READING PERIOD

(From The Dartmouth, November 25)

It was learned unofficially last night that the proposition of granting a three-day period to undergraduates for purposes of study previous to the examination period had been granted by faculty vote.

The proposal, as dealt with by the faculty upon recommendation of the Committee on Administration, will not be called a reading period in the strict sense in which this phrase is used regarding the Harvard reading period. The latter involves some three weeks' freedom from classes during which time specified readings are assigned. The three-day period to be granted to undergraduates will be principally for the benefit of those men having several exams in the opening days of the period, and for that group who will find in the allotted time an opportunity for a careful integration of the semester's work. The change as it has been made will be, it is understood, for the coming examination period only, and the determination of its continuance will rest upon the opinion of the faculty as to the beneficial results achieved by this change in its initial trial.

This action is similar in its intent to the proposal which The Dartmouth has made from time to time for a period of several years.

The Dartmouth said editorially in the same issue:

"For the great majority of undergraduates the change cannot be seen in any other light than as an unmitigated boon. It is another step in the direction of throwing a reliance upon the more serious and matured purposes of the student body. It is another evidence of a confidence in those purposes to accept in additional freedom not as a license to misuse but as a responsibility to be welcomed.

"We feel that we are not assuming too much in expressing the general undergraduate thanks to those who have given their necessary approval to this move for the welfare of the Dartmouth student body."