Cheese remains a mystery for many of Rich McGaughey’s students.
Some expect exotic ingredients or complex alchemy when they show up to McGaughey’s cheese making classes at Colorado Free University. The simplicity of the materials — some milk, some vinegar and a basic press — is a revelation for those who’ve come looking to learn how to make their own mozzarella.
“It’s relatively easy to make and people are shocked,” said McGaughey, who’s taught cheesemaking at the CFU campus at the former Lowry Air Force Base for seven years. “They think there are some special ingredients or equipment.”
Demystifying the processes behind cheddar, Brie and Swiss is at the heart of the larger mission behind the Colorado Free University. No, the institution wasn’t founded specifically on making cheese accessible to the masses, nor was it created as a culinary outpost for the common man.
Since 1987, the Colorado Free University has been all about making information accessible. And the kind of information they make accessible is a lot more diverse than what’s on the roster at the typical four-year college. With tuition rates less than $100 that cover the cost of basic materials and a catalogue that ranges from Spanish courses to soap making classes, CFU has always been about offering a wide scope of instruction.
That was the vision that John Hand had in mind when he opened the school more than 25 years ago. It’s also the mission his sister, Helen Hand, has kept at the forefront since taking over CFU after her brother’s death in 2004.
“What matters to me and what keeps me excited is the community aspect, bringing people together,” said Hand, who juggles her post as university president with a day job as a psychologist. “It’s having people have an exchange of information and ideas and skills in an intimate, personal setting.”
That setting is the two-story blond brick building that once served as the firehouse when Lowry was an active Air Force Base. The university moved to Lowry in 1999 from its first site on East Colfax Avenue and York Street. CFU opened shortly after the closure of Denver Free University in the 1980s.
But while DFU was borne of the free speech movement of the 1960s, John Hand opened the Colorado Free University with a less political purpose in mind. The school would host a mix of practical and obscure programming. Spanish and computer classes coexist with courses devoted to the art of self-hypnosis.
“Each catalogue cycle, we’ve got new classes coming on and some classes dropping out,” Hand said, adding that classes succeed or fail depending on instructor availability and enrollment. “If people sign up for a class, we keep the class. If they don’t, it goes away.”
Some of those mainstays make sense. Practical classes like Spanish, marketing and computer technology draw a steady core of students throughout the year. But CFU isn’t all about practicality. Since 1997, Sally Lilly’s soap making class has drawn a steady student base several times a year.
“In the early days, there must have been 1,000 people a day moving into Denver. I had four to six classes at any one time,” said Lilly, who provides students with basic materials for making a wide range of different soaps. “I’ve gotten everything from husband and wife teams to mothers and daughters sharing an experience. Quite a lot of women are interested in it. I get single men as well.”
That kind of diversity is a perfect fit for Lilly’s unique area of expertise. A soap maker who started independently studying the craft in the 1980s because of allergies and skin reactions to mainstream soap products, Lilly found a craft that fit her own unique skills. With CFU, she found an institution where she could share them with others.
That kind of outlet is becoming more and more hard to find. In the age of YouTube instruction videos and Rosetta Stone kits for learning language, schools like CFU are turning into relics of another age.
“When the free university movement started, there were over 300 free universities that popped up around the country. By the 1990s, there were 30 independent, free-standing adult education centers with this model,” Hand said. “Now, there are fewer than 10.”
That’s not to say that people can’t find adult education courses in other forms. But CFU’s focused catalogue of diverse classes and disciplines isn’t common.
“People get to take control of their own lives,” she said. “They get to choose what they need and take the classes that matter to them.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com