Yale Faculty Plans to Institute Language Requirement in 1983

Yale University voted last week to require two years of foreign language study for undergraduates beginning with the class of 1987, reinstating a requirement dropped in the late 1960s.

Every Ivy League school except Brown now has a language requirement, and officials at Yale expressed hope that their decision would spark increasing interest in language study at other colleges and secondary schools.

The Yale faculty had discussed the issue intermittently for more than a year but the decision did not cause much of a stir among students on campus. The rule, when instituted, will only affect about 150 members of each class because most will be able to bypass the requirement with standardized language tests. Yale officials said.

Peter Brooks, a professor in Yale's French department, yesterday said the move would "send a signal through the academic community that language study is an essential part of a liberal education." He added, "when language study is losing out on the free market, it's important to make it available in other ways.".

French department Chairman Charles Porter, who opposed the new requirement, said that "it would be foolish to create the sense of bad will which you get with requirements." Most students at Yale know a second language before coming to college, he added.

Yale students interviewed yesterday were supportive of the decision. Freshman Claire S. Duvemoy called the move "realistic--something you'll need in later life." Another freshman, Kate Davey, said, "I think it's a good thing for any college student to know a language," but she expressed concern that "people might feel forced to take it just to fulfill a requirement."