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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d768f5135cf27c6f4d086aee582ce985.mp4
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d85e73d73d9ff5d41c0a94de60583aa8.pdf
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William James College Interviews
GV016-16
Interviewer: Barbara Roos
Interviewee: Scott Troost
Date: 1984
[Troost]
My year was the first year that we still had draft numbers, but it was the first year
that it was clear that no one was going to be drafted. The year before me…
[Unknown]
After the lottery?
[Troost]
Yeah. Well, we had a lottery. My year had a lottery as a class of seventy-two in
high school. We had the lottery but when we had a lottery everyone knew that it
was not going to make a difference. By that time Nixon declared the war was
going to be pretty much phased out. The class before me there had been people
that were drafted. So, when I was in high school, I assumed that I was going to
have to face that issue. My brother who was two years older than me had to go
through it. Ended up getting a deferral from a friend who was a psychiatrist who
just gave him a psychological deferral. And so that really shaped my mind as far
as…
[Unknown]
This goes on a theory that I have and that is that in the later sixties and early
seventies there was a greater need for alternative colleges because of all the
returning vets and [inaudible], you know, that weren't accepted at traditional
colleges at that time.
[Troost]
Yeah.
[Unknown]
Do you want to say anything on that?
[Troost]
I don’t know what… I'm real surprised about the whole anti-nuclear movement,
about people I meet that are younger who seem to have a lot of social concerns.
And yet they don't have anything like a Vietnam to galvanize them. So, I don't
know. Maybe there is still a population out there of kids that grow up that for
whatever reason don't accept the standards and need some place where they
can go and not feel like they're the odd ball. And because it seems like there is
still a significant group out there that have that feeling.
[Unknown]
Definitely a minority.
[Troost]
Definitely a minority. Though when you look at the… after the end of the Vietnam
War, a lot of people that were protesting ended up going back to the fold. The
�fact that the student population became Republican quite quickly, gave some
indication that for a lot of those people, it didn't stick. Whatever it was they were
feeling in the sixties, once Vietnam was over with, they went back to being pretty
much typical students.
[Unknown]
Yeah, the cause was [inaudible].
[Troost]
I remember I couldn't… I remember being so surprised to meet someone my age
who was racist. Because I thought to myself, "Well, that was something we
figured out." We figured out in the sixties that racism was bad. And so, anyone
my age should know that. I mean they went through all that, they should know
that they can't tell a racist joke and that's bad to do. And yet here they are doing
it. Where were they during that time? How come that didn't have the same effect
that it had on me.
[Unknown]
Yeah. Well and I'm twenty-six, and I'm probably the last generation, or near the
last generation that knew what was happening…
[Troost]
Oh yeah, you’re real close to being at the end of that.
[Unknown]
Yeah. And I think I’m one of the few “long hairs” that’s still left of that generation.
[Troost]
Well, now if you have long hair it's more indicative that you're conservative and
kind of a redneck. I mean, I'm scared of “long hairs” now. Like, ooh, watch out for
that guy, I'm sure he's violent.
[Unknown]
Okay, well let’s roll video.
[Troost]
Okay. Now you're going to be… were just going to be conversing?
[Unknown]
Yeah, it's the same thing. Just roll video. Is video rolling? Alright. I’m going to wait
a few seconds to get to the video. [Inaudible]
[Troost]
Okay.
[Unknown]
So, you studied Arts and Media also?
[Troost]
Well, I studied Arts and Media, I took some dance classes, I took one design
class. I just, I really literally sat down. All the milestone things they were just
phasing in when I was graduating and so I didn't have to do any of that while I
was at [William James]. I sat down in the last week and just juggled around all
the classes and thought, "Hey, I can get a double major here.” And so that's what
I did.
�[Unknown]
That's funny. You know, I got away with that, too. See, I never graduated.
[Troost]
So, you didn't have to…
[Unknown]
Well, I kept on not doing my milestone and they would either not ask me about it
or they would change the rules while I was still under it. "Well, you should have
done that four terms ago." Well, I didn't do it. "Well, don’t worry about that.”
[Troost]
Well, the greatest thing about Grand Valley was that because it was cluster
colleges, whenever there was a screw up, they always assumed they had
screwed up. Whenever I'd go into the records office and they would say, "Well,
we don't have that." Or when I was trying to get something, I'd say: "Well, it
should be there." They would say, "Well, we probably lost it." The assumed they
lost it. I was so shocked when I went to the University of Iowa where it's a
monolithic structure and so I went in and said, "Well, I already paid that." And
they said, "No, you didn’t." I said, "Well, can I get in anyway?" They said, "No,
you’ve got to pay right now." Where at Grand Valley it was, "Oh yeah, go ahead,
go ahead, you're in.”
[Unknown]
Okay, from the top. What drew you into William James College and West
Michigan and how did you get to there?
[Troost]
Well, I grew up in Oklahoma and went through high school and did the whole
thing there. I was a child during the sixties and the Vietnam thing. I had a draft
number, though I wasn't drafted. By that time the war was coming to a close. And
so, when I was out of high school, I was hot for experimental education. Also, the
schools I applied to had turned me down because I had been rebellious my
senior year and dropped all my grades. So, I wandered around for a while. I was
out in California in a small junior college out there. I went overseas on a program
called Experiment in International Living in Denmark. And while I was there, I met
a woman, Sally Norquist, who said: "Well, I'm going to a small experimental
college in West Michigan called 'Thomas Jefferson College.'" This was the first
time I heard about it, even though I had looked at literature about experimental
colleges. Never- the name of James never came up. But at that point, Thomas
Jefferson had a national reputation among a small group of people. It also was
attractive that it was a public institution and was quite cheap compared to a lot of
the other experimental colleges I investigated. And I said: "Well, that sounds
great." So, I followed her to Grand Rapids and set up household with her and
some other people and started taking classes at Thomas Jefferson. To find out
then that there was a cluster college there, several cluster colleges, one of which
was William James College. The first time I heard about William James was one
of my housemates, Paulette Rosen, came home and said that she just started
taking this class with this professor named Stephen Rowe, Ethical Problems and
Perspectives. And she thought it was the best class she had ever taken, that he
�was a wonderful professor. She also was in love with one of the other students in
the class, which made her even rave more about the class. And that whetted my
appetite to see what he was like. At that time, the classes I was taking at Thomas
Jefferson weren't that exciting to me. About that time the only thing I did at that
point was to sponsor a class myself in how to throw the Frisbee. Which fit in the
curriculum about as well as anything else fit in. I also did learn how to deliver a
baby in my Pregnancy and Birth class at Thomas Jefferson and if anyone ever
needs that help from me, I can perform that. So, there were a few things I
learned about how [?] shares in the work of some value but I started taking
classes with Stephen and found him just to be a wonderful professor, and loved
his ideas, and his conversation, and the way he conducted his class. I eventually
got hooked in with Barry Castro and had the same experience with him and I
found a little niche there. The thing that I remember when I first got to Grand
Valley was that someone said: "Well, you go to Thomas Jefferson College to get
your shit together and once you've got your shit together then you go to William
James." And that seemed to fit my experience also.
[Unknown]
So, how was William James different than Thomas Jefferson, in the people and
the classes and also from other traditional schools?
[Troost]
Well, the thing that- the main thing, the difference between Thomas Jefferson
and William James that I found was that the people at Thomas Jefferson seem to
be… the main mode there seem to be emotional. People were passionate about
this, about that, and it worked quite well for things like dance, and theater, and
other arts activities. But there was very little thought, there wasn't a lot of respect
for conversation, there was a lack of focus at Thomas Jefferson, or there was an
attempt to find focus that it never seemed they were able to find. And what I
found at William James was a celebration of ideas and thinking, at least in the
classes that I took the professors I took classes with. And the students seem to
be serious about studying, about thinking, about issues, about broader themes,
about being synoptic, to use the word that we all have to use at least once if were
William James alumnus. And the other thing I found that was… that the
difference between William James and more traditional schools I went to was
that I had always felt like an oddball or a rabble at the more traditional colleges.
And I didn't like that role. I would play it and I started… I wasn't taking myself as
seriously. And William James College was the first place that I could take myself
seriously and that other people would, too. And that I wasn't the oddball in the
class or the rebel in the class. I usually was probably one of the more
conservative people in the class. I could say things on my mind and not have
them laughed at or have to be defensive about them. And I love to talk. I love to
be in a classroom, and talk, and engage with people and it was a perfect place
for that. I found a little niche there. And I was not able to find that at other
colleges. And it seemed like William James was set up to allow people to find
niches. People that didn't fit in other places, they could come there and find a
�niche. And that's how I found it different.
[Unknown]
Okay. What of the education? Was it a good general education? A good liberal
education? How would you rate with other traditional colleges?
[Troost]
Well, I was a self-motivator. Once I find something that I enjoy, I usually work
quite hard at it. And so, I studied very hard at William James. I remember a class
I took during the College of Arts and Sciences, this is after a couple of years at
William James, and it was an Environmental Studies class, and it was one credit
class, and the professor was not going to be there one day, and it was a
discussion class. And he, by that point I had been the one that had been talking
most the time, and so he suggested that I'd be the moderator for the next class,
when he was going to be gone. And I showed up that day and no one else was
there. Once when the professor wasn't there that means there wasn't a class, in
their minds, even though they knew it was scheduled. And yet for me it was a lost
opportunity to talk more about the environment and what the issue was in the
class. And I found that kind of thinking and serious study was as rigorous as any
other place that I went. And was certainly for helping me to think creatively, it was
as good as education as I could find. Because other people that I met that would
come through traditional schools didn't do that. All they wanted to know was what
was expected of them and then that's what they would do. Now I didn't do that
very well, and I found that would be a problem later on as that once I got back
and I went to law school after Grand Valley, and it was back in traditional
structure that didn't work very well for me. The kind of stuff that I had learned at
William James.
[Unknown]
How is that education regarded at any other traditional?
[Troost]
Well, most people don't ask you or don't care too much where you've gone to
school. I went to University of Iowa Law School and they didn't know Grand
Valley from Adam. Or certainly never heard of William James College. So, it was
only after I told him, which I told him quite frequently that I had gone to the
experimental college, and that I had gone to William James College, that it was a
special place, and I wore my T-shirt, and I was having articles written by Stephen
and other professors that I was willing to hand out at the least provocation. So, I
made sure that people knew that I'd been to a different place, and that it was
unique, and that it had given me a whole different view of the world that they
should also have. I proselytize quite a bit when I first left William James. But I
found that most people didn't have a very clear conception of what that kind of
education would be like and it was business as usual for them. They were in law
school and there were more pressing matters to be worried about.
[Unknown]
I'd like you to say a little bit about the role of the educational community out there
in the support [inaudible]. A statement on that.
�[Troost]
In terms of the educational community of William…
[Unknown]
Of students, and how that was unique.
[Troost]
Well, I don't… in Grand Rapids it's rare that I don't meet someone that hasn't
been to William James. It seems like every time I meet someone in some field
either they were at Wayne James, or the person they're married to went to
William James. And there's an immediate sense of community there. Even
though we might… even though I usually don't know them. And I find that ironic
that I went to a school as small as William James and I know very few people
from Wayne James. I mentioned when we were talking before the tape started
that when I graduated in seventy-seven, I got to graduation and there was the
little room full of William James graduates and I didn't know a single student. I
had to introduce myself to everybody, and everybody had to introduce
themselves… they didn't know me. And here was a school that was, I think, sixhundred people and I had been there for two or three years, and I didn't know a
single person I graduated with. And yet there was that sense of then, and when I
meet people now, that there is a community of people and a support for, again,
for being a little bit different. And accepting that. And certainly, I think there are
certain values implied, usually more liberal. Though I'm sure that's not always the
case, but you can… you don't have to apologize about not voting for Reagan.
Things like that.
[Unknown]
Can we talk a little bit about… I'm taking off my notes right now.
[Troost]
Sure.
[Unknown]
Can you talk a little bit about the language.
[Troost]
Yeah, well that was one thing when I… a frustration I found when I left the
William James community was that we had developed a very specialized
language there, especially in the Social Relations group. I don't know… I don't
know about the other groups, whether they had their own language.
[Unknown]
I'm sure they did.
[Troost]
I'm sure they sure did. It just didn't translate. I remember giving a group of very
good friends at law school – who also seemed to share most of the values that I
shared - an article by Stephen. They didn't understand. They didn't… I mean they
literally couldn't understand what it was about. And for me it was… it summed up
my complete experience at William James. I could read that, or I can read that
article and it said exactly what I felt about the world. And yet for them it was
mishmash. And so, I had to try to figure out ways see to translate what I learned
�of William James, or just give it up entirely. I finally stopped talking about it
because I couldn't find ways to bridge that language gap. And it was also… the
other thing about the language that I learned William James was it was mostly a
language of ideas and thinking to the exclusion of emotions and that sort of thing.
Now I know that there were some other classes, I know Dick Gottlieb in Social
Work paid a lot of attention to that, but I'd never had any classes with Dick. And
so, for me, I had a whole language of ideas and I didn't have much language of
emotions. And that got me in trouble because I think I started assuming that
things that were happening to me had more to do with my thinking than with what
was going on emotionally with me. And as I later found out, that wasn't always
the case. The decision to going to law had a lot of emotional reasons. My father
wanted me to do it, my parents were getting divorced at the time, and I needed
some stability. There were lots of emotional things that were happening to me
when I made the decision to go to law school that I never talked about. And I was
able to, with ideas and thoughts, rationalize why I should go law school, when
really that was not the reason I was going. I was going because my father
wanted me to go and because I needed some stability in my life. Now I'm going
into theater, which seems to get much closer to my heart and what I should be
doing. But it took me a long time to realize like that. And I had to… I didn't learn
that at William James. I'm of the opinion now, thinking back to that age, that I
probably needed a lot more than just William James College at that point in my
life. I needed a therapist; I needed a vocational counselor. And I was under the
mistaken impression that I could get all of that at William James. And I think that
was probably a problem William James had is it held itself out to be more than it
should be, or could be. What I needed a teacher to say to me was: “That's
something you need to deal with a counselor, and I can't do it here for you." But
we had this idea that William James is a community. We could talk and deal with
all sorts of intimate issues. And maybe we could… maybe we were a bit more
ambitious than we should've been with that.
[Unknown]
Yeah, I've heard it criticized because of the fact that you develop, you know, a
surrogate family, more or less while you're in college. And the four years, and
you're out and back into your reality, as you know, is completely shaken up. Your
friends are gone, you know, everybody you can relate to. And the language
barrier. That kind of closure I think, do you think, perhaps that was one of the
things that didn't work for the college?
[Troost]
Well, the thing is… the thing that worked for me was the challenge to remain
alive and remain thinking. And to initiate thought for myself. And that's something
that has stayed with me as a strength for me. It sometimes trapped me. Like I
said, there were certain emotional things that I didn't have a handle on, and I trap
myself by my idea and my thinking. But at least I kept thinking and kept
questioning things. And that's something I still hang onto and it's something I
think I got from William James or least I got strengthened by William James. To
�feel like that was okay to think for myself and not accept what was going on, what
the status quo was. I was going to say something else, but I forget now.
[Unknown]
Why is that…
[Troost]
Oh! The community of… the community people. There was a whole group of us
that ended up moving out to Lake Michigan in Grand Haven for school year and it
was a wonderful and horrible experience. It was this whole idealism that we could
establish this community for ourselves and be self-sufficient. We even talked, at
a point, where maybe we didn't have to go into Grand Valley, we could just do
our education there among ourselves. And by the end of the year, we had come
apart at the seams. It had gotten quite incestuous. People went from one couple
group to another. I mean people… so and so and so and so split up, and then
these two people started sleeping together. And people started checking out,
emotionally. And it was a… it ended up being a very painful experience. Though
when we started it, we were full of idealism and we had some wonderful times
together. And it's an experience that still feels strong to me, that it is possible,
you know, in moments to find that kind of community among people. And so, I
still take that with me. I think in the end, I am still a committed idealist, even
though I have longer periods of cynicism now I have to weather. I think deep
down, my hunch is for most William James students, they didn't lose that. They
got a little more tempered by the society, maybe they’re a little more reluctant to
talk about it now, and they're certainly a little more cautious about jumping into
things. But deep down there's still that idealism that they have.
[Unknown]
Looking for things that perhaps didn't work and, you know, perhaps tie that in
with the demise of the college. You talked a little bit about early how you felt too
much was paid to, perhaps, the pragmatic rational attitudes than not to the
emotional attitude. And you also talked about how there's a [inaudible] that's
going to be made after the closing because William James…
[Troost]
Well, I remember when they announced the closing of Thomas Jefferson College
it certainly seemed that the trend was going away from a cluster college concept.
And that Lubbers, who initially seemed to embrace the idea, had lost his
enthusiasm for it and was starting to become convinced that there was a need to
make a more university type setting. And if that's the case, then William James
would've had to radically change to continue to exist within that university
structure. So that if a stand was to be made, it should've been made back when
they closed the first cluster college. Even though at that time I think Thomas
Jefferson College just had tremendous problems and had no educational
philosophy that was working and had not worked. But it also seemed that the die
was cast. And I'm sure everyone has their opinion about why they closed William
James College and mine is as valid or no more valid than anyone else's. But I
don't feel like we have much to do with that, that we had much power over that
�decision. I think once the decision was made at the higher levels that it was a
political decision that we couldn't have changed. We might've been able to make
more of a fuss about it or embarrassed Grand Valley more about it but my hunch
is that the trend towards a cluster college at Grand Valley had run its course and
was not going to be supporting any longer.
[Unknown]
We talked about the constitution of the William James student base. Too much
idealism, not enough idealism, too much rationalism, too much -isms
[Troost]
Too many -isms.
[Unknown]
Yeah. You know, I want to get a good picture of that because I think that was one
of the points that led to the demise that people were always reacting [inaudible]
perhaps emotional.
[Troost]
Well, for me, what worked for William James – and I suspect worked for most
William James students – is the relationship with the professors and the
classroom work they did. It seemed like people that were there found a
comfortable niche of two or three professors that they took most of their classes
from and of a subject matter that they studied. Beyond that, I'm not sure if the
institution worked for the student in any other way. I know they have the council
meetings, but I never figured out what they were talking about at council
meetings. I didn't go to very many. I was fairly antisocial in terms of the larger
structure at William James. I suspect that was the case for most William James
students. So that the power structure or what happened beyond the classroom
level was really left up, principally, to the administrators and the faculty. I don't
know enough about the politics of what happened among the faculty when things
were coming apart, to know what happened or didn't happen. Whether the faculty
could have taken certain stands or could have pressured certain people, I don't
know. It's beyond me. I think for the students, though, I never had a sense that
we had much to say about how William James worked, and certainly not about
how William James worked in the Grand Valley community… Grand Valley State
Colleges as a whole. The student I found there, like me, loved to talk. They were,
in some ways, pretty conservative folks. Thomas Jefferson College were just
wild. I mean, they were fun; they were wonderful. It was exactly the kind of
people you should be around for part of your little liberal education because they
really were willing to expand and try things that have never been tried. William
James students, on the other hand, though, we're much more willing to talk and
to think. And yet there was as basic conservatism, even though most of the
values we had and talked about were quite liberal. I think they came from a much
more conservative place in us. And certainly, for me I felt that way. I wasn't
radical or liberal because I had this expansive view of the world, it was because
certain things didn't make sense. I thought about the way our structure was… the
way our society was structured, and it didn't work right. And I thought: "Well,
�that's not right." I mean they came from thinking about these things. And that's a
fairly conservative type of view of the world, where you just see contradiction. It's
interesting, I found that in Denmark, which is usually considered a very liberal
country and very, you know, socialistic country, that the people there, basically,
were very, very conservative people. They just see things that don't make sense
and so they change that. And I had a sense in William James that was more the
way people thought. I admit that sometimes people seemed a little dull, but I
certainly didn't… I certainly liked… that was the place that I found for myself and I
liked, even though I kept playing Frisbee, and I had my hair long, and did all
those things. And I had… it was like a duality for me. I regretted that TJC didn't
work, but certainly found a home for myself at William James.
[Unknown]
Okay, got some wrap up questions here. We got most of them. Is there anything
else you want to throw out?
[Troost]
I don't think so.
[Unknown]
Okay. How would you describe William James to another person?
[Troost]
Oh, God. William James College to another person.
[Unknown]
Somebody that doesn't know about William James, and you're talking about it.
[Troost]
I would tell them it was a small college among a cluster of colleges near Grand
Rapids, Michigan, that had a very dedicated faculty. And that were dedicated to
thinking and liberal education, and that found a student body who are committed,
or willing to commit themselves to the same thing. And that attracted students,
and I suspect faculty, who have not fit in other places very well. And yet were not
radical in fundamental senses, but basically misunderstood or just needed a
place where they felt more comfortable and were among peers that they could
share things with. And that for a period of time there was created a community of
people who could talk and think in the way that they'd always felt. And it was a
worthwhile experiment. And it was probably an educational tool but that's still
needed. I don't think it was a product of the sixties, I think there was a viable
philosophy that was going on there that still can appeal to a certain segment of
kids graduating from high school. Kids that don't quite feel accepted, or have
different ideas, or want to seriously talk about the world and questions
fundamental things in the world. You know, I think William James was the perfect
place for that. The whole emphasis at William James about career education was
not so much the thing for me. I did an internship, I did all that sort of thing, that
was not as important to me as the whole celebration of ideas that I found at
William James.
[Unknown]
Okay, good. Okay, so [inaudible] question.
�[Troost]
Okay.
[Unknown]
What is the essence, you know, the bottom-line essence, using, you know, a
couple words, bottom line, the essence of William James College? You know,
take a minute to think.
[Troost]
Bottom line essence of William James College?
[Unknown]
You know, what was it? That's one of the big questions everybody asks. What
was William James, really?
[Troost]
Blue. I don't know I have to make a joke because it's an important question and I
can't think of anything to say about it. It, for me… I'm going to say…I'm going to
make… I'm going to do an intellectual answer. I wish I could come up with
emotional response to that and I can't. And it's unfortunate because I think I
could come up with a better answer if it was emotional. The intellectual thing I
was going to say was that it was the conversation was the essence. That I found
people to converse with for perhaps the first time in my education. And maybe
last time in my education. And that was liberating to me. That had a liberating
effect on me. The idea that I could converse with faculty and with other students
and have a true conversation in the broadest sense of the word was, for me, the
essence of William James College.
[Unknown]
Great. She's been telling everyone the response to the question [inaudible].
[Troost]
Yeah, I wish you… like I said, I wish I could come up with something that was
more from the heart, an image or something. I can't come up with an image.
[Unknown]
Well, maybe that wasn't the essence.
[Troost]
Whatever it is, it's the image, I mean when I think of William James I think of a
classroom. I think of either Stephen or Barry talking. A lot. Because they both
love to talk. And yet in a way that included the students. And talking about
fundamental things. And not being afraid to do that. Not being afraid to spend
time talking about very fundamental questions, and speculating about the world,
and being able to entertain any question and talk about it in a serious manner.
That's the image I have of William James College. I don't… the rest of it seems to
be blurry. That's why it's always embarrassing to me when people ask me about
William James because I like… I can't tell them about council meetings, I can't
tell them about what it was… what was happening in other niches in the in the
college. There's not many professors that I know. There's not many other
students that I know. I just know I know those classrooms and what happened in
those. And that there was something magical, for me, in those moments, in those
�classes. And Stephen and Barry and sometimes other professors, seemed to be
able to create a magic for me that just was explosive. I was in seventh heaven
when I discovered them. I thought: "This is education. I finally found education."
And I knew that it was there. I knew, in high school, and in the first colleges I
went to, I knew that that was not something that was happening, that could
happen. And when I found it, I went: "Aha! I was right all along." I suspected that
you could do this, this was possible to have a conversation like this. So that
was…
[Unknown]
Okay. Did you have class with [inaudible]?
[Troost]
No. Same way? Same kind of feeling?
[Unknown]
Yeah just real involved. He was the only person I saw…
[Troost]
He taught music, didn't he?
[Unknown]
Yeah. He's the only person I ever saw talk to everybody personally, and to the
whole class at the same time. Every time he talked, you thought he was talking to
you. Not at the blackboard, not at the class as a whole. It was just real good. The
instructors, I think that's the essence also.
[Troost]
Yeah. And maybe that's the best thing a college can offer people is a good core
of the professors that you can find one or more that you can use the mentor. And
maybe that's all William James really needed to have done. Maybe the other stuff
they tried to do was more ambitious than it needed to. I was not unhappy with my
education at all at William James, even though I kept suspecting I should be. I
kept thinking, you know, I'm not at council meetings, I should be there. I am not
really a William James student unless I'm doing all this synoptic stuff. But in fact I
was happy with the classes I was taking. And someone said: "That's all you need
to do." I was like: "This is great, I don't want to do anything else. I just want to
study with these people."
[Unknown]
Great. Anything else?
[Troost]
I can't think of anything.
[Unknown]
Okay. Good.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
William James College Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1984
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grand Valley State University
Michigan
Universities and colleges
Oral histories
Alternative education
Interdisciplinary approach in education
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Roos, Barbara (Interviewer)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
GV016-16
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
GV016-16_GVSU_59_Troost
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Troost, Scott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1984
Title
A name given to the resource
Scott Troost interview (video and transcript)
Description
An account of the resource
Interview with Scott Troost by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Scott Troost was a Social Relations student of William James College who graduated in 1977. In this interview he discusses what drew him to William James College and West Michigan, how he first learned of Grand Valley while overseas in Denmark, and how he switched from Thomas Jefferson College to William James due to influential professors such as Stephen Rowe and Barry Castro. This interview is part 1 of 1 for Scott Troost.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Roos, Barbara (Interviewer)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grand Valley State University
Michigan
Universities and colleges
Oral histories
Alternative educaton
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng