Lately, I’ve been discussing a concept for sort of commune which would evolve out of a university model. Today, many universities strive for community and self-sufficiency, such that students regularly are either employed or volunteer to maintain the school. What if this model could be extended, and provide a self-sufficient voluntary creative and educational organization? What would a free/libre university look like?
In these articles, I hope to explore “Libreversity”, or a university based on concepts found in time banking (mutualism), which could provide both free education for all and a viable strategy to “vertically integrate” alternative institutions.
Overview
This article contains notes on establishing a free university, or a university based on principles found in mutualism. The goal would be establishing a self-sufficient university that is sustainable at 0 cost, and at the same time be producing media and benefits for society at large. It would focus on cooperation, voluntarism, and peer-teaching. Ultimately, it would serve as a model for society, demonstrating the benefits of an erosion of division of labor, distinctions between student and teachers, focus on service and charity, and highly innovative and generous creative output.
Introduction
Recently, professors from UC-Berkeley established a volunteer organization called the Free University of San Francisco. As far as I can tell, what they have could be considered a “first step” toward the Free University that I define in these articles. The Free University spoken of here is a broader reaching and more ambitious social change. Amid growing tuition costs and a spirit of democratization and social revolution, it would seem the time is ripe for radical new institutions that improve life and opportunities in fundamental ways.
The goal of the Mutual Free University is to “vertically integrate” alternative institutions. The Mutual Free University has housing, food, leisure, office space for productivity, and, of course, education. The labor to produce these would be done by volunteer by students and faculty.
With such facilities, you might think, “Why should I ever leave such a place, where I can learn new things, food, shelter, community, great potential to contribute back to the world in the ways I like, at only the expense of part-time physical labor?” Indeed, that is the seductive potential of the Mutual Free University, and how it is far more than simply a university, but rather a potential for an agile, extraordinarily productive, micro-society, where people are free to create without the worries of bureaucracy or complications of life. If this institution is possible, the attraction of practical learning and facilities for creative expression would ensure its competitiveness among other universities.
The Free University Vision
Free
No tuition, no housing cost, no food cost. Students and faculty would be provided everything they need, so they can focus on learning and providing education. They would live on campus, volunteering time to maintain and operate aspects of the community as required.
Productive learning
Learning shouldn’t be doing stupid exercises that don’t contribute. In universities today we have hundreds of smart workers who are just doing trivial exercises. Not only is working on permanent projects more educational, but it is also more encouraging: students are far more motivated to produce exceptional work if they know what they are writing is going to be published (after editing) when it’s done, with their name attached (if they wish).
Educational contribution
A Free University would be a service to its community. Individuals of any age who feel trapped because of the high cost of education can take part-time classes and learn a new skill. Classes would be broadcast free online, via a distance learning system, so anyone in the world can learn and participate.
Contribution to the commons
Class material would be released into the commons. Class projects would be focused on contributing to open source or creative commons projects. For example, a class in computer science would involve adding features to open source software.
In this way, a Free University would be a richly productive community, churning out wonderful music, movies, software, video games, and books that the rest of the world will consume and enjoy.
Free start-up incubator
Much like universities have start-up incubators for new businesses, there would be office space and materials for creative commons and free software oriented projects. Class projects would typically involve contributing to these incubated projects, or collaborating to start a new one.
Rich community and services
A university is more than learning. Universities have stores, gyms, entertainment centers, cafes, concerts, movie screenings, clinics, and so on. In short, universities typically act as student and faculty oriented microcosms reflecting the larger community. In most universities, these institutions are often free of charge to students, or heavily discounted. In the Free University, all of these institutions would be free of charge and run by volunteers, and therefore a student can live a comfortable and intellectually rich life without ever making money or paying money.
Again, this is not that far from existing universities. Institutions which make up college life are typically run by students and student clubs. The students are either volunteering to run them (in which case there is no difference), or being hired, and almost invariably the reason they are working is to pay off tuition costs, and therefore it continues to be a closed system. Thus, many universities are already mostly closed systems.
Self-contained green community
A Free University should have sufficient land. Ideally, it would be located at the edge of an urban area, thereby being both accessible to urban commuters, while still having room to expand. By growing its own food in its own gardens, it can serve as a model green community.
Expandable community
In a Free University, students can easily start new institutions. For example, let’s say a student sees a need for a free bookstore. If there is an existing, unused room on the Free University grounds, and sufficiently many other students see a need for this, then the student will gather up enough interested students, and start setting up a bookstore in the unused room. If there is not an existing, unused room, the student would be encouraged to look to expand the Free University campus: the interested students would begin, in their volunteer time, constructing a new structure on Free University grounds.
On the word “free”
The word free, as in Free University, carries several meanings. All of these are intended.
Cost
Free as in free beer.
The goal of the Free University is to be free to students. Attending classes would cost nothing. In the late stages, there will be a free cafeteria, free housing, and a free bookstore.
In its early stages, there will be a time bank, although not explicitly managed with an Hour currency like other time banks are. Essentially, students would be strongly encouraged to volunteer for a hour a week to offset their costs and maintain the university. This amount would go up as a student uses more university resources. This amount would also have a surplus built-in. The surplus “cancels out” skipped volunteering sessions, permits the university to expand, and can be used for reaching out to the community. For example, with typical class sizes, one hour of volunteer work per 3-credit class would be more than enough to offset the labor used to administer such a class.
Freedom
Free as in free speech.
All material produced in classes will be released under and open source or free license. Class material and creative or critical pieces will be released under creative commons licenses on the website. Programming assignments will be released under free and open source licenses. Within the school, there will be an emphasis on usage of free and open source material.
In Free University, students are free to reserve rooms to start their own workshops, discussion groups, or classes. Within classes, there will be an equalization of teachers and students. Class administrators typically know more about the subject they are teaching; however, this does not preclude them from learning certain aspects from the students, or the students being able to provide exercises or supplemental material for class. Many classes in traditional universities already incorporate learning techniques like this.
Independence
Free as in broken free.
The ultimate goal of the Free University is to be completely self-sufficient. This includes growing its own food in a university garden, building its own buildings, providing its own entertainment, and providing cafeteria and dormitory housing. This will be maintained by students and teachers.
