Word: isla
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...more U.S. colleges have quit mothering students, freeing them to live off campus. The result is a new political-academic stepchild: the "student community." Such incubators of the counterculture raise complex questions for university and town authorities and for the students themselves. The largest and most volatile is Isla Vista, abutting the University of California at Santa Barbara. Last spring, "I.V." erupted in three major riots that produced a burned-out Bank of America branch, one death and nearly 1,000 arrests. Most campuses have been relatively calm lately, but two weeks ago a bomb damaged the roof...
...would not have taken a planning genius to predict the result when Santa Barbara quadrupled its enrollment in ten years. Unable to get federal loans fast enough for building dormitories on campus, the university let students live in Isla Vista. The sleepy beach town became the home of 7,400 Santa Barbara students-54% of the enrollment -plus 4,000 nonstudents. The population density in I.V.'s half square mile is the highest in California. Two-thirds of the inhabitants are under...
...closer look reveals shabbiness. Isla Vista resembles a hip version of the towns near military bases thrown up to house and often gouge transient servicemen's families. Built like cheap motels, some apartments come with peeling paint and broken plumbing...
...some young people pursue mystical religions. Pot smoking is almost universal. I.V. has 50 to 100 heroin addicts; one night last summer, two youngsters sleeping on a nearby beach were hacked to death by unknown marauders. With an atmosphere reminiscent of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Isla Vista is isolated, in spirit as well as in fact. People over 30 are practically nonexistent. Bus service to Santa Barbara is inconvenient and irregular. Since most of the residents are too young to vote, inexperienced in politics or both, I.V. is a powerless political backwater. It long had governmental...
These days the Isla Vista community is becoming sophisticated about self-government. The students have begun a unique effort to take the enclave's development in hand. Joe Godwin, 27, a bearded, bouncy anthropologist, has organized an Isla Vista Community Service Center. The Bank of America has put up $25,000 for expenses. The center's heart is a clinic run by Dr. David Bearman, 29, a veteran of Haight-Ashbury clinics. He dispenses contraceptives, treats VD and bad drug trips...