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A SALUTARY INFLUENCE came to the conclusion that its curriculum was "too rigid," by which they clearly meant that, in their opinion, both distribution and concentration requirements were excessive. They described the language and literature requirements as "extraordinarily high," and believed that the postwar addition of required courses in general education and appreciation, however valuable for the student, had only made things worse. "A student may have only one or two free electives," they noted, "after the various requirements are met." Team members were pleased to find in the curriculum and policy committee minutes evidence that "the faculty is aware of many problems and needs of curriculum revision." Probably few of them were naive enough to believe that being aware of problems and needs is the inevitable preliminary to doing something about them. In his farewell message in June 1955 President Langsam also noted that, in spite of some recent changes, the curriculum was still "too rigid and inflexible to meet the needs of our current constituents." A year and a half later, the General could find no better term than "too rigid" to convey his impression of the existing curriculum. The new president diverted whatever momentum there might have been at this time for prompt response to the Middle States recommendations into a study of how best to handle the Gettysburg contingent of the tidal wave of students. He favored dividing the year from September through August into three terms, each equivalent in length to a traditional semester, with brief vacations between each of the so-called trimesters. In this way the College could accommodate some 2,250 students during a twelve-month period without an increase in facilities. Faculty members on the joint planning committee and later on the new academic policy and program committee soon convinced the General to join with them in turning their investigation from the trimester to the quarter system, in which an entire year would be divided into four eleven-week terms. The proposal which the latter committee presented for the preliminary reaction of the trustees in December 1958 called for fall, winter, and spring terms only, running from September to June. Its members believed that this calendar arrangement had distinct academic advantages entirely apart from the question of year-round operations. They hoped that it could be approved and placed in operation in 1960-1961. The General lent his support to the committee proposal, arguing that, if approved, "the College will be a leader in its group and ready without too much confusion to adopt a fourth quarter if and when demand justifies it." At this point the academic policy and program committee decided that it should not proceed with further development of the quarter- system proposal until it could devise and secure approval of a statement of College purposes. Although a tentative statement was 87