Journalist Elizabeth Pandolfi first learned about Clemente when living in Charleston, South Carolina, where she wrote about the Charleston course hosted by Trident Technical College for a local publication. A decade later, she captured the ways that Clemente has offered intellectual community and welcoming spaces amid the global pandemic. In "How Classical Philosophy and Art History Helped These Adult Students Make Sense of 2020" she focused on the courses in Boston and Chicago, each of which pivoted to keep students engaged and connected even as the world shifted to global learning. At its core, the creation of spaces to have meaningful--and sometimes risky--conversations.

Pandolfi wrote: "Clemente Courses have always been about giving people those kinds of safe spaces—but the kind of safe space that is inextricably tied to true intellectual freedom and academic respect."