Committee at MIT Recommends Shift In Calendar Year

A special faculty committee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recommended last week that the Institute abandon the semester system and switch to a quarterly calendar.

The recommendations, which were made by the "Self-Appraisal" committee, also called for MIT to adopt a "per unit" tuition plan, and drop the flat rate tuition plan now in use.

The proposals must be voted on by the entire faculty.

Some of the advantages of the quarter system would be to lighten the course load per term for students and enable the Institute to attract more visiting faculty for shorter periods, James Bruce, chairman of the committee and associate dean of the School of Engineering, said yesterday.

The quarter plan, Bruce said, would also make future transition to a year-round operation easier.

Faculty response to the report has been varied, Bruce said. He reported that one faculty member said in a letter, "Any change from the present makes a worse system."