College of the Atlantic April 12, 1974 Greetings! It is the beginning of the third term and everyone at C.O.A. is looking forward to a warm and glorious spring. So far indications of warmer weather have been deceiving. A few days ago a Northeaster blanketed the area with several inches of snow! Despite similar fluctuations in the weather which upset many a cross-country ski outing, the winter term at C.O.A. went well. We have many things to report since March slipped by without a newsletter. Our apologies. The Monday Night Lecture Series featured a variety of interesting speakers such as Robert L. Dow, Director of Marine Research for the Maine Department of Marine Resources - "The Cyclic Abundance of Commercial Marine Species; Dr. Seldon Bernstein, Senior Staff Scientist at Jackson Laboratory, and Chairman of College of the Atlantic's Board of Trustees - "The Green Revolution: Myth or Miracle;" Jan McClain, Social Designer from Toronto - "Designing Rural Cities in Canada." The lecture series is continuing this term with such speakers as: Dr. Haim Gunner, University of Massachusetts Biologist - "Pesticides;" Ben Woelff from Windworks - "Windpower;" and Sandy Ives, Folklorist from the University of Maine. The Fortnightly Film Series is another continuing event at C.O.A. The series was established primarily in an effort to bring important domestic and foreign films to the college and MDI community. A sampling of the films to be shown this term include: "Orpheus," "The Raven, Fellini's "8 1/2, and Bergman's "Virgin Spring.' Thanks to a grant from the Maine Commission on the Arts and the Humanities, College of the Atlantic along with the Mount Desert Island Community Arts Committee and the Catherine Johnson Fund will sponsor a concert by the Composers String Quartet. The Composers String Quartet is a highly acclaimed ensemble which has been the mainstay of the Mt. Desert Festival of Chamber Music for the past 10 summers. During the day of its April 25th performance, the Quartet will offer workshops in chamber music for the grammar school, high school and college students. The Whale Workshop has just received a $9,030 grant from the National Science Foundation for continuation of their Cetacean Studies in the Gulf of Maine. The winter term found this hardworking and dedicated group helping to organize the boycott of Japanese products. Workshop members, Rick Waters and Kate Darling recently had an article, "Whales in Maine Waters," published in the March 29th issue of the Maine Times. Dr. - 2 - Steven Katona, group advisor, presented a number of lectures on whales to various interested groups in the New England area, including the Department of Biological Sciences at Cornell. College of the Atlantic also received a $5,000 grant for audio- visual equipment authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. Last week Rudolf Doernach, Director of the Biotectur Institut, Stuttgart, Germany, visited C.O.A. He has spent the past three months touring the United States upon the invitation of many U.S. schools of architecture and under the sponsorship of the Goethe Institut. Herr Doernach owns a house farm in the Black Forest where he has been testing ecological structures for almost two decades. His experiments involve an attempt to re-establish plant, animal and man relationships destroyed by urbanization. Herr Doernach works with Frei Otto, a well-known German architect, and has worked with Buckminster Fuller. Many of the college students and faculty tend vegetable gardens during the spring and summer months. Some have home gardens, and others use space available on the college grounds. C.O.A. has a greenhouse for laboratory use and also boasts a compost pile, where all organic waste from the kitchen is recycled. One of the students, Cheli Johnson, is in charge of its upkeep. Two courses are being offered this term on plant life: Plants and People and Introductory Horticulture, a night course open only to the members of the surrounding communities. Both are taught by Dr. Fred Olday. Cheli Johnson and Dr. Olday spent last weekend at an Organic Gardening Conference in Michigan, sponsored by the Federated Garden Clubs of America and the Rodale Press. C.O.A. now has a boat - an inflatable rubber craft, designed by Jacques Costeau. A great aide for offshore study. The following is a list of courses which are being offered at the college this term: Economic Anthropology Maine Coast History and Architecture Energy Marine Biology Poetry and Nature Ecology as Metaphysics Human Family Plants and People Woman, Arts & Artifacts Ceramics Sculpture Introductory Horticulture Photography Workshop Beginners Dance There are six students involved in the Internship Program: Jose Todrank Jackson Laboratory Jill Tabutt Special Education Program June Tuson Portland, Oregon Zoo John March Printing and Publishing Craig Kesselheim Nature Conservancy Alexandra Brown Nature Conservancy - 3 - Workshops include: Small Group Dynamics Landscape Design Workshop Environmental Life-Style Cormorant Workshop Wildlands Workshop Whale Workshop Dance Workshop Alternate Energy Workshop Independent Studies: Rick Waters with Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen - Heavy Metals in Shellfish Patty Dodd with Sam Eliot - Primary Perception Dave Winship with Allen Kimball - Printing Steve Engelhart - Dan Kane & Bill Carpenter - The Literature of Wilderness Preservation Bill Wade - Steve Katona - Effects of Peat Mining on the Great Heath and Pleasant River Salmon Fisheries John Biderman - Steve Katona - Intercellular Salt Contents of Plants Living Near The Ocean Sally Marong - S. Eliot/M. Kane/F. 01day/J. Carpenter - Environmental Literature For Children Edwin Geissler Steve Savage - Dan Kane - The Quantum Theory of Life and Matter Mike Barton Enno Becker Bruce Bender - Carl Ketchum - Topics in Applied Mathematics Susan Priest - Elmer Beal - Advanced Spanish Debbie Greg Frank Twohill - Dick Davis - History of Western Philosophy Susan G. Lyons - Anne Faragher/D. Davis - Affective and Cognitive Domains of Education Enno Becker Bruce Bender - Dick Davis - General Systems Theory in an Environmental Application Johnathon Gormley - Mel Cote/Bob Chaplin - Curriculum Enrichment through Community Resources Steve West - Dan Kane - Impact and Alternatives of the Dickey-Lincoln Dam Project Tripp Royce - Dick Davis - Aesthetics and Verbal Communication Megan Godfrey - D. Davis/B. Carpenter - Community and Education in Classical Greece The following list is composed of general college activities: Choral Group Psalm Sunday Evensong Service, Madrigal Concert Folkdancing Thursday Evenings Life Drawing College Publications Voices, Echo, catalog, newsletter Theology Group Fiction Writing Group Poetry Reading Gallery Exhibits Food Coop - 4 - Karate School gardens Recreation Canoeing, bicycling, swimming, scuba diving, running, square dancing, folk dancing, etc. Musical Jam Group Natural Dyeing Workshop Homestead Project Last but not least to be mentioned is one of the key events of the winter term - Moratorium Day. The following is a summary statement by Megan Godfrey, one of the student coordinators of that day. "On February 26, a moratorium was held on classes in order to gather together as a whole school community to discuss our justification of being, to make us all aware of the communal and educational problems we are facing, and to bring back to the college the vital sense of wholeness, a feeling some of us felt we'd been losing hold of during the preceding months. We were at a stage of growth as a new school where we needed to clarify our ideals and purposes, and make everyone aware that we are the college and therefore it is up to us to affect change and offer reinforcement where we see fit. The day was planned and carried out with small group discussions in the morning which dealt with such questions as: Why do we personally want to be here at College of the Atlantic? Why do we believe we are offering a better education than traditionally academic-oriented schools? How can we integrate our academic rigor with a congenial community atmosphere? Afternoon discussions were designed to stimulate concrete proposals for resolving those problems cited as worthy of attention during the morning. I feel the day was successful in that we achieved a real sense of feeling as if we were parts of a living whole and an understanding that the only way to bring about change is to do it ourselves. " Happy Spring! Nanci Strong Philip Kunhardt E HARBOT U.S. POSTAGE APR 19'74 E010 MAINE P.B.METER 1047307 Mr. and Mrs. William Morong R.F.D. Durham, NH 03824