Marlboro College

Marlboro College is a small, private liberal-arts college in Marlboro, Vermont. Students at Marlboro create an individualized course of study in collaboration with faculty members and participate in a self-governed (self-run) community. Students pursue a self-designed, often inter-disciplinary thesis, the Plan of Concentration, based on their academic interests that culminates in a major body of scholarship. Students can use the college's organic farm, solar greenhouse, nature forestland preserve, and aviary. Weekly "town meetings" are held to vote for and change the college's bylaws.

Marlboro College was founded in 1946 by Walter Hendricks on Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont, and many of the first students were returning World War II veterans. The school's operation was initially financed using money received from the GI Bill, as well as loans from Brattleboro Savings and Loan. The campus incorporates the buildings of three old farms that once operated on the college site, along with more modern buildings. Marlboro has grown steadily since its inception, and 150 students currently attend, with an average enrollment of 250 students. The College, however, is kept "intentionally small."

In 1997 Marlboro College founded the Marlboro College Graduate School to apply the same educational principles of Marlboro College to advance the careers of working professionals. The Graduate School also offers an accelerated Master's track to undergraduates in select programs.While the Graduate School was initially located in nearby Brattleboro, it moved to the main college campus in Marlboro in April 2017.

The Marlboro College campus is located on South Road in the small town of Marlboro, Vermont, in the wooded Green Mountains. Marlboro is just off Route 9, which runs east-west across southern Vermont, ten miles from Brattleboro to the east with Wilmington and Bennington further to the west. Boston is two and a half hours to the east, Burlington is two and a half hours to the north, Hartford, CT is one and a half hours to the south, and New York City is four hours to the south.

Marlboro's facilities are relatively small because of its size. Many of the buildings—including the main classroom building, the dining hall, the admissions building and the administration building—are converted farm buildings that predate the college. Students and faculty worked together to convert these historic buildings for use by the college.Through grants from federal, state and private entities, the college improved the energy-efficiency of the Dining Hall, Dalrymple classroom building, Mather administration building, and the Admissions building since 2008, as well as the student residences. In the summer of 2011, the half-circle driveway at the campus entrance was converted to green space and walking paths.

Open mic nights at the Campus Center happen several times a semester in addition to events like President's Ball, Gender Bender, Queer Homecoming and other events. A "Farm to Fork" community dinner is held every September. During the Spring and Fall, students are encouraged to "plant, weed, landscape, and harvest on a regular basis" on the school farm. They also participate in other events, such as the harvesting of pine trees in the College's own forestland. "Midnight Breakfast" is an event celebrated each semester during the eve before writing portfolios are due.

The school was founded on and continues to encourage a tradition of community participation and values. A bi-monthly "town meeting" allows all community members to gather and vote to change the college bylaws. An elected community court dispenses justice when necessary. Different elected committees, consisting of students, faculty and staff, help to hire faculty (or even college presidents) and steer the curriculum, among many other responsibilities.