And somehow the assembled group included people who'd studied in every decade from the 1960s on, in everything from AAS to PhD at every part of the school except the performing arts! (There was even someone who'd participated in an undergraduate "great books program" from 1969 to 1971 of which none of us knew!) After a short presentation we had them ask each other about their (and weirdest) classes (and weirdest), memorable experiences, and then share with the larger group some things from their past they'd like to see at the school today.
Our time proved too short to hear from everyone, but what was shared was amazing. How valuable for design students to take liberal arts courses, for sociologists to break with their value-neutral European professors and become artist activists. How much they learned from older classmates in Adult Division courses and from part-time faculty members involved in worlds beyond school. How galvanizing protests were. And, of course, how indispensable international students are.
