College fashions, IX |

In 1969, The Times sent one of its best and most respected writers, Art
Seidenbaum, on a tour of California college campuses: UCLA, USC,
Stanford, UC Berkeley and someplace called San Fernando Valley State.
The resulting series for West magazine was later published in
Seidenbaum’s book "Confrontation on Campus."

So in honor of all those who are taking their kids back to campus for
the fall, here’s the final part of Seidenbaum’s "The Troubles With Students" in
which he visits UC Berkeley and discusses the "Majorca or fight" syndrome: "If we don’t bring down the university this year, then I’m going to Majorca and paint…. If we haven’t radicalized this campus by the end of the quarter, then I’ll accept the goddam fellowship at Cambridge." The dress code is Army
fatigues and beards for the men; serapes and tights for the women. And
lots of revolutionary self-righteousness. Don’t worry, man. It’s cool.
We’re all pass/fail here. (Hey, isn’t that Larry Magid?)