Most 40-year olds' birthday parties aren't packed with collegestudents, but last Thursday night, Hotung Cafe played host to about50 students and faculty at a party celebrating the ExperimentalCollege's 40th anniversary.
ExCollege Director Robyn Gittleman said that she wanted to havethis celebration "for the students," to celebrate four decades ofincreased popularity and success within the University'sundergraduate curriculum.
The ExCollege prides itself on being run by and aimed at thestudent body.
Gittleman explained that even though the ExCollege has seen bothan increase in enrollment and an increase in classes offered duringits 40 years, not much else has changed.
"We've always been attuned to the outside world, students havealways taught the classes, and it has always remainedstudent-centered," she said. "To be honest, the strength of theExCollege continues to be focused on recruiting people who haveideas for provocative classes, as well as students who areinterested in taking these classes."
Gittleman cited a former student who was already fluent inHebrew and was taking Arabic classes, and wanted to teach anExCollege course about Jews and Arabs.
"Where else could make that sort of thing possible?" Gittlemansaid.
Steve Frigand (LA '73) has been teaching an ExCollege courseentitled "Ethical Leadership in Business" for the past two years,and also participated in an ExCollege environmental law class whenhe was an undergraduate. Frigand has experience working with somebig corporations in the past and is currently the principal ofMetaView Consulting & Coaching.
"There are a lot more students within the ExCollege these days.[ExCollege courses are] not as mainstream, and there are a lot morecourses offered," Frigand said. There are about 25 to 30 studentsin Frigand's current class, whereas Frigand estimated that theaverage ExCollege class size from his undergraduate days on theHill was about 12 students.
Frigand also commented on the dynamic change in diversity levelsfrom when he was an undergraduate.
"Half of my class is made up of international students," hesaid. "All of my students also seem a little more serious and enjoylearning a lot. When I was in the ExCollege, during the VietnamWar, no one was very career-oriented. These students today seem toknow exactly where they want to go."
Frigand's environmental law class was taught by Jim Stern, afellow student at the time, and now the chairman of the Board ofTrustees at the University.
Freshman Elad Cohen was entertaining Gittleman and peers duringthe party with some of the recent card tricks he learned from hisExCollege class, "Introduction to Magic: Performance andTechnique."
"It was incredible, and it wasn't a joke class," Cohen said. "Itwas pretty rigorous since we met twice a week for an hour andfifteen minutes, and we had to practice a lot and we always hadhomework."
Senior Salil Bhandari, who was trained in New York City as aprofessional magician, taught the magic course.
"I wasn't too sure on how quickly the students would pick up thematerial, but they've impressed me with how much they have learned.I'm proud of them," Bhandari said. Bhandari's main concern for hisstudents was that they get over performance anxiety and developpresentation confidence.
Bhandari said that it took him about four months of preparationbefore the spring semester began to get ready for his class.Bhandari would like to continue to teach magic after he graduatesin May, but does not know if it would be possible, depending uponhis future plans.
"If I am in Boston, then I definitely would like to," hesaid.
The ExCollege opened its doors during the 1963-64 school year,under then-University president Nils Wessell, who, according toGittleman, "wanted a place to try new things."
Contrary to popular belief, the ExCollege did not get its startfrom students -- it began with faculty and administration.
Throughout the history of the ExCollege, several courses thatwere originally founded and introduced in the ExCollege grew inpopularity and became regular courses within the College of LiberalArts.
Gittleman cited language classes such as Hebrew, Japanese,Arabic and Chinese as courses that were successfully moved from theExCollege to the German, Russian and Asian Languages department.American Sign Language also began in the ExCollege.
"Right now we're working on Hindu/Urdu," Gittleman said. "Ifthat becomes popular enough, it may also move on." The languageclasses have been taught in the Ex College since the fall of2002.
Gittleman is also proud of the number of classes offered at theExCollege that have dealt with current topics of internationalconcern, such as politics in Cuba and conflict in the MiddleEast.
"Many of the students and guest professors have actuallytraveled to these places as well," Gittleman said.
The Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship(EPIIC) program also began in the ExCollege before moving to theInstitute for Global Leadership.
