Past Reunions
From the May 13, 1971
Courier-Express from Dubois,
Pennsylvania
New Interest On
Campus
By LEE UNDER Associated Press Writer STATE COLLEGE, Pa.
(AP) —
There's a new interest in college today, inside the
dorm, that's got more going for it than just studying and sleeping. And it
has absolutely nothing to do with sex. Pennsylvania State University is
experimenting with community living, as an extension of learning. It calls
it "The Interest House." "Students will get a chance, starting this fall, to
live with other students who have a common interest or concern related to a
broad area of human experience," says Dr. Charles Spence, assistant dean of
students who brainstormed the idea. Something similar is underway at
Stanford and Michigan State. At the beginning the unique plan will involve
about 600 students out of more than 25,000 on the main campus of
Pennsylvania's biggest university, and one of the largest in America. "I
think it will work, and will grow," Spence says. He believes such a program
is overdue, especially in the giant college complexes where students are
more easily identifiable by social security numbers than name, and
everything is fast, furious and impersonal. "Too many kids get lost,
literally, in college," Spence says. "A student needs to have interests
outside the classroom, especially where he lives. He needs to have people
who know about him, care about him, and maintain some human relationship. It
is important for his future well- being. "An impersonal education doesn't
foster good student- faculty contact. Nor does it foster commitment of
people for each other, and this is vital for personal intellectual growth."
Spence believes the Interest House program "will help in developing a more
relevant curriculum." Current courses of study now are under attack by
protesting students demanding a piece of the educational action. There will
be 10 "interest communities" at Penn State spread among a dozen of the
school's 50 dorms, and each will consist of separate male and female units.
In the Environmental House students will be able to define issues which
affect the quality of their lives now, as well as in the future. Working in
their dorm, at rap sessions, they can map ways to put land, water and air to
better use, and protect the world populations. The Race Relations and Social
Conflict House will be balanced, deliberately, with whites and blacks, and
Spence says here "the historical, cultural and institutional roots of racial
dominance would be the starting point for understanding the present." "This
house could hopefully begin to move people from a relationship of tolerance
to one of reconciliation of equals," Spence adds.
Also contemplated is a dorm community devoted to "the individual in a
complex society," which is expected to provide serious living experiences.
"Individuals would be allowed in such a context to explore 'being' in order
that 'doing' may be a creative and growing process," Spence says. "This
would be an opportunity for a person to develop and interrelate his social,
vocational, educational and spiritual consciousness." With assistance
from person-oriented people as resources and a measure of serendipity, the
process of converting 'higher education' into 'deeper education' will have
begun." Language interests are not skipped. There will be communities for
students skilled in French, Italian, German Russian and Spanish, all
connected to create an academic Tower of Babel.
Note in the 3rd column, that the newly formed Business and Society interest house plans to "acquire a calculator for the study lounge. It's hard to recall those days!