University of Virginia Library

Experimental University:
Alternative To Drudgery

By Mike Morgan

This fall the Experimental University
enters its third season here
on the University campus. The
group's founders three years ago
decided to act in their own way to
ameliorate certain deficiencies in
the college experience that students
were encountering at that time.
Angered at the seemingly inevitable
consequences of University growth,
these individuals attempted to find
a solution that would complement
the University proper. They set out
to check the University's Impersonality;
they looked for an alternative
to the mindless drudgery and
often unstimulating required curriculum
that can squelch the learning
desires of any ambitious student.
The magic solution was the
Experimental University, which has
widened the perception and kindled
the intellectual curiosities of thousands
of University community
members. The Experimental University
has been largely successful
with regards to its original purpose;
any participant in past EU activities
will attest to his personal satisfaction
with the arrangement.

The principle that keeps the EU
going is the sheer limitless potential
with which it greets interested persons.
Perhaps the greatest attribute
is that anyone so desiring can design
and teach a course under the
EU's auspices. If one wishes to test
his teaching prowess in an area of
his own knowledge, or even one
that he wishes to widen, he need
only submit a course description
form to the organization. Faculty,
students, clergy, and general citizens
of the Charlottesville area have
repeatedly offered a galaxy of
courses suited to every taste.

Equally as important is the EU
student. He is motivated only by
the pleasure of learning unhampered
by grades, credit, or regular
University red tape. The student
can choose any course(s) that he
wants; often he is free to determine
the depth or breadth of investigation
that he will undertake in that
course.

Any finally, the range and variety
of courses from which to
choose is phenomenal. Last year
students were treated to courses on
bartending, surfing, Southern history,
both conservative and radical
appraisals of American societal
problems, as well as many others.
Courses already arranged for this
semester include the perennial favorite,
surfing, and new ones like
wine-making, Anatole France,
pipology (pipe-smoking), and
photography.

So certainly the EU has some
interesting offerings this semester.
Yet the curriculum is far from
complete because of a late-starting
publicity campaign. The Experimental
University needs course material
as well as students to continue
operations. If you are even
considering teaching a course, stop
in immediately at the EU desk in
Newcomb (next to the main desk)
from 12-2 and 5-7 on all weekdays
to fill out the course description
forms, or contact Mike Morgan
(296-9723) at the EU offices, 120
Chancellor St. Tentative deadline
for completing the forms is this
Saturday, October 3, in order to
have the catalogues ready for general
registration on Wednesday,
October 14. If you have offered a
course in the past, feel free to offer
it again; if not, why not start this
semester?

However, if the purely intellectual
aspect of the EU does not
attract you, approach the matter
from another angle. In the past the
organization has shown an uncanny
ability to bring together unlikely
"partners in study". The EU has
kept different factions and elements
of the University communicating;
the EU has been instrumental
in maintaining a rational interchange
of ideas. Particularly in this
year of "strife on campus" and
"student unrest" it has a definite
role to play. The directors of the
Experimental University are hereby
committing it to maintaining the
lines of communication between all
groups and individuals. If you are
concerned by the mindless violence
that is engulfing university after
university, do what you can in your
own way to prevent its happening
here; take part in the EU.