Dean at Claremont McKenna College Resigns Amid Protests

November 16, 2015
  • Industry News

The dean of students at Claremont McKenna Collegestepped down Thursday in response to protests over the treatment of students of color.

Mary Spellman, the dean, said in an email to the student body that she believed her resignation was the best way to allow for healing at the campus.

Students at Claremont McKenna, an exclusive liberal arts college east of Los Angeles, had been agitated by racial tensions similar to those that sparked protests at universities across the country in recent weeks. Protests at the University of Missouri led to the resignation of the university’s president on Monday after several racial incidents there.

Ms. Spellman became the focus of student rancor after she responded to an article in the student newspaper detailing ways in which students of color were marginalized on campus. She wrote an email to a student saying the college needed to do a better job of serving students who "don't fit our C.M.C. mold."

Protests, including hunger strikes, demanding change began there this week.

Read more at The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/us/dean-at-claremont-mckenna-college-resigns-amid-protests.html