Brewster Backs Report Of Yale Reform Group

President Kingman Brewster Jr., president of Yale, announced support yesterday for the proposals of a Yale planning committee which was formed to recommend ways to revitalize undergraduate education at Yale.

The major proposals of the committee included a three-year B.A. program, sex-blind admissions, the elimination of many small classes, and a move toward more education in the colleges and less in the departments.

Brewster--speaking before a faculty discussion session on the proposals--said the recommendations contained healthy pragmatism. "The report is not a program, but a bold revision. It would place greater reliance on guided self-education," he said.

Robert A. Dahl, chairman of the committee and professor of Political Science, said that all of the major proposals except the one concerning sex-blind admissions were done with Yale's financial problems in mind.

"The three-year B.A. and the move toward elimination of small classes and fewer departmental courses were recommended basically to help solve Yale's financial problems," Dahl said.

The purpose of the meeting was merely to discuss the proposals. Little faculty opinion, for or against the proposals, was voiced. One statement was made, however, that drew some favorable response from the faculty. Vincent Scully, professor of the History of Art, called the report outdated.

"The report voices student sentiment from two or three years ago," Scully said. "It is a romantic report, but it is anti-classical and unrealistic. Learning can be done in the classroom. I think students are looking for more structure in education now."

The faculty will vote on the proposals later this Spring. Dahl said that it would be very difficult to get a vote in time to implement the program for the Fall term.

Dahl added that one major proposal, sex-blind admissions, could not be put into effect for next Fall.