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As we enter the new year, it’s clear that Americans remain deeply divided and that no bubble can isolate Â鶹ÊÓƵ from the push and pull of that conversation. The fact is that college campuses have always been at the forefront of messy, difficult debates about divisive issues.

Such debates are central to our role as institutions of higher learning. Yet the headlines they generate often obscure the remarkable achievements of our students and faculty that are, in fact, more representative of what happens at Â鶹ÊÓƵ on a day-to-day basis. For example:

An Â鶹ÊÓƵ education has a national reputation.

• Â鶹ÊÓƵ remains one of the country’s top liberal arts colleges in major rankings, including U.S. News & World Report, Fiske, and Princeton Review. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is 27th in a new Wall Street Journal ranking of liberal arts colleges; the New York Times rates Â鶹ÊÓƵ as one of America’s most economically diverse campuses.
• According to the 2016 PayScale Salary Survey, an Â鶹ÊÓƵ education produces real value: our graduates rank No. 6 among liberal arts college graduates in terms of salary potential and No. 17 among all U.S. colleges and universities.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ students and faculty maintain high standards of excellence.

• For the 10th consecutive year, Â鶹ÊÓƵ was one of the country's top producers of student Fulbright Awards. Five Â鶹ÊÓƵ students and alumni won two top science awards: the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and the NSF Graduate Student Fellowship. (Last year, just 17 percent of Goldwaters went to liberal arts colleges; Â鶹ÊÓƵ is one of only six to win three.)
• In addition to winning prestigious fellowships at Harvard and the European University Institute, having their music performed at the Hollywood Bowl, and being selected as the Huntington Library’s first artist-in-residence, Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty are regularly quoted by the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, and other major media outlets.
• Our drive to bring athletics back to its winning ways continues to pay off, with a men’s cross country team that went to the national championships and a quarterback -- Bryan Scott '17 – who set new SCIAC and Â鶹ÊÓƵ career passing records. 

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has programs and resources available nowhere else.

• This fall, 30 students participated in two unique programs: Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Campaign Semester, in which they earned course credit while working House, Senate, and gubernatorial campaigns nationwide, and the Kahane United Nations program in New York City.
• Thanks to the generosity of the Cosman Family, the 100,000–piece Cosman Shell Collection has come to Occidental. Combined with the Moore Collection of Mexican and Central American birds, we have a treasure trove of genetic material that will have a major impact on our understanding of evolution and serve as the foundation for a marquee environmental sciences program.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ makes every dollar count.

• Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s financial management continues to draw kudos: Moody’s Investors Service confirmed our impressive Aa3 credit rating based on our financial health, strong management, and academic reputation. Forbes’ most recent Top Colleges Financial Grade list of private colleges gave Â鶹ÊÓƵ an A.

Of course, many challenges lie ahead: addressing the rising cost of college; building Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s endowment to reduce our dependence on tuition revenue and provide even more student scholarships; making Â鶹ÊÓƵ a truly diverse and inclusive institution; and countering the widespread but utterly mistaken notion that a liberal arts education is a frivolous luxury. I plan to keep in touch with you regularly as we address these and other important issues.

Whatever the inevitable challenges and needs that remain to be met, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community should take well-deserved satisfaction in its many achievements. It is these institutional strengths that have sustained the College for almost 130 years and will continue to do so in the years ahead. All of us play an important role in making Â鶹ÊÓƵ the special place we all love.

I want to wish you all the best for 2017.

Warmly,

Jonathan Veitch
President