January 25, 2021
Dear CMC Community:
I hope this message finds you all well and ready to take on the challenges and seize the opportunities of 2021.
COVID-19 continues to impose persistent and formidable obstacles for any campus return this semester. In response, we draw on the confidence that comes from our shared commitment this past year. We adapt. Support one another. Persevere in our singular CMC way.
Just this past Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health indicated that, based on the high local rate of transmission and unavailability of ICU beds, they do not foresee any way we can return students to campus in March.
Despite this disappointing news, we continue to build on all we overcame in 2020 and look ahead to so many possibilities in this special new year, including the countdown to the College’s 75th Anniversary. Expanded opportunities for strong academic and community engagement. Creative ways to reinforce community, purpose, and play in our student life offerings. Powerful learning through another set of outstanding programs.
We set the stage for this semester with two special virtual Athenaeum talks this week that are of direct relevance to pressing strategic commitments: the expansion of student opportunity and open, intellectual, and material contributions to the elimination of racism.
First, through the dual lens of data science and economics, Harvard University professor and MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant awardee Raj Chetty will illustrate his Opportunity Atlas. His research model shows how a residential zip code (where a child grows up) is more predictive of social mobility and economic fate than any other national metric. The program begins at 5 p.m. PST tonight, January 25.
Then on Wednesday, January 27, we will host Peniel E. Joseph for CMC’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture. Joseph, a leading scholar and public voice on race, will discuss the struggle for Black freedom and the dynamic roles of Dr. King and Malcolm X.
As we all celebrate the beginning of the semester, please keep an eye out for news of many exciting, engaging opportunities in the weeks ahead
Take strong care and be well.
All the very best,
Hiram