Our Policies
CMC’s mission to prepare its students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions has led the College to be a leader in academic freedom and viewpoint diversity while creating a community that has valued persuasive and reasoned debate since its founding in 1946.
Convinced that many students heard only one side of the issues of the day, CMC’s founders planned a faculty representing diverse opinions and a college hospitable to controversy.
Seventy-five plus years later, the College maintains a strong commitment to the freedom of expression, the values of civility and respect for diverse, inclusive community, and an appreciation of debate and dialogue.
CMC and its eminent liberal arts faculty continue to offer a greater political diversity than do peer institutions and openly embrace teaching from a broad range of materials.
“The CMC community shares commitment to a free society. We may go about achieving it in different ways, but we all want it, and we all recognize that it means listening respectfully to each other.”
- President George Benson wrote upon the College's 10th anniversary in 1957
“No matter what rights might be limited, as long as you have freedom of speech, you can have hope. You can use your voice to speak out for any other rights…I want to learn more from those people who I am aligned with, but also to hear from those who can challenge my views and who I can challenge about theirs.”
- Trustee Steve Eggert '82 P'15 at the dedication of Eggert Dining Room in the Athenaeum
Join Us
We seek strategic, programmatic, and philanthropic partners to advance the promise and potential of The Open Academy. Your partnership and support make this possible. Together, we can overcome what divides us and solve the world’s most challenging problems.