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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Gil</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">this is the a most beautiful story of opening
space</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">I will read it again and again because it is
perfectly Kosher in spirit and opens the heart to new possibilities and
subtleties/</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">thank you for writing and sharing</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Tova</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><A
href="mailto:averbuch@post.tau.ac.il">averbuch@post.tau.ac.il</A></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Tova Averbuch</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">34 Rabinovitz street</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Holon 58672</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Israel</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:gbl@amauta.org" title=gbl@amauta.org>Gilbert Brenson-Lazan</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 05, 2002 5:15
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Report on a very sui generis
OS</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P><BR>Good morning, all:<BR><BR>First and foremost I want to thank all of you
who sent me your ideas on the challenge that I shared with you a few weeks ago
regarding the use of OS as part of a major cultural transformation at a
Central American Ag University. I received dozens of letters, both on
the list and off-list (although I can´t imagine why so many people chose to
share their wisdom off-list). Some of the suggestions were excellent but
impractical due to the poverty level in Honduras and the unavailability of
many items. Others were very important and useful.<BR><BR>I compiled
(and translated) them and sent them to the organizers at the University and
together we finalized the strategies on-line.<BR><BR>My colleague-wife and I
travelled to Honduras a couple of weeks ago to do the program. Right
from the start there were several major challenges, mainly with the previously
agreed-upon and now undoable logistics, so we had to modify (considerably) the
original plan to accomodate not only the logistic questions but also some last
minute cold feet from some of the fossilized members of the administration and
the alumni association that were all for change on paper but in flesh and
blood it was too threatening. <BR><BR>The first day we spent mainly
talking with students and faculty and getting to know the 7000 acres of
campus, crops, pastures, animals, woods, jungle, etc. That evening we
did just the first part of the OS: 200+ of the 800 students, and almost no
faculty members, responded to the initial call. It was impossible to put
them in a circle outside in the center knoll between the principal buildings
(thanks, Harrison, for that great idea) as we had planned (no lights and no PA
system were working) so we put them in the auditorium. After a brief
intro about the "rules" and "roles" of OS we gave out 10cm X 20cm cards to
everyone with the invitation to mill around and get together in groups to
decide topics and "convene" the work teams. The only restriction was
that every card had to begin with "How can we...". We received over 500
cards!!!<BR><BR>The next day we met with the volunteer internal facilitators
(dorm supervisors, counselors, staff and faculty) and we briefed them on OS
and their role monitoring the "second part". Together we used
stickywalls to affinity-sort the cards and summarize them. Amazingly,
especially for adolescents, almost all the cards were able to be summarized in
24 groups. We insisted that all 500 be published immediately on the
University Intranet, which amazed everybody with the transparency of the
process and the good intentions of the majority of the University
leadership. <BR><BR>On the third day all classes and work were suspended
at the Univ. and we did the "rest" of the OS. We prepared 30 workspaces
in classrooms and sheltered outdoor spaces (24 subjects and 4 extras for
spontaneous subjects, which very commonly arise in Latin American
OS). At first, the students just milled around in
disbelief; in its 80 years, the University had never given unstructured
time to it´s students during a school day. Finally a few first year
students began to sit down and talk in several of the meeting
spaces. The facilitator served as "convener" until a student or teacher
agreed to take that role over. Then, little by little, all the
meeting rooms and overflow rooms were filled by students from all four years,
faculty and even staff that had also been invited. There was a core of
10-15 students in almost all of the groups and a VERY large number of roving
bands (3-5) of bumblebees (we call them hummingbirds) that went from group to
group and participated in many. By midday things wound down (as we
suspected) and a total of over 500 people had participated. In each group the
facilitator and the student or faculty "convener" then went and posted their
results to the Univ. Intranet. <BR><BR>In the afternoon, the sessions
were moved to the six dormitory blocks (a kind of mini OS around
dormitory-relevant topics chosen from the original list of 24). Small
groups began to organize around the topics and at the close of the afternoon
those results were also posted on the Intranet but also a strategic plan was
begun for each dormitory and actions and responsibilities were agreed
upon. A central consolidating committee was also self-selected that
included students from all four years and six dormitories, faculty and staff,
and they will consolidate all of the information from the OS on the Intranet,
into a series of proposals to bring to the University. The President of
the University publicly thanked all the participants and agreed to consider
and respond to each one with the same responsibility with which they were
developed. Other followups are being planned also.<BR> <BR>We
left the school the next day with tearfull goodbyes (both from the students
and from us). In the days that followed the event we have received many emails
that have related how things are changing already. I think the most
moving one was from the president of the Alumni Association (who also
participated and who´s psychorigidity was very prominant at the beginning) and
said, in the close of his letter: "I can now say the the words ´How can
we....´ have become the symbol of the future of this
University".<BR><BR>It was the strangest OS we have ever done and not very
"kosher"...but it worked. If there was one lesson we learned, it
was: "Dare to try something different". <BR><BR>Warm
regards,<BR><BR>Gil<BR><BR><BR><B>
**************************************<BR> <U>AMAUTA
INTERNATIONAL, LLC<BR></U></B> Gilbert Brenson-Lazan -
Socio-Gerente<BR> Tel: (+57-1) 345-2724 - Fax: 345-2072<BR>U.S. Voice
Mail and Fax: (206)
888-4386<BR> e-mail:
<gbl@amauta.org><BR> website:
<<A href="http://amauta.org/" eudora="autourl"><FONT
color=#0000ff><U>http://amauta.org</A></U></FONT>><BR><B>
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