Seal Court
(koi fish and turtles)
Adjacent to the Malott Commons dining hall, this space hosts a longstanding Scripps tradition—Scripps Tea—each Wednesday for the 5C community of students, faculty, and staff. It’s also home to the Motley Coffeehouse, the College’s student-run café. Since its founding in 1974, the Motley has been an important social hub for the Claremont Colleges—a place to meet, talk, study, and eat and drink with friends, as well as a space for music, art, and performance events. Inside, you can see the chalk wall, which features a collection of Scripps student art.
“Known for its famous Matcha Chacha, catchy Spotify tunes, and homey atmosphere, the Motley is the heart of campus and a popular spot for students across the 5Cs.”
—Monica Acosta ’19
The W.M. Keck Science Center
Keck is home to the integrated science department for Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. A spacious, modern facility for study and research in the sciences, Keck features classrooms, laboratories, and state-of-the-art equipment. At Scripps, nearly 25 percent of students major or minor in STEM fields.
“Keck provides students with unconventional learning and research opportunities that make them more equipped for graduate school. The department’s interdisciplinary approach prepares students to address complex, real-world problems.”
—Aleah Booker ’20
Sallie Tiernan Field House
(orange trees and jasmine)
Built in 2008, this 24,000-square-foot wellness center houses exercise equipment and activity spaces, as well as an outdoor pool, an athletics field, and a sand volleyball court. Individuals, clubs, and athletics teams use the Field House to train, practice, and take advantage of swimming lessons, equipment rentals, and fitness classes such as spinning and yoga. It also offers activities and programs to support student mental health and wellbeing. On sunny afternoons, the lounge chairs beside the pool are often crowded with students studying or socializing.
Margaret Fowler Garden
(orange trees, jasmine, olives)
A place for peaceful contemplation as well as for events and celebrations, this walled garden features a fresco painted in 1946 by Mexican muralist Alfredo Ramos Martinez, who died before its completion. His mural and other artworks on campus are often used in art classes to study technique and conservation methods.
“Our Shakespeare class staged a performance of As You Like It here; we got to block all the scenes around the architecture and nature in the garden, and it brought the play to life!”
—Mia Kania ’20
Edwards Humanities Building
(Valencia orange trees, jasmine, olive trees)
A Scripps education begins with the Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities, a three-semester courses-in-common program. Host to many Core classes, the Humanities Building is also the site of one of Scripps’ most famous campus protests: in 1968, during its construction, students were upset that a grove of olive trees was to be torn out to make room for the new structure. They occupied the treetops until the administration promised to relocate the trees to sites around campus. Today, eight of the original olive trees still stand in their original place.
Graffiti Wall
(rosemary, mint, sage, thyme)
Since 1931, Scripps’ graduating seniors have participated in what has become an essential rite of passage at the College: the signing of Graffiti Wall. Each year, the seniors choose a mural design from student submissions to paint on the wall, and then the entire graduating class adds their signatures. The wall is a beloved tradition and a visual reminder of Scripps’ history, and it reflects the changing tastes and interests of students over the decades.
“My favorite mural is from 1970, when the class spray painted ‘1970, Stop the War’ on the wall. It’s a powerful political message, and it sets that class apart from the others.”
—Bergen Carloss ’20
Eleanor Joy Toll Hall
(rosemary, mint, sage, thyme)
Scripps’ first residence hall, Toll Hall, is home to students from all class years. At Scripps, most students live on campus for all four years. Each of our 10 residence halls are air conditioned and have a living room, rec room, browsing room, and kitchens for students. Some have designated Living Learning Communities, giving residents the opportunity to connect with each other through various academic majors or interests, while others host Language Corridors for those looking to perfect their language skills.
“My favorite parts of Scripps’ residence halls are the kitchens and browsing rooms. I love that on any given evening, I can come inside and see students studying and making a meal together. The browsing rooms are absolutely beautiful, and I love using our “living library”—I’ve done some of my best thinking in there!
—Abby Clarke ’20
Honnold Gate
This iconic entrance to campus features a quote from the College’s founder, Ellen Browning Scripps, that resonates today: “The paramount obligation of a college is to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently, and the ability to live confidently, courageously, and hopefully.”
“Scripps has taught me that I will always be a student. It instilled in me the most vital and continuously useful lessons I have learned, the most important of these being about learning itself—that it is in no way limited to the classroom, and that knowledge can come from anyone and anywhere.”
—Saloni Kalkat ’17
Ella Strong Denison Library
(Valencia orange trees)
Scripps is the only one of The Claremont Colleges that has a library on its campus. Apart from being an ideal place to read and study, Denison is home to many special collections, including the Women’s Suffrage and Equal Rights Collection, which traces the development of the American women’s suffrage movement. The large stained-glass window celebrates learning through the written word. Per Scripps tradition, the library’s grand main doors are opened twice annually—in fall, when first-year students matriculate, and in spring, when seniors graduate.
“Matriculation was a magical moment for me—it was when I realized Scripps was real, and I was living in the moment. I was being welcomed onto the community as a Scripps student, and I was going to become the first member of my family to graduate from college.”—Kelly Peng ’18