Athletics at college have always been a touchy subject. It has been very easy to make accusations of professionalism but much harder to ward off the charges. The new Inter-University Committee on Eligibility, consisting of one faculty member each from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, must aid in removing the slightest trace of impurity that might be thought to exist. Nevertheless it is unfortunate that it should be considered necessary to place responsibility for athletics with academic authorities.
The Committee will not find it easy at first to free itself of the difficulties regarding eligibility, something which the respective athletic associations are now able to do if only from long practice. There will be twilight grounds between eligibility and ineligibility which will prove difficult to decide due to inexperience. This, however, is the length to which the three Universities must go to prove their amateur standing.
Therefore it should decisively be shown that it is now the responsibility of the college as a whole, rather than just of the athletic associations, to preserve the standards of these Universities. It will no longer be possible to say that only losing teams are amateur; Messrs. Tunis and Kelley will clamor invalidly that Harvard's victories prove money in its pocket.
Read more in News
Tracksters Run Today