It is nearly a tautology to say that the 1960s were a time of experimentation. Yet it is useful to remember that this experimentation extended to most corners of daily life, including perhaps especially education. In the '60s and '70s, over 300 "new" colleges and universities were established, some with profound ideas about education and some that were little more than glorified encounter groups.

Today, only a handful of those 300-plus institutions exist. Those that do Hampshire College, the Evergreen State College, branch campuses of public universities among them were created with ideas whose intellectual legitimacy, commitment to access, or academic currency allowed them to thrive beyond the vicissitudes of political and social trends.

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