought all libraries intoone organization under a single director.

For example, Honnold was the first WestCoast headquarters for the national library networkOCLC.

''As a matter of fact, a number of majorbotanic gardens are directed by RSABG-CGSdoctoral alumni.

'The School of Theology president, Ernest C.Colwell, and the Harvey Mudd College president,Joseph B. Platt, both had offices initially in CMC'sPitzer Hall North, one on each end of the secondfloor. As Platt remembers, "We would both arriveal out 8 AM and pass each other in the hall,exchanging "Good morning, Mr. President."

CMC and HMC continued to shareadmissions offices until 1982 when they wereseparated.

"Harvey Mudd College Catalogue, 1992-94,p. 47.

'This section was drawn from the Foreword tothe Constitution of The Claremont Colleges,written by Joseph B. Platt and Henry E. Riggs, andfrom Robert J. Bernard, An Unfinished Dream.

''The Group name became The ClaremontColleges in 1961. Soon thereafter, the centralcorporation became Claremont Graduate Schooland University Center and then ClaremontUniversity Center and Graduate School.

"This section was drawn from the Foreword tothe Constitution of The Claremont Colleges,written by Joseph B. Platt and Henry E. Riggs.

"Based on 1992/93 data, cross registrationsand enrollments in intercollegiate programsaccounted for 21 percent of total course registrationsat The Claremont Colleges.

"Composed of the six hoard chairs and the sixpresidents.

"A significant example of common planningand shared responsibility was the mid 1960s FordChallenge Grant which required the consortium toprepare a multi-year plan to demonstrate what thegroup hoped to accomplish if matching funds wereprovided. The challenge was $5 million, to hematched 3 to 1 in three years. The Group met thechallenge well before the deadline, and had by thenagreed to continue joint fundraising with the goal of$86 million in seven years. The concept of jointfundraising was not new. The Friends of theColleges at Claremont \vas organized in 1939 tointroduce the group as a whole to the SouthernCalifornia community. An Unfinished Dream listsseveral major gifts that can be traced to new donorsthus intrigued. The Friends of the Libraries atClaremont has a similar history. In the 1970s, theGroup organized a common campaign to rebuild andrefurbish Bridges Auditorium. In the 1980s, theGroup completed a joint $8 million campaign forthe new library joining the Honnold and Muddlibraries. In 1993, the Group is considering anothercampaign for the libraries.

2'Composed of the six presidents and six hoardchairs.

"California's Five-College Experiment,"Harper's, December 1959.

9-his section is taken from a presentation byGeorge C. S. Benson and Joseph B. Platt at the 1991Assembly of The Claremont Colleges (the trusteesof all of The Claremont Colleges) meeting, LosAngeles.

"William W. Clary was involved with theGroup in many ways: Pomona `II; member of theCUC Board of Fellows from 1928 until 1969 (chair,1953 through 1963); student of Oxford Universityhistory; donor of Oxford Collection to the Library;interim president of CUC, February throughAugust, 1963; and author of The Claremont Colleges(1970). At the time of this quote, he was seniorpartner in the law firm of O'Melvcny and Myers.

J. Arthur Campbell was a member of thefounding faculty of HivIC and chair of the early

1960s Curriculum Committee that studied thenature of the new college (to he Pitzer College).

"Robert Bernard in a 1957 speech made thisstatement,

The individual college is the center and thecitadel of every student's education at Claremont. Itmust he kept small enough to assure the best in thepersonal relations and development of its students aswell as its faculty. On this principle of limited size ofthe individual colleges, each sharing in fine centralfacilities, we have rested our case in the educationalworld.... What combination of ideas and effortshas brought this about?

First, we began with quality and have adheredto it. Second, we have a plan for preserving thepersonal qualities of our colleges that is expandablethrough new colleges.... Third, although we allinsist upon a broad liberal arts base, we enjoy avaluable diversity of educational emphasis andfaculty appointments. Fourth, we have divided theprivilege of building these colleges among (six)hoards of trustees and many friends. This division oflabor is the genius of the group plan. The foundingspirit is as alive as ever. Fifth, we have all enjoyedthe climate of a healthy and responsible intellectualfreedom at Claremont Sixth, we are in an areawhere new independent colleges are particularlyneeded as a wholesome balance for an expandingstate system of colleges and universities. Finally, wewere blessed early with the leadership of Dr.Blaisdell and others who had the vision to see whatwas coming in this great Western area and toprovide for it... .

There are really two themes on which to closethis occasion: One is an expression of our profoundgratitude to all of those of the past and present whohave been making possible our development. Thiswe express from our hearts. The second is anexpression of confidence that those who havedreamed far heyord our present accomplishmentwill not have dreamed in vain. Who could haveforetold, when there were five colleges at Oxfordthat many more would he needed to serve theBritish Commonwealth and the world. Would wehave wished them to forego Exeter, Oriel, All Souls,Magdalene, Christ Church, Trinity, St. John's andothers? How much they added to the greatness ofOxford!

1 lere we must keep the way open for whateverthis great stare and nation require of us. We shouldnever underestimate the future, for in the future liesthe true measure of our hope.

49


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bernard, Robert J. An Unfinished Dream: A Chronicleof the Group Plan of The Claremont Colleges.Claremont, California: The Castle Press, 1982.

Bracken, Frank P. Granite and Sagebrush:Reminiscences of the First Fifty Years of PomonaCollege. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1944.

Britt, Albert. Ellen Browning Scripps: Journalist andIdealist. Claremont, California: The UniversityPress, 1960.

Clary, William W. The Claremont Colleges: AHistory of the Development of The Claremont GroupPlan. Claremont, California: The Castle Press, 1970.

Lyon, E. Wilson. History of Pomona College, 1887-1969. Claremont, California: The College, 1977.

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