Oxtoby Visits, Plans July Arrival
By Caleb Oken-berg
Staff Writer

Dr. David Oxtoby, selected as Pomona's ninth president over a month ago, is wasting no time in getting to know Pomona and its surrounding community.

Oxtoby has made the flight from Chicago to Pomona's campus three times since being selected; two official visits and one informal trip to research schools in the surrounding area for his two school-aged children.

"I think it's a good sign that he's showing such an active interest in us as students and as a college," said Isaac Silverman '05.

The president-elect, who will assume office July 1, used the two visits to better acquaint himself with members of the Pomona community. Oxtoby also saw both of these trips as a way for him to begin the process of orienting himself to important campus issues.

"These visits are just so I'm up and ready to go come July," he said, "rather than to just arrive and not know where I am."

Similar to Oxtoby's visit to campus earlier in the semester as a candidate, his most recent official visits included meetings with students, faculty, and staff. Two student groups met with the 51-year-old Dean of Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago: the ASPC Senate and representatives from the Pomona Chicano/Latino community. Oxtoby also met with several senior staff members and deans, along with members of the faculty, including Professor Frederic Sontag and others on the Faculty-Executive Committee.

Although initially Oxtoby did not come with a platform for change, his interactions with members of the community have produced several key issues that he believes will be important for him to address as president.

One such issue is the general education requirements that are currently in place at Pomona and whether they are in line with the desires of students and faculty. Oxtoby believes that after ten years, the PAC system is "due for a re-examination" to evaluate their effectiveness.

"I think [the requirements] really need buy-in from faculty and students," Oxtoby said.

Mercedes Teixido, Associate Professor of Drawing and Chair of the Art and Art History departments, concurred.

"It's always good to periodically reexamine how you do things, and to ask the fundamental question of 'could it be done differently or better?'" said Teixido.

Oxtoby also recognized that the issue of diversity is important to many students on campus, and hopes to tackle this issue as president. Among his preliminary ideas, Oxtoby believes it is important for Pomona to increase the diversity of its national applicant pool. He also wants to examine the issue of staff diversity on campus.

Many students applauded the new president's already active role on campus, and agreed with him on the issue of reexamining diversity at Pomona.

"Because a lot of students come from similar backgrounds, I think diversity needs to be one of the top things Oxtoby reexamines," said Caitlin Dwyer '06.

Through his series of visits to campus, Oxtoby has also gained a better understanding of Pomona's role amongst the other Claremont Colleges. He feels that the task of working with the other schools will be difficult, but achievable with a "great spirit cooperation" among the five colleges.

Although Oxtoby acknowledges that there will be an abundance of issues to concern himself with once officially assuming his role on campus, he retains that his upbeat feelings toward the college have remained consistent.

"I still have the same very positive feeling about Pomona," said the future president.