Whittier College - Overview

Overview

The liberal arts university was founded in 1887 by members of the Religious Society of Friends, thanks to the generosity and efforts of local business leaders Washington Hadley and Aubrey Wardman. It was named after Friends (Quaker) poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Student athletes at Whittier College are still known as the Poets in his honor.

Whittier College is one of the more diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, serving students not only of different ethnic and geographic backgrounds, but also of a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Minority and international students make up nearly half (49%) of the student body. A majority of the student body hails from California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest, but the College also draws a significant number of students from the East Coast and Midwest.

With more than 30 majors and 30 minors offered in 23 disciplines, Whittier's liberal arts curriculum sets high emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. Students may also apply for entry into the Whittier Scholars Program, in which each student, under the guidance of a faculty member, designs his or her own major and course of study based on individual interests and career goals. Also emphasized is learning beyond traditional classroom or lecture style of teaching; for example, professional internships and service projects are required or recommended as part of many academic programs. Study abroad is encouraged in semester- or year-long affiliated programs, and many students take advantage of Whittier's popular January Interim session, which is a four-week intensive "mini-semester" that typically involves fieldwork and faculty-led international travel.

Whittier College's Faculty Masters Program, modeled after similar programs at Oxford and Cambridge universities, delivers another optional learning experience for students. In this program, three faculty are selected as faculty-in-residence for a multi-year term, live in houses located on-campus, and create and host in their homes educational and social programs around a specific theme, such as health and society, writers and writing, alumni connections, and Spanish culture. Events feature noteworthy professionals—from artists to authors, musicians and entrepreneurs, politicians and scientists—and enable students to interact with, listen to, and often dine with an invited speaker. Recent guest participants in this program include world-class authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Ray Bradbury, and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Regarding life on campus, Whittier College has about 90 registered, student-run organizations and clubs, encompassing every interest from politics to service to ultimate frisbee to rugby. The college also has four local fraternities (called "societies"): The Franklin Society, the Lancer Society, the Orthogonian Society, and the William Penn Society; as well as five local sororities: the Palmer Society, The Ionian Society, the Metaphonian Society, the Thalian Society, and the Athenian Society; and one co-ed society, the Sachsen Society. Each of these societies began as literary societies; the Orthogonians were founded by Richard Nixon during his years at the College. Established in the 1920s and 1930s, these societies are an indelible part of campus history, and today provide one of the strongest links between the College, current students, and alumni.

Other long-standing campus groups include the Artorian Order of the Knights of Pendragon (A.O.K.P.), the Spartans, and student publications, the Quaker Campus and the Acropolis, as well as a student run radio station, KPOET radio.

President of the United States Richard Nixon remains the college's most well-known alumnus, although Andrea Barber, who played wacky neighbor Kimmy Gibbler on the sitcom Full House, is a well-known alumna.

An event reminiscent of the famous alumnus occurred at Whittier in 2002 when an electronic bugging device was found in the office of the college newspaper, the Quaker Campus. The discovery quickly made headlines on the Drudge Report, the Student Press Law Center and other media outlets due to the similarity to the bugging of the Democratic National Headquarters in 1972 that brought down Nixon's presidency in the Watergate scandal.