School offers practical lessons in democracy : Marlboro College uses town meetings to give students, teachers and staff a say in running the campus.

The proposal on the floor was to eliminate the Saturday breakfast and lunch meals in Marlboro College’s dining hall and replace them with brunch.

Rising before an audience of students, faculty, administrators and staff, junior Radha Rogers argued that Saturday breakfasts were not popular with anyone. “The kitchen hates it; everyone hates it.”

She proved persuasive. Moments later, a sea of hands went up: motion approved.

It was just another decision made by majority vote at Marlboro College, where democracy and education go hand in hand.

At meetings held every few weeks, the entire community on this wooded campus in the hills of southern Vermont meets to debate and vote on issues ranging from academic policy to whether pets should be allowed on campus. Everyone, from the president to maintenance workers, has a vote.

“In a system like ours, the art of persuasion is everything,” said Roderick Gander, president of this free-spirited liberal arts college of 250 students. Like others on campus, he is a firm believer in the benefits of consensus-style government.

“Pure democracy can be a bit of a pain, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

The town meetings are just one feature of the unique brand of popular governance at Marlboro, founded in 1946 for returning GIs. A faculty body, with Gander serving as chairman, determines academic policy--although their actions can be overturned by a vote. Students, meanwhile, serve as voting members of college committees that evaluate teachers, mete out discipline, draft admissions policies and help develop curriculum. A student-run board of selectmen sets the agenda for the town meeting itself.

Only the financial decisions of the college are left to the board of trustees--although even on those, students and faculty get to have their say.

But at town meetings, the college’s egalitarian spirit is most on display. Initiated by the college’s first students, the assemblies are firmly rooted in the tradition of New England town meetings, in which the citizens of small communities gather each spring to decide issues from budgets to zoning rules,

Marlboro’s town meetings can be convivial, but also tumultuous. In the last few years, there have been fierce debates over such emotional issues as smoking, pets and parking.

“These are the things that inflame the passions,” observed Gander, who has at times found himself on the losing side of such votes.

And as with many democratic bodies, voting patterns are hard to predict. While students outnumber faculty and administrators, the groups seldom vote in blocs.

“Factions tend to form around issues,” said Mark Genszler, a senior who is an active town meeting participant.

Marlboro’s faculty and staff say the freewheeling process creates a healthy sense of community.

“Sometimes it may seem very childish, but on issues of importance it works,” said Geraldine Pittman, a senior faculty member who teaches literature. “Some of the most informed discussions I have heard on political issues have taken place right here.”

Allowing students to take part in campus governance encourages them to assume responsibility for their lives, faculty members say. The same philosophy has led the college to give students wide flexibility in shaping their courses of study.

Students say they value the chance to be full citizens of the campus community.

“One of the things I like best about Marlboro is that there are no rules you can’t do something about,” said Corin Cummings, a senior who has served on the curriculum committee and the “community court” disciplinary board.

Joshua Pendragon, another senior who has served on the community court, said being able to share power teaches students “the flip side of authority, which is that you are responsible for yourself and your actions.” He said they also learn that self-governance, for all its allure, “can be a boring, tedious process.”

Not all students are willing to bear that tedium. Attendance at town meetings, which averages 200 people, can fluctuate, depending on how volatile the issues are.

Dean of Students Thomas Redden said an important benefit of the town meeting is that when emotions do arise over an issue, it provides a forum to air them. That may explain why, despite the tradition of outspokenness on campus, student protests are rare.

“If there are avenues through which students are able to voice their opinion, a strike or demonstration is less likely,” he said.

Despite the grueling aspects of self-governance, some students say they continue to marvel at their role in the process. On a recent day, Gander, glasses in hand, addressed town meeting members on a budget plan he had yet to present to the college’s board of trustees.

“In most situations, if this were given to the student body, it would be given as a fait accompli ,” said Pendragon, who, like others in attendance was given a copy of a budget summary before the town meeting.

“Town meeting gives students an awful lot of responsibility,” Gander said. “But if you treat students like adults, they’ll measure up.”