Occidental College
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Infobox UniversityImage:Johnson Student Center and Freeman College Union.jpg Image:Johnson hall.jpg
Occidental College, located in Los Angeles, California, is a small coeducational liberal arts college.
Contents |
History
Occidental was founded in 1887 by a group of Presbyterians and became independent of the church in 1910. Although initially located in Boyle Heights, the College moved to Highland Park in 1898. The current campus, Oxy's third location, was occupied in 1914 after the Highland Park campus was outgrown. The Eagle Rock campus covers over 120 acres (0.5 km²), much of it undeveloped land on a hill known on campus as "Mt. Fiji."
Selectivity and Reputation
In U.S. News and World Report's 2006 rankings of American liberal arts colleges, Occidental is tied for 41st with Centre College (Ky), Furman University (SC), and Skidmore College (NY).
Campus
Architect Myron Hunt, who also designed the Rose Bowl Stadium, designed Oxy's original buildings in a Mediterranean style, with covered walkways and tile roofs. The three original buildings of the 1914 campus still stand today, although seismic concerns have limited them to classrooms and academic offices. Most of the rest of the buildings match the original style with a few exceptions. Indeed, the Arthur G. Coons Administration Building has been dubbed "the Chrysler Showroom" by campus wags--a reference to its boxy glass lobby. The most notable aberration, however, is Stearns Hall, which has been described as "Barbie meets Escher" for its angular, post-modern style and its shrunken scale (it is supposedly built at 90% of scale, an idea supported by the feeling of claustrophobia often encountered there). Occidental's newest building, the Hameetman Science Center was built in 2003 to provide new research facilities for Occidental's geology, physics and environmental science departments.
Sports
The College is a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and NCAA Division III. Its teams compete nationally against Division III, II and I opponents.
Free Speech, Course Content and Admissions Policies
In recent years Occidental College has come under fire from several conservative organizations and civil liberties groups.
- In 2004, Occidental student Jason Antebi, with the support of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Americam Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, PEN Center USA, Students for Academic Freedom and others, filed suit against Occidental College claiming that his freedom of speech had been violated and for additional tort claims. The lawsuit came after Antebi was found guilty of sexually harassing his entire audience for satirical comments that he made as the host of a campus radio talk show. Occidental received a hail-storm negative reaction from the ACLU of Southern California after Occidental's General Counsel Sandra Cooper publicly claimed that ACLU sexual harassment policy justified the College's punishment of Antebi, even after three letters were written by the Vice President of the National Chapter of the ACLU and the Executive Director and Managing Attorney of the Southern California ACLU stating, unequivicobly, that niether the ACLU nor ACLU policy support Cooper's claims. The trial court dismissed Antebi's claim on technicality, and his appeal is now pending and is being handled by Chris Arledge of Turner-Green-Afrasiabi-Arledge, a Costa Mesa firm. Arledge is a former Occidental student.[1].
- Occidental is sometimes described as one of the more left-leaning colleges in the country and some have criticized content of classes at Occidental as reflecting a leftist bias among the faculty. In December 2005, the campus conservative group Young America's Foundation placed courses taught at Occidental concerning race, gender and sexuality issues on a list of courses that were examples of "troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship" [2].
- Some have claimed that Occidental College's admissions policy follows a type of affirmative action, in attempting to maintain a diverse student body. However, the U.S. Department of Education, in a 2004 study , has cited Occidental College as part of a group of U.S colleges and universities that use of formally race-neutral outreach programs in order to achieve desired levels of racial diversity in the student body without resorting to racial discrimination against individual applicants. [3].
Trivia
Image:Herrick Memorial Chapel n fountain.jpg The campus has been used for various television and movie shots:
- The entry fountain is seen as part of Vulcan in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
- In Beverly Hills 90210, the campus was called "California University."
- Oxy has also appeared in the films Real Genius, Orange County, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, "Jurassic Park III" and Clueless. Thorne Hall will appear in the upcoming film Holiday
Several Occidental professors have received awards in recent years and some have held positions in government and the private sector:
- Larry Caldwell, Professor of Politics, has served in the Office of Soviet Analysis at the CIA, as Director of European Studies at the National War College in Washington D.C., and as Research Associate at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London
- Jane Jacquette, Bertha Harton Orr Professor in the Liberal Arts, played an active role in the planning for the United Nations Decade for Women meeting in Copenhagen during her term at the Women's Development Office in Washington D.C., and served as President of the Association for Women in Development and Latin American Studies Association
- Martha Ronk, Price Professor of English Literature, is a 2005 PEN American Center Literary Award winner in poetry.
- Derek Shearer, Stuart Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, was U.S. Ambassador to Finland from 1994 to 1997 and was formerly an aide to Bill Clinton.
- Bob Sipchen, Adjunct Professor of English Writing, teaches journalism classes at Oxy. He is currently an editor at the Los Angeles Times, as well as a novelist. In 2002, he and colleague Alex Raksin were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.
Notable Oxy Alumni
- Ben Affleck (Actor; did not graduate)
- Howard Ahmanson, Jr (Influential philanthropist for fundamentalist Christian causes)
- Olin Browne (PGA Tour Member)
- Steve Coll (Former Washington Post Managing Editor, Pulitzer Prize winner)
- Brent Dalrymple (Prominent Geologist and National Medal of Science Winner)
- Ann Dusenberry (Actor)
- Marsha Johnson Evans (Former President and CEO of the American Red Cross)
- Ernesto Galarza (Writer, labor organizer, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee)
- Terry Gilliam (Actor and director)
- Joanna Gleason (Actor)
- Robinson Jeffers (Poet)
- Jack Kemp (Athlete and politician)
- Robert Kimzey (Former Publications Director for Human Rights Watch)
- Terry Kitchen (Musician)
- Pete McCloskey (Politician)
- Jim Mora, Sr. (Football coach)
- Patt Morrison (Television personality)
- Barack Obama (U.S. Senator; transferred to Columbia University after sophomore year)
- Sam Rubin (Entertainment reporter for the "KTLA Morning News," the highest rated locally produced morning program in the country)
- Cheri Steinkellner (Television producer)
- Fred Lawrence Whipple (Astronomer)
- Luke Wilson (Actor)
- Rider Strong (Actor; did not graduate)
External links
- Occidental College -- official website
- KOXY -- student-run radio station
- Occidental College Global Affairs
- Stearns Hall