It was amid this environment of tension, controversy, and young adult activism that CC\u2019s Block Plan was born.<\/p>\n
Some alumni reflect that college leadership was for the most part supportive of students\u2019 activism, \u201cso long as we didn\u2019t burn anything down,\u201d Les Goss \u201972<\/strong> says. He participated in the anti-war efforts at CC as a student, and was granted conscientious objector status in protest of the war.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing on an urban college campus, we organized many sit-ins, blocking traffic on the intersections of Cascade and Cache La Poudre, or Uintah and Nevada, to protest the war and make our message seen and heard beyond CC,\u201d Goss recalls.<\/p>\n A cultural shift to freedom of thought was also reflected in innovations to Colorado College\u2019s academic program. Among numerous changes to course requirements, the college instituted an honors\/pass\/no pass grading system and, after a good deal of debate, allowed men and women to visit one another\u2019s dormitories.<\/p>\n Yet many professors and students alike still saw new opportunities to develop CC\u2019s academic program. They saw that students were overworked and siloed taking five or more courses at a time on the semester program, and proposed a 4-2 model, in which students would take only four classes a semester. But when it came time to vote, the faculty turned down the proposal 3 votes to 1 vote. Looking back, the 4-2 system \u2014 which had already been adopted at Harvard University and other institutions across the country \u2014 was not that radical a proposal. But some thought that was the problem \u2014 it was a change, but not enough change.<\/p>\n Knowing that Colorado College was six years away from 1974, its 100th anniversary, Professor Fred Sondermann suggested to CC\u2019s ninth president, Lloyd E. Worner \u201942<\/strong>, that the faculty find a way of not just celebrating the last 100 years, but do something that would look forward to the next. This led to a college-wide effort to take a critical and reflective examination not only of CC\u2019s academic past, but also its future, and Professor Glenn Brooks was tasked with leading the project. Brooks began the planning process in October 1968, soliciting ideas and feedback from the CC community. Initially there was no plan, only possibilities. Much of the feedback Brooks received underscored \u201cthe need for greater immersion, the need for smaller, personalized groups of students and professors.\u201d Brooks drew on inspiration from his colleagues who had proposed the 4-2 model, but dared to go further. By the end of January 1969, he had prepared a proposal for only one immersive class at a time, with nine courses each academic year. That spring Brooks installed a proposed schedule and invited students in to see if they could plan out a year on the new system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had radical students involved in working on this plan … because they had a sense that something was going to happen,\u201d Brooks shared in an oral history published in February 1996. \u201cThis probably couldn\u2019t have happened if there hadn\u2019t been such an atmosphere of change, educational and cultural change, in society.\u201d<\/p>\n Then it was, as Bryan Adams famously said, \u201cthe summer of \u201969,\u201d and indeed the times were changing. The counterculture movement came to a head at Colorado College with the now-infamous production of \u201cDionysis in 69.\u201d The play, performed by an experimental theatre group from New York City, was part of CC\u2019s 1969 symposium on violence. The play was an adaptation of Euripides\u2019 ancient Greek tragedy \u201cThe Bacchae,\u201d and was performed nude. However, for this particular performance, CC\u2019s administration was promised that the actors would remain clothed for the duration of the performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, within two minutes, they were naked,\u201d remembers Goss, who drove to campus with his friend from his home in Denver to see the performance, knowing little prior about the production. \u201cThey were out of tickets, but we got to watch backstage from the wings. It was truly a spectacle.\u201d<\/p>\n As one might imagine, CC became the center of a public relations nightmare, with the ensuing outrage and horror expressed by many members of the Colorado Springs community.<\/p>\n Rather than divide the CC community, this brought the campus together; many faculty and alumni alike reflect that this play and ensuing outrage served as a catalyst for cohesion among the CC community. This was largely due to the open-minded response of President Worner, whose position was steadfast in defending the performance on the basis of free speech and freedom of expression. Students were enthused by Worner\u2019s tolerance, even gathering at the flagpole to show support of their administration\u2019s response. During a time of division between many students and their college administration, CC students were protesting for<\/em> theirs. It was an eventful summer indeed that preceded the Block Plan\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n Brooks announced the Master Plan at CC\u2019s 1969 Fall Convocation, the faculty voted to approve the proposal 72 votes to 53 votes that October 27, and the college would adopt the new academic program the following fall.<\/p>\n The Block Plan was more than a new academic program; it became a cornerstone of collective identity.<\/p>\n The Block Plan immediately proved effective in its ability to connect academics with life outside the classroom. Students in Professor Emeritus John Lewis\u2019 Introduction to Geology course spent a majority of their time performing field study research at geological sites across Colorado, learning more from the geologic structures that were literally at their fingertips than they might have from a textbook alone. Professor Emeritus of Political Science Robert Loevy taught a one-block course, Political Campaigning, during which students worked for a political campaign of their choosing for academic credit. Students traveled across the nation to campaign, in the hope that they would impact the 1970 Congressional election. The course remained popular well into the late 1990s, garnering student engagement in various elections over the years. Block breaks offered students the opportunity to explore the Southwest by car, by foot, or even by bicycle, or students relaxed on campus and got to know the city.<\/p>\n \u201cLearning in a small liberal arts environment on the Block Plan challenged me and taught me to open my mind,\u201d says DeeDee Dehning Loomer \u201972<\/strong>,who went on to earn her MBA after attending CC during a time when \u201cI was told by my high school counselor that I \u2018would make a great wife and mother if I had a college education,\u2019 but Colorado College truly shifted the scope of my ambitions and how I see the world.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Students](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2021\/05\/PullingBacktheCurtains_CCstudentsattendaprotestforcivilrights1965_0022.jpg?w=414&h=316&ssl=1\" "\\"PullingBacktheCurtains_CCstudentsattendaprotestforcivilrights1965_0022\\"")
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