Dr. John N. Gardner remembers a time when colleges and universities
paid little attention to the plight of freshmen adjusting to the rigors
of college life. At the University of South Carolina (USC) in 1970, the
neglect of students — especially that of freshmen — coupled with
brewing anti-Vietnam War sentiment led to a student riot on the
normally placid southern campus, he recalls.
Gardner, who began teaching history at South Carolina’s flagship
university in 1970, believes USC — like most colleges and universities
at the time — did little to nurture a sense of community among
students and neglected to help them develop academic survival skills.
“Schools had not fully considered the importance of the freshman
year as the basis for student success,” says Gardner. “We had to take a
look at the freshman year as a key period.”
In the aftermath of the student riot, about of soul-searching among
university officials led them to cobble together one of the first
comprehensive, semester-long courses designed to help freshmen adjust
to college life. Gardner grew interested in the university’s efforts
and in 1974, he assumed the administration of the course.
“Back then, I saw that the course had enormous potential. I needed more time to develop [it],” he says.
Twenty-four years later, “University 101”, the USC freshman year
survival course, has spawned dozens of similar courses at other
campuses and has led to the establishment of the national Resource
Center for the Study of The Freshman Year Experience and Students in
Transition, which is based at USC.
Developing and Refining the Program
