Occidental College
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Johnson Student Center and Freeman College Union |
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Johnson Hall, one of the three original buildings of the 1914 campus |
Occidental College, located in
Los Angeles, California, is a small coeducational
liberal arts college.
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."
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).
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. Currently, there are 11 on campus residence halls with one more hall under construction. 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 and physics departments. A new residence hall (name is still unknown), scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, is under construction.
The College is a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (
SCIAC) and NCAA Division III. All intercollegiate athletic sports play as the Tigers. Occidental also has a number of club sports teams including Men's and Women's Lacrosse, Ultimate Frisbee and Rugby.
In recent years Occidental College has come under fire from several special interest conservative organizations and civil liberties groups.
In 2004, Occidental student Jason Antebi, with the help of the non-partisan
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and conservative activist David Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom, the liberal American Civil Liberties Union (
ACLU) of Southern California and others filed suit against Occidental College, a private institution, claiming that his freedom of speech had been violated and for additional tort claims. The lawsuit came after Antebi was found guilty of sexual harassment after he made what he claims were satirical comments as the host of a campus-run radio talk show. The trial court dismissed Antebi's claim, because he chose to file nearly a year after graduating. His appeal is now pending and is being handled by Chris Arledge, of Turner-Green-Afrasiabi-Arledge, a former Occidental student.[1].
Many 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, cited Occidental College as part of a group of U.S colleges and universities that use 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. [2].
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Herrick Interfaith Center, built 1964 |
The campus has been used for various television and movie shots:
*The Gilman Fountain, located at the entrace to the college, 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 appeared in the film
HolidaySeveral 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
*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 Assistant 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.
*John Hirsch, Adjunct Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, was the former U. S.
Ambassador to
Sierra Leone and Vice President of the
International Peace Academy.
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Ben Affleck (Actor; did not graduate)
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Kathy Augustine, U.S. politician from Nevada
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Howard Ahmanson, Jr (Influential philanthropist for fundamentalist Christian causes)
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Olin Browne (PGA Tour Member)
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Steve Coll (Former Washington Post Managing Editor, Pulitzer Prize winner)
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Brent Dalrymple (Prominent Geologist and National Medal of Science Winner)
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Ann Dusenberry (Actor)
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Marsha Johnson Evans (Former President and CEO of the American Red Cross)
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Ernesto Galarza (Writer, labor organizer, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee)
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Terry Gilliam (Actor and director)
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Joanna Gleason (Actor)
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Robinson Jeffers (Poet)
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Jack Kemp (Athlete and politician)
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Terry Kitchen (Musician)
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Pete McCloskey (Politician)
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Jim Mora, Sr. (Football coach)
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Patt Morrison (NPR radio personality and columnist for the
Los Angeles Times)
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Barack Obama (U.S. Senator; transferred to
Columbia University after sophomore year)
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Marcel Ophuls (Filmmaker; did not graduate)
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Fred Lawrence Whipple (Astronomer)
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Luke Wilson (Actor)
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Occidental College -- official website
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KOXY -- student-run radio station
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Occidental College Global Affairs*
Stearns Hall
