Toward the end of this season, the word was that Harvard might drop football. The word was wrong. But the mere fact that the College will go on fielding a team would be little consolation for the uncompromising partisan who feared a Chicago on the Charles. This college, as Provost Buck has pointed out, would rather not go on bracing up the rest of the league.

A revised football policy has now made that unnecessary. By dropping such pigskin heavyweights as Army and Cornell from our schedule, the Administration has put us in the class where the team can meet squads more nearly its equal. Harvard can well do without the big-time or the Big Ten.

If the College is going to be fairly successful against even its own kind, however, more than a negative approach--like rescheduling--is necessary. As Yale's athletic director has pointed out, the problem of football at a college that refuses to be a paying prep school for professional leagues is an alumni problem. It is up to the graduate to persuade men that Harvard is a school worth attending, that financial and job problems can be solved ethically, that Harvard is still interested in others besides potential summas, and is willing to concede that education does not necessarily include winning a Phil Beta Kappa key.

Coach Lloyd Jordan has put in the foundations for good future teams. He and his team have proved that football's future is not a closed case here. With the help of the alumni in straightening out the many public misconceptions about the College, and with continuing sanity in scheduling games and planning student employment, we can succeed in blazing our own trail.