After the Trump administration placed new restrictions on Curricular Practical Training (CPT), a program that has historically allowed F-1 international students to work off campus, some international students have had to turn down jobs, while others expressed uncertainty about future opportunities.
In August, ICE sent a memo to colleges and universities directing them to issue CPT only when an internship or practical training experience is necessary for graduation, a stricter interpretation of the existing policy. The memo states that “improper CPT authorization” could result in “administrative or legal consequences,” such as a college losing its ability to enroll international students.
Tag: Claremont McKenna College
CMC celebrates 50 years of co-education
From Sept. 25 to Sept. 26, Claremont McKenna (CMC) celebrated its 50th anniversary of co-education. CMC was initially founded as a men’s college in 1946, but officially opened enrollment to all genders in 1976. The Sept. 25 panel invited members from the class of 1980 — the first class of graduates that included women — to reflect on the historical evolution of CMC’s co-education, during which speakers emphasized the importance of accessible education to all genders. In interviews with TSL, some alumni explained what it was like to be women at CMC then and how that experience persists today.
William Dudley kicks off first semester as CMC’s sixth president
William Dudley took on the mantle of president at Claremont McKenna College in July, officially succeeding Hiram Chodosh. Originally a philosophy professor and most recently the president of Washington & Lee University, Dudley will be the college’s sixth president.
CMC ranks second in FIRE free speech rankings, other 5Cs receive failing grades
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) gave Claremont McKenna College (CMC) the second-place spot on its 2027 College Free Speech Rankings, a report that rates the free speech climates at college and university campuses nationwide. CMC received a passing “B-” grade from FIRE, while all of the other undergraduate Claremont Colleges received failing “F” grades.
Of the 261 colleges surveyed, Pitzer College ranked 160th, Scripps College ranked 167th, Harvey Mudd College ranked 184th and Pomona College ranked 226th. While the other Claremont Colleges saw increases in their rankings compared to last year, CMC dropped by one rank, losing its first-place spot to the University of Chicago.
CMC and Scripps join SoCal campaign for stricter gas boiler regulations
Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College passed resolutions this month to support phasing out large industrial gas boilers in Southern California.
Jaden Yang PO ’28 and Clarissa Aquino PZ ’26 have led the charge at the 5Cs to pass student resolutions on gas boilers. The end goal of the campaign is to convince the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), a government agency that oversees air quality standards, to phase out the use of medium to large-sized boilers across Southern California.
They hope to get all 5Cs to support the resolution by the end of April, so they can show full support for shifting away from gas boilers at the SCAQMD’s next board meeting on May 1.
Inside-Out program plans restructuring following Norco prison closure
Following a year of uncertainty regarding the program’s future, the 5Cs’ Justice Education Center (JEC) appointed a new interim director, Tessa Hicks Peterson, last month. Peterson has since initiated plans to pilot multiple new partnership models next fall for Inside-Out, as the program navigates reconstruction following its partner institution’s, the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) — also known as Norco prison — closure in the fall.
Inside students currently participating in Pitzer’s Pathway-to-BA program are set to graduate on May 19 after fulfilling the 32-credit course requirement. They will then be relocated to other prisons in California, but they haven’t been told which facilities they’ll be transferred to, according to Peterson.
CWPD and QCL see declines in sign-ups; student employees say AI is to blame
Sign-ups at Claremont McKenna College’s Center for Writing and Public Discourse (CWPD) and Quantitative and Computing Lab (QCL) have declined significantly this academic year. Some student employees attribute the trend to students’ growing use of AI tools for academic support and say a continued lack of sign-ups may result in staff cuts.
This spring, the CWPD has only seen around 345 appointments, according to its sign-up portal — an approximate 50 percent decline in use compared to last spring, when the center received 700 student appointments, according to an email from Associate Director Chloe Ray sent to writing consultants last May.
Several current and former student QCL employees confirmed the center experienced a similar decline in sign-ups.
OPINION: In an era of disorder, our cities are still too perfect
“Lovable neighborhoods don’t get built anymore, only appearing when our social fabric breaks down. But it’s not because we don’t know how to build them anymore,” Nicholas Steinman CMC ’28 writes. “If we reform our byzantine municipal regulations to make it cost-effective for more people to build more varied buildings again, and if we move past our misguided aspiration to create ‘efficient’ urban areas, we can once again build the progress we need in our cities without closing them off to humanity.”
CMC’s CARE Center celebrates 10 years of constructive dialogue
Claremont McKenna College’s Civility, Access, Resource and Expression (CARE) Center celebrated its 10-year anniversary on March 4. Students and faculty spoke to CARE’s impact on campus amid threats to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the Trump administration.
To Vince Greer, CMC assistant vice president for dialogue and diversity, the current political climate makes the CARE center and its mission “more important [now] than ever.”
ASCMC inaugural meal packing event yields 16,000 meals for charity
Last Friday, 85 students and faculty members volunteered to package more than 16,000 meals for the Pomona Valley Food Bank in an event hosted by Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC). Ken Eckel CM ’28, community service committee chair, and Katherine Hodge CM ’27, academic affairs committee chair, organized