[Mase]

I sure did - and managed to get a good education by hitting the library in the evenings.

Me too. I was there in '78 & '79 and, even though the school still seemed stuck in a 60's time warp, the education was rigorous and the quarter system was pretty unforgiving.

I do remember that every quarter a new set of BMW's, complete with surfboards on the roof, would come into Isla Vista and I'd wonder just how long this new group would last.

The last time I visited UCSB was in the late 80's and it seemed to have changed a great deal. Entrance requirements had been significantly increased and many of the students I spoke with said the school was much more conservative than in years past. Del Playa was still the place to go on Saturday night but much of the party school image had been lost. IIRC, the Bank of America had been turned into a bar?!!

[RKV]

Your assessment is right on target - I got out in '78 myself. Flacks and other of the "radicals" came out to the dorms when I was a freshman and gave a multi-media presentation on the bank burning. All I saw was a (poor) attempt to justify criminal behavior. And yes it is a VERY hard school to get into these days, and it takes effort to stay in. And yes the rebuilt B of A became a bar. I still live in SB so it is a pleasure to watch the changes - in particular to see the aging hippies turn irrelevant.