Before I became involved Several colleges of the ``alternative'' variety were started before 1950 - Black Mountain, Bennington, Goddard, Antioch. I have read some histories of a few of these places, and have not come upon any references to interinstitutional cooperation of any kind. The only cross-reference I found was when the early leader of Black Mountain College, mentioned that he had once spoken with Arthur E. Morgan of Antioch College, and discovered that Morgan had to put in just as much time fundraising for Antioch as Rice for Black Mountain (quite a lot).
The next wave of these colleges began in the 60s and 70s - New College, Hampshire, Johnston, Franconia (all based fairly closely on the model of undergraduate education), and then others such as the Universities Without Walls, the Campus Free College, and ``free us'' which were departures not only from the methodology and goals of traditional colleges, but from the entire notion of undergraduate colleges altogether. Johnston College held two worldwide conferences at their campus in Redlands, California, with hundreds of participants - including many from the new wave of alternative colleges, some from the previous wave, and even some representatives of the far older Folk Schools in Denmark. There were many other conferences and books from this group of schools. In founding Hampshire College, naturally, several faculty researched many of these other colleges. Student exchanges (at the very least) continued through the 70s, but by the 90s I could find little trace of interinstitutional cooperation.
I become involved. Two students from Johnston (now the Johnston Center of the University of Redlands and no longer its own College) - Marjetta Geerling and Matthew Fishman - while on term abroad in London discussed the idea of finding out what is happening at other alternative colleges. The next fall, Marjetta and Karl Swan of Johnston raise funds to visit Fairhaven, Evergreen, and Hampshire. After some email discussions about Hampshire and Johnston, Marjetta visited Hampshire for a week. I asked her whether we could work out some kind of exchange where I visit Johnston to participate in a student-led class she was organizing there with Karl, the ``Experiments in Education Workshop.'' We worked out a plan. My trip was funded partially by Johnston and partially by Hampshire. (Actually, though I made several requests before and directly after the trip, Hampshire didn't finally agree to reimburse me until a month after my return.)
On the trip, I gave presentations on the history of Johnston (which I had been researching) and the history of Hampshire. I was also involved with a short presentation by several Johnston students and administrators to the University of Redlands. We presented some of the features of Johnston and Hampshire, and some of what we had learned from our exchange. (Document 6 in the Documentation section of the Appendix)
One evening on the visit, Noah Wardrip-Fruin (a graduating Johnston student) and I discussed the successes of the exchange and the formation of a Network of Alternative Colleges to facilitate further exchanges. Overcoming some hesitation and fear, I grudgingly agreed that I am probably the person who should start the Network. Then, after an initial failure when I spoke with the Development Office at Hampshire about fundraising, I make an internet home page for the Network of Alternative Colleges (Document 19) and begin writing emails to students at other alternative colleges whose email addresses I could find (Document 12). (Low-budget network!) I put together an email list, and we had several discussions on the list.
The final direct result of the visit was my division I project in Social Science, a long report called ``Johnston College, Johnston Center, and a Context for Hampshire College.'' (Document 7) I had begun reading and writing parts of this report already in December, then continued with reading, writing, and interviews while at Johnston, and finally completed the writing while back at Hampshire. While at Johnston, I spent most nights from around midnight or 2 until 5 in the Johnston computer center working on the report. Since then, my conclusions from the visit have changed somewhat. (My current conclusions - a few additions and modifications of the original report - are fairly consistent with the notes I made for my fall 1995 presentation at Hampshire College - Document 16)
In the summer (1995), I stopped by on some travels and visited my friends from Johnston. Then, I decided to follow through on a suggestion one of the Johnston faculty had made, to have a cross-college class using extensive email conversations. I tried to talk people at other alternative colleges into doing it, but nobody joined. Though technically on leave of absence, I started the class at Hampshire (though I make it clear to the class members that they were on their own because I would not be very involved). (Document 15 is the course description.) Midway through the semester, I give a presentation on my findings comparing and contrasting Hampshire and Johnston. (Document 16)
At the end of the semester, several students from the course decided to hold a conference including students from many alternative colleges. I decided to help them, and basically the conference participants were people I knew from Johnston (mostly alumns at this point), friends of theirs, a friend of mine from Prescott College, and two people who were otherwise not connected to me beforehand: Kate Reedy (a student at the Paracollege at St. Olaf's in Northfield, MN), and Jerry Mintz (Director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization). Jerry had stumbled onto the web-page, just barely in time to call and find out how to get to the conference, and couldn't believe that he hadn't known about the Network earlier (it would probably be fair to say that Jerry is the premier networker in the alternative education community). Kate was the only person who came to the conference as a result of a slew of phone calls and emails I made to offices at several alternative colleges. I had also visited Goddard and Marlboro, but could only convince the people I spoke with at the two schools about what a neat idea the Network of Alternative Colleges was, not how valuable it would be to them personally to participate in the conference.
The First Conference on Alternative Higher Education was a success. We decided that Johnston would hold the next Conference. This conference gave us a new name: the Alternative Higher Education Network (AHEN); it gave us a set of goals. It was not particularly successful, however, at deciding who would go about meeting our goals, except to say that it would be individuals who chose to do it or not, not the whole group. (Document 18)
That spring, I visited Goddard again and spoke to their community meeting. I also met Andy Snyder (an activist student from New College) at a conference at Hampshire College.
In summer, while in Atlanta spectating the Olympic Trials, I called up Andy Snyder, and he drove up with another student from New College, Heather Kane, to take me camping for a few days in Northern Georgia and talk some about AHEN.
In fall, Dave Schilling (a first-year student at Hampshire) and I flew to spend ten days at New College. We talked with many people while we were there, and gave two talks. (Document 57) New College also sponsored a New College alumn to visit them and discuss AHEN (which New College still calls the Network of Alternative Colleges), and our visits overlapped for a day so that Dave and I met her. I met with the ``Dean and Warden'' of New College, and with several faculty members about AHEN, and arranged for one of the faculty members to attend the second annual conference (with New College footing the bill for his plane ticket). We'll see if he ends up going.
Finally, I asked several times for volunteers from Hampshire to go to the 2nd conference (January 1997 at the Johnston Center), and to help me write the proposals. In November, a first year student (Brett Lefferts) decided to help organize the trip, and the two of us together wrote proposals and recruited Hampshire students. (Document 62) There will be 5 students going: Brett and Deborah Bruml (1st year students), Jacob Bornstein and Jenny Donovan (2nd year students), and myself. I have worked out goals with each of them individually so they can make the most of the trip. Additionally, I invited two Hampshire faculty (one senior faculty and one new faculty) but neither decided to attend; President Greg Prince, however, has expressed his intention to accept my invitation for him to attend the conference with us! (I suggested it to him in early November as important for him personally for two reasons - so that he could gain the sense of common purpose that I have found with the other alternative colleges, and so that he could have an opportunity to engage as a partner with students.)