Yale to Offer Summer Term On Voluntary Basis in 1975

Yale University will offer a voluntary summer term for 750 students in 1975. Horace Taft, dean of Yale College, said yesterday.

The university's faculty approved the ten-week proposal last week by a 3-to-1 margin.

Initially the university administration hoped to establish a mandatory summer session to ease the school's financial burden. The proposed mandatory program probably would have been financially profitable, Taft said.

But students and faculty reacted strongly against the idea of a required summer term. Taft said, however, that there was a strong feeling that some sort of summer program should be tried. "A voluntary program will probably only break even, but it is an interesting experiment," Taft said.

Not Regular Curriculum

In the accepted proposal students will choose three courses from a range of studies that differ from the usual Yale curriculum.

"We want to attract 500 Yale students and 250 students from other schools," Taft said.

He said a brochure will be available in the spring to give students a one-year notice of the summer offerings.