Yale plans to reduce incoming class sizes

In a move that could potentially change the face of the Ivy League, Yale University officials announced earlier this week plans to decrease the size of the school's student body.

The Yale admissions office said it intends to take 100 fewer students during the next two years.

And the size reductions appear to have already taken effect. This year, though Yale's graduating Class of 2000 contained about 1,400 students, the incoming freshman class comprised only 1,350 students. In addition, Yale officials estimated that the Class of 2006 will number no more than 1,300.

Yale Dean of Admissions Richard Shaw said the decrease in class size is the result of an increase in demand for on-campus housing, partially because of a number of recent renovations.

Currently, all 12 of Yale's residential colleges are in the process of being refurbished, reducing the amount of available housing.

"Our main objective here is the accommodation of students," Shaw said in an interview yesterday. "We need to ensure that we don't have any overcrowding."

Yale is, according to Shaw, seeking "to equalize the number of students so that our living environment meets their expectations and needs. This is really a response to the voice of the students."

Yale's decision comes within months of a related, yet contrasting, decision made by Princeton University officials.

Princeton officials decided last spring to admit 125 more students per freshman class likely starting in 2004.

Administrators have said that Princeton's student body size increase will begin when adequate housing is available. A key part of that additional housing will be the proposed sixth residential college.

Paul Wythes '55, vice-chairman of the trustees' executive committee, said he hopes making Princeton's student body larger will "offer an incredible opportunity to 125 more people."

Princeton and Yale are traditionally considered to be two of the smaller Ivy League institutions. They have much smaller undergraduate populations than Harvard University or the University of Pennsylvania.

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If Yale continues to reduce the size of its student body, it could displace Princeton as one of the smallest schools in the Ivy League — second only to Dartmouth.

Wythes, however, said he believes the changes at both Princeton and Yale will not significantly affect a student's experience at either of those universities.

In all probability, he said, Yale's proposed cutbacks are only temporary measures to deal with the housing difficulties. Wythes also said he believes Princeton's reputation as having a comparatively small undergraduate student body size is not in jeopardy.

"I really don't think the numbers make a difference," he said in an interview yesterday. "[Princeton is] not the smallest, and we certainly don't intend on being the biggest."

Like Wythes, other officials at both Princeton and Yale say the proposed changes would not upset a balance within the Ivy League.

President of the University Board of Trustees Robert Rawson '66 said he believes the changes are not enough to warrant any radical predictions for the future.

Thinking 'differently'

"We feel we can increase the size of the freshman class without changing the overall character of the University," he said yesterday. "Yale is a fine university, but we here at Princeton think differently. Yale is simply making judgements about what it feels is necessary."

Shaw was also reserved when asked to make comparisons between the two universities.

"There are no ulterior motives here," he said. "Institutions make different decisions for different reasons. We're just making the ones that are right for us."