Skey, who is a member of the U.S. junior national crew team, says the national team coach will post on the team’s official website recommended work-outs for Ivy League athletes who cannot take direction from their coach during the rest period.

While Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68, who sits on the Ivy League policy committee which recommended a five-week break, says he realizes athletes aren’t going to “stop dead in their tracks and going to go study for all seven weeks,” he thinks the ruling will cut back the intensity “some.”

He adds the ruling would have been more effective if it attacked the problem of in-season intensity rather than off-season intensity.

“The rest periods come out of a time of the year when the intensity is already much below what it is during the season, the period when our intercollegiate athletes need the time,” Lewis says. “It’s a bit of a blunt instrument for the league to be using to address the very real time and intensity problems the league faces.”

The Ruling Reconsidered

The ruling is part of a larger review that seeks to reconsider the role of athletics in college life.

“[It] will strengthen our commitment to the opportunity for a positive Ivy League athletic experience, within the context—and serving the goals—of a liberal undergraduate education,” said Rawlings in a press release.

A seven-week rest period is perhaps the most drastic attack on the intensity of Ivy League athletics, but it is not without some precedent.

Already, varsity athletes face restrictions on their practice time.

According to NCAA rules, an athlete can practice no more that 20 hours per week under the direction of a coach during the season. Out of season, Ivy League rules limit practice time to six hours per week.

But it seemed this wasn’t enough. After years of internal discussion, the presidents asked the athletic directors in the spring of 2001 to look into a 10- week rest period. The athletic directors recommended five weeks, and the presidents decided last July on a compromise of seven weeks.

According to Ivy Executive director Jeffrey Orleans, seven weeks seemed to the presidents a proper balance after hearing from athletic directors and other representatives from each Ivy.

The presidents will continue to listen to athletic directors and student athletes to determine whether the rule is having the intended effect, he adds.

Athletic directors are working on a review of the rule and will present their findings at the Dec. 10 presidents’ meeting.

“The presidents take seriously the idea of finding the right balance,” Orleans said.