The Open Academy
Claremont McKenna College’s nationally-recognized Open Academy develops a critical response to the educational imperative of our time: overcoming what divides us to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Through core commitments to Freedom of Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Dialogue, students are given the tools to listen respectfully, ask incisive questions, and engage with greater curiosity and openness to differences of opinion. This is how we strengthen the national practice of our democracy.
Read the founding Open Academy document approved by CMC’s Board of Trustees here.
Learn more about how our Open Academy is serving as a national model for higher education here.
"Societal divisions threaten the mutual understanding, shared norms of behavior, and commitments that are so vital to the resilience of our democracy. Mending these divisions is not only a challenge of policy and politics. It is an educational imperative."
—CMC President Hiram Chodosh
About Us
An expanding Open Academy has helped affirm the significant role that CMC faculty, staff, and students play in creating and sustaining a culture of open inquiry while also serving as a national model for other academic institutions.
Our Programs
The Open Academy provides pervasive opportunities for students to build foundations, expand capabilities, and develop mastery with each of the CMC commitments. As a campus-wide initiative, this learning happens across all spheres of the student experience: curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular.
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Our Commitments
The Open Academy’s mission is rooted in the interconnected and dynamic values we call the CMC Commitments—Freedom of Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Dialogue.
Our Policies
Since its founding in 1946, CMC has been a leader in academic freedom and viewpoint diversity, as well as a community guided by policies and values that promote persuasive, reasoned debate.