I suspect the poster mixed up “Claremont McKenna” (one of the Claremont Colleges) with “Claremont” (as a whole), though I’m mystified by the comment as well. Classes are the Claremont Colleges are NOT sugar coated — and especially not at Mudd (the original point of discussion) which has a reputation for being very challenging even for the top-notch students they attract.
I think it’s great that Mudd is looking at new ways to attract women to CS (and all sciences for that matter). And I think it’s just as important for the men as the women that there is class balance.
As for the impact of a school “smaller than a high school” – they are seen as a leader in many ways and the article states “Harvey Mudd’s revamped curriculum has been adopted by other schools,”.
Regarding the success of the students, I can’t believe anyone would question that. They have an amazing reputation, however, if you really want to dig deep here is an impact report that lists companies that recruit and hire grads as well as grad schools they go to: https://www.hmc.edu/career-services/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2013/08/OCS-Impact-Report-JUL16-singlepgs.pdf (This is for 2015-2016 only).