Does alternative higher education need an alternative?

The present movement in alternative higher education is predominantly an accomodation for the unrest which surfaced during the sixties. Generally, the creators and participants of alternatives, both inside and outside of conventional universities, fell comfortably into a process of cooptation which alleviated the more obvious symptoms of alienation and silenced dissent. This paper discusses alternative higher education in light of 1) improvement of communication within the alternative community and with others in the larger society, 2) attention paid to critical analysis, theory and research, to avoid the pitfalls of subjectivism, 3) development of the organization and power to survive, rather than becoming trapped by excessive preoccupations with criticizing the conventional or with justifying ourselves to those in positions of power, and 4) creation of an integrity in our purposes and methods by fashioning a systematic and socially critical methodology of theory-and-practice, involving in part a serious consideration of Marxist thought.Joanne Kowalski, John Bilorusky, and Victor Acosta are three of the founders of the Western Regional Learning Center, an independent experimental university and center for people involved in community change and educational innovation.