May 20, 2025 - It was the summer of 1965 and Ojai civil rights veteran Lanny Kaufer
was standing behind an outdoor stage in Virginia where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
was speaking.
“They have something in India called “darshan,” which is the feeling you get when you are in the presence of a holy man,” Kaufer, 78, said. “I had that experience hearing him speak. He was truly one of the great orators of our time. Then he came down the platform and shook all of our hands, thanking us for what we were doing.”
Kaufer will speak about the summer of his 18th year during CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)’s Summer Taste of OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), which features 25 single session, two-hour classes from June 9 through July 17. Registration opens Tuesday, May 27 at 8:30 a.m.
During his class, “The 60th Anniversary of the SCOPE Project and the Selma March,” scheduled for June 25, Kaufer will use music, photos and video to share the summer in which he volunteered for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project in the South. The civil rights project was planned to coincide with the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Other classes range from the arts to Artificial Intelligence to the planets to pygmy mammoths, to name just a few. All of the Summer Taste offerings are in person in Camarillo and Ventura, online, or a hybrid of both.
“There’s something for everyone, whether you’re interested in literature, art, archaeology, politics - if you’ve ever been curious about OLLI, this is your chance to sample classes without a three- or six-week commitment,” said OLLI Coordinator Shaina Salin. “The classes are designed for those age 50 and up, but open to adult lifelong learners of any age.”
For the first time, OLLI will offer “A Morning in the Ceramics Studio” with the Chair of CSUCI Art and Art History program, Marianne McGrath. Participants will have a chance to try their hand with clay, the oldest and most utilitarian material known to our species.
There will be two classes on Artificial Intelligence with “Is AI the End of Creativity in the Arts?” by Art Crime expert Christine Maasdam and “Generative AI in Everyday Life” by CSUCI Assistant Professor of Business Yeawon Yoo. Yoo will explain the core concepts of AI, how it has evolved and how it’s used in many sectors such as healthcare, education, art and business.
“From there, I’ll explore both the benefits and potential risks or weaknesses of generative AI, using practical, real-world examples to make these ideas more relatable,” Yoo said. “In order to make the session more interactive and interesting, I will also include a hands-on exercise where people can experiment with AI tools themselves - for example, generating images or text.”
Another subject currently on the public radar - national parks and other federally-owned land - will be covered by former Channel Islands National Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau with “This Land Is Your Land: Our Federal Lands and Their Future.”
“I think people believe our parks are protected, but they are only protected because it was an act of Congress,” said Galipeau, whose 40-year career with the National Park Service included time at seven national parks. “But they are not protected in perpetuity.”
Galipeau plans to explain all the fundamentals behind federally-owned land, as well as explaining the difference between agencies like the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife for example. He also will discuss his greatest concerns about the reduction in personnel in the nation’s parks and wilderness areas.
“Our public lands represent our heritage,” Galipeau said. “Who we are, where we’ve come from, where we’ve been and where we want to be in the future.”
In addition, OLLI at CSUCI will offer ten six-week Osher Online classes, which are run through a partnership with the Osher National Resource Center.
The cost is $15 for each Summer Taste class or take unlimited Summer Taste courses for $60 for individuals or $90 for couples (CL 1017 - A Morning in the Ceramics Studio and Osher Online courses are not included in the unlimited packages). For more, visit: Summer Taste of OLLI catalog .