Hi Gip, I wanted to write up my notes for my presentation. This is it. Feel free to reply and discuss it here. Also, if there's some parts you're more interested in, my SS Div 1 (a few ideas are a little outdated, but everything is in greater depth) is available with the readings in the library, and also off my web-page. "Johnston College, Johnston Center, and a Context for Hampshire College: The ideas behind the Radical Departure" Parallels Johnston Hampshire -------- --------- disagreements over dining contracts same Johnston (rich guy, IBM) Johnson (rich guy, lawyer) $1.5 M $6 M "everything is negotiable" "it's ok to go outside the lines" more female students more female students evaluations for classes evaluations for classes Grad Contract Div 2,3 Contracts Differences Johnston Hampshire -------- --------- class contract class syllabus curriculum-building to form classes course catalog describes classes community grad committee ultimate power official standards committee + fac "personal" not institutional "individual" most important always "people" "freedom" high "sense of community" lowest of 5 colleges (surveyed!) community holds power to decide community holds power to contribute opinion 3 possible ways to meet needs 1 way to meet everyone's needs (University, Johnston off-complex, or on-complex) 4 flexible course equivalents per sem course "dethroned" [and partially always taken for granted "rethroned"?] why what consensus authority / majority early leaders (McCoy, Blume, Owada...) (Patterson, Longsworth, Glazer, Adelle) encouraged students to study studied the students and themselves and rule themselves decided for them Some of Hampshire's failures ---- -- ----------- -------- -not recognizing what is worth keeping and what's not, esp the mishmash of ideas we call Div I/II. -tries to be good for the wrong students -cost -institutional rather than personal solutions (**!!) - advising -self in society -self-evaluation Points (this is the main stuff I'm most proud of!) ------ -isolation is not a necessary symptom of individualization, unless it is based on centralized authority rather than community-personal -orientation/indoctrination of new students and faculty essential (another of Hampshire's failures perhaps). This includes who advertises for new faculty, how it's done, and what the criteria are for choosing [if you're looking for a molecular biologist, you'll get a completely different group of applicants than if you're looking for a progressive education enthusiast with experience in biology of some kind]. Which kind does Hampshire advertise for, and what effects can we see? -role of individuals in crafting things that become part of our language of thought -- for instance, that everyone implicitly agrees with 3 "divs" though even Patterson himself said we ought to have a complete overhaul within 10 years. -importance of who holds the seat of Knowledge (ie the difference between students being studied (Penina) and students doing the studying (Owada)) -- will Hampshire make a special effort to include students studying themselves as part of the next re-evaluation? I doubt it, though they will likely let it happen to some small degree if some students make the formidable sacrifices to be taken seriously. And so I arrived at the idea of Radical Departure for myself. Those students and faculty who were ripe would gather and do things right, live together in some part of campus, indoctrinate their own, decide how to allocate their own work-study money, etc. There was an Indian wise man, and also an Indian rich man. The rich man was newly rich, and wanted to save the world with his wealth. "What can I do," he asked the wise man, "I want to save the world." "The only thing the world has to be saved from is YOU!" Thoreau said something about how the world is flexible; you just do what's right for you, and it will form itself around you. Krishnamurti said something about how we shouldn't try to change things (I think he referred to oneself) as much as we should try to understand the way things are, and they will change of themselves if that's the right thing. So the Radical Departure is the Way to be oneself, which includes those students and faculty who are also interested in being themself. I would not be so cocky as to think that my plan is right for everyone or that my plan is what those who aren't interested "should be doing." But it is a part of me to share who I am with folks, to engage in life/education in Our Way rather than the traditional way. If the rest of the college learns something, so be it... if not, well that's fine too. Their business. My business is to be who I am and not interfere with who they are, and theirs is to be who they are and not give me any trouble in being who I am. Some things I'd include in RD: From Brown, Smith, et al: Serious, comprehensive evaluations of faculty/learning experiences, by and for the students. From Johnston: Living-learning self-government Community as the ultime academic + residential decision-making and structure-making body. The idea that RD is only the right thing for some students and faculty. For the others, please exit stage left. "Reverse Diffusion": new definition -- the process by which RD-right students and faculty concentrate in RD once it has formed, stop bothering the others, and have the opportunity to go at it without dragging others along. Self-evaluation of the experiment, collaboratively with students and faculty, as well as with other schools. Consensus Class contracts rather than syllabi (if anything) students role in course formation personal From Hampshire: dethroning the course (yea for projects at all levels) Portfolio assesment Well I think that's it, eh? Perhaps also the notion that I personally don't seek to try and change the place permanently. I say that while I'm here, I'll do this with the others who are interested, and once we leave, if the personalities are there, they will continue it, changing it to fit who they are. If they're not there, no institutional change would preserve the spirit/culture anyhow. If it disappears within 10 years or even 2 years, fine. The time was a wonderful adventure, learning time, etc. The way education ought to be for those folks. And although it might end, it will always be alive; because it once was, it will always be. Even because it once was just an idea, it will always be there, contributing its spirit in its own way to people's lives. Also I guess I should note that I only have 1-2 semesters left, so it's not really much of a possibility for me to go too far with it, because it takes time. For you guys, first and second years, it is absolutely a possibility. I wish I'd realized that earlier in my own Hampshire career. Perhaps the idea will also work for some of you, and you'll take it and run; or else it was simply an idea for me, and you'll figure out your own version at the end of each of your third years. Well, have fun. This is a great place to live and to learn. Chris.