Environmental Design

Item

Title

Eng Environmental Design

Identifier

Eng 1976-32_ProgramHistories_8D24_05_01

Source

Eng 1976-32

Eng 8D24

Eng 5

extracted text

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ADDi\ESS :------~------·· ••.• ·-

.r.f gou have a car,

CFU'.t

you take c'ther.s to

Camp Robb.i.t~S$'10ld?- - - · How many?_

.. --·····

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\-fuE<n de you expect to a:n:ive in. Olympia.?
-·------··~----

·-··-~--------·-·

--·-----·~-~------

If. you have houe:tng in or near Olym}lia,
would you be willing to share space with
another E1wiroomental Design~r'J______

Hore than oue?

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First Closs

Permit
No. 404
Olympia, Wo.

Business Reply Mail
No Postage Stomp Necessary if Mailed in the United States

Postage Will Be Poid by

The Evergreen State College
~~:"J'!L.J:lliENTAL ;.:..~SI'"'N P __...nA.tf..tv.
:.. •.~, 1:"1·

J:;ickt.\tcr cn;o.Coordinator
Olymp1a, Wa. 9o.J ::>

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~

September 10 9 1971

As yo'.'· have ].~.smed from President HcC::mn 8 s letter, the opening of our
c:-:r;r~n:s has been pos::voned to October 25.
This change of pl~ns has . presented us ~Jith a fresh desigu problem and we fe~l that om: cooperative
t'>O!.udon to th:!.s nev c'halle:age will st1;engthcn the bon~s >rlthiu our
learning cor;:;muuit.y E:nd "i.r:U.l set the ntage for a g;:eat year togethelC.
Bj:tefly t plans f:n the rwnth of October ·Hill be as follows:

October 4 - 8. \-J'e tdll spend this firat vJeek together at Camp
Robbinswo:td ne.::r;: B£:·in.non, '!i.Jashington. This beautiful camp is

L

on the shoreline of. 'Ho-od Caual and contains within its boundar:i.es a v•nriety of .different h::1bitats. In adcl-"tion to getting
acqt:?.in!:::·ed with o-.:1e snc.;ther her<~ 9 T.Je 'tdll also discuss plans
for the programs proj~ct ideas~ and summer reading and observat:i.m:as. He are also e>.1.Jloring the possibility of initiatiug
some! projceta at the camp during this tieek which so':lle of you may
't<:'a:lt to carL.)' on throughout the yea:L.. Reroomber that you must
complete regist:ration and payment of fees :.,efore the camp-out.
2

9

3.

October 11 -· 22. li!e ·~1:tll re~ttr.n to Olyntpia and laWl.ch our
progr.~m.
He wiJ.l m;:,.ke use of. local church facilities and
faculty homes a:s "class.roa..ns 11 and we Hill carry on a regular
schedule of m2et:tngs,. seminars p films and conferences. Housing
accorrmoci?-tions and sto~age space for those of you who were
originally assign.ed to cmJtpus housing will be arranged in.
the very nea1: ft!ture. Therefore, all of us will be in or n~:ar.
Olympi.a duri.ug th:ts period end 1, except :for the fact that we
i:dll be :bmctioning :l.n different enviromoonts, our program
'C;7:U.l proceed as normal.
October 24 - 26.

We move to Evergreen!

Dur:.i.ug the latter part of S~:.pt~"'lber t·m il7ill be arranging a spec:ial me-et:i.ng
'":'.th. th.o(::c of you 'Q'ho ar'i':. registored for pa.i:'t-t:tma participation in the

He l,-Joald a\')prcd.ate :Lt if ycm could zeturn the enclosed postcard to us as
soon. ss possible~ t~~ Hill be getting in touch with you again concerning
the logistics of om: stay at Cal7tp Robb:L:..i.S'i-J"old and :i.f you have questions or
:;mggestior:s cb.:cp a l:i..D,~ oi.:- c~~11 us at 753-395iL
y;[E

a:rc gctti:>:g incx..s.asirr.gly m1;dous to meet you and to begin designing

ar.~~J'l'!:'C~"":~.lU:3r::t.~.l~-Y •

Stncerel:v !>

jOM(
.:~;ero1y7'.

Ph:D
Cht.:ck
!.,::c:r::.-y

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..
THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE
Program Description-- Coordinated Studies in Environmental Design
3 Quarters-- + Units Each Quarter-- 1971-72
The Environmental Design Program was designed for students with some previous
col lege experience (could be considered upper division) who were interes+ed in
(I) examining the multi pi icity of factors involved in the environmental problems facing humanity and (2) developing attitudes and stt ·a·;egies which would
lead to solutions of design problems in and of various environments. The
program 'lias composed of four faculty (marine biologist, urban planner, architect,
and an economist) and seventy-five students. The year was broken down into
three sequential phases: Utopian Designss Design Techniques, and Design Projects.
During the Fa! I Quarter, tha focus was upon Utopian Designs where the broadest
possible design considerations were studied to teach an appreciation for the
variety and importance of design parameters. Ten utopian novels were read a~d
discussed in 10-membar seminar groups that met twice a week. A weekly sched·Jie
included lectures, films, discussion sessions and individual conferences. Preliminary planning was begun for individual design projects for the Spring
Quarter. Several group projects were started during the first quarter: The
Cooper Point Association (establish and organize a citizens' planning organization to formulate a comprehensive development plan for the Cooper Point penin sula of Thursto11 County), The •Jrganic Farm (develop master p'lan for the rehaoi I itation of existing campus farm, and farm organically), and The Experimental
Structures Project (design, construct and maintain non-permanent, ecologically
sound, I iving structures on campus property).
The Winter·Quarter focus was on Design Techniques. The scope of the program
and seminar shifted to functional problems such as population growth, urbanization, resource I imitations, air and water pollution, governmenta! planning ~nd
community dynamics. Workshops on computers, economics, survival, biology, desig~
methode I ogy, and drawing were he I d to improve understanding and capao i I i + i 9S for
addressing the problems indicated. Lectures, films, discussion sessions and
individual conferences supplemented the seminars and workshops. Work continued
during this quarter on individual and group projects. Two new group projects
began: The Lacey Park Project (develop a comprehensive plan for a 10-acre park
site in the city of Lacey) and The Marine Developrrent Project (prepare a l end
use plan for the uti I ization of 3,300 feet of col lege beach frontJge on Eld lr.iet).
During Spring Quarter the focus was on Desi~n Projects. Each student wrcte c contract of activit:es he or she wished to undertake for the quarter. During weekly
presentations alI faculty and students offered critiques to each project. Seminar:,
workshops, films, and other resource materials were tailored to meet the needs of the
projects. During the final week all individual and group projects made a presen-:-atlon to the whole school of their quarter's efforts.
Fal I Quarter Readinq

~lsi·:

Little Prin_~, Walde:i Two,
Utopia Look i no Bac k:t;a,·d
'-~~
· ,· __· . nu;
·-St
_ranse
r "' o ..) , : 0" 'L.
Brave N~w Woria, Dune 1
~I ayer ;:::lj an:;,
-Isl and,

J...9j-1. ,

Winter Quarter Reading List:
?perat i_ng

I for Spacesh i ~ Ear--:h
end Growtn
Death and Lif e ot Gr s ~t Americ~n r:ti2s
Bioethics
~1o_~a

.!.~_::hnology

Sane

Socie~y

Pru l tt..:.lg'0'C-rlou.s i ng Proj ~?ct

~xperimental

Structures Project
Phil Harding

The Experimental Structures Project (ESP) has two basic aims; the design, construction, and occupancy of individual experimental structures, and the planning
and building of an ecologically-sound development.
It is sited on approximately seven acres of College property. The ecologi:al,
or environmental, impact of the development will be studied on an approximately
25 acre control area. These studies are being conducted in coordination with
several other TESC programs and projects.
The project will continue for a minimum of four years and presently involves
sixteen students in a variety of roles. Some are focusing on the ecological
monitoring system, some on the structural design aspects, some on the over-all
planning of the development, some on the "social contract," etc.
Individual structures will be constrained by the planning and processes of the
over-all development and will be responsible to it. For example, each individual
will be responsible for conducting a component of the environmental monitoring,
a continuous process.
The project is designed to give the students a complete, and a broad experience
with the designing cycle-- design, construction (actual building), occupancy,
and subsequent modifications on the basis of actual experience with their
designs. This experience will occur within a larger planning context for
which they are also responsible. The project should show how developments
"ought to" occur in relation to the natural environment. It is a rather
unique project for a college.
The project was conceived first quarter of 1971-72 academic year, during which
general planning and strategy meetings were held, preliminary contacts with
responsible agencies were made, and the basic philosophical foundations of
the project were developed.
Second quarter specific planning was gotten underway: a preliminary site development plan was produced; a work-flow diagram for the balance of the year
was made; "skills" workshops in drafting, design methodology, structural
mechanics, model construction, etc. were held. First pass at the design of
the "social contract" >vas made. This is the governance document for the project and will set_the processes of operation, decision-making, etc.
During Spring Quarter, design of the central common structure, including
several study models, was started. Much time was spent salvaging andstockpiling building materials on the site. Buildings were demolished, the power
company contributed some poles for the structure, and the burn piles from
the campus construction projects were regularly tapped.
The project was formally presented for approval to the Board of Trustees of
the College . It was unanimously and enthusiastically approved. The students
worked very hard on the presentation and its reception gave them a real boost
in morale.
The students are continuing this project in the form of a group contract this
coming year. A great deal of excitement has developed -- a real enthusiasm.
It has been a demanding pleasure to work with such a highly-motivated group
of people, and I look forward, as do we all, to the coming year.
PH/erne
8-17-72

The Evergreen Community Organic Farm
The Evergreen Community Organic Farm project was initiated in October by a
group of students from Environmental Design and other programs.

The students

spent Fall Quarter organizing themselves, locating a suitable site on campus, and
preparing a plan that presented their goals and proposed means of achieving these.
During those early months, participation reached as high as 35 to 40 students;
however, as students settled into different courses of study, this number stabilized
at 8 to 12 regular workers.
An eleven-acre abandoned farmstead on Lewis Road was chosen for the organic

farm site.

The area included an old farmhouse and a realtively new, small barn.

Several of the cleared acres \vere well-suited for cultivation.
During Winter Quarter the students spent their time gearing up for the action
of Spring Quarter.

They made contact with the Agricultural Extension Service and

visited their offices.

A series of lectures was also given by the area agronomist

and representatives from the Puyallup Experimental Station.
articles were read, and discussions held about them.

A number of books and

Time was also given to

developing a scheme for rehabilitating the farmhouse.
As spring approached, the "doing" phase began.

field \vas plowed and rototilled.

Seeds were ordered, and the

Irrigation lines were laid, the vmll pump was

repaired, and work on the farmhouse was begun.
The students had agreed to practice companion planting.

One test area was

also to be set aside as a "disaster plot" in which improper combinations of plants
would be used.

Unfortunately, because of the large area under cultivation and the

small number of \vorkers, the disaster plot never became a reality.
The soil was enriched with chicken and horse manure.
were also added based on soil test results.
May.

Bone meal and lime

Planting was done during April and

Straw mulching was used to minimize the \veeding chores.

were also set up near the garden.

T\vo hives of bees

The Evergreen Community Organic Farm
Page Two
Study emphasis during the Spring was on biological and organic control
of pests and disease.
with us.

Other faculty visited the farm and shared their knowledge

The only insect pest that proved unmanageable was the root maggot that

bothered the turnips and radishes.

However, the infestation affected only a small

percentage of the plants.
Financial support for the farm was provided in part by the Environmental
Design program.
monies.

However, most of the funding was through the Student Activities

Several strategies were discussed by the project members to make the

farm effort self-sustaining financially.

Santa Cruz was used as the model and

in accordance with their work, many flower bulbs and seeds were purchased with
the intent of deriving a cash return through the sale of cut flowers.

Another

scheme was to sell the farm produce to employees and students at TESC and to
organic food stores.

Nothing has transpired along these lines to date.

In the

meanwhile, a proposed budget for 1972-73 has been submitted to the Student Activities
Review Board.
A continuing problem for the farm project has centered on communications and
decision-making.

Various flyers and notices were posted in the Library throughout

the year announcing meetings, need for help, tools, etc.

A large TECOF calendar

was maintained on the wall in the main lobby of the Library.

In addition a farm

log has been kept which records and dates all of the activities at the farm,
expecially those of Spring Quarter.

This should serve as a guide for future

participants by showing \vhat worked and \vhat resources and references were useful.
During Fall and 'Hinter, meetings were held on an ad hoc basis, however this
caused confusion and concern in terms of making binding decisions for the project.
During Spring Quarter regular decision-making meetings were held once a vreek with
the understanding that these would be the proper mechanisms for discussing issues

The Evergreen Community Organic Farm
Page Three
and resolving any problems.

Anyone who chose not to attend, in fact, forfeited

his/her right to participate in any decisions made during the meetings.
The future of the farm is a question mark at the present.

All of the core

participants from this past year have been graduated or are leaving the area.
Two caretakers have been attending to the farm chores this summer, but they, too,
will be leaving in the Fall.

Hopefully, a new group of students will move in to

continue the effort and, ideally, an academic home will also be found for the
project, either in a coordinated studies program or contracts.
In conclusion the farm project was generally successful and provided an
extremely rich learning experience for the participants.

In the future it

should continue to provide a valuable focus for a wide range of specific areas
of interest, especially in the natural sciences.

8-15-72
CD/cmc

THE COOPER POINT PROJECT

On

November 4, 1971, a group of students from the Environmental Design

Program at The Evergreen State College attended a meeting at Garfield Grade
School.

The meeting was held by the Thurston County Planning Commission for

the purpose of presenting a conceptual land use plan for the Cooper Point
Peninsula.

It was evident at the meeting that the residents of the area were

less than enthused vlith the conceptual proposals laid forth.

The students

invited the resi.d ents to a meeting of the college, where alternatives to the
concept plan would be discussed.

That meeting took place November 23rd and

was attended by 250 residents of the area.

The residents and students promptly

organized into study groups to exrunine the concept plan and discuss alternatives
to it.

After that meeting, the residents decided to meet on a weekly basis to

work on the plan.

This work eventually produced a brief conceptual report by

the residents and students explaining the desires of those who participated.
That is, the people of the area had attempted to visualize what they wanted
their area to be.
A great turnpoint in the project took place in early December when this group
of students and residents formally incorporated as a non-profit citizens' organization.

Thus the birth of the Cooper Point Association.

The intent of the

organization was to produce a comprehensive land use plan for the area.

This

intent was vocalized when the association requested technical planning assistance
from the Thurston County Planning staff.

When that request could not be met, the

association hired its own professional planner to coordinate its efforts.

The

planner made use of the student interest to do some of the necessary planning
work.

Together with some of the residents, a loose staff was put together.
Mid-January saw the first basic document of the association completed.

plan for production of a plan was revealed by the planner.
association in a general meeting set a
hensive plan.

deadline~

The

One month later, the

June for completion of a compre-

The four months that followed were filled with committee meetings,

The Cooper Point Project
Page Two

examining alternatives, field study, and persistant vigilance.

In fact,

policing the area for undesirable, indeed illegal development, was one of the
primary tasks of the project.
In March of 1972, the planning precepts were adopted by the association.
These were a series of general planning statements which were the basis for a
comprehensive plan.

From these basic statements, the specific guidelines

of the plan would be hammered out.
On June 20th, the Cooper Point Association approved the final detailed
comprehensive land use plan.
The plan was presented to the County Planning Commission and other
governmental officials on June 29th.

It was taken under study by the

Planning Commission and finally adopted as the comprehensive land use plan
for the Cooper Point Peninsula on August 10.
The project is not as yet complete -- an ordinance was presented to the
Planning Commission and both the plan and ordinance still have yet to achieve
final approval from the Board of County Commissioners.
question as to when such a project is complete.

In fact, there is some

Plans and planning are ongoing

and, as such, they don't seem to have a definite termination date.
reason, the Cooper Point Project is still in progress.

8-15-72
CD/cmc

For this

Tne D,oily Ol'ympion, Friday, August 1.1, 1972

By ALICE WATTS
Olympian Staff Writer

..

Whatever happens to the Cooper Point Comprehensive Plan from
now on. it is a unique document.
And last night's meeting - in which the County Planning Commission adopted the plan -was a red-lelter occasion.
This 42-page document submitted to the commission in June and
adopted last night with only minor changes is the work of a citizens·
group ~hich started out last January as the traditional roomful of
gaggling protesters - but moved swiftly toward and into order and
action.
This group delegated construction of its plan to professionals within its circle: planners, lawyers, engmeers. Then. realizing that the job
was too big for amateurs or part-timers, they hired a young planner
to lead them.
·
The group probably sprang from a citizens' advisory committee
created by county planners after residents began to express fear a
couPle of years ago that Cooper Point - the area's choice residential
area - must have protection against destruction from disorderly
growth following establishment nearby of a new four-year college.
In response to appeals from Cooper Point residents, the county
draped the area with an interim plan, an all-residential-agricultural
zone.
Steadily, throughout this year developers have hammered against
the interim zone . One after another and by twos and threes they have
appeared before the Planning Commission with slides and drawings
and vivid prose. portr::~ying to the harrassed (and sometimes tempted) body the various kinds of heaven they could create out there with
a .wee zone change or two.
Each presentation by a developer. month in and month out, was
followed by a dissertation from the Cooper Point Association president, William Dexter; or by its official planner, Russell Fox; or Ronald Clarke, a member and a planner by profession; or another of
some half a dozen men and women actively engaged in creat!:1g the
plan. Patiently, deliberately but firmly they opposed any and :...il zone
changes.
.
"Wait," they urged. "There's no crying need for more housing out
there just now. Don't create an artificial demand by putting the
houses before the people. Let the people create a need for houses but first of all, w::~it for an orderly plan."
This business-like citizens' group gradually won the respect and
the ear of a possibly skeptical county planning staff and of the commission. Members of both vvorked with the Cooper Pointers. at their
invitation, as did the county commissioners.
If the nucleus of the group came from that original committee
· named by the county; then inspiration for tackling the job with determination to succeed probably issued from a ;;roup of Evergreen College students studying environmental design. Finding the permanent
residents around them in turmoil. they realized they had come upon a
real, live planning-for-population problem. They put together a course
of study, designared the community as a laboratory and invited the
Cooper Point residents to join them in creating order.
By now the association numbers more than 600 persons. mostly
permanent residents. They have contributed money to the cause and
some have donated weeks and weeks of hours. They have t1ad the he lp
and cooperation of county commissioners. county plannmg staff and
Planning Commission - because they have asked for help from these
bodies and have listened to advice.
Last night the association saw its plan approved and heard sweet
words of praise and congratulation from such hard-nosed sources as
engineers. planners. developers.
Who knows wh::~t will happen to the plan from this point, in a
gt"owing. hard-pre ssing community'?
But the fact that it exists. put together by the people ;vho expect
to live beneath its umbrella; that it is professional enough to be
accepted by a plannin;; CO!l'l!llission : which in tu.rn has bee n willing to
take direction from the citizenry How about that! It's almost enough to restore one's faith in government by the people.

·a new

lacey park

Three students from The Evergreen State
College stnlc the show and the admiration of
Lacey City Councilmen Thursday night at·
the council meeting.
The trio, Diana Meyer, Ty Thomas and
Jim Zito, arc part of a IS-member team of
Evergreen Students who recently completed
planning a park for Lacey. They were on
hand Thursday night, representing the whole
team, to present the final plan to the city
· council.

...

.

..

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...

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.

.

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The park si(l~ · covers approximately
20-acres of land south of the Brentwood
area and cast of Bel Air subdivision . The site
'is heavily forested in most parts, and thick
underbrush, in tcrrupted only by children's
footpaths, blankets the ground.
When the park is completed, the land will
still be heavily forested with dense
underbrush.
"Listen to what the land tells you when
you go onto a piece of land," Diana told the
cour11.:ilmcn. That is the design principle used ·
by tl1c stuuen ts to design the park.
"We huve tried to maintain a ·balance in
the park," she said, "and have tried to
preserve large areas of th'e park, at this time ,
in their natural state."
That goal wus not urrived at in any simple
ntnrtncr.
The students Invested a great amount of
lir110 infO collecting inforr11alion on other
park and piHyground fat.:illtics in Lacey
before dcciuing to plnn a r1nturnl park.
"Till'rc wero CI\Otl)l.h playgr t HIIId~." Dlnrtn
~nld "Whul WIIA fndlilfi Wlf~ II q11int, 111Ntful
.l'n••Jiit y. :.·-·····-· -···-·- -~-·· ._,_...... . _.....- .... ....- ......-

While tl1e questionnaires were collected
md evaluated by some members of the
design team, others were out at the park site
mopping the trails, cataloging the plants and
animals found there, and determining which
areas of the park were best suited for
playgrounds, picnic are:Js and so on.
Soil tests were made to aid in the
determination of various uses of the land.
Two playgrounds were included in the
final plan: one in the northwest corner of
the park; and. the second in the southeast
'orner. Each playground will have facilities
for both toddlers and older children . The
'students
recommended
playground
equipment such as that being used at the
Capitol Lake Park in Olympia .
A. cookhouse, picnic are.as, benches and
mstrooms also were included in the final
~ian.

The cost for complete development of the
:;urk was estimated by the students to be
mout $1 OS ,000. Most of the money can be
dl tained
through
grants from
the
l1ter:~gency
Committee
for Outdoor
~creation, they said.

, I

"There is no imaginative ~:hallengc to a
bare flat field," she said.
The next step in tltc planning was to
collect the feelings of Lacey residcn ts on the
<ypc of park they felt was n<'edcd. Two
questionnaires were sent out, and the colll'gc
students visited their compatriots in L:~ct:y's
high s..:hools, junior highs anu grade schools
to find out what the kids w:~nteu.
"We took some of the iucas and we wert!
actually able.to usc them," Di:wa said.

'

T.1o park ·plan closely follows the
guili.!lines set forth by tho Interagency
Conmittcc, ac.:ording to the students, und
shmlu- rank very hi)!h on the Committee's
prin-1 ty list.
111u presentation to the city council took
abmt1 45 minutes, and Included a slide show
oflilu:pnrk nnd its surroundings.
-~
the ond of the prcscntntlon
· cmucllmon voted, without exception, to
adcut: the students master plan fo r future
dev.Ubpment of Lncey's first city park.
G.llit.Jr members of iJ1c environmental
dcsgn team which designed the park are
Mikr Bevis, Phil Bridges, Bob Grochow·;
Lau.n Hall, Bcb - rv •..:sser, Mary O'Gormap,
Lou Ptmo, Carolyn S:JVage, Diane Scnh,
Dwty.ne Slate 1 Tom Tas.chncr, and GrJg
WiiUgur.
·
t:
Mvising the team were Evergreen slt.ff
monhcrs Larry Eickstaetlt, Phil Hnrdi f,~;
Clurlcs Nisbet. and Russ Fox.
~_.
(p_,,l, ~ 10 1.1b!.
~.'

You ll<!Vl~ to hand it to those Evergreen
Coikgl: kids, c:;pccially the group that put in
an irppcarancc at tile last city council meeting
to giw Lacey a tkveloprrH:nt plan for the
city's first park.
I lours, (Lrys and weeks of effort went into
lllL' nr;r:;kr plan. It w<.~s obvious the pride the
stwknls had in the results of their work, nnd
il w:rs (:qrl<illy ubvious that their work was
~11111t'll1ing 111 which to have prick.
·rhc slrnk11t:; and tiH.:ir plan wt:re un
OIII~L!l\(.ling
example or what Ev~.:rgrcen
Culk:·.c i:; all about.
'' Those sluckrrt.s in the nlVirorllnenlal design
prugl'<•lll, tiH:ri.~ were IS of them in all, were
J..;;,n,illg in lh~,; best way. They learned by
dorng.

'J'I,cy

Wl:t\~

i11volvl'd in dassroo111 work, like
but lllc natun: of their projet.:t
tll~m
out
of
Evergreen's

;1t1y stud~.:nts,

J'orcnl

not-quite-ivy-covered walls und into the ·
underbrush of 20 at.:n:s of Lacey.
' All of us know how concepts and ideas
become more valuable and meaningful when
subjcckd to rigors of actual experience. The .
idea guides anti tlirt:cts tile work, but tne.
·work refines, defines and tests the idea.
Only those principles which arc sound
survive practical application, and only those
principles arc worth kurnin~.
We dou, t k flOW wlla l, i r any' preconceived
notions tltL~ students carried with them into
tlw park, hut !'rom their plan it can bl.! seen
that only good, solid results came out.
"This lias prat.:tiL:ally hL~en our whole life
since Deccrnbcr," one of tile students told tht.!
city council.
That portion or their lives was not wasted.
If indeed this is what Evergreen is all about,
this community, is pleased.

THE MARINE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT - EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE

.

The Marine Development Project had its beginnings over two years ago •
.•

In April 1970. Larry Eickstaedt was asked to take part in a shoreline development
study being done by Eckbo. Dean. Austin and Williams for the Evergreen State
College.

One of the objectives of this study was to set guidelines and give

recommendations for future expanded studies of Evergreen's beach.

Larry came

away from this study with the idea ·that much of the proposed expanded study
could be done by students as a learning exercise.
larry states;

In Evergreen's first bulletin

"One team will do an extensive study of the college shoreline

and develop plans and models of alternate types of marine facilities which
would meet educational and recreational needs of the school." And so begins
the Marine Development Project.
The first meeting of the Marine Development Project took place in December
of 1971 with eight students from the Environmental Design Program and Larry
Eickstaedt in attendance.

It was decided the first order of business was to

research existing information on the beach and anything else that might affect
future development.

This included searching for older maps. aerial photos.

historical information concerning oyster farms. logging and other actions by
man and a look at recreational alternatives in the surrounding area.

We also

studied a method of looking at environmental effects brought about by different
types of development.

The relationships between cause and effect were displayed

on a 'matrix'' which enabled the user to quickly determine the detrimental effects
of his action.
In the ensuing meetings a plan of attack was made with consideration given
to man hour and equipment resources.

It was decided we should find out what

made up the shoreline both physically and biologically as a first course of
action.

Also during this time a disappearing task force was created to write

a proposal for development of the shoreline.

The disappearing task force was

made up of students and instructors from Environmental Design and Evergreen
Environment, Pete Stielberg (Director of Recreation) and Don Humphrey (Dean,
Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics).

The proposals in this report

are written to meet the requirements of the disappearing task force.
The Biological Survey was broken into two parts:
(2) Upland Vegetation.

(1) Marine Biology,

The Marine Biology group was headed by an instructor

from Evergreen Environment, Pete Taylor.

Included in this group were several

students from Evergreen Environment and Tarrmy Kidwell from Environmental
Design.

Their goal was to identify and record the distribution of the marine

species found on Evergreen's beach.
The vegetation survey was conducted by Anski Williams and Mariel
with Instruction provided by At Wiedemann of Evergreen Environment.

~rockway

A quanta-

tative vegetation analysis of the forest rising from the beach was made.

The

point quarter method was used with transects being made from each beach hub,
G through EE.

Plots were taken every 150' along each transect.

The sharp

transition to alder in the uplands and the two boundary streams determined the
number of plots on each transect.
with substrata also recorded.

One hundred twenty-six plots were taken

Data was correlated to find the "importance

value" for each species of tree.

The species were grouped into forest types

and "Importance value" and the cover and frequency of species in the substrata
were found for each forest type.

This report may be found withAl Wiedemann.

The physical survey was done by John Metke, Mike Heffernan, Dick Roberts
and Rory Simms.

The purpose of this survey was to locate the marine and vege-

tation surveys on the school coordinate grid, acquire the needed data for a
detailed topographic map and finally to record the physical dimensions of the
beach as the start of an on-going study.

The first item was accomplished by

placing 39 control hubs on the beach spaced every hundred feet.
wfth transit and chain to a high degree of accuracy.

This was done

.'
Secondly the el evations of ea ch control or hub was determined and then
more th an q60 eleva tion readings were taken from the beach and coordinated to
the hubs.

This work was done with a dumpy level and leveling rod to a degree

of accuracy neces sa ry for 1' contours on the maps.

Some of the readings were

taken at minus tides enabling us to show an elevation difference of 16' on
the beach . .
Topographic maps were made showing hub locations, beach contours, location
of the toe of the ba nk, and othe r topogra phic features.

There are three maps

covering the entire beach at a sca le of 1" = 30'.
Also in conjunction with the physica l survey, many photographs were taken,
both from the ground and the a ir, to better record the physical ma ke-up of the
beach.
In general,

t"le

feel that the campus is a natural site for an outdoor lab-

oratory in the sci ences and is a resource too valuable to lose.

With the loca-

tion on Eld Inlet, we have an unequaled opportunity to study marine science in
our own ''backyard", something which few other colleges have available to them.
There can be no que s t ion but tha t it should be carefully developed.

With this

in mind a nd careful considerations of our in depth physical, marine and terrestrial study we make the following recommendations:
IHHEDIATE
1.

Marine oriented recreation be limited to an area north and east of a line
drawn west from the tip of Indian Point.

This recreation should be kept

at a minimum un til such ti me as funds are made available for proper
fa cilities such as·parkin g, sanitation and boat storage and launching.
This area of the beach is not biologica11y unique as species represented
he re are also represented south of the salt marsh.

Therefore, possible

dama ge from recreational activities would not present a total loss to
future educational studies.

There is an access road already established

I

l

and an existing concrete slab for boat launchlng.

The Geoduck house is

there and would provide a basis of security.
2.

Utilization of the grassy yard of the Geoduck house as a picnic area
with a fire pit to discourage further

3.
•

burni~g

on the beach.

Establish a small restroom facility near the Geoduck House.

There is

a need for more restroom facilities because of increased usage of the
beach area.

The only existing restrooms are in the Geoduck house where

expensive lab equipment is also located.

4. Beach walking should be controlled by posting educational signs at the
north end of beach and salt marsh.
'~p

Also by the establishment of an

land loop'' trail that connects at the Geoduck house and directs

foot traffic away from the salt marsh and other virgin beach areas.

An

educationa l plan interjected into student orientation should be initiated
to show the importance of protecting the area.

5. The gate at the north end of the beach should be locked at all times and
the access approach to the south end should be closed off more adequately
to prevent vehicular traffic including motorcycles.

6. We recommend investigation into the school's liability as far as unsupervised swimming is concerned.

7. The beach should be left in its natural state with downed trees and logs
left intact to further discourage beach travel.

8.

The existing rock and log bulkheads at Indian Point should be repaired
and maintained.

SECONDARY
1.

Provide floats to serve sailboats of the sailing club (north end).

2.

The remaining portion of the road to the Geoduck house be black-topped.
The parking area should be graveled to prevent a mud lake and erosion.

3.

Much cf the bank above the beach is being eroded and is constantly
sluffing.

But we do not feel this erosion warrants the construction

...
of new bulkheads at this time.
(1)

Two factors lead to this recommendation:

Most of the erosion occurs in the area recommended set aside for

educational endeavors and would not interfere or hampe r these use s.
(2)

Until more study can be done to determine regression rate it is

not known what sort of bulkhead ing would be necessary, If any.
4.

We also recommend future beach area studies and surveys be Incorporated
Into a student learning situation as a va luable educational experience.
As an example of where studnets could part icipate in a further study the
foll ow ing is cited:

The existing topograp hic map of the uplands done

in 1969 was found to be highly inaccurate and missing two important
valleys that reach down to the beach.
correct this.

A survey could be performed to

Oceanographic studies of Eld Inlet is another suitable

project that could be undertaken.

..

THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE
Coordinated Studies In Environmental Design
3 Quarters -- 3 Units Per Quarter

Together with the accompanying student and faculty Individual evaluations,
thls program de scr iption provides a clear statement of the rrogram 1 s content.
It Is to be used by other Institutions for translatlonaand evaluation.
The E.D. program content has evolved fn response to the change-dynamic of
Individual student Interest and /or felt needs Irrespective of previous
college exposure and could therefore be considered semi-advanced In divisional
status. The unifying Interests of the program participants were:
A.

I

B. Generation of approaches and comp rehensive eco-loglstic strategies
for orchestrating li fe contexts, and

i

\.

I

Flashing on the synergetic Integrat ion of the multi-diverse components of tho (our) contemporary life and support systems, and

c.

Application of A and B (actualization).

; The program was composed of four faculty wtth special quallfic~tions and
experience in the above. The 75-odd students represented a ful I range of
background and Interest. "Strength In Diversity" proved to be thee:ologlcal
guideline which dominated the assemblage and structuring of this group.
The academic year naturally fell Into approximately three pieces: J) Utopian
specu Iat Ion of \.1hat ought to be, 1 2) focus on what actua I Iy 1 Is 1 , as ref Iected
tn the dally newspaper, and 3) what to do about It alI? -- what we, In our
dtverslfled strength can do to span the ever-widening gulf between the two.
The first two pieces of the year were spent articulating Interests A and B,
~r~lth the final piece given over rather entirely-to C.
Intensive "book
seminars" were held as r equ ired. These were supplemented by a rich and diverse
visiting lecture program during the second week of the first learning module.
Interspersed appropriately over modules C and D were highly Intensive "workshops"
in such problem ar·eas as were deemed essential to giving the students and faculty
sufflclent competence to address objective C. The critical peak of academic,
climax was collectively realized In learnln~ module #4, where It was gotten
on and together environmentally. nLearnlng modules', proved a ·most effective
rrcde of experiential_ rnodulatlon-structure. In the final piece of the acadAmlc
year (28), lndlvlduallzed and group "projects 11 were undertaken. These touc1ed
base with alI the areas previously noted and more. They struck a responsive
chord In the actlon-orlentod students and the reflective faculty and proved,
In retrospect, to have been, along with 'learning modules', the unifying agent,
or agentr; 1 as the Individualized case(s) may have proven to have been.
A partial bibliography of basic reading materials used In pieces (components)
4 and 8 will be provided upon request for your translation-evaluation convenience. If you find the need for further elaboration on any piece, co~ponent,
or module, plt1ase feel free to contact either the Registrar or Program Secretary,
Environmental Design, as -they have a rather extensive

5-15-72
PH;frr,c

SURVIVAL U:

PROSPECTUS FOR A REALLY RELEVANT UNIVERSITY
John Fischer

It gets pretty depressing to \vatch \vhat is going on in the w·orld and
realize that your education is not equipping you to do anything about it.
--From a letter by a University
of California senior
She is not a radical, and has never taken part in any demonstration. She will
graduate with honors, and profound disillusionment. From listening to her--and
a good many like-minded students at California and East Coast campuses--! think I
am beginning to understand vlhat they mean when they say that a liberal-arts
education isn't relevant.
They mean it is incoherent. It doesn't cohere. It consists of bits and pieces
which don't stick together, and have no common purpose. One of our leading Negro
educators, Arthur Lewis of Princeton, recently summed it up better than I can.
America is the only country, he said, where youngsters are required "to fritter
away their precious years in meaningless peregrination from subject to subject.
f'~.ending twelve Heeks getting some tidbits of religion, t~.;relve weeks learning
:;.-rench, twelve \veeks seeing whether the history professor is stimulating, twelve
weeks seeking entertainment from the economics professor, twelve weeks confirming
that one is not going to be able to master calculus . "
These fragments are mr :~ningless because they are not organized around any central
purpose, or v~s1on of the world. The typical liberal-arts college has no clearly
defined goals. It mer~ly offers a smorgasbord of courses, in hopes that if a
student nibbles at a few dishes from the humanities table, plus a snack of
science, and a garnish of art or anthropology, he may emerge as "a cultivated
man"--but since they are likely to range, on any given campus, from Harxism
to worship of the scientific method to exaltation of the irrational (~ la
Norman 0. Brown), they don't cohere either. They often leave a stude~t-con­
vinced at the end of four years that any given idea is probably <~: out as valid
as any other--and that none of them has much relationship to t~,., others, or to
the decisions he is going to have to make the day after graduation.
Education was not always like that. The e arliest European universities had
a precise purpose: to train en e J i te for the service of the Church. Everything
they taught was focused to th3.t end. Thomas Aquinas had spelled it all out:
\vhat subjects had to be mastered, hm.;r each connected \-lith every other, and what
meaning they had for man and God.
Later, for a span of several centuries, Oxford and Cambridge had an equally clear
function: to train administrators to run an empire. So too did Harvard and
Yale at the time they were founded; their job was to produce the clergymen,
lawyers, and doctors that a new country needed. In each case, the curriculum
was rigidly prescribed. A student learned what he needed, to prepare himself
to be a competent priest, district officer, or surgec~ . He had no doubts about
the relevance of his courses-- z.r..d no time to fret about expanding his consciousness or currying his sensual awareness.

-- 2 -

This is still true of our professional schools. I have yet to hear an engineering
or medical student complain that his education is meaningless. Only in the
liberal-arts colleges--which boast that "we are not trade schoc:~s"--do the
youngsters get that feeling that they are drowning in a cloud of feathers.
For a long while some of our less complacent academics have been trying to
restore coherence to American education. When Robert Hutchins \vas at Chicago,
he tried to use the Great Books to build a comprehensible framework for the main
ideas of civilized man. His experiment is still being carried on, with some
modifications, at St. John's--but it has not proved irresistibly contagious.
Sure, the thoughts of Plato and Machiavelli are still pertinent, so far as they
go--but somehm.r they don't seem quite enough armor for a world beset with splitting atoms, urban guerrillas, nineteen varieties of psychotherapists, amplified
guitars, napalm, computers, astronauts, and an atmosphere polluted simultaneously
with auto exhaust and TV commercials.
Another strategy for linking together the bits-and-pieces has been attempted
at Harvard and at a number of other universities. They require their students to
take at least two years of survey courses, known variously as core studies,
general education, or world . civilization. These t ·oo have been something less
than triumphantly successful. Nost faculty members don't like to teach theo,
regarding them as superficial and synthetic. (And right they are, since no
survey course that I know of has a strong unifying concept to give it focus.)
Horeover, the senior professors shun such courses in favor of their own narrow
specialities. Consequently, the core studies which are meant to place all
human experience--well, at least the brightest nuggets--into One Big Picture
usually end up in the perfunctory hands of resentful junior teachers. Naturally
the undergraduates don't take them seriously either.
Any successful reform of American education, I am now convinced, will have to
be far more revolutionary than anything yet attempted. At a minimum, it should
be:
1)

Founded on a single guiding concept--an idea capable of knotting
together all strands of study, thus giving them both coherence
and visible purpose.

2)

Capable of equipping young people to do something about "what is
going on in the world"--notably the things which bother them most,
including war, injustice, racial conflict, and the quality of life.

Maybe it isn't possible. Perh-aps knm.rledge is proliferating so fast, and in
so many directions, that it can never again be ordered into a coherent whole,
so that molecular biology, Robert Lowell's poetry, and highway engineering
will seem relevant to each other and to t he lives of ordinary people. Quite
p) ssibly the knowledge explosion, as Peter F. Drucker has called it, dooms us
to scholarship which grows steadily more specialized, ~r ~gmented, and incomprehensible.
The Soviet experience is hardly encouraging. Russian education is built on
what is meant to be a unifying ideology: Marxism-Leninism. In theory, it

- 3 -

provides an organizing principle for all scholarly activity--whether history,
literature, genetics, or military science. Its purpose is explicit: to
train a Communist elite for the greater power and glory of the Soviet state,
just as the medieval universities trained a priesthood to serve the Church.
Yet according to all accounts that I have seen, it doesn't work very well.
Soviet intellectuals apparently are almost as restless and unhappy as our own.
Increasing numbers of them are finding Harxism-Leninism too simplistic, too
narrowly doctrinaire, too oppressive; the bravest are risking prison in order
to pursue their own heretical visions of reality.
Is it conceivable, then, that we might hit upon another idea which could
serve as the organizing principle for many fields of scholarly inquiry;
which is relevant to the urgent needs of our time; and which would not, on
the other hand, impose an ideological strait jacket, as both ecclesiastical
and "Harxist education attempted to do?
Just possibly it could be done. For the last two or three years I have been
probing around among professors, college administrators, and students--and so
far I have come up with only one idea which might fit the specifications.
It is simply the idea of survival.
For the first time in histc '-7 ,the future of the human race is now in serious
question. This fact is harj to believe, or even think about--yet it is themessage which a growing number of scientists arc trying, almost frantically, to
get across to us. Listen, for example, to Professor Richard A. Falk of Princeton
and of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences:
The pl~net and mankind are in grave danger of irreversible
catastrophe. . . • Man may be skeptical about following the
flight of the dodo into extinction, but the evidence points increasingly to j :·.st such a pursuit. . . . There are four interconnected threats to the planet--wars of mass destruction, overpopulation, pollution, and the depletion of resources. They have
a cumulative effect. A problem in one area renders it more difficult
to solve the problems in any other area. • • . The basis of all four
problems is the inadequacy of the s overeign states to manage the
affairs o_f mankind in the tlventieth century.
Similar warnings could be q~ :ed from a long list of other social scientists,
biologists, and physicists, among them such distinguished thinkers as Rene Dubas,
Buckminste~ Fuller, Loren Eiseley, George WalG, and Barry Commoner.
They are
not hopeless. Host of them believe that we still have a chance to bring our
weapons, our population g'-owth, and the destruction of our environment under
control before it is too late. But the time is short, and so far there is no
evidence that enough people are taking them seriously.
That would be the prime aim of the experimental university I'm suggesting here:
to look seriously at the interlinking threats to human existence, and to learn
what we can do to fight them off.
Let's call it Survival U. It will not be a rnultiversity, offering courses in
every conceivable field. Its motto--embl::\zoned on a life jacket rampant--will

- 4 -

be : 11What must ~.,e do to be saved? 11 If a course does not help to ansv1er that
question, it will not be taught here. Students interested in musicology, junk
sculpture, the Theater of the Absurd, and the literary dicta of Leslie Fiedler
can go somev1here else.
Neither will our professors be detached, ,::.ispassionate scholars. To get hired,
each will have to demonstrate an emotional commitment to our ca~se. Moreover,
he will be expected to be a moralist; for this generation of students, like no
other in my lifetime, is hungering and thirsting after righteousness. l~at
it wants is a moral system it can believe in--and that is what our university
will try to provide. In every class it will preach the primordial ethic of
survival.
The biology department, for example, will point out that it is sinful for anybody to have more than two children. It has long since become glaringly evident
that unless the earth's cancerous growth of population can be h alted, all other
problems--poverty, war, racial strife, uninhabitable cities, and the rest--are
beyond solution. So the department naturally will teach all known methods of
birth control, and much of its research will be aimed at perfecting cheaper and
better ones.
Its second lesson in biological morality will be: 11 Nobody has a right to poison
the environment we live in. " This maxim will be illustrated by a list of public
enemies. At the top will stand the politicians, scientists , and military men--of
whatever country--who make and deploy atomic weapons ; for if these are ever used,
even in so-called defensive systems like the ABM, the atmosphere will be so contaminated with strontium 90 and other radioactive isotopes that human survival
seems most unlikely. Also on the list will be anybody who makes or tests
chemical and biological weapons--or who even attempts to get rid of cJsolete
nerve gas, as our Army recently proposed, by dumping the stuff in the sea.
Only slightly less wicked, our biology profs ~vill indicate, is the farmer who
drenches his land with DDT. Such insecticides remain virulent indefinitely, and
as they wash into the streams and oceans they poison fish, wate r fowl, and eventually the people who eat them. Worse yet--as John Hay noted in his recently
published IN DEFENSE OF NATURE-- 11 The original small, diluted cc-ucentrations of
these chemicals tend to build up in a food chain so as to end in ~ concentration
that may be thousands of times as strong." It is rapidly spreading throughout
the globe. DDT already has been found in the t i ·· ·r-· -1~ of Eskimos and of Antarctic
penguins, so it seems probable that similar deposits are gradually building up
in your body and mine. The minimum fatal dosage is still unknown.
Before he finishes this course, a student may begin to feel t i-linges of conscience himself. Is his motorcycle exhaust adding carbon monoxide to the smog
we breathe? Is his sewage polluting the nearest river? If so, he will be
reminC..:.. d of two proverbs. From Jesus : "Let hin who is w~.thout sin among
you cast the first stone. 11 From Pogo: "\-Je have met the enemy a..11d he is us."
In like fashion, our engineering students will learn not only how to build dams
and highways, but where not to build them. Unless they understand that it is
immoral to flood the Grand Canyon or destroy the Everglades with a jetport, they
will never pass the final exam. Indeed, our engin ~ ering graduates will be trained
to a!k a key question about every contract offered them : ~~~~at will be its effect

- 5 -

on human life?" That obviously will lead to other questions vrhich every
engineer ought to comprehend as thoroughly as his slide rule. Is this
new highway really necessary? Would it be wiser to use the money for mass
transit--or to decongesttraffic by building a new city somewhere else? Is
an offshore oil \vell really a good idea, in vie\v of what happened to Santa
Barbara?
Our engineering faculty also will specialize in training men for a new grmvth
industry: garbage disposal. Americans already are spending $4.5 billion a
year to collect and get rid of the garbage which we produce more profusely
than any other people (more than five pounds a day for each of us). But
unless we are resigned to stifling in our own trash, we are going to have to
come up with at least an additional $835 million a year.* Any industry with
a growth rate of 18 percent offers obvious attractions to a bright young man--and
if he can figure out a new way to get rid of our offal, his fortune will be
unlimited.
Because the old ways no longer work. Every big city in the United States is running out of dumping grounds. Burning won't do either, since the air is dangerously polluted already--and in any case, 75 percent of the incinerators in use
are inadequate. For some 150 years Californians happily piled their g:\rbage
into San Francisco Bay, but they can't much longer. Dump-and-fill operations
already have reduced it to half its original size, and in a few more decades
it would be possible to walk dry-shod from Oakland to the Embarcadero. Consequently San Francisco is now planning to ship garbage 375 miles to the yetuncluttered deserts of Lassen County by special train--known locally as "The
Twentieth Stenchery Limited" and "The Excess Express." The city may actually
get ~7ay with this scheme, since hardly anybody lives in Lassen County except
Indians, and who cares about them? But what is the answer for the metropolis
that doesn't have an unspoiled desert handy?
A few ingenious notions are cropping up here and there. The Japanese are
experimenting with a machine which compacts garbage, under great heat and
pressure, into building blocks. A New York businessman is thinking of
building a garbage mountain somewhere upstate, and equipping it with ski
runs to amortize the cost. An aluminum company plans to collect and reprocess
used aluminum cans--which, unlike the old-fashioned tin can, will not rust
away. Our engineering department will try to Think Big along these lines.
That way lies not only new careers, but salvation.
Survival U's Department of Earth Sciences will be headed--if we are lucky-by Dr. Charles F. Park, Jr., now professor of geology and mineral engineering
at Stanford. He knows as well as anybody how fast mankind is using up the
world's supply of raw materials. In a paper written for the American Geographical
Society he punctured one of America's most engaging (and pernicious) myths: our
belief that an ever-expanding economy can keep living standards rising indefinitely .

*According to Richard D. Vaughn, chief of the Solid Wastes Program of HEW,
in his recent horror story entitled "1968 Survey of Community Solid 1-Jaste
Practices."

- 6 It won't har :""~n; because, as Dr. Park demonstrates, the tonnage of metal in
the eart · ·:-;::rust won't lastindefinitely. Already we are running short of
silver, mercury, tiu, and cobalt--all in growing demand by the high-technology
industries. Even the commoner metals may soon be in short supply. The United
States alone is consuming one ton of iron and eighteen pounds of copper every
~-~~r, for each of its inhabitants.
Poorer countries, struggling to industrialize,
hope to raise their consumption of these two key materials to something like
that level. If they should succeed--and if the globe's population doubles
in the next forty years, as it will at present grm..rth rates--then the world will
have to produce, somehow, twelve . times.as much iron and copper every year as it
nm..r do~s. Dr. Parks sees little hope that such production levels can ever
be reached, uuch less sustained indefinitely. The same thing, of course--doubled
in spades--goes for other raw materials: timber, oil, natural gas, and water,
to note only a fevl.
Survival U, therefore, will prepare its students to consume less. This does
not necessarily mean an immediate drop in living standards--~e rhap~ only a change
in the yardstick by which ~ve measure them. Conceivably Americans night be
happier with fewer automobiles, neon signs, beer cans, supersonic jets, barbecue
grills, and similar metallic fluff. But happy or not, our students had better
learn how to live The Simpler Life, because that is what most of them are likely
t o have before ::hey reach middle age.
To help th~:u t:nderstand how very precious resources really are, our mathematics
d;:-:partment will teach a new kind of bookkeeping: social accounting. It will
trai.n people to analyze budgets--both government and corporate--•..rith an eye not
merely to immediate dollar costs, but to the long-range costs to society.
:3y ':'.onventional bookkeeping methods, for example, the coal companies strip~-<ir..in;s a~·Jay

the hillsides of Kentucky and Hest Virginia shovJ a handsome profit,
Their ledgers, however, shmv only a fraction of the true cost of their C? eraticns,
Tl:~c>.y take no account of destroyed land ~..rhich can never bear another crop; of
:ci"~rs poisoned by mud and seeping acid from the spoil ban~cs; ~:: floods lvhich
s~veep ov2:;:- farms .:.nd towns dr· ·1.stream, because the ravaged sl::>pes can no longer
J;o:!.d the rainfall. Although these costs are not borne by the mining firms, they
are neverth2lesc real. They fall mostly on the taxpayers, who have to pay for
disaster re1er, flood-control levees, and the resettlement of Appalachian farm
far:!ilies forc~d off the land. As soon as our students (the ta·;;:payers of tom:.>rrmv)
lea:cn to rend a ~ocic..l balance sheet, they obviously will thrmv the strip miners
~nto ba~kruptcy.

Another case study will analyze the proposal of the Inhuman Real Estate Corporation to build a fifty-story skyscr~per in the most congested area of midtown
H::::ni1attan. If 90 percent of the office space can be rented at $12 per c~·;are
foot, it leeks like a sound investment, according to antique accounting me thods.
To uncover the tn~e facts, however, our students will investigate the cost of
w.::;ving 12,000 additional workers in and out of midtm.m during rush hours. The
first (and least) item is $8 million worth of new city buses. Hhen they are
crammed into the already clogged avenues, the daily loss of man-hours in traffic
jc:c:1s may re:1 to a couple of million more. The fumes from their diesel engines
T,;ill caus2 an estimated 9 percent increase in Ne~v York's incidence of emphysema
and lt::J.g cancer: this requires the construction of three ne~.; hospitals. To
supply them, plt:s the ne~v building, vJith water--already . perilously short in
the city--a new reservoir has to be built on the headwaters of the Delaware

Evaluation of the Environmental Design Program
Larry Eickstaedt

In many ways, the Environmental Design Program was more successful than
I had anticipated or hoped for during the planning year. Our collective
successes are even more striking when it is noted that, although there
was considerable faculty interest in participating in the program, the
response from students \-Tas less than overwhelming. In fact, a vast
majority of the students \\Tho were assigned to the program had not
indicated E.D. as their first choice; for many it was their third or
fourth choice and, in a few cases, students had not listed it on their
preference form at all! Needlesstosay, this placed us (the faculty)
at a distinct disadvantage and \ve had to do a real "selling job" to
make a go of it. Certain early events helped to launch us on a very
rewarding year together
First of all, the faculty got off to a great start at Pack Forest and
the good feelings which were developed there helped to carry us through
many tough times later on. During this \..reek together, we recorded one
of our planning discussions and then sent a cassette tape of this meeting,
together with a letter and some reading material, to each of our students.
Dave Carnahan should be thanked again for this suggestion. Space was
left on the tape for the students to respond with their questions, suggestions and criticisms. This tape was definitely a positive factor in
helping to alleviate some of the fears and feelings of uneasiness our
students possessed. During the summer of 1971, I met with a large
number of our students, especially those who were upset or uncertain
about being assigned to E.D., and attempted to convince them to give
the program a try.
The other very important event was our first week together at Camp
Robbinswold on Hood Canal. This experience \'laS a tremendous success
and it initiated a strong sense of commitment and togetherness on the
part of all of us. After this week, I was much more optimistic about
the forthcoming year.
Now I would like to move to a discussion and evaluation of specific
components of the pro gram .
Seminars
Although there were some high points and good seminars, in general
neither the students nor I were very pleased with the seminars Fall
Quarter . We found that we ran out of gas discussing various Utopias
and Disutopias and ended up repeating ourselves and attempting to
answer the same questions over and over.
After a slow start Winter Quarter, my seminars improved considerably
and both of my groups really learned the art of seminaring. In addition to the fact that we were building upon the seminar experience

- 2 from Fall, the subject matter in the Winter stimulated much more
thoughtful and exciting discussions. In retrospect, it probably
would have been better to reduce the number of books dealing with
Utopias and to have mixed them in with the other books throughout
the two quarters. Videotaping the seminars undoubtedly would
have helped us out as vlell. I also feel that a greater mixture of
different types of seminars and learning activities would have vastly
improved our first quarter (see the Human Behavior evaluation for
examples).
Faculty Seminars

•
Our book seminars paralleled the student seminars rather closely -we also ran out of gas and we didn't take this aspect of the program
as seriously as we should have. While we handled other program
matters on a group basis, I feel that I should have provided more
leadership in the faculty seminars and, therefore, a fair share of
the blame for their limited success should rest on my shoulders.
We also found that on several occasions business matters interfered
with the book seminars and when we separated the two functions Winter
Quarter, things improved somewhat.
On the plus side, we did use faculty seminar time to discuss both
academic and personal problems, and this time was not wasted at all.
Hmvever, due to the hectic nature of the Fall term and the continuous
heavy commitments on our time, we were not able to find enough time
to evaluate and criticize our planning, seminars and teaching methods
as seriously as we should have.
Large Group Meetings
Throughout the year attendance was a problem here. The quality of
the lectures presented and the ensuing discussions varied considerably
and it was difficult to weave the information derived from these activities together in a meaningful way. Perhaps we would have been better
off to arrange the lectures and seminar books so that there was a
closer correlation between the two.
Some of the best group sessions we had dealt with program evaluation
and planning and,in general, the students treated these meetings very
seriously and responsibly. The planning and evaluation meeting we
held prior to Spring term was one of the highlights of the year for me.
One of the more successful outcomes of this meeting (which v7as suggested
and pushed by students~ was the formulation of individual contracts for
Spring Quarter. During the Spring group meetings were devoted to project progress reports and critiques thereof, and by and large these
sessions were quite valuable in terms of information and advice exchanged.

- 3 -

Workshops
Winter Quarter a number of workshops were initiated and they served
to add needed diversity to the program. They also provided a good
deal of specific information which would have been difficult or
impossible to derive from the book seminars. On a number of occasions,
hm.;rever, information from workshops, especially Phil's, improved my
seminar discussions.
Projects
The projects were the most productive and rewarding of all of the
components of the program. (A brief description of the group projects
are included in the program description and an expanded discussion of
each is found in the Appendix. In addition to these group projects,
many of the students carried out individual projects or small group
projects.)
The projects: 1) Provided us with real, difficult problems to solve.
2) Promoted a great deal of sharing of information and technical
skills. 3) Especially in the case of the Cooper Point and Lacey
Park projects, established strong and friendly bonds \.Jith. the outside
community. 4) On various occasions, caused us to appear before or
seek approval from the President's Council, Board of Trustees, Thurston
County Planning Comn1ission and Commissioners, the Attorney General's
Office, and the Lacey Park Board and City Council. (After the students
working on the Experimental Structures project finished their presentation before the Board of Trustees, one trustee commented, "Hhy can't
our Haster Planners make presentations like this?") 5) Resulted in
tangible results \vhich, in turn, bolstered many students' self confidence
and sense of direction.
On the minus side, \ve probably at tempted too many projects for one year,
and this drained and diffused the faculty's energies too much..
Additional Comments

1.

Writing was not stressed enough and our success in helping students
with their writing was quite limited.

2.

We did not make efficient use of faculty talents and expertise on a
program-wide basis and, as a result, our program was not as interdisciplinary as it could have been.

3.

Not learning more about my colleagues fields was personally disappointing.

4.

During his interview, Phil pointed out that the word "Design" in Environmental Design might tend to emphasize final products too much., at
the expense of the process of designing. At Pack Forest we agreed that
what vle wanted to do in the program was to become involved in the
process of Designing Environmentally. If \ve had stuck to this commitment more faithfully, the program as a whole would have been even better.

-

~~

-

5.

We did not utilize films very well.

6.

The physical setting for our program was just about ideal for a
coordinated studies program. Except for using the lecture halls
one or two times, practically everything else took place in our
lounge and seminar-office rooms.

7.

The efficiency of our secretary, Chris Cody, added immeasurably
to our program.

8.

Russell Fox contributed a great deal to our program, and he should
really be considered as the fifth member of our faculty.

9.

In general, insufficient emphasis was placed upon the academic
components of our program. We were quite successful when it came
to "community building."

10.

Brown bag lunches with other faculty, administrators, and even
Governor Evans (although generally poorly attended) proved to be
quite rewarding.

11.

For a variety of reasons, our efforts at academic and personal
counseling varied considerably from student to student, but, as
a whole, were less than satisfactory.

12.

Due to our hectic and busy pace, too many things had to be planned
quickly and scrutinized poorly.

13.

I feel that we did a fairly decent job with evaluations -- quarterly,
year-end and program-wide . Most of the students' evaluations documented their academic and personal growth quite '..rell. (I am
interested in seeing the report from Charlie Teske's summer project
team on this score.)

In spite of our many shortcomings and mistakes, morale remained rather high
throughout the year (except for the February doldrums) and the feeling of
success and achievement was widespread at the end of the year -- the student
evaluations bear this out quite well, as a matter of fact. Personally, the
past year was the most exciting and, at the same time, the most physically
and emotionally demanding year I have ever spent in school . In light of
the last comment, I would like to list some recommendations \..rhich I think
might help the programs, faculty, and students in the future.
1.

Make ~etter and more extensive use of the Learning Resources faculty's
talents.

2.

Provide workshops in communications skills.

3.

Provide workshops in counseling skills.

4.

Provide more time for planning and scrutiny of future programs and
evaluation of ongoing programs.

- 5 5.

Use more time in the coordinators' meetings for the exchange of
information on program successes, failures, problems, etc.

6.

Encourage more inter-program sharing of films, lecturers, workshops, etc.

7.

Spend time in September seriously discussing the evaluation process
and portfolios.

8.

Promote better integration of spouses and families into Evergreen.

9.

Reconsider the whole notion of faculty "research" at Evergreen.

10.

The work-load of the Deans must be cut down sufficiently so that
they can spend more time with the programs.

11.

More and better communication must take place between the staff and
the academic programs.

12.

Based upon our experiences with project work and my past experiences
in directing biological research projects, I think the contracted
studies mode requires some serious rethinking. (Can one faculty
member competently handle 15 advanced students, each of whom is
doing a different project?)

8-16-72
LLE/cmc

--------~---·-

-~-

ENVIRONHENTAL DESIGN, 1971-72:
A Program Description, History, Reflections, Interpretations
-- Phil Harding
The Environmental Design faculty met together for the first time at Pack Forest
to begin planning for the coming academic year. It was an important meeting.
Larry, in the >·lay he conducted these first meetings, set the tone and spirit of
the entire year. Rather than talking about "the book list", etc., he introduced
himself, he talked about himself, his "Evergreen dream", why he came here, where
he came from, his significant life experiences. In turn, we all did the same.
It was the most important meeting of the entire year and Larry "did it right."
The meeting \vas a statement of leadership and planning approach upon which we
built throughout the year. We all had our preconceptions of what was going to
. happen -- we had all read the catalogue, but who really believes catalogues?
We each knew that TESC would make it or break it, not on the elegance of its
program structures, its aspirations, facilities, etc., but rather on the quality
of its people and their interactions -- how well they were able to accommodate
and synthesize each others' "dreams." All of this was understood by each of
us through the manner in which Larry approached the academic planning for the
year. I have spent a half page on the first several hours of the year because
I believe it was extremely important and holds a lesson future program faculty
might well consider. We spent the time getting to know each other as people.
Larry considered the planning work done on E.D. during the previous year to
be preliminary in the sense that it would be supplemented, enriched and would
take on a more precise form when the actual implementing faculty arrived on the
scene. Further, we as a facult y considered our planning to be open to enrichment,
etc., by the studenm'mp uts when they arrived on the scene. This would make a
planning group of from seventy to eighty . . •
Participatory Planning
We all felt that the students should share in the planning (the continuous
planning) during the academic year. This was an important agreement which,
together with the project emphasis of our program, determined the structure
of our year and made it the success that it was. We did not want to present
the students with a "fait accompli," but rather with the problem and solution
field we had thusfar worked out. I had come from a campus planning office and
was convinced the participatory planning was "where it's at," as it were.
Giving responsibility to people makes them into responsible people • • • this
is a nice bit of philosophy with a ring of reasonableness to it, but when its
implementation is attempted it begins to be highly qualified. We resisted this
temptation to qualify for the sake of our own secruity. We stuck with it as an
approach to the end and it worked to our satisfaction. The "town meeting" \ve
used to carry out decision making \vas, to be sure, cumbersome and "inefficient,"
but extreme1y valuable. It would have been much simpler to have one person
determine, for example, v;hich films to show when. The students always felt a
part of the tot a l process. We agreed never to quit a meeting until we had
decided Whatto do tomorrow.
In terms of a whole year perspective, we floundered and fumbled together through
the first quarter, armed only with our general operating convictions; we adjusted
and got set during the second quarter; and flew third quarter. The first quarter

- 2 began in confusion-- no academic facilities; no library; no housing; etc.;
an~ more interesting, no real, specific, tangible, commonly-understood idea
as to what we were about . All we really knew was that we were all in it together. Actually, this confusion, combined with our approach to resolving it,
proved to be a real advantage, an asset which welded our group together.
There were essentially two ways to go in this sort of uncomfortable situation
of the first quarter and we discussed them at some length. The void of confusion could be filled with an imposed structure and content -- our guess as
to what ought to be going on at Evergreen in E.D. -- or we could try collectively to work out strategies that aimed us tmv-ard the general ends which
were beginning to firm up. Imposed structure offered some very real advantages, personal security (if someone asked what we were doing we would have
had an answer), a predictable measure of academic success, more clearly
articulated performance criteria for the participants, and such, But we
felt that more valuable gains -- a better kind of security -- could be had
by collectively working out our educational adventure as we went along, not
holding our experiments too precious and always willing to sack it.and redirect on the basis of how it was going. Further, \ve felt (we meaning
students and teachers) that we could realize these benefits even if we
failed in the traditional academic sense.
We felt that the students ought not to be the subjects of the experiment,
but rather they ought to participate in the implementation and the designing
of it. Our students were upper division transfer variety. They each had
"dreams," vitality, creative insights, and very positive ideas based upon
their experiences . We tried some things that didn't work out. Some of the
"freedoms" the students wanted they were given the opportunity to try, only
to find them unsatisfactory -- unsatisfactory to them -- and they gave them
up. In this process each re-direction was entered into with greater security
based upon experiences, not on our having convinced them of its rightness.
Now all this was not accomplished without some "inefficiency," some losses.
We did not cover as much reading material as we all wished we could have, we
did not cover as many workshops as we all wished r,.,re could have -- as we all
realized we needed at the end of the year . Out of this year's experiences
the students and teachers gained a much clearer insight into what they want
to get out of college, a stronger sense of where they are headed. They also
have a much better understanding of their own work habits, weaknesses, needs,
etc.
I can't stress the fact that we all felt a part of the program in a wh_o le sense
too much. In the graduation ceremony our seniors saw fit to introduce all of
us, their teachers. They designed this portion of the ceremony. We came to
consider them as colleagues. We were together and it meant a lot to each of
us.
Project Emphasis
We shared from the outset of the year another guiding structural concept, that
of emphasizing project \vork. We felt that given the environmental design subject area, the most effective way to learn it was to do it. That projects
(the organic farm, experimental structure s, Cooper Point planning, Lacey Park,
etc.) were, if properly approached, coordinated and interdisciplinary by definition. That · designing environmentally was a process of synthesizing

- 3 (coordinating) and that the best design project considered the broadest range
of factors. We never did actually agree on what "environmental design" was.
We did agree that it was not a thing, a design, but rather an attitude toward
designing anything and that this ought to be what we emphasized. The pro.iects
were the vehicles for this. The listing of projects undertaken reflects tnis
concern not so much with what is designed, but rather how it is designed.
Project emphasis is not book seminar emphas is. We found ourselves at odds with
what we felt was a pressure to emphasize the book seminar. Book seminaring
worked out nicely during the first quarter because the projects were in their
early conceptual stages. We read in the area of "Utopias." First quarter was,
diagranunatically, a study into "what ought-to-be," second quarter was a mixture
of "what is" and preparatory workshops on "how to do it" skills. The last
quarter was "doing it," bridging the gap between what is and what ought to be.
Second quarter the emphasis shifted to skills workshops. How to do physical
surveying, drawings, economics, bee-keeping, survival, ecological surveys, etc.
Workshops could be given by anyone having expertise which was useful. We wanted
to tap fully the experience pool in our own program. Students did not give as
many workshops as we had hoped they would. The book seminars ~.,rere reduced in terms
of time and number of volumes. The major and minor projects \V"ere getting unden1ay,
getting approval from the trustees, etc., and in their final planning stages.
Second quarter was perhaps the most difficult of all, the most frustrating.
There ~.,ras simply too much going on simultaneously. I had to meet with no less
than seven small, different groups each week! It was madness, it was skimming,
and it \V"as superficial. As momentum picked up on the projects, interest in
the book seminars wained. It became seen as a choice between sitting around
discussing what we were going to do, and getting out and doing it. It became
much more effective and easier to discuss the philosophy of designing or
structural mechanics, for example, out of the job, at the "obra." I found myself shmving slides of my design works in seminars, saying, "This is -.rhat one
looks like, let's go do it!" In structural mechanics, I made a simple truss out
of 2 x 4' s and rope and jumped up and down on it -- jumped on a regular 2 x L~
and broke it. I showed them why trees bre ak off ,.,here they do during wind storms,
etc. It -.;.,ras all very exciting for me and for them. He talked about real design
and planning problems we would be facing in the next quarter.
Finally, ~.,rith about t\vO or three weeks to go in the second quarter, we sacked the
quarter structure, along with the seminars, and jumped into the projects. The
final program structure (how we were to organize ourselves and our time) selected
at the "town meeting" was one proposed by a group of students.
During the final quar ter students worked on their respective individual or group
projects. Each student signed a "contract" at the beginning of the new structure
specifying his work content and schedule. The larger group proj e cts generated
their own seminars, discussion groups, field trips , workshops, etc . These were
determined by the specific needs of the project work. People with individual
projects had only contact with the \V"hole program through the weekly project
presentation-review days and the ir meeting with assigned faculty members. Some
set up meetings with faculty outside our program as their needs required and if
such outside people were willing and able. They had no workshops, seminars, or
other small group contacts. This was a disadvantage of the arrangement. Another
proplem was the difficulty (read impossib il ity) of all the faculty and students
keepin g contact with all the projects. The teache rs assigned to the larger

- 4 projects became totally immersed in them and were not too available to lend
their expertise to other projects which required them. All in all, the project emphasis was successful. It was well-received by the students and the
difficulties were of the pleasant sort and were appreciated by all persons
in the program. The projects were most productive,educationally and in
terms of "community relations." Perhaps concentration on four or five
larger projects and more frequent all-facultywork-review sessions would have
eliminated or minimized the problems.
PH/erne
8-17-72

Evaluation of the Environmental Design Coordinated Studies Program
Chuck Nisbet

My evaluation will focus on the three functional areas of the program: the
seminars, the large group meetings and projects where everyone was expected to
participate and the optional areas of participation such as workshop and general
program features.
Seminars
The seminar, in my opinion, was to be the heart of the Environmental Design
program. It is the only area where a common thread can be woven around and
through all members; namely the books or reading list. In actual practice, the
seminar was not viewed by the students or facult y of our program as of primary
importance for various reasons. This resulted in the faculty not taking their
book seminar seriously and allowing that time to become directed towards general
program business. The students also did not feel a strong commitment to read
the books which results in attempts to sidetrack the seminar into other areas
because one has not read the book, not read all of the book, or not thought about
what one has read sufficiently to enter into a serious discussion. My seminars
varied a great deal from week to week in terms of attendance, degree of participation, general interest, etc. I am not over looking the fact that we have had
some damn good seminars and that some took th e whole thing seriously. I wish
the quality of seminars would have been higher and seminars a more integral
part of the program.
In general, I feel the seminars of second quarter were much improved over
the first quarter. I believe all of us have gained confidence during the first
quarter so we all are ab le and feel like becoming more active participants winter
term. This, in my view, produced more exciting moments when we experience the
sharing of ideas honest ly formulated and articulated. We actually began to
challenge each other at times without getting up tight. I don't think students
were as conscious of me as the seminar leader in the second quarter which resulted
in much less direct talking to me and more t alking to the group. This also meant
fewer people looking to me for direction and more people taking it upon themselves
to lead the seminar. However, still in the background of many students was the
idea that I, not they, are responsible for stopping a dominant member or derailing
a discussion that is getting nowh e re. This resulted in too much sitting back and
waiting on the part of seminar members.
The book seminar experienced a change in status as the year progressed. In
fall quarter it was the most important element in the program, in winter it dropped
to second place behind workshops and by spring quarter it was the least important
element in the program. This provided mixed blessings for the program. The
decline of the book seminar was moving in the direction most students wished to go.
Other areas of student interest such as projects and workshops easily filled the
gap, and I think the students in our program were made better off academically and
in terms of personal growth by this flexibility in program structure. The faculty,
however, must share some blame for not making the book seminar a more exciting
and applicable part of the program.

-2My suggestions for improvement are few. We must find a way to instill a
commitment in each one of us to prepare for and attend the seminars. I think
I am leaning towards a more specified role for seminar members. That all of us
be required ourselves to submit each week a summary of our activities with some
comments about ourselves. In order to gain admittance to the seminar \ve might
be required to come with written-out reactions, questions, etc., to each book
that we have read. We must find some new ways to discipline ourselves to take
the seminar more seriously.
I have rather mixed feelings about what role I should try to play in the
seminar. At times I think I should let the discussion go whatever way it goes
and wait for the group to change it around. Other times I feel I should step
in and turn the discussion back on the track. I would like very much to say
exactly what I think in the seminar, but then I am not sure if everyone is
prepared to interact on a direct up-front basis. Because of these mixed feelings
I probably behave differently from seminar to seminar.
Large Group Me etings
The large group meetings in winter quarter were a crushing disappointment
to me. I put effort into trying to make Mondays an informative and exciting
day for us all to come together. The fact that only 50 to 60 percent of the
students turned out for Mondays means that they were far from successful.
Despite my subjective attitude towards Mondays I believe this all translates
into a lack of commitment.
The large group meetings started off in the fall with keen interest and
large attendance. But as the quarter progressed some students began to stay
away. Overall attendance was about 80 percent. Some of the lack of interest
and come-and-go attitude can be explained away because the speakers \vere not of
interest to all.
Another Hay of looking at this \vould be that the group was unwilling to
accept the responsibility to turn the large group meeting into something that
the majority would find interesting enough to attend. What is even mo~e
frightening is the possibility that the same 60 to 75 percent are coming to
seminars, large group meetings, and participating in projects and that the balance
just generally withdrew from the program.
In spring quarter the large group meetings were an integral part of the
program in terms of project presentations. The attendance stayed at about 70
percent. Participation at times was very active as we all learned about each
other's activities.
Workshops
The addition of workshops to winter quarter was a most valuable supplement.
They seem to have filled a multiplicity of needs such as subject matter, interest
areas, busy work, a sense of involvement, of doing or accomplishing something. I
wonder if some of the people who were active in workshops were also active in
other areas of the program. That is to say, the workshops provided an outlet for
some of the "active" members of the program to continue to be active and also
provide a means for the "inactive" to begin a path toward increasing participation.
Some portion of our "inactive" members seemed untouched by the addition of workshops to the program.

-3l was involved \vith the computer workshop and the economics workshop. The
computer workshop was very successful and the economics workshop almost a total
failure. Let me try and compare the two. First, there was a great deal of
beforehand interest in computers (18 students) and very little in economics (5
students). Second, computers had a set time period for holding the workshop
while economics set the time from week to week according to the wishes of the
group. Third, some students in computers really got into the material and went
ahead on their own, but in economics it didn't appear the students ever really
became involved in the readings. Fourth, computers used a reading and problem
approach while economics used a book seminar approach. Fifth, in computers when
those of little or no interest dropped out after four or five weeks, there
remained a core of 6-8 functioning members, while in economics when the former
members withdre\v the workshop ended. Sixth, in computers the level of understanding was increased by those who remained but in economics I doubt little was
accomplished other than a "show and tell" session with the teacher-economist
answering questions that covered the landscape.
I really don't have a very good plan for how I would offer another workshop
in economics in the future that would hopefully overcome the weaknesses of the
first attempt.
Projects
I was involved with the Cooper Point Association and to a minor extent the
experimental structures project. I also started a small Thurston County Planning
Project that ne ver produced its promised monograph. I am not satisfied with my
participation in the project. I found it difficult to establish what role to
play or how much time to devote to projects. I am not pleased with the leadership or coordinating I have attempted on such projects. My input was generally
ad hoc such as reading the farm proposal during fall quarter an d helping in the
rewriting or talking to Lacey Park during winter quarter about how to do an
"opinion survey." The Thurston County Planning Project which should have taken
no more than fo~"£_ weeks has dragged on for the whole of \vinter quarter with
little or nothing being done. When I stopped taking a strong leadership role
the whole thing came to a halt.
Thanks to the other faculty and several hard working and imaginative
students the "projects" were the high point of our program. For many students
the projects generated excitement and a meaningful learning situation.
Summary Remarks about the Program
(1) The total group enthusiasm, involvement and identity didn't hold up
throughout the year that was present during the first part of the
fall quarter. Instead small sub-groups emerged and generated a
strong sens e of good will and purpose.
(2)

Too many members of the program did not develop a sense of personal
or group responsibility for the weekly results of the program.

(3)

A small segment of the program continued to experience personal
difficulty coming to grips with the Evergreen approach.

(4)

The role of writing and its educational importance was very limited
throughout the year.

-5THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN AGAIN
(1) The atmosphere of cooperation and equal status that created the feeling
that each person in the program had something worth,.,hile to say and
contribute to the group.
a. the absence of class or status among the faculty
b. taking turns going to the coordinator's breakfast
c. open meetings with students
d. asking students to help plan the program with us
(2)

Diversity in faculty teams.
a. in academic training
b. in personal growth
c. in temperament

(3)

Diversity in program offerings (you can seminar people to death).
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

book seminars
personal seminars
specialty workshops
field trips
social functions

f.
g.
h.
i.

individual and group projects
internships
films
student presentations
•

(4)

Group program planning (as contrasted with coordinator program planning)
that begins with coordinators ideas and is refined by the progam faculty
and has plenty of room for modification and change when the students come
on board.

(5)

The work and decisions of program matters can be decentralized among
the faculty and students. The whole emphasis should be on WE so as to
establish group responsibility, not "them" and "us."

(6)

Spending time finding out who ~I? The beginning of the year campout
and first meetings of the faculty should be getting acquainted and not
· for getting down to business.

THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE CHANGED IN THE FUTURE
(1) More time at the beginning of the year should be spent finding out
just where each faculty member stands in terms of personal and
professional philosophy.
a. this will help identify early problem areas
b. this will help cement the faculty together as a working team
(2)

The faculty book seminar (as contrasted with the program business seminar)
needs to be taken very seriously as this provides the necessary intellectual stimulation to complement other forms of energy.

(3)

I would like to see the role of writing and reading and its educational
importance receive a higher priority by the faculty and thus hopefully
by the students.

(4)

The faculty of each program needs to agree on a common set of expectations
for all students -- say some minimum performance level both in terms of
quantity and quality of work -- so the students and faculty know where
they stand at all times in terms of program performance.

------------------------·------------------~----------~------------------~------·--------

-6(5)

I would like to see the idea of "lecturing" return as a legitimate
academic activity and important part of each program. Let each of the
faculty members who feels comfortable in this activity present their
specialized knowledge to the program in rather formal manner.

(6)

Each student should have a faculty conference at least once every two
weeks for at least a half hour.
a.
b.

this will work against students getting lost
this will help identify students who need special help (from
other faculty or outside the program)

(7)

Each faculty should buHd into the weekly schedule some blocks of
away time -- maybe one day a week -- where he or she can be alone
to write, read and think about whatever.

(8)

Utilization of the library as a central part of the program.

CTN:jk

Media

1976-32_ProgramHistories_8D24_05_01.pdf