Official announcement made by University authorities yesterday has confirmed rumors current here during the past week to the effect that a new Department would be added to the University. Next fall a Naval Reserve Officer's course will be opened to students in the University, and the course will be administered by the new Department of Naval Science and Tactics.

The course to be conducted under the supervision of Naval officers will be elective and open to members of the class of 1930. It is designed as a four year course, to be divided into two parts, the Basic Course and the Advanced Course. The Basic Course will consist of a two years training in the rudiments of naval gunnery, construction, and navigation. It will parallel the preliminary course in the Military Training Department. The Advanced Course will be open only to those who have completed the first two years' work.

Reserve Posts Open to Graduates

On completion of the training in the course students will have qualified for appointment as officers in the Naval Reserve. The full four years' course will include attendance at one advanced summer camp or cruise. All naval subjects covered will be credited towards the University degree, and at least three hours per week will be required during the first two years of the course.

Membership in the course will be limited to students who are citizens of the United States, whose condition indicates that they are physically and mentally qualified to perform military duty, or will be so qualified upon arrival at military age.

Uniforms to be Supplied by Navy

The plan is a new development of naval instruction in American universities patterned after the system of military instruction already in force. The Navy department has announced that its intention to institute these courses has grown out of the successful experience of the World War. There, after an intensive six months' course, college men proved their ability to make good acting ensigns.

Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps camps or cruises will be held during the summer annually, and students enrolled in any of the courses in Naval Science and Tactics may apply for admission to them. Uniforms and necessary equipment in the course will be supplied by the Navy Department without expense to the students.

The primary object of the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps is to provide systematic instruction and training which will quality selected students for appointment as officers in the Naval Reserve. The plan will provide a course to instruction so designed that a college man may prepare himself for service to his country in time of national emergency as a commissioned officer of the Navy.