Maharishi International University

1971–2004 University sign at campus entrance The concept for a university came out of a "series of international symposia on Science of Creative Intelligence" (SCI) attended by notable academics. [ 9 ] It was established in 1971 by Nat Goldhaber . [ 10 ] It was created with the belief that a school that incorporated the "philosophy and techniques of Transcendental Meditation" would create an "unusual contribution to higher education". [ 11 ] It was inaugurated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Robert Keith Wallace assumed his position as the first university president in 1973. Its first location was an apartment complex in Goleta, California. The university enrolled 700 students during its first year of operation. [ 9 ] In August 1974, the university purchased the campus of the bankrupt Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, for $2.5 million [ 11 ] and relocated there. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Aerial photograph of the Maharishi International University campus In 1975, the freshman and sophomore years consisted of interdisciplinary studies , and were organized in a modular format, with each course lasting a few weeks or months. All students, regardless of their previous education, were required to attend 24 interdisciplinary courses, [ 9 ] some of which consisted of pre-recorded video tapes of "resident faculty" who were not on campus, [ 11 ] [ 12 ] while graduate students and teaching assistants played the video tapes and conducted discussions. [ 9 ] Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin said that, even though he participated in a symposium on SCI, the use of his name in the MIU catalogue was "perilously close to false advertising". John Lewis, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who created video-taped lectures for MIU, was supportive, saying that TM "unblocks the student's pathways to education". [ 9 ] During this period, an open admissions policy was instituted, and transfer students were welcomed regardless of their academic history.

[ 11 ] [ 12 ] In 1976, the accreditation evaluation team from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools said the 19 senior and 20 assistant faculty [ 9 ] were "creative in their vision for higher education and eminently qualified", and the university was granted "candidate for accreditation" status. [ 11 ] At that time, faculty and administrators were paid "approximately the same base salary of $275 per month", with additional compensation "on a sliding scale for those with spouses and children", plus free housing in university dormitories. [ 11 ] On campus, drugs and alcohol were "shunned" and a "strong sense of community" was said to pervade the institution. [ 11 ] Bevan Morris was appointed president and chairman of Maharishi International University's board of trustees in 1979. The following year, the university received accreditation through the doctoral level by the Higher Learning Commission, and became a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS). [ 5 ] [ 6 ] 1981 saw the completion of two 20,000 square foot meditation buildings called Golden Domes , that were built on campus for daily group practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs . [ 14 ] By this time the Henn Mansion, Trustee Gymnasium and Ballard Hall buildings, built in the early 1900s, showed rapid deterioration. These buildings were scheduled to be demolished but the university spent $500,000 to restore Henn Mansion, beginning in 1984, and nominated six other buildings for the National Historic Register . [ 15 ] [ 16 ] In July 1983, the Argus-Press reported that competing meditation seminar teacher, Robin Woodsworth Carlsen, had criticized and ridiculed the university in a full-page advertisement placed in a local newspaper and had filed a lawsuit against the university.

As a result, "many students" who were distributing Carlsen's literature on campus were asked to leave the campus and several were suspended with their meditation dome admission privileges revoked. [ 17 ] In December 1983, the university hosted a three-week "Taste of Utopia" conference with more than 7,000 participants and practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program "from around the world". MIU president Morris later reported that research data indicated the conference had reduced violence in war-torn areas and inspired an increase in the Dow Jones stock index via the Maharishi Effect . [ 18 ] [ 19 ] By 1992, the university had 800 students from more than 70 countries, paying approximately $10,000 a year for their tuition and board. [ 20 ] In 1995, Maharishi International University changed its name to Maharishi University of Management (MUM). As part of its master plan to rebuild and expand the campus using natural materials and Maharishi Vastu Architecture design principles, many of the Parsons College buildings, which had high maintenance costs, were demolished, including Foster Hall. [ 15 ] In 2019, the name was changed back to the original Maharishi International University. In 2000, local preservationists protested the demolition of Parsons Hall, built in 1915, [ 21 ] and Barhydt Chapel, designed in 1911 by Henry K. Holsman . University officials said that MIU would donate the buildings to any community group who could raise the $1 million needed to move what the local newspaper described as an "ailing building". [ 22 ] [ 23 ] In response to protests the university ensured the survival of the chapel's plaques, pipe organ, and stained glass windows, which are now displayed at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center . [ 15 ] Between 2000 and 2005, the university demolished Carnegie Hall, Parsons Hall (1915), Barhydt Chapel (1911), Blum Stadium (1966), Laser Tower, the dining hall, and 38 dormitory-style "pods".

Seven student "residence halls" with single rooms were completed in 2005 using eco-friendly designs, natural materials and geo-thermal heating. [ 24 ] Moby performing in 2008 A stabbing incident occurred in 2004, when MIU student Shuvender Sem attacked two other students in separate incidents on the same day. [ 25 ] He stabbed the first student with a pen and, hours later, fatally stabbed Levi Butler with a knife. Sem was found not guilty due to insanity and the university settled a lawsuit that charged it with negligence. [ 25 ]