FIRE WALKING A HOT COLLEGE ALTERNATIVE.

Byline: James Richardson The Sacramento Bee

As campus protests were reaching a crescendo three decades ago, a group of University of California, Davis, students got together to form an ``experimental college'' offering alternative courses in everything from coping with sex to the history of psychedelic art.

Thirty years later, the Experimental College still lives, and is celebrating its anniversary with course offerings every bit as avant-garde as those of a generation ago.

This year, the courses include fire walking, songwriting and flamenco dancing.

No longer an experiment, the university within a university is a huge success, with more than 4,000 people signing up for its classes this academic year.

It is still run by students - and is still a bargain.

Experimental College classes have become more than just alternatives for college students; they are now a major method for UC to offer its facilities and experts to the community at large.

Last week, a group of 10 women met in a campus art studio for a six-hour workshop on printmaking, led by Linda Katzdorn, who is the regular graphics technician for the art department. She began teaching two years ago for the Experimental College and has become one of its most popular instructors.

``This is an extraordinary print studio - the best in the area,'' Katzdorn said, explaining why she decided to teach the class. ``It's always sad to see a printing press sit idle.''

Those taking the class came from throughout Northern California, including Rose Thomas of Novato in Marin County, who had taken regular classes at UC Davis until she found the Experimental College.

``This is just a much better deal,'' she said.

The cost of the class was $169, including materials, compared with $4,166 a year for regular tuition.

The Experimental College classes do not offer credit, but for Thomas that did not matter. ``I hope to be a working artist and selling my work as soon as I learn what I'm doing,'' she said.

Another student, Julie Daniels of Rancho Cordova, works as a cook with the Women's Wisdom Project, an art program in Sacramento for low-income and abused women. Katzdorn teaches classes for the project and encouraged Daniels to take her printmaking class at Davis.

``I jumped at the opportunity,'' said Daniels.

Unlike most UC Davis art classes, which are open only to art students, most of the Experimental College art classes are open to all. ``The only requirement,'' said Katzdorn, ``is they know how to put a pencil to paper.''

The Experimental College also maintains a 3-acre community garden in Davis, where roughly 100 gardeners are charged $10 a year for 10-foot by 20-foot plots.

Over time, many of the Experimental College classes that were once deemed alternative have become mainstream.

For instance, ethnic studies, particularly African-American and Chicano studies, began as Experimental College classes at Davis. Such classes are now a part of the regular curriculum at Davis and throughout higher education.

``That's how it worked in the past - a class will come in through the `EC' door first,'' said Jake Lashbrook, a physiology major who is the director of the Experimental College this year and also teaches a yoga class.

The Experimental College still has a certain laid-back approach that would make its founders proud.

Asked the size of the program's budget, Lashbrook replied: ``What a strange question. I've never been asked that before.''

Lashbrook looked up the figures: $133,000 a year for the Experimental College, which is a pittance compared to UC's $11 billion budget. The Experimental College, which comes under student government, is supported by course fees and fund-raisers.

Lashbrook said the Experimental College is always on the lookout for new courses. ``We'll go find instructors,'' he said.

But not all classes are destined for the regular UC Davis academic schedule. Fire walking is described by the Experimental College course listing as an ancient healing method, and adds that ``the laws of physics are not fixed.'' The fire walk is optional.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) A man walks over hot coals as part of an Experimental College course offered in the mid-1980s at UC Davis.

(2) Participants at the Whole Earth Festival, sponsored in part by the Experimental College, form a drum circle.

Associated Press