For Dr. Michael Ross, a psychotherapist from Upland, California, the 20-minute drive to the airport is the easy part of his commute to Harvard Extension School each Sunday night. Departing at 9:30 pm, with a midnight layover in Las Vegas, Ross arrives at Logan International Airport in Boston at 7 am Monday. A taxi drops him at a Cambridge bed and breakfast for some much-needed sleep before an afternoon of study in the Grossman Library. At 5:30 pm Ross walks into Sever 202 to attend Erich Goldhagen's SSCI E-175 The Holocaust and the Phenomenon of Genocide, and two hours later, he goes next door to Emerson 210 for William Anderson's SSCI E-130 The Madness of Crowds.

In The Madness of Crowds Michael Ross is joined by other commuters from Florida, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. All have come to learn about "the behavioral phenomena of groups, crowds, mobs, witchcraft manias, financial crashes and panics, behavior during plagues, cults and mass movements, prophecies of apocalypse, and similar events" as promised in the Extension School catalogue. The question arises, Is the weekly gathering of pilgrims from seven states such a phenomenon? Dr. Ross is understandably hesitant to see his 6,200-mile commute as a manifestation of madness or cult behavior. "After a summer at the Harvard Summer School, I knew I had to continue at Harvard Extension," he explains. "And the courses I am taking now have direct application to my work as a therapist. Even when my return home was delayed five hours by the storm in October, making my round-trip commute 21 hours that week, it was worth the four hours of instruction from a Holocaust survivor and a lecturer from the Harvard Medical School."

Other commuters to The Madness of Crowds echo Ross's appreciation for the Extension School, if not the rigors of his itinerary. Ann Marie Danley and her husband, Michael, drive down from Brentwood, New Hampshire, each Monday to advance their Master in Liberal Arts (ALM) degrees. As professionals in the pharmaceutical and engineering fields, the Danleys are taking one course per term (including Summer School) for intellectual stimulation and as an activity they can share together each week.

Colleen Kershaw, originally from South Africa and Sussex, England, commutes from Nashua, New Hampshire, each Monday, while Cesar Paladino Sodré, a waiter at New York's Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park, takes the bus from Manhattan. Both are taking The Madness of Crowds to fulfill requirements for the Bachelor of Liberal Arts (ALB) degree. Sodré, who spends the night in the guest quarters at the Divinity School, says that the Harvard Extension School offers courses and a faculty that are unparalleled, even at the many universities and colleges in New York. Iskender "Alex" Catto, the creator, producer, and host of "Patterson's Most Wanted"--the TV program that has contributed to the arrest and conviction of hundreds of violent criminals in northern New Jersey and attracted the attention of NBC's "Today" show--commutes to Harvard each week for two intense days of classes and study. He says that his courses this term, The Media Campaign, Morals and Politics, The Madness of Crowds, and Introduction to Greek Archaeology, give him ideas and analytical tools he can use to assist the Patterson Police. "I can think of no better preparation for law school (my ultimate goal in education) than the work I am doing in the ALB program at Harvard Extension School," he adds.

Another police professional who has advanced his education by commuting to Harvard is Michael White, ALB '96, who now serves as chauffeur for his daughter, Brook White, Associate in Arts (AA) '96, his son, Michael White, Jr., and their cousin, Walter Barlow. All four pile into Mike, Sr.'s Ford Taurus on Monday afternoons for the drive from Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Cambridge. On arrival Brook and Mike, Jr. attend The Madness of Crowds (what else?) while Walter takes EXPO E-5 Fundamentals of Grammar. Meanwhile, Mike, Sr., a police officer who heads the Fugitive Task Force for the state of Rhode Island, goes to the Grossman Library to work on his crime novel and to prepare for the graduate proseminar he will take in the spring as a prerequisite for the ALM degree--his next great challenge in life. These commuters, among the nearly 300 students who come to Harvard Extension School each week from outside Massachusetts, are not the only ones from distant climes, however. As readers of The Harvard Lamplighter last spring will recall, "virtual commuters" are now taking math courses in cyberspace through the Internet, allowing them to communicate with their instructors and submit homework without leaving their homes and classrooms. Virtual commuters this term include three each from Oregon and New Jersey, one each from California and Connecticut, and--our most remote commuter this term--Alexander Pivovarsky, who submits his problem sets from Kiev, Ukraine.

It is now 9:30 on Monday night, and Dr. Anderson is wrapping up his reflections on the social and psychological phenomena class members may expect as the third millennium approaches. The White family heads out of Emerson Hall to find their Ford Taurus, as the Danleys and Colleen Kershaw begin their journey back to New Hampshire. Cesar Sodré walks to his temporary lodgings at the Divinity School and Michael Ross races for the taxi stand on Harvard Square. His "red-eye" flight will be in the air at 10:25 and he must be on it. Tomorrow will be a busy day at the office in Upland, California.