Rosovsky to Ask Bok for Study Panel If Faculty Doesn't Advance Calendar

If the Faculty fails to approve a proposed one-week shift in the calendar today, Dean Rosovsky will advise President Bok to appoint a faculty committee to recommend to Bok a "dictatorial calendar reform plan" for the whole University.

Rosovsky announced his plan at the end of a discussion on calendar reform at a monthly meeting of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life.

A University committee of biologists proposed the calendar change last month, under which the fall semester would start one week earlier than it does now, on the understanding that the Med School faculty agree to begin the Med School calendar one week later.

The Med School faculty voted such a change last week.

"I prefer the more decentralized route, but if the Faculty can't decide, this committee would be the only way to get a unified calendar," Rosovsky said.

The committee of biologists initially intended the calendar reform plan to facilitate cross-registration between the College, the Med School, and other nearby schools by synchronizing their calendars.

"There is a tremendous amount of teaching talent at the Med School that undergraduates are missing," John E. Dowling, professor of Biology, said yesterday.

Dowling, who will present the reform proposal to the Faculty today, said there are 21 courses, comprising about 500 student places, that a calendar shift would open up to undergraduates.

Dean Fox said yesterday "by getting us out before June, the plan represents the possibility of an upswing in student summer earnings."

The reaction of student CHUL members to the plan was mixed.

"This proposal will shorten reading period and that will encroach on a student's Christmas vacation," John Crocker III '77, CHUL representative from Eliot House, said yesterday.

The proposal before the Faculty would shorten the fall reading period by four days in the next academic year and would cut short intersession by three days.

However, Dean Rosovsky said many students use the end of Christmas vacation to study anyway, so he believes the fall reading period could be shortened without causing hardship.

Finals would still be held after Christmas vacation under the proposal.

CHUL also debated and passed in part a resolution to replace House fire drills with a program to educate students on evacuation procedures and the use of fire control equipment.

Up and At 'Em

But in the face of strong opposition, Lee E. Baines '77, CHUL representative from Kirkland House, agreed to drop the resolution's ban on fire drills.

The resolution was then passed.

In other business, Eleanor C. Marshall, assistant to the deans of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges for housing, said at the meeting she expects enough rooms in the Houses to open up by the start of the Spring semester to allow 35 students to transfer.