Wellesley and M.I.T. Get Fixed Up

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wellesley College began making eyes at each other yesterday.

They announced the beginning of a five-year experimental program in which undergraduates could take courses at either institution.

In a statement read at a joint press conference in Boston's Algonquin Club, Ruth M. Adams, president of Wellesley, and Howard W. Johnson, president of M.I.T., emphasized that no formal union is contemplated between the two schools.

But both presidents agreed that there was "no end to what can be done." They mentioned joint seminars and summer programs and exchanges of faculty members as future possibilities for cooperation.

The program is scheduled to begin in Fall, 1968. In the meantime a faculty-administration committee composed of members of both schools will try to iron out the wrinkles.

A major problem, Miss Adams and Johnson agreed, will be resolving Wellesley's trimester program with M.I.T.'s two-semester system.

In addition, busing plans must be arranged. Miss Adams pointed out that Wellesley currently operates operates a modest busing service to Harvard Square and various parts of Boston.

Johnson told reporters that Wellesley's curriculum has much to offer M.I.T. students in the liberal arts area. He mentioned Chinese as a field of study not offered at his institution but available at Wellesley.

Neither institution will drop any courses to avoid overlap with those offered at the other, both presidents emphasized. They predicted that the program would serve to strengthen weaker areas of their schools when exposed to stronger departments at the other.

Plans for a merger of Vassar and Yale announced last Fall did not prompt the new program, the presidents said. According to Miss Adams, she and Johnson met socially last fall and discovered similar problems as new presidents of their respective schools. They continued talking shop since then, she said, and the idea for the joint plan came form a sort of spontaneous combustion.

When asked about the girls currently enrolled at M.I.T., Johnson said their success at M.I.T. was one reason M.I.T. was willing to begin the Wellesley experiment.