The Midpeninsula Free University

MFU Articles Published by The Stanford Daily
1968

Marked by Squabbling, Free U’s Start was Controversial

The Mid-peninsula Free University (MFU) has been variously described as a mendicant order, a bag of hippies, a John Stuart Mill-type organization, a non-delusionary community, or a pile of junk—depending upon whether a person is in or out of it and whether spiritual development is his thing. Enthusiasm for the Free U on one side is matched by skepticism and derision of it on the other.

The genesis of the Free U as it now exists, was marked by squabbling and bitter controversy over the issues of open curriculum, hippie or activist enrollment, and democratic structure. It has been alternately merged and at odds with the now-defunct Experiment.

The Free U was founded two years ago last spring by Barry Greenberg, Roy Kepler, Georgia Kelly, Anatole Anton, and others. According to Vic Loveil, present Coordinator, It was intended as a cadre training school for Marxist scholarship. So pervasive was the activist atmosphere, said Loveil, that even the content of the art courses was political.

At that time the membership included hard and soft leftists, pacifists, hippies, and anarchists.

It was hotly divided over the issue of open vs. closed curriculum, i.e., the extension of total internal civil liberties to its members, so that anyone who wanted might teach any course in any manner he wished. The Free U has always enjoyed an open curriculum and democratic structure.

Last spring and summer a factional fight broke out hinging on association with the University. A moderate wing wanted to stay on campus and work with University students. A more radical faction wanted to work in East Palo Alto with minority groups

As a result of the controversies in the Free U, Barry Greenberg, now of the Midpeninsula Observer, and others started the Experiment which operated on campus last year and dominated the smaller Free U.

During the year, Richard Alpert, one of Timothy Leary's colleagues at Harvard, taught a course on psychedelic experience for both the Experiment and the Free University. It was highly successful and foreshadowed the present trend in courses.

The moribund Free University attempted last summer to merge with the Experiment which, unlike the Free U, had neither an open curriculum nor a democratic structure.

But the political left wing in the organization was vehemently opposed to the meditative, egotistical and self-indulgent turn which the Free U was taking and wanted to screen courses and instructors.

The left called the hippies capitalist-privatist-anti-social appendages and wanted a more authoritarian central government.

There was not then nor is there now any consensus on exactly what is the Free U. After many floor fights in general meetings, it was tentatively decided that the Free U was not organized solely for political ends.

The majority felt that politics and activism are only one facet of human expression and experience and, as such, do not deserve a foremost place in the curriculum.

The political minority withdrew from the organization, saying that the Free University should be more than a communal womb for some of its more insecure members.

Barry Greenberg resigned, and the Free U, under the directorship of Robb Crist, began the Fall Quarter and assumed much of its present form.

We are only radical in the sense that we are outside the establishment and that this is the only Free U of its kind in the nation—independent, democratic, and generally non-political, said Vic Lovell, Coordinator.

He added that the Free University is a politically united left-of-center organization, including liberals and Marxists. There Is still, however, no political consensus within the organization.

We have never, on our own, organized political action," said Lovell. "We do, however, support positions voted by the majority. The MFU at present is committed to support non-violent resistance to the draft, nonviolent resistance to the war in Vietnam, and to oppose on constitutional grounds current laws forbidding the use, sale, or possession of marijuana.

The Free U, according to Robb Crist, has also endorsed the Peace and Freedom Party and offered office space and printing equipment. The Free U paid the rent for the Keating for Congress office in Menlo Park. It has also tentatively endorsed the Community of the Left, providing that organization with office facilities.

The Free U views itself as more of a community than an institution. Its goal, some suggest, is ultimately to live as a family of beautiful people, sharing the spiritual and economic aspects of life.

At a recent meeting of the MFU Coordinating Committee, Robb Crist suggested that those who wish may contribute 10% of their monthly income to the Free U and become members of a Committee of the Committed.

Some of the additional income would go into the general fund. Some would help support those Free U members who need it. Part of the purpose of the fund is to build a community of people no longer dependent on the outside.

Perhaps for this reason the Free U has been accused of being politically insipid by more active members of the community. They live in a monastery, divorced from action and the outside world, said Georgia Kelly, past MFU Coordinator and now with Community of the Left and SDS.

They affirm that education should not be divorced from action. They pass many resolutions, but never act as an organization. They are involved in an egocentric spiritual quest which they do not want to jeopardize by action.

Answering such charges, Robb Crist said they were made by a very small group of ultraleftists who have not been able to get along in any organization, who use the influx of new members into the Free U to excuse their own political and social ineptitude.

He said there are many politically active and concerned people in the Free U who would rather exercise their own judgement as to the activities in which they decide to become involved.

There is always a danger that political activism may become a real cop out, a way of avoiding looking at oneself, he said. Vocal concern for the Vietnam war may be a way of distracting attention from the real personal responsibility of treating fairly the people right here in Palo Alto.

There are still those who question the motives of MFU leaders and the validity of the spiritual-sexual orientation.

Georgia Kelly sees Free U ideology as perverted middle class greed directed toward spiritual development instead of material things.

The curriculum is not free and open, she said, because the Free U recruits people to teach pseudo-sexual, pseudo-mystical courses on sensory awareness and meditation. They also make sure they have one or two token political courses they can point to and reassure themselves and others that they are not one-sided, she said.

The Free U catalogue is like a Sears Roebuck catalogue—full of junk. We would have screened out many of the present offerings which have nothing substantial to commend themselves and can guarantee nothing. Many of are taught by unbalanced and unqualified people, said Georgia.

Georgia and others view the sex-oriented courses as being taught by those who are frustrated, hung up, and inadequate in their own relationships and who want others to feel the same way.

They are down on marriage and monogamy (Sexual morality now considers the problems of tribal marriage, morality of orgies, bisexuality, and What do you do after you are married?). They are unable and afraid to cope with a one-to-one relationship, said Georgia.

The extent of the freedom in the Free University has also come under fire. Some of the political minority claim that the Free U creates an atmosphere in which people cannot be free. They say few political courses are offered, because politically active people do not feel free and are made to feel they are avoiding the real human issues.

Robb Crist maintained that MFU leaders tried to solicit 50 people to teach political courses for this quarter. But most were not interested because the membership, while politically concerned, is more interested in the broader facets of human development. He points out, however, that only a handful of courses are directly concerned with sex.

I give them credit for being sincere, said Georgia. There is a core of very sincere, detached people. But Free U's are a fad, and this spiritual development and communication thing is a fad, too. I hope in time things will swing the other way, and the Free U will be more representative of other facts of human existence.