ONE OF THE GREAT MERITS of a private institution of higher education, in contrast to one in the public sector, has been freedom to experiment and to try out or consider new ideas in the educational realm. The most successful and the most enduring of the many attempts at innovation at Tufts was the Experimental College, established in 1964 and still flourishing twenty years later. But there were other possibilities, such as a drastic revision of the academic calendar in the interests of economy and supposed academic efficiency. In spite of all the time and effort expended on it, the plan was never put into effect. Others, such as the Winter Study Period and the College Within, were actually tried but had only brief histories. But the very fact that they existed at all bore witness to the vitality of the institution and the willingness to consider and even try the new and innovative.