Wintersession, or Winter Term as it has been previously known, is a special opportunity for Wellesley students to take classes throughout January. The course offerings have typically been language heavy, including short-term study abroad programs in countries such as Germany, Italy, Cuba, Morocco, Spain and France. The term also provides other opportunities for students, such as the Albright Institute. According to our archives, the first Winter Term occurred in 1975, and its inauguration was the source of significant discourse.
In a Letter to the Editor published in The Wellesley News edition of May 12, 1974, an individual by the name of R. Polly Sle championed the newly created term.
“I want to express my admiration and warm thanks to all those people who have worked so feverishly to make winter study at Wellesley in January, 1975 a reality, Wellesley’s first Winter Term promises to be a smashing success!
“The activities will be stimulating (if course titles are an accurate indication) and will provide students the opportunity to round out their education experience with some “fun” courses for a change.
“Moreover, Winter Term participants will learn what it is really like to live in a community. Some may say that we have all been doing that for some time now, but you are wrong. Winter Term will reveal to us the error of that myth.
“Living together is one of the most important aspects of community life; and, as we all know, living arrangements have been worked out smoothly and to the satisfaction of everyone. The residents of Bates, Freeman and McAfee, who so cheerfully volunteered the use of their rooms, deserve a special thanks. Their enthusiastic cooperation has been a big help in the planning of Winter Term.
“With this success under our belts, we should plan to tackle bigger and better things. How about the residence contract? That definitely needs some revision — grants the student too many rights, we all know that power is dangerous in the hands of those who do not understand it. But that’s just a hint of what’s to come ….”
In the same edition of The Wellesley News, Ellen Myer expressed her disapproval of the Winter Term housing arrangements in a provocatively titled Letter to the Editor, “Winter term violates Rights of students.” In it she critiqued the policy that required all students staying on campus to reside in East Side dorms, forcing those already living there but not staying on campus over January, to completely move out.
“ … Obviously, the Winter Term we are being ‘offered,’ which claims the authorization of Academic Council, bears little resemblance to this proposal in terms of residence policy. Winter Term ’75 can succeed only if the college forces students who cannot or do not want to attend Winter Term to give up their rooms during January. This forced move entails a great deal of time spent packing, since the college will assume no liability for anything left in the rooms; and it requires such great amounts of time in the midst of final exams. Winter Term ’75 is not “voluntary and self-supporting,” as Academic Council mandated it should be.
“Whether or not Winter Term ’75 will occur remains to be seen. If it does, it will represent a gross inequity, a project built upon discrimination and exploitation, of which Wellesley can hardly be proud.”
Three years ago, when it seemed that wintersession might be cancelled permanently to allow time for the long-term construction of many buildings on campus, students and teachers rallied around the importance of the between-semester opportunity, but the program obviously took time to reach its current popularity. Perhaps we owe a debt of thanks to Myer that we get to keep our rooms throughout Wintersession.
Image credit: Wellesley College Archives
Contact the editors responsible for this story: Phoebe Rebhorn and Hira Khan
