Archives West Finding Aid

A Pullman (Wash.) counter-culture educational program conducted largely by students and faculty of Washington State University, Community Free University offered courses to residents of the Palouse and surrounding communities. A history written in 1999 by Washington State University English professor Paul Brians, an organizer and coordinator of the movement, explained the vision established for the Pullman program: "We would let anyone teach anything to anyone so long as the content wasn't positively illegal. The fee for a course would be a minimal one dollar. No exams, no requirements, and--most significant of all--no pay for the teachers. This was to be a strictly volunteer effort" (http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/cfu.html). An example of the eclectic mix of courses taught through the years can be seen in the Fall 1976 Free University bulletin offerings which included Yoga, Sewing, Radical Agriculture, Balinese Massage, Food Drying, Chess and Home Brewing. Professor Brians' history attributed the end of Pullman's Community Free University in the spring of 1999 to a dwindling number of students and available instructors.