Mini Mania

requirement—these students are just taking advantage of the latest Miniversity class offerings. IT'S COLD AND SNOWY ON THE Green, but things are heating up inside the Collis Center as the tango music blares. Students whisk their partners across the dance floor as the instructor counts out the rhythm. Down the hall, another group of students huddles around a chessboard studying potential moves while in a kitchen across campus a group gathers to perfect tiramisu in an Italian cooking class. No, Dartmouth has not added some strange new distributive

The Miniversity program began 20 years ago when Lori Bamberger '85 was looking for a project to implement in her role as the Collis Center intern. Working with the director of student activities and the Collis governing board, Bamberger honed a vision based on the Dartmouth Experimental College started a generation earlier by Robert Reich '68. The administration created a paid Miniversity internship in the fall of 1985. A second internship has since been added, and now these two students are responsible for carrying out the original goal of the program, which was to offer affordable classes (costs vary from $25 to $80) and to be financially self-sufficient.

The program offers a diverse array of classes to students and local residents. Instructors come from the student body, the faculty and the general public. Some of the courses, such as ballroom dancing, wine tasting and photography, have been part of the program since the early years and remain popular. But each term potential instructors can pitch ideas for new classes. Bike repair, Kabbalah/Jewish mysticism and Egyptian belly dancing are some recent additions. "We really have something for everyone. Some people can't get enough and take a class every term," says Miniversity intern Steph Lawrence '06. "Others are more infrequent participants, signing up only when a certain class piques their interest." Either way, the program offers, on average, 20 classes per term and boasts a steady enrollment of more than 300 students eager to cook, knit or belly dance the night away.