Last June there came from the Department of Athletics the announcement of a rather major change in Harvard athletic policy: Beginning with the current academic year, lacrosse and golf will be dropped from the ranks of "regular team sports."

Specifically, this means that "the College will continue to provide coaching and fields for lacrosse and coaching for golf, and students may still receive insignia in these sports, but initiative in organizing teams and schedules must now come from the students rather than the Athletic Department. The College will not pay for trips or any new equipment."

Lacrossemen Angered

Because this announcement came at a time when most undergraduates had already left Cambridge for the summer, it did not receive the initial attention that might otherwise be expected for a decision of such import. However, angry lacrossemen have had three months to fume about the matter and have returned to college this fall with their sticks raised, ready to do battle for their sport.

The repercussions of this policy-change are only just beginning to be felt. It seems worthwhile, then, to probe more deeply into the situation which made such a step necessary; and to consider ways and means of averting the most regrettable of its effects....

It is only a dozen years or so since Harvard athletics ceased to be self-supporting. Since that time, however, operating costs have risen so sharply (while income remained roughly the same) that the Department of Athletics has had to ask for increasingly large amounts of funds from the University.

Last spring the Administration decided that enough was enough. The Department submitted a projected 1958-59 budget requesting $120,000 more than the total appropriation for last year. The administration, however, decided that only a raise of $20,000 was feasible. The Athletic Department was forced to make economics somewhere; and, as it worked out, the axe fell most heavily on lacrosse and golf.

It should be remarked, however, that economy cuts were made throughout the budget; all sports were affected to a greater or lesser degree.

Why Lacrosse and Golf?

One cannot be completely sure just why lacrosse and golf were singled out for especially harsh treatment.

For some years, there have been reports that local lacrossemen and golfers train on liquor and late dates. Perhaps these reports are totally unfounded. But they may well have reached the ears of the men who decide Harvard athletic policy thus become involved in the recent "economy steps." Such, at least, is the current Dillon Field House scuttlebutt.

However this may be, there is no one who does not regard the new situation as regrettable. Athletic Director Tom Bolles has been the target of some unfair blame in this connection in local "jock" circles. Bolles is as sorry as anyone about things; but he has simply had to find some way of getting along with less money.

Admission Problem

If anything, the issue should be taken up with the Administration, rather than the Athletic Department.

A fairly strong case might be presented. In these days of high-pressure athletics, lacrosse and golf are refreshingly low-pressure. The men who play these sports do purely for fun--there are no rewards here in terms of headlines, scholarships, or popular acclaim.

This kind of attitude seems very much in line with the Administration's general thinking about the role of athletics in a University. "Athletics for all" is a favorite Harvard slogan. The intramural program goes far toward making this phrase real; but intercollegiate contests present another--and at least as valuable--kind of athletic experience. The University should do all in its power to make this experience available to as wide a range of people as possible.

Balance Sought

This is, of course, just one side of the argument. It can be effectively challenged by pointing to the insignificance of the athletic program alongside the much bigger tasks that confront modern educators--things like raising teachers' salaries and building new housing facilities.

There is only so much money to go around. Very likely the Administration feels that athletics are already receiving their proper share of University funds. A balance in academic and athletic expenditures must be achieved; and the Administration has (according to its own lights) defined this balance so as to serve the best interests of all concerned.

Failing to secure reprieve in this direction, slighted lacrossemen (and others) might go back to the H.A.A. extravagance. It is reported, for example, that every member of the hockey squad receives a free pair of skates from the H.A.A., that tennis players get two free racquets apiece (ditto squash players and racquets), and that the H.A.A. pays three men overtime wages to collect blocking dummies from Soldiers Field after football practice everyday.

Blunder Last Spring

Then, too, there are those who remember the rainy day last spring when the varsity baseball team was sent off for an away game at Cornell. A telephone call to Ithica, prior to departure time, was ruled out--apparently for seasons of "protocol." When the players arrived at Cayuga's waters and found playing conditions impossible, they were forced to turn around and fly right home. The whole fruitless venture cost $1000 in airplane tickets.

Lacrossemen and golfers might, then, demand the elimination of such apparently wasteful expenditure of H.A.A. funds. They might demand a tight-money policy from the Athletic Department--in the hopes that enough dollars would be saved here and there to finance the reinstatement of their sports.

Difficult to Budget

But this argument, too, can be at least partially challenged. It is difficult to run a large and sprawling organization, such as the Athletic Department, on a tight budget. For one thing, nobody can predict in advance the extent of the income to be derived from football gate-receipts. This depends on team performance, weather, and other such imponderables. It is too easy to be harsh about H.A.A. finances; and it is sometimes unfair.

Another possible course of action for the slighted athletes and one that lacrossemen are already considering--is to raise on their own sufficient money to meet operating costs. Lacrosse players have presented this suggestion to their particular supporters among the alumni, who would presumably provide the cold cash.

Such a drive for funds could aim either at permanently endowing lacrosse, or at providing only enough money to meet the expenses of the next spring season (about $5000). Some Harvard sports--for example, crew and fencing--are already heavily endowed and thus are not a serious financial burden on the University. But this kind of system raises a spectre of undue alumni control over Harvard athletics; and its implications must be carefully thought out before it is accepted as general practice.

May Hurt Program

There is, of course, an additional difficulty here: the Administration's desire that no Harvard organizations engage in fund-raising activities of their own while the Program for Harvard College is operational.

There are, in fact, ugly rumors about that the Program may soon become much involved in the lacrosse controversy, since several potentially large contributors to the Fund Drive are old lacrossemen angered by the decision to de-emphasize their boyhood past-time.

And yet, in the end, the Program may well be the salvation of Harvard lacrosse (and golf, etc.). A considerable amount of money raised by the Program has reportedly been earmarked for athletic endowment might well enable the college athletic establishment to fill out to its former size once again.

Reinstatement Possible

Bolles is hopeful that money from this source and possibly, too, from increased football gate receipts (as the two-year-old Ivy League becomes more firmly established) may eventually permit the reinstatement of lacrosse and golf as "regular team sports."

In the meantime controversy grows. President Pusey has received 160 letters from alumni berating the University for its new lacrosse policy. This barrage has only made a lot of work for men in the Athletic Department; and it has not won lacrosse many new friends.

The lacrosse team itself says grimly that it will play a full schedule of matches this spring. But where the money will come from--and how some of the wider issues at stake will be resolved--is still anybody's guess.