President Pusey, acting as Dean of the Faculty, has approved the financial expenditure for the Yard reorganization to take place next fall.
Under the new plan, the 15 freshman dormitories will be grouped into five advising units, each under the supervision of a "resident senior adviser." All proctors will become advisers to the students within their unit, and one suite in each unit will be converted into a common room and into offices for non-resident advisers. The Faculty money will go into the salaries of the five senior advisers and pay for the conversion of the five suites.
Dean von Stade reported that the administration has decided on the following complexes: Grays-Wigglesworth; Matthews-Massachusetts-Straus; Weld-Thayer; Hollis-Stoughton-Holworthy-Lionel-Mower; and Greenough-Pennypacker-Hurlburt. The groups may be dubbed according to their geographical location: next year's freshmen in Matthews-Mass-Straus may know their home as "southwest Yard."
To Imitate Seminars
Although the plan is basically an effort to "firm up" Yard advising, it is also in attempt to "imitate the highly successful House seminar program." Resident and non-resident advisers will be encouraged to offer voluntary seminars in the unit's common room. Many of next year's advisers "Are already enthusiastic about the idea," said von Stade.
Rehabilitation of the Union is also planned. The second floor passageway from the Mirror Room to the Varsity Club will be blocked off and the Mirror Room redone into a small dining room. All the third floor rooms will undergo a face-lifting.
Parties in the Union
"What I hope will come out of this are large, unit-wide parties and dinners in the Union," von Stade said. The senior advisers, whose names have been submitted for approval to the Corporation, will receive an entertainment allowance.
Von Stade pointed out that this is the first major Yard change since the institution of the advising system under Dean Leighton in 1932.
Read more in News
Breathless