Harvey Mudd College

The founders of the community, as well as most of the initial group of interested parties, attended Harvey Mudd, a private college in southern california. HMC had only 650 students, most of whom lived on a 33-acre campus in one of seven dorms. Because the college was so tiny, it was a close-knit social community, which we feel had many positive aspects (as well as a few negative ones). Among other things, it taught us how to make little charts with pro's and con's. Observe:

Good

Bad

Campus was a safe place for people and property. Anything you needed could be borrowed from someone. Anything. People were usually around and available for group social activities. There were useful group facilities like computer laboratories, workshops, and recreational areas. With lots of smart, interesting people in the same place, neat stuff just happened.

We did not own our living space. That space was often cramped and never felt quite like a home. We had little autonomy - other people made most of the important decisions about our community. Since college was mainly academic, new additions were chosen for academic fitness, which did not always strengthen the community. The population was transient, making it more difficult to develop a strong sense of community.

Notice that the good aspects are things which we can recreate in an IC, while the bad ones are things that we can avoid, since we will be self-governing and in ownership of our land and property.