GET PSYCHED!

Class About Mind-Altering Drugs Opened to All NIU Students for Fall

LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, ayahuasca, DXM and peyote are among the many drugs discussed in Psychedelic Mindview.

Psychedelic Mindview, once an honors-only seminar about psychedelic drugs, now is being offered to all NIU students starting this fall.

Graduates and undergraduates are welcome to sign up.  Although it's not an honors seminar, honors students still may take the course under an honors contract with the professor for honors credit, said Thomas Roberts, the current Psychedelic Mindview professor.

Only one section is being offered and only 25 seats are available, so students are advised to register early, Roberts said.

EPS 492-1 is not in the undergraduate course catalog and only can be found on T.R.A.C.S., Roberts said.  In addition, EPS 592-1 for graduates is listed as a seminar in education psychology.  Four committees are in the process of approving the class to be a catalog course, Roberts said.

Roberts has taught the class since 1979 and said he hopes to teach students that psychedelic drugs have beneficial uses as well as dangers.

"It's a complex area that intersects with almost every discipline," Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview isn't difficult, said Mary Thomas, a junior anthropology major who currently is enrolled in the class.

"But it does challenge what our culture has taught us about psychedelics," Thomas said.

The class requires a higher level of thinking, Roberts said, and students will run across new ideas.  The biggest challenge for students is entering the class with very little knowledge about psychedelic drugs besides what they were taught in the D.A.R.E.  program, Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview gives an opposite spin on what most people already know about drugs, said Dave Della Terza, a junior communication major and a student in the class.

"I've learned that psychedelics can be used to help people and that what we were taught isn't always true," Thomas said.

Both Thomas and Della Terza recommend the class.  It's a very open and unstructured class that allows students to talk about what they are interested in and doesn't rely strictly on lecture, Thomas said.

The class helps students understand drugs in a different light and touches on four main aspects of psychedelics -- the nature of the human mind, creativity, social and political background of the 1960s and psychotherapy use, Roberts said.

"I think I've learned a lot about the potential of psychedelic drugs in use for medical reasons and, if controlled properly, it could really benefit many people," junior meteorology major Matt Lacke said.

Students are required to do quite a bit of reading, Roberts said.  "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley; "Storming Heaven" by Jay Stevens; "Realms of the Human Unconscious" by Stanislav Grof; and "Psychoactive Sacramentals," edited by Roberts himself, are among the books assigned.

Students will choose a class-related book and present a book review to the class, Roberts said.  An individual paper that relates a specific topic to Grof's view of the mind also will be completed.

A few videos, some lecture, class discussion, Internet field trips and many stimulating visuals related to psychedelics will be presented in class as well, Roberts said.  Test formats will consist of a class discussion and either an in-class essay or group writing, Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview was offered in the past but wasn't available to the general student population until the early-to mid-1990s, Roberts said.  The class will continue to be offered to all students as long as the departmental schedule allows for it, he said.  Similar classes have been offered at other colleges but never lasted, Roberts said.

"The class is very insightful and it's very different from your run-of-the-mill liberal arts and sciences," Della Terza said.