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This article presents a historical ethnography of the early years of that utopian experiment, emphasizing President David E. Sweet, the “Riverboat Gambler,” whose Christian Science faith shaped a charismatic community and educational innovations.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-riverboat-gamblers-utopian-experiment-an-historical-ethnography-of-minnesota-metropolitan-state-college/602568/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-riverboat-gamblers-utopian-experiment-an-historical-ethnography-of-minnesota-metropolitan-state-college/602568.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"pixelkiddo","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What made Minnesota Metropolitan State College (MMSC) radically different from traditional colleges?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It had no campus and operated without classes, grades, academic terms, or lower-division courses, while still providing the last two years of a Bachelor’s degree to non-traditional students.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Who is David E. 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Sweet, the “Riverboat Gambler,” is presented as a key figure who forged a charismatic community and guided the school’s radical educational approach.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the article use historical ethnography to analyze the “utopian experiment”?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It focuses on the early years of the experiment and interprets its educational innovations through the development of a charismatic community shaped by Sweet’s Christian Science beliefs.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},602568,1792232068,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090883892,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e00115db34f3e0f11b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1790152879550218658","A Riverboat Gambler’s Utopian Experiment  \nMonte Bute  \nThe Journal of Educational Foundations 2017,Vol. 30. No. 1-4, pp. 7-32 Copyright 2017 by Caddo Gap Press  \nKeywords:  \nTeaching and Learning; Higher Education; Christian Science;  \nUtopian Experiment;Charismatic Community;Historical Ethnography; Charisma; Utopia  \nAbstract  \nIn a seven-year study of new experimental colleges, Grant and Riesman (1978) report that within those schools “The utopian impulses are strong, representing a search for a more perfect union.” One of the most radical of those experiments was Minnesota Metropolitan State College (MMSC). In addition to having no campus, the school had no classes, no grades, no academic terms, and no lower division courses. This article isan historical ethnography of the early years of that utopian experiment and its radical educational innovations. It focuses on President David E. Sweet (the “Riverboat Gambler” in the title of this article) and his band of“committed amateurs and well-trained professionals,” who forged a charismatic community. A devout Christian Scientist, Sweet rejected the idea that creating heaven on earth was just a figure of speech. As a matter of faith, He believed that the Kingdom of Heaven has the spiritual potential of manifesting itself in the present—in particular, at Metropolitan State.  \nIntroduction  \nMy experience was the definition of transformation. The school was transforming, daily. Everybody was transforming. It was so remarkable,  \nMonte Bute is an associate professor of sociology and social science in the Social Science Department at Metropolitan State University, Saint Paul, Minnesota. His e-mail address [is: monte.bute@metrostate.edu](is: monte.bute@metrostate.edu)  \n􀀷  \nso energetic. Metro State transformed me from being a pharmaceutical salesperson to a deputy press secretary for the governor of Minnesota in 14 months. Is this a great university or what?  \n—Jim Lukaszewski,‘74,(Metropolitan State University, 2011, p. 38)  \nOn a cold November day in 1971, two women were walking in downtown St. Paul. They were inside a second story-level “skyway”(enclosed tunnels between buildings), Minnesota’s answer to the harsh winds of winter. They paused before an ill-lit and unfinished office. Situated above Walgreen’s Drug Store, newspapers of the era described the space as “austere” and “gloomy.”‘“This is a college?’ one asked looking at the cardboard sign that read ‘Minnesota Metropolitan State College.’ Her companion shrugged.‘Things are different now, I guess”’(“Minn. Met State College ‘   To try the untried,’” 1971, p. 14) .  \nIts location was not the only unconventional characteristic of Minnesota Metropolitan State College (MMSC) . In addition to having no campus, the school had no classes, no grades, no academic terms, and no lower division courses (Anderson, 1972, 1A) . As one of only nine senior colleges in the nation, Metropolitan State was using these experimental methods to provide the last two years of a Bachelor’s degree to non-traditional students. Before MMSC even opened its doors in 1971, Clark Kerr, the chairman of the prestigious Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, was proclaiming the school as “perhaps the most innovative institution of higher education in the United States”(“50 Enroll in College,” 1972, p. 10) .  \nIn its first 18 months of operation, MMSC (now known as Metropolitan State University) became somewhat of a media sensation. Stories appeared in nine national newspapers and magazines, ranging from The Washington Post (Brettingen, 1971) and the U.S. News and World Report (“A Different Type of College,” 1971) to The New York Times (Malcom, 1972) and the Saturday Review (Cass, 1972) .  \nIn a seven-year study of new experimental colleges including Metropolitan State, Gerald Grant and David Riesman found that “The utopian impulses are strong, representing a search for a more perfect union”(1978, p. 37) . The authors also assert that these non-traditional ins","cbCaihMYayrEzmk3","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihMYayrEzmk3","pdf",127286,26,"English","# Introduction\n## Minnesota Metropolitan State College as an experimental model\n## Media attention and the utopian impulses\n## Framing the research question and theoretical tools","[{\"question\":\"What made Minnesota Metropolitan State College (MMSC) radically different from traditional colleges?\",\"answer\":\"It had no campus and operated without classes, grades, academic terms, or lower-division courses, while still providing the last two years of a Bachelor’s degree to non-traditional students.\"},{\"question\":\"Who is David E. Sweet, and why is he central to the article?\",\"answer\":\"David E. Sweet, the “Riverboat Gambler,” is presented as a key figure who forged a charismatic community and guided the school’s radical educational approach.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article use historical ethnography to analyze the “utopian experiment”?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on the early years of the experiment and interprets its educational innovations through the development of a charismatic community shaped by Sweet’s Christian Science beliefs.\"}]","A Riverboat Gambler’s Utopian Experiment - An Historical Ethnography of Minnesota Metropolitan State College | PDF",1792094894,66]