After decades of other Washington cities trying to steal the capital, Olympia developed a protective disdain for anything unusual. The city lapsed into fits of depression when The Evergreen State College broke ground on Cooper Point in 1967 (well before Fitz made it official). Vestiges of the chronic eye-rolling remain, but Evergreen and its graduates are now part of the Olympia establishment.
The 1980s saw the "Evergreen Experiment" transition from a local punchline into a legitimate academic pipeline. As the first waves of alumni moved into leadership roles in science and governance, the narrative-evaluation system — once dismissed as a hippie vestige — began to look like a competitive advantage. The secret was out, and applicant pools began to swell with students from across the country.
In the 1990 "America's Best Colleges" edition of U.S. News & World Report — sent to me years ago by my aunt — Evergreen was ranked No. 1 among Regional Liberal Arts Colleges in the West. Overnight, decades of scorn evaporated. Evergreen was free to get wilder — and did — attracting students like me who pushed the boundaries further.
In 1995, The Longhouse opened as the first of its kind on a public campus, establishing Evergreen as a hub for Native American arts and governance.
By 2001, under the leadership of Dr. Maxine Mimms, the Tacoma program moved to its permanent home on 6th Avenue, further solidifying its mission to serve urban and older students.
Enrollment peaked in 2009 at 4,119 students.
In 2017, colleges were wrestling with the debate over how to address institutionalized racism without censoring free speech. Evergreen found itself in the national spotlight. It was a collision of high-minded theory and low-budget optics — thought-provoking moments followed immediately by cringeworthy ones. Evergreen received a great deal of bad press from Fox News. This didn't just create a PR crisis; it acted as an accelerant for a financial fire already smoldering in the registrar's office.
Over the next few years, enrollment continued to decline, bringing Evergreen to roughly half its previous size. In 2019, there were 1,950 students. The school appeared dangerously close to shooting its president out of a cannon.
The New Directions for Evergreen initiative was announced. This massive restructuring would create several colleges within an Evergreen University. This bureaucratic "University" model died on the vine, proving that even in crisis, Geoducks have a low tolerance for standard-issue rebranding.
Over the last four years, Evergreen has seen enrollment slowly grow (currently 2,500) and freshman retention rates hit their highest in a decade. Forever Green, the school's fundraising and recovery initiative, raised $55 million — the most in Evergreen's history.
Earlier this year, the health department notified Evergreen that the pool needed
$60,000 in immediate repairs in order to meet current health and safety standards. Evergreen says it can’t afford it. The pool is scheduled to close at the end of June.
This highlights the "Evergreen Paradox" — having record-breaking capital in the bank while the water in the pool sits stagnant. It's a perfect metaphor for an institution that is "rich" in support but struggling to find "liquid" capital for plumbing maintenance.
Maybe closing the pool is a sign of the end.
Or maybe, after 50 years of predicted collapse, we should realize that "being on the brink" isn't a crisis. It's Evergreen's natural habitat.
As a student, David Scherer Water swam for Evergreen, was a lifeguard and swim instructor. During that era, David sang the national anthem before swim meets and fired the starting pistol before doing a cannonball. He also regularly propped the back door open so he and his friends could sneak in for late night shenanigans. Movies were projected from the high dive. Swimsuits were optional. More than one family started. While rarely reprimanded and never fired, David still carries trace amounts of Evergreen pool water in his lungs. Discover more of his compromised respiratory system here.
OlyMamaLlama
"This highlights the "Evergreen Paradox" — having record-breaking capital in the bank while the water in the pool sits stagnant. It's a perfect metaphor for an institution that is "rich" in support but struggling to find "liquid" capital for plumbing maintenance."
This is a disingenuous argument. It's so frustrating to see federal funding cuts lead to state funding cuts which are causing local funding issues. Everyone is picking apart local institutions and saying they're failing when the problem is so much bigger. The pool is going to cost in the millions to fully fix. It needs investment from something bigger than alumni, like city or state government.
Wednesday, April 8 Report this
SecondOtter
I am an alumn from Evergreen, having been graduated in 2005. I was not even then your typical Greener. I am a veteran, having done a 20+ career in the military, I voted independent in many elections, and still don't claim any party. I at first was put off by the 'tang' that surrounded Evergreen, it being dubbed a "hippy college" (I was never a hippy) but after one semester or quarter at a college named for a saint in in Lacey, I realized I couldn't afford that institution's astronomical tuition and the fact that they wouldn't listen to what I wanted to take or make my own schedule. I had to work for a living, you see. NOr was I interested in the religious aspect of it. So I transferred to Evergreen and it was the best decision I ever made.
Evergreen is..or was... an academic institution that insisted that students do the work. Not be spoon fed like they'd experienced throughout High School. Many kids (young students in their late teens and early twenties) couldn't handle the responsibility. They'd never been expected to actually DO the reading, the writing, the math, etc. Nor could they handle the freedom of being in a college environment, and so wanted to do nothing but party.
I, on the other hand, had sown all the wild oats I had ever been given while a young soldier and by the time I went to Evergreen, I went there with the intent of working to get a degree.
Which I did. I enjoyed the open atmosphere, I liked being able to do the work, I liked especially that the few textbooks were books off the shelf, NOT a $150 book that I had to buy while at the College Named for a Saint that we then DID not use, and when it came time to sell the book, I was given a choice: $10 bucks or keep the book. I kept the book.
The point being, to this day, there are people, politicians like Braun, who absolutely loathe Evergreen and have done everything possible to shut it down. Did they GO to Evergreen? No. I don't understand their vitriolic hatred of the college. If they want to go or have their kid go to a conventional college or University, there are several in WA. I don't see them trying to shut down UW. No one is forced to attend Evergreen.
Evergreen is an unorthodox yet very good school whose 'teachers' teach the students how to THINK, how to use sources of information that aren't laid out in words of one syllable, how to create and present a thesis, how to work with others (there's a woman who dragged my non mathmatical ass through statistics, and I dragged hers through biology. )
Those who are trying to destroy Evergreen need to just shut the heck up and leave it be what it is: A very good college.
Wednesday, April 8 Report this
KEW100
@SecondOtter
What a wonderful story of the Evergreen experience. I had a child at the college during the days of thunder instigated, we are supposed to believe, by a "naive" faculty member contacting Fox News. Interesting how that faculty member's brother had worked for Thiel Capital. But that is certainly just happenstance.
That child is now out and like many Evergreen graduates, working locally to make this a place of abundance (in the pre-Ezra Klein sense). I have returned to the west coast (having attended a college in Oregon) and will live out my days near that Greener.
I hope we can throw our collective weight into keeping Evergreen an essential element of this place. As @OlyMamaLama suggests, there is no fatal flaw inherent to Evergreen's structure. It is adapting through trying and succeeding/failing along the way. Yet, the environment is incredibly inhospitable at the moment.
The community and the state can embrace the college as an essential part of our educational and developmental trajectory. It was important to my development in the 70's, even if from afar in Oregon. It was essential to my child's development in the 2010's. We can make it so into the next decades.
Thursday, April 9 Report this
Wesley
Sorry kids. Daddy Government can't pay for everything.
Thursday, April 9 Report this
JoeBags
What @OlyMamaLlama, @SecobdOtter, and @KEW100 said! Thanks for your perspectives!
The choice to go to The Evergreen State College as I learned to be an educator was essential to becoming the educator that I am. Western Washington University was fabulous, but the Ed School focused on lesson plans too much. As a Greener in the Masters in Teaching Program we explored learning science, the history of education, and especially the real world aspects that make our educational system work so hard to do its job…Poverty. Race. Class. Economics. Political science. I had wonderfully caring, but tough Professors, who pushed me to grow as a learner. I was surrounded by a diverse group of learners, from adults who were transitioning into education in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, which made the learning much more full in terms of perspectives and life experiences…our seminars were the best!
TESC’s approach to learning taught me to think critically, to consider multiple perspectives, to have empathy with those around me, to be an active participant in both my career and in my community, and to be a lifelong engaged learner.
If I was independently wealthy I’d write a check to ensure this wonderful learning institution could continue being one of the best liberal arts schools in the nation. Alas, it will have to be a small donation and lots of lobbying legislators (including those who hate TESC).
Saturday, April 11 Report this