Petition Calls for New CMC President, In Wake of SAT Scandal

Artwork courtesy of Art Geek, Chelsea Carter, Scripps

Patrick Atwater CMC '10 and a few others have been pushing this petition encouraging Claremont McKenna to get a new president. 


Here are my reasons for signing it, explained in the piece I wrote that got picked up by Real Clear Politics:

Dean Vos, the man who resigned for allegedly tinkering with the results, reported to Claremont McKenna President Pam Gann directly. It's possible he acted without her knowledge, but it's hard to believe Vos acted alone. Vos was many things--avuncular, if a touch bureaucratic and insincere--but he was no statistician or econometrician, much less a Machiavellian spreadsheet manipulator. He would have needed help to make those targets year-after-year.

Gann is at best complicit; and at worst, ignorant, and ignorance is no excuse, especially when you are entrusted with the reputation, the hopes, and the increasing fortunes of many families. Gann, who speaks often and laudatory of "leadership," but real leaders take responsibility and refuse to follow others rankings. They don't hide behind the school's lawyers.

We need a leader that understood as Jack Stark did: character matters and Gann's character has long been suspect. Fortunately, we can remove her and send a signal to the whole world that we take this matter very seriously. 


I quote Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, who said this to The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.  "Ponder the fact that the very president (Gann) who bemoans the data also very openly celebrates the institution's rankings on her webpage. What does that say about the culture? It's a matter of environment."