Wikipedia

Whittier College#Athletics

Whittier College
Former name
Whittier Academy (1887–1901)
MottoLux, Poesis, Veritas, Pax, Amor Eruditionis
Motto in English
Light, Creativity, Truth, Peace, and Love of Knowledge
TypePrivate liberal arts college
Established1887; 138 years ago (1887)
Religious affiliation
Secular (historically Quaker[1])
Academic affiliations
Oberlin Group, CLAC
Endowment$112.9 million (2019)[2]
PresidentKristine Dillon
Academic staff
103 full-time, 36 part-time (Fall 2022)[3]
Students797 (2025)[4]
Location
Whittier, California
,
U.S.

33°58′41″N 118°01′47″W / 33.9780°N 118.0296°W / 33.9780; -118.0296
CampusSuburban, 75 acres (30 ha)
Colors   Purple & gold
NicknamePoets
Sporting affiliations
NCAA Division III – SCIAC
MascotJohnny Poet
Websitewhittier.edu
Map

Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2025, had 797 undergraduate and graduate students. It was founded in 1887. Whittier offers one graduate degree – a master's degree in education.

History

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The college in 1912

Whittier College was founded in 1887 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and named after the poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier.[5] Although the institution no longer has a formal Quaker affiliation, it maintains a tradition of emphasizing social responsibility and community engagement.[6][7]

The school enrolls around 800 undergraduates and has just over 100 full-time faculty members.[8][9]

The college offers more than 30 majors.[10]

Academics

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Whittier College is a four-year liberal arts institution.[11]

Whittier offers over 30 majors and 30 minors in 23 disciplines. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were[12]

  • Business Administration and Management (62)
  • Exercise Science and Kinesiology (52)
  • Biology/Biological Sciences (40)
  • Psychology (38)
  • Social Sciences (29)
  • English Language and Literature (24)

Whittier Law School

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Whittier Law School was located on a satellite campus in Costa Mesa, California.[13] It started in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles in 1966 as Beverly Law School. In 1975, Beverly College joined Whittier with the law school, moving to Costa Mesa in 1997. Whittier Law School has 4,500 alumni practicing in 48 states and 14 countries. The school was accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) beginning in 1978 and was a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) beginning 1987.[14]

On April 19, 2017, the law school announced that it would stop admitting students and begin the process of shutting down.[15] The school ceased operations in July 2020.[16]

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report[17]95 (tie) of 185
Washington Monthly[18]64 of 199
National
Forbes[19]430 of 500
Student body composition as of May 2, 2022
Race and ethnicity[20] Total
Hispanic 53%
 
Asian 7%
 
Foreign national 4%
 
White 23%
 
Black 5%
 
Other[a] 7%
 
Economic diversity
Low-income[b] 36%
 
Affluent[c] 74%
 

Athletics

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Whittier athletics monogram

The Whittier Poets compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) of NCAA Division III. The school has fielded sports teams for over 100 years. Its current teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, lacrosse and water polo, women's softball and volleyball, and men's baseball and golf. In November 2022, Whittier announced that it was discontinuing its football team, men's lacrosse, and men's and women's golf.[21][22] After community input, the Board of Trustees voted to reinstate the Football program, which is slated to return in the 2026-27 academic year, after alumni had raised more than $800,000 to support its revitalization.[23]

The history of the Whittier football program began in 1907, and since the inception of the SCIAC in 1915, the Poets have won 26 conference titles. From 1957 to 1964, Whittier won eight straight SCIAC football titles under the direction of coaches George Allen (1951–1956), Don Coryell (1957–1959), and John Godfrey (1960–1979). Their most recent championships came back-to-back in 1997 and 1998. Twenty-three Poets have earned All-American honors, the most recent coming in 2007. The football program plays out of Newman Memorial Field, which seats 7,000. Whittier maintained a century-long football rivalry with Occidental Tigers. The two schools play for the shoes of 1939 All-American Myron Claxton.[22]

The Whittier men's lacrosse program was established in 1980. In 1980, the Poets became a member of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL). From 1980 to 1999, Whittier won ten championships. In 1990, they were recognized by the NCAA but continued to compete in the WCLL. The Poets were the team to beat throughout the 1990s, and it was not until 2000 that Whittier decided to make their mark on the national scene by leaving the WCLL and focusing on being selected for the NCAA tournament. On November 15, 2022, it was announced that Whittier College would discontinue its men's lacrosse program after the conclusion of their season.[21][22]

The Whittier men's and women's swimming and diving teams earned Academic All-American status—the women for the fourth straight year and the men for the first time after the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced the programs who achieved this honor for the 2015 Fall Semester. Five hundred forty-seven swimming and diving teams representing 354 colleges and universities have been named College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Teams. The awards recognize teams with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the 2015 fall semester.

The termination of football, lacrosse, and golf in the fall of 2022 was greeted with controversy and strong community input.[24] After fundraisers by alumni generated over $814,000 in donations, the football program was revived starting with the 2026 season.[25]

Notable coaches

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Notable alumni

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Main article: List of Whittier College alumni

Notable alumni include former U.S. President Richard Nixon;[26] actress Andrea Barber, known from the television comedy Full House and Fuller House;[27] video blogger Cassey Ho;[28] actors and brothers Geoff Stults,[29] and George Stults; and author Jessamyn West.[30]

Notable people

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Faculty

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  • Hoover Hall
    Hoover Hall
  • Entrance
    Entrance
  • Library
    Library
  • Wanberg Hall
    Wanberg Hall
  • Southwest Quadrant
    Southwest Quadrant

Notes

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  1. ^ Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
  2. ^ The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
  3. ^ The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.

References

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  1. ^ "Facts & Figures | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu.
  2. ^ As of June 30, 2019. "U.S. and Canadian 2019 NTSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2019 Endowment Market Value, and Percentage Change in Market Value from FY18 to FY19 (Revised)". National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  3. ^ "College Navigator – Whittier College".
  4. ^ "Whittier College facts and figures".
  5. ^ "About Whittier College". Whittier College. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  6. ^ Neufeldt, Victoria (2003). Encyclopedia of Associations. Gale Research.
  7. ^ "John Greenleaf Whittier Society". Whittier College. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Whittier College Fast Facts". Whittier College. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  9. ^ "Whittier College Profile". College Navigator. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Majors and Programs". Whittier College. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  11. ^ "About Whittier College". Whittier College. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  12. ^ "Whittier College". nces.ed.gov. U.S. Dept of Education. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  13. ^ "Whittier Law School – A Southern California ABA Accredited Law School". www.law.whittier.edu.
  14. ^ "History". www.law.whittier.edu.
  15. ^ "Whittier Law School Won't Enroll New Students". Inside Higher Ed. April 20, 2017.
  16. ^ "Former Whittier Law School | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu.
  17. ^ "2024-2025 National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. September 23, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  18. ^ "2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". Washington Monthly. August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  19. ^ "America's Top Colleges 2025". Forbes. September 6, 2025. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  20. ^ "College Scorecard: Whittier College". United States Department of Education. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  21. ^ a b Santana, Miguel (November 15, 2022). "Whittier College Makes Changes to Poet Athletics". Whittier College (Press release). Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  22. ^ a b c Jaschik, Scott (28 November 2022). "Whittier Will Discontinue Football". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Whittier College Revives Football for 2026, Backed By $814K Alumni Fundraising". Whittier College. 25 October 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  24. ^ Henderson, Emily (2022-11-28). "Community Protests Against Cancellation of Athletics Programs". The Quaker Campus. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  25. ^ "Whittier College Revives Football for 2026, Backed By $814K Alumni Fundraising". Whittier College. October 25, 2024. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  26. ^ "Richard M. Nixon". The White House. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  27. ^ "Fuller House's Andrea Barber Says She Thought She'd Never Act Again After Full House". www.yahoo.com. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  28. ^ Narins, Elizabeth (2017-08-28). "Blogilates Cassey Ho Reveals Why She Hid Her Relationship From Fans for 9 Years". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  29. ^ "Poet Actor on New Hulu Series | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  30. ^ "Jessamyn West Collection: Jessamyn West dies of stroke at age 81". www.yorbalindahistory.org. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
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