A COA SNAP SHOT

by Frank Twohill 

class of 1980 

Friday, September 14, 1973

I shifted my position on the bicycle, loaded with camping gear and riding slowly up the COA driveway.  Up ahead I could see Bob Baker, my riding partner, on his bike.  He had come to rest, after pedaling 507 miles, at the rear COA entrance; the long low building that connected the "cottage" to the two story "carriage house."   A group of COA students had circled him and I let my bike begin to slow.

I thought back to our conversation the night before at the Camden Hills State Park in Camden, ME.  This was our last night on the bicycle trip, arriving at COA the following day.  We were around the campfire and our tent was already up for the night.  Bob told me what it was like to attend COA the previous year, 1972-73.

This was the first class; the first year of the college, thirty-two students including Bob had arrived one year earlier to begin the life of a small private liberal arts college.  Many were from the suburban Boston area.  Several were transfer students that grew disillusioned with their own colleges as they were too big, too impersonal, had boring subjects, huge classes and rigid requirements - all good reasons to transfer to COA.

The COA purpose, he explained, was "to study the various relationships which exist between humans and their environment, including both the natural world which supports our existence and the society and institutions which we've

created."

The college had a "hands-on" approach to education.  For example, Bob told me how Dan Kane's environmental law class actually went to Augusta last year.  The students testified there at a Land Use Regulation Commission hearing concerning peat mining from the Great Heath.  In the Steve Katona taught Ecology course, the Eugene Odom textbook was used; first they studied the earth as if man did not exist and then in the second term, they examined human presence and its effects.  Steve also worked with COA students in support of the reusable bottle bill being considered by the state legislature.

One student, Bill Ginn, (who would go on to be the first COA graduate and become the Maine Audubon Society Executive Director for many years) had focused on alternate energy sources.  The college had been given the Strawberry Hill land and the new campus to be built there would incorporate alternate energy.  The architect for this proposal was Edward Larrabee Barnes of New York and Somesville; his plans for the new COA campus at the July 1973, COA Trustees meeting.

This year, 1973-74, COA was increasing the faculty by three new members: Carl Ketchum for Oceanography and Math, Richard Davis in Philosophy and Frederick Olday, a Botanist and Biochemist.  These three would be joining faculty and staff: Elmer Beal, Anthropology & Internship Director; JoAnne Carpenter, Visual Arts, William Carpenter, Literature, Mellville Cote, Student Affairs, Lynn Dermott, Librarian, Samuel Eliot, Vice President & Literature, Edward Kaelber, President, Daniel Kane, Law, Steven Katona, Biology, Liane Peach, Secretary and Linda Jean Swartz, Anthropology.

During the last year COA had eight exhibits on campus open to the public.  They included a show of woodcuts by Polly Cote, Northern Women: Art & Artifacts and a regional photography show.

Four extracurricular activities were open to MDI residents, folk dancing, ceramics, weaving and a photography class.  Some "outside auditors" from the community attended classes.

The college had been accredited for granting degrees (only,) in March 1973, a step crucial to its future.  The recognition was recommended by the Maine State Department of Education and was voted by the legislature.  COA was affiliated with the New England Association of Schools, (NEAS,) and Colleges.  At that time it had correspondence status, a classification that met all eligibility requirements except for the length of time open.  Full accreditation would not be bestowed upon COA by the NEAS until 1976.

Bob told me that of the 32 students who started the previous September 27 had finished out the year.  Many of these would be returning for their second COA year.  In my class, I had heard 53 students were starting.

I took a deep breath as my bicycle came to a stop.  My feet touched the COA campus for the first time.  The 507 mile, eight day ride was over.  Now I wondered if the two large trunks that Bob and I had shipped via U.P.S. had

arrived yet.  Until then all that we had was the gear in our bicycle bags.I knew no one here besides Bob.  He was surrounded by COA students that I would come to know later as: Jill, June, Scott, Craig, Jim and Steve all

asking him about his summer and the long bike trip.  I looked around and could see many bicycles in the bike racks along the low COA building.

I knew that later that evening for the COA orientation, I was to go to dinner at my faculty advisor's home.  I had received a note from her over the summer.  Linda Jean Swartz who had attended Vanderbilt and had just obtained her Ph. D. from the University of Texas.  We were going to her home in Cherryfield in the next county, Washington County.  She was picking me up at COA shortly.  I was to look for her.  I put my bike in one of the bike racks next to the entrance and stood without it.  I realized that the long ride was over.  Another one was just about to begin.  I looked forward to meeting my faculty advisor, Linda Swartz and my new classmates at this new college.

Bob called over to me, "we're now going over to the French School to unload our stuff."  We would be staying at the French School up Route 3 a few miles for a few nights until the college housing opened next week, once the major tourist season was over, at the Frenchman's Bay Motel, across from the Blue Nose Ferry Terminal.

Some of the students around Bob looked at me and clapped and cheered that we had arrived and our long journey had ended safely.

To Be Continued...

Frank Twohill

COA '80