Long Spring Vacation, Early Midyear Exams In New Yale Schedule

Undergraduates at Yale University have just celebrated their last four-day Thanksgiving vacation. A recently announced schedule revision will reduce this holiday to a one-day recess next fall, and will also bring these major changes in the academic year at New Haven:

The fall term will begin about Sept. 15, two weeks earlier than it does now.

Students will take midyear examinations immediately after they return from Christmas vacation, instead of having two weeks of classes first.

Easter vacation will last a full weeks, instead of the present eight or ten days.

Low Morals In Spring

The chief reason for extending the Easter recess, Yale authorities explained, is the low student morale during the spring term. It is hoped that the longer vacation will break up the term more effectively and reduce the high number of students who usually enter the infirmary during the winter months.

Midyear exams have been shifted to a point in early January, the authorities said, because the two weeks of classes which now divide Christmas vacation and midyears are an academically representative period. Since Yale has no needing period, students tend to ignore their classes during these weeks and to wait for the actual exam period before studying in earnest.

Reaction to the new schedule has been generally favorable, with students especially liking the longer spring vacation and the earlier start of classes in the fall. In the past, many students have returned to New Haven in mid-Septem- ber anyway, because, as Robert Said, an editor of the Yale News, said last night, "there's nothing to do at home."

Four Day Thanksgiving Anyway

Students are not very disturbed about the shortening of the Thanksgiving recess, Said reported. "Most of them will go home for the four days, anyway," he said.

The early start of the fall term will, however, present a problem for the Yale varsity football team. Since Ivy Group rules forbid the start of football practice before Sept. 1, the Elis will now have only two weeks of two a day practice sessions before classes begin.

The Yale administration's chief problem in establishing the new academic schedule was to reconcile it with athletic schedules that were arranged several years ago. Since Yale's midyear exam period will now come two weeks before those of other colleges, it was necessary to reschedule all contests that would have been played in early January, in addition to those which would conflict with the Elis' new spring vacation