Yale University has decided to spond $1.5 million in an extensive effort to improve its relations with the New Haven community.

On February 14, the University authorized a loan of that amount to the Rouse Company of Columbia, for the acquisition and rehabilitation of New Haven's Chapel Square Mall. Although interest on the loan is slightly below the current market rate, the University will receive a percentess of the mall's operating profits for its outlay, according to a project report released by Rouse.

'Yale's support reflects your belief that public and private partnerships can be worked out," Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti said.

"I don't see how our relations with Yale can improve any from where they stand now," New Haven Mayor Biagio DiLieto said of the Chapel Mall loan. "This bespeaks a recognition on Yale's part that it has more than a moral obligation to New Haven," he added.

The Chapel Square investment is the largest Yale has made in a New Haven project since it invested 54.5 million in the original construction of the mall in 1961. Yale Daily News, February 15