Deep Springs College

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Deep Springs College
Established: 1917
Type: Private
Students: about 26
Location: Deep Springs, California, USA
Campus: Rural
Website: http://www.deepsprings.edu

Deep Springs is a private, all-male, alternative college in Deep Springs, California, in the United States. Deep Springs is in Deep Springs Valley, near the larger Owens Valley and about 25 miles over mountain passes from the nearest town, Dyer, Nevada, and 45 miles from the nearest town of significant size, Bishop, California. The official name of the institution is just "Deep Springs," but it is often referred to as Deep Springs College. It was founded under the name "Deep Springs, Collegiate and Preparatory." Deep Springs is one of a few remaining all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.

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[edit] Organization and philosophy

Deep Springs, a two-year college, is one of the most selective institutions for undergraduate students in the United States. Each year it admits 10 to 15 students, and its acceptance rate is usually about 10 percent, although this figure varies according to the size of the applicant pool. The institution currently aims for a student body size of 26, though the number is occasionally lower. The college also supports three administrators, eight or nine professors, and a staff of five. Professors do not hold tenure. Three long-term professorships can be held for up to six years, and four short-term slots are filled for one or two terms of seven or fourteen weeks each.

Deep Springs students and staff moving cattle.
Deep Springs students and staff moving cattle.

Deep Springs is founded on three principles, commonly called the "three pillars": academics, labor, and self-governance.

Deep Springs is a work college. In addition to studies, students work a minimum of 20 hours a week either on the ranch attached to the college or in positions related to the college and community (among these: cook, butcher, groundskeeper, and office assistant). Deep Springs maintains a cattle herd and an alfalfa hay farming operation.

Students pay only for incidental expenses such as textbooks. Tuition, room, and board are covered by scholarships. After completing two years at Deep Springs, students may elect to receive an associate's degree, although this rarely happens in practice. Most continue their studies at other universities (most commonly, Harvard, the University of Chicago, Yale, and Brown; and frequently Columbia, Oxford, UC Berkeley, Cornell, and Stanford).[1] Two-thirds go on to earn a graduate degree, and over half eventually earn a doctorate.

Self-governance is an important part of Deep Springs. Students play a dominant role in decisions about admissions, curriculum, and faculty hiring, and every student serves on one of three committees during his time as a student: Applications (ApCom), Curriculum (CurCom), or Review and Reinvitations (RCom). In the early 1990s, a new committee, Communications (ComCom) was created and charged with shaping the policies that define the college's relations with the world at large. (Physical isolation is a key aspect, philosophically as well as geographically, of life at Deep Springs.)

[edit] History

Deep Springs was founded in 1917 by L. L. Nunn, an industrialist who made his fortune building alternating current power plants in the western United States. AC power could be transmitted over long distances, so the inefficient steam-powered pulley systems in mines could be replaced with hydro-electric power and AC motors. Nunn's first installation, a hydroelectric plant, was built in Telluride, Colorado, and has recently been restored.

The plants required well-trained engineers capable of living under rough conditions. After failing to find suitable men from eastern schools willing to travel west, Nunn began schooling local men and found his passion for education. He eventually sold his industrial assets and put the money into two educational institutions. Nunn first founded the Telluride Association [2], an educational trust based at Cornell University, in 1911. Seeing his vision there undermined by its setting, he founded Deep Springs in 1917 and helped run it until his death in 1925.

To manage the college, Nunn established a board of trustees to ensure the college's long-term viability and preserve the traditions that make it educationally effective. Community members turn over frequently (students in two years and faculty in 1-6 years), but each new generation takes a strong interest in preserving the character and renewing the functioning of the educational experience at Deep Springs. Over many years and many social and financial challenges, the college has maintained and evolved its original mission through the dedication of community members and support from alumni and friends.

Nunn's initial need for education may have been practical, but he was animated by a strong philosophy of public service based in individual responsibility. In his vision, men learned this philosophy not just in the classroom but also in work and mutual reliance. Deep Springs' isolation, ranch setting, and activities - school, work, politics - create the conditions for this practical education. The dedication of the community in preserving this tradition and the achievements of the few alumni testify to the strength of Nunn's vision.

[edit] Isolation

Deep Springs College is essentially alone in Deep Springs Valley, a geological depression between the White and Inyo mountain ranges. The nearest sizable town is Bishop, an hour by car over a mountain pass.

Deep Springs’s physical isolation plays a central role in the educational experience. The founding document of the college stipulated that students may not interact with the outside world during academic terms. Like the full scholarship intended to put students on an equal footing, this policy was designed to require students to work together on an equal basis. The isolation policy has been reinterpreted and evolved over the years. Traditionally it meant students could not visit areas where "people outnumber cows". To avoid uninvited guests, Deep Springs has similarly minimized publicity, except as needed for a high-quality pool of prospective students and faculty. Telephone and internet access have blurred this rule of thumb, so the communication committee was charged with managing these boundaries. As of January 2007, the isolation policy has been reaffirmed by every member of the Deep Springs student body.

Deep Springs used to have a direct telephone line that crossed the White Mountains, but difficult maintenance made service unsustainable. The line was replaced in the 1990s by a wireless radio link connecting to the Bishop central office. Because the radio signal is relayed using a repeater station high in the Whites, the system is subject to outages caused by high winds and inclement weather. The college is connected to the Internet by satellite.

The flip-side of the isolation policy is the notion of self-sufficiency and due care latent in Nunn's notion of "stewardship." The college tries to support itself in food and more recently in energy, with a small hydroelectric power station built in the late 1980's and a solar power array finished in 2006. During peak periods, the college sells surplus power to Pacific Gas & Electric. The community has increasingly taken care to minimize its ecological footprint. Whether isolation or self-sufficiency, students have to wrestle with appropriate compromise, given the impracticality of complete isolation or self-sufficiency.

[edit] Alumni

By virtue of its small enrollment, the number of alumni that Deep Springs has produced in its entire history (about 1000) is surpassed by most other colleges in a single year. Many Deep Springs alumni have been awarded Rhodes and Truman Scholarships, and two have been awarded MacArthur “genius grants”: geophysicist Raymond Jeanloz and sinologist Erik Mueggler. Other prominent alumni include:

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Deep Springs Ranch's brand is an upside-down capital T, known according to traditional branding terminology as the "Swinging T".
  • Behind the main campus is a seismic station installed by the former Soviet Union as part of a bi-national underground nuclear test monitoring agreement. Predictable (and, thankfully, ineffective) student pranks followed.

[edit] External links

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