The top-ranked college in the 2021 Campus Free Speech Rankings, Claremont McKenna College (CMC), had an overall score of 72.27. CMC eclipsed last year’s top-ranked college, the University of Chicago, by almost two full points. Among liberal arts colleges, CMC overwhelmed its closest competitor, Bowdoin College, by almost ten points. In fact, for each component of the rankings, CMC ranked in the top 50, having the top score on both Tolerance for Liberal Speakers and Tolerance for Conservative Speakers.
Over the past few years, CMC has made it clear that freedom of speech is an important value. In 2018 it became the first college in California to attain a Green rating from FIRE.19 In 2019 CMC received Heterodox Academy’s Award for Institutional Excellence for launching the Open Academy initiative and for how the administration handled a campus speech controversy involving Heather Mac Donald.
CMC students clearly perceive this commitment; CMC ranked in the top ten on Administrative Support for Free Speech.