each course was kept small to encourage group cohesion. Small group work was common. Since many students were poor readers, just learning to read, or had English as a second language, educators often made sure that each group had at least one good reader. Together, the group conducted research, organized their work, and reported back orally to the rest of the class. Faculty ate at the same tables as students, and all meals were communal. A number of extracurricular activities were also offered to not only enhance the health of faculty and students but also to promote a sense of community. These included athletics, dances, group hikes, and communal singing. Brookwood's educational program was initially a two-year one. Courses were three hours a week for 15 weeks. However, students and others pressed the college to make the program shorter to reduce the demands on workers, and a one-year program was added in 1926. Brookwood also began offering two-week "summer institutes" in 1926 for those who could not take the longer program. Speakers at these institutes included U.S. Senators, corporate executives, U.S. military personnel (often from the Corps of Engineers), and representatives from state regulatory agencies. Correspondence courses and extension courses (primarily delivered through labor unions) were part of the offerings as well. The college's educational efforts also included publication of a number of short, pragmatic pamphlets, worksheets, and booklets for workers to use in union organizing campaigns and strikes. Brookwood began offering a Chautauqua in 1934. Organized by students, the traveling show of speakers, drama, singers, and others traveled throughout New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Student body Brookwood Labor College was a residential college, the first and only residential labor college in the United States. Admission requirements to Brookwood were low. The college admitted students primarily on the basis of merit, looking for those with the most passion and promise for union work. Three references were required, two of them from labor union officials (to ensure that labor spies did not enroll). A student also had to be a worker and could not be independently wealthy. Union membership, however, was not required. Primarily socialist or radical-left unions sponsored students at Brookwood, however. Brookwood accepted its first students and began classes in the fall of 1921 (although sources differ as to whether the school opened in September or October). There were just three faculty in the first term. The number