Despite many professors’ “gut reaction” against the new term, some say their opinions are not set in stone.

“The faculty has, to date, not had a serious discussion of calendar reform,” Mendelsohn says. “I could be convinced for either, but I would like to see more evidence.”

“I think we need to know a little bit more before we can develop opinions about it,” says Dean of the Social Sciences David Cutler. “In the abstract, it’s hard to say anything—it’s like asking, are you in favor of Harvard having a medical school?”

Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 says it is too early to comment on the proposal

“I could give you my thoughts, but at this point they would be premature,” he writes in an e-mail. “I’d prefer to wait to comment on what the faculty committee considering J-term comes up with.”

Conley admits that the faculty members, many of whom might not like the idea of an increased teaching load, still have to be won over, and he says that faculty “perks” will be written into the deal.

“We would not want to impose more on faculty,” he says. “If they chose to teach during a J-term, there would be encouragements written into it.”

Among the details Conley’s committee are ironing out are whether the classes should be pass/fail, how interdisciplinary they should be, how to permit students to go abroad and whether pre-professional internships should be allowed for credit.

“I see a move towards physical work—interning in some professional way in medicine or law, or investigation in field work overseas,” he says.

Conley says that the committee is leaning towards grading on a pass/fail basis only and is designing the semester in order to maximize student flexibility.

“One of the members of the committee observed that Harvard undergraduates are robbed of the elective qualities of their education because they have so many requisites to fulfill,” he says. “This would fulfill that sense of free-inquiry and freedom of intellectual movement.”

While Conley says the committee has yet to decide whether the J-term will be mandatory, he writes in an e-mail that “the most successful [J-terms] are mandatory in varying degrees.”

In keeping with a move towards more interdisciplinary teaching, Conley says faculty will be invited to collaborate with each other—and with students. “We are going to have faculty and student taught courses—or a course where students teach faculty,” he says. “I know one area where students can teach faculty—web construction and electronic design. Of course, students will also get credit for that.”

The committee will also recommend that a new office and administrative officer be created to run the J-term.

“We want to be ready to have a J-term, and have its functioning accounted for by software, hardware and staff,” Conley says.