I've always wanted to participate in some kind of university study that studies psychic phenomenon, but this psychomanteum makes me leery.  It doesn't sound like a very well-rounded "class" but more like an experiment.  I also feel like the hype these young people hear from other students might very well pre-load their minds with expectations.  And the article doesn't say that the class teaches anything, like how to communicate and receive verification, which I think is crucial especially in this day and age when there are so many ghost-hunter shows out there that make you believe that everyone is seeing ghosts wherever they go, without any verifiable evidence as to who the ghost is. 

I guess what I don't like about it is that it doesn't center on the focus of using your nonphysical senses of perception in a normal setting.  I can't imagine it's easy to learn how to put yourself into a self-induced trance.  You'd need to also learn how to get out of it and retain memory of your experience, while at the same time bypassing any dream states which might naturally occur. 

I believe it was Raymond Moody who has described how to set this kind of room up. It is called a psychomanteum. Easy to google that. It is just interesting that it was used as a course. I think it is an independent study course and offered through the religion department.

Yeah the article was written more for the local newspaper on-line rather than for the NY Times... but does the Times write about things like this? and yeah I heard about it in the TMI newsletter.

Here's a link with more info and links
http://www.psychomanteum.com/

well the wiki article is more simple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum