The College

very little fanfare over the change in the all-male character it has had for the past two centuries, Dartmouth College opened its 203rd academic year on Monday, September 25. As the fall term got under way, the reality of the College's new coeducational character was most definitely confirmed when students gathered in Webster Hall that first evening to take part in the traditional Convocation exercises. In the audience were most of the 251 undergraduate women now enrolled as candidates for the Dartmouth degree, plus many of the additional 100 women on campus for one year as exchange students.

The 1972 fall term can make another claim. It marks the beginning of Dartmouth's new plan of year-round operation, consisting of four fully equal terms - fall, winter, spring, and summer - with short vacations between terms. All freshmen are on the so-called Dartmouth Plan, and a majority of sophomores and juniors have elected the year-round program which requires the student to attend at least one summer term during the four-year course.

As the first year of coeducation moves along, we will be reporting on it. At the outset the most remarkable thing is how calmly it has all begun.