Students enjoyed experimental Centennial college

All that's left of the Centennial Educational Program is what former students of the now defunct program can see on their transcripts.

Gene Harding, retired journalism professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and chief professor of the program, recently found out that files for each student who participated in the experimental program are no longer kept by UNL.

Transcripts with credit from the program read "Centennial College," but there's no way to determine the nature of the work a student did for the credit, he said.

The memories of the people involved, however, are alive and well, and the fondness for the experience the program gave them is reflected in the way they talk about it.

Centennial College was a residential college started in 1969 with the idea that students would live and learn in the same place. It was located on North 16th Street in two halls, Love and Heppner, which were connected by an underground tunnel.

The college was perhaps known best for its casual learning environment. Students were encouraged to call professors by their first names, and almost all the courses were seminars, not lectures, Harding said. Professors had to be approved by the students before they were allowed to teach in the program.

"I remember one professor was kicked out because he insisted on standing and lecturing the whole time," Harding said.

Students also were involved highly in making decisions about the program, which, according to Harding, made for some trying times.

"Nominally I was dean of the college," he said, "but I didn't make many decisions without a town hall meeting. It was a little frustrating getting things done, but it was great fun."

Students came up with their own project ideas, modeling independent study courses, he said. At the end of the project, they would be evaluated by the professor and given a pass/fail grade.

Ryly Jane Hambleton, journalist and former student of the program, said taking classes in the same place she lived had its advantages.

"I didn't have to drag myself out of bed a whole lot earlier to get to class," Hambleton said, laughing. "Some of us barely got dressed. I know some guys who would come to class in their robes."

Students who were not in the program often came to Love Hall to study because they came to know it as a place where they could get work done, she said.

One room in Love was remodeled to create a gathering space. The floor was covered in green shag carpet, giving it the name "the Grass Room," she said.

L. Kent Wolgamott, also a journalist and former Centennial student, attended the program in the late 1970s. By the time he came to the program, he said, it was less rigid and more fun. One of his projects was remaking the movie "Wizard of Oz" at Pioneers Park.

"It wasn't the most strenuous work academically," Wolgamott said.

Other projects he took part in, however, required more serious effort, such as looking for everything written by Hunter S. Thompson and finding where the political power in Lincoln was located.

While the students had close relationships with the professors, the attention from students had some unintended consequences, he said. When Harding was running for a state Senate seat, for example, students from the program followed him on the campaign.

"Having a busload of hippie students come out and support you isn't necessarily the impression you want to make," he said. Harding's bid was unsuccessful.

While the spirit of the college is still alive in Wolgamott, he wonders if the program, had it survived, still would be relevant today.

"What we did then, versus independent study, isn't that much different, except that we did it in large groups," he said. "It made for a different kind of college experience, though I'm sure just talking about it can't give you an idea of what it was like to really be there."

After the program was cut for budgetary reasons in the late 1970s, Harding moved on to another academic position but lamented the end of the program.

"Centennial played such a large role in the lives of the students," he said. "I did other things, but nothing after that was nearly as satisfying."