The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, December 5, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

But Mr. Haymes is confident
that by September 1973
Thoreau College will be
operating somewhere between
Richmond and Charlottesville
as an alternative educational
institution. Several faculty
members have already been
lined up for the first year of
operation, and student
applications are being received.

The creation of Thoreau
College is in response to the
"regimented and impersonal
atmosphere" Mr. Haymes finds
at most state-supported
universities, which tends to
"stifle many of the best and
most creative students and
teachers."

Mr. Haymes holds a Ph.D. in
German and is presently
teaching at Richmond Open
High school; after a three-year
stint at Virginia
Commonwealth University. He
is also the music critic for the
Richmond Mercury.

The goal of Thoreau College
is not to provide what Mr.
Haymes terms "a credentials
factory", but rather "a
community of learning." He
has been actively working on
his plan for Thoreau College
for little more than a year. The
major obstacle, which he has
yet to overcome, is in finding
physical facilities for the
college. Ideally he would like
to secure the use of a camp or
hotel facility, or some facility
with existing buildings.

Part-Time Student

When it begins operating,
Thoreau College will have a
faculty of five (full-time) and a
student body of 75. The year
will be divided into quarters,
and students will attend
Thoreau College at alternate
quarters, and work during the
others, although all students
will reside on campus. In this
way the students will be able
to be financially independent
from their parents. Tuition is
$300 per quarter, and the
college will help provide jobs
for students during the
working portion of their
academic year. The college
hopes to secure jobs, primarily
of a service nature, in which
students will rotate between
quarters, replacing each other.

Liberal Curriculum

There will be no formal
curriculum or grades, and the
college will not attempt to
offer degrees. A general reading
list, based on the type used at
St. John's in Annapolis, will be
distributed 'each quarter. The
faculty, which will represent a
broad spectrum of liberal arts
education, will advise students
and suggest directions in fields
in which students are
interested. The main unit of
instruction will be "rap
sessions," with some formal
lectures offered by faculty
members and visitors.

Mr. Haymes feels that many
students are faced with the
situation of being stifled by
existing educational structures,
or dropping out altogether. In
this sense Thoreau College is an
alternative for the student who
wants to develop his
intellectual and creative powers
without having to suffer in a
regimented educational
program.

Humanism

Mr. Haymes envisions "a
college which places the
student first and attempts to
reflect a humane concern for
the world and for its
community." In September,
perhaps, this will be closer to a
reality than an idea.

Mr. Haymes:

Salvaging "Intellectual And Creative Powers."

Through this method of
education, Mr. Haymes hopes
that the college will provide "a
living, working atmosphere of
cooperation, aimed at
developing the whole person."
The college is designed to
"develop the humanistic side
of the human."

The college is not degree
oriented, or vocationally
oriented. Mr Haymes' theory is
that "a student who is liberally
educated will perform better in
whatever vocation he later
chooses."