12-Hour Commute to Class With Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky (left), the noted linguist and political thinker who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is this semester co-teaching a course on politics at the University of Arizona. When Joe Coughlin heard about the course, he knew he needed to attend, even though he's not a student, and even though he lives in Bakersfield, Cal. He commutes 12 hours each way -- via bus and train -- to attend the lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Tucson.com reported. The article noted that Coughlin isn't the only nonstudent attending. More than half of the roughly 500 students who attend the lectures are not enrolled. People start lining up at 4 p.m. for the 5 p.m. classes.