While the Ivies do not offer scholarships for athletics, Harvard’s football team went undefeated this year and was competitive on the Division I-AA level.

“The fact of the matter is that if the Ivies decide to reduce the number of recruits they will become a non-factor on the Division I-AA level,” says defensive end Michael L. Armstrong ’03. “We finished 19th in the nation this year and diminishing the number of recruits will have a negative impact on our competitiveness.”

Scalise says that nothing is final and that the meeting, to be held in Stowe, Vt., will be where the athletic directors make their decisions.

But even though Harvard does not seem favorable to widespread cuts, other institutions have been more vocal in expressing their concerns.

Yale University President Richard Levin is often credited with pushing the presidents to make the initial request.

Several athletic directors said that they will go into the meetings with an open mind and listen to the debate. However, there is obvious disagreement among the directors.

“They want what’s best for the League, [but] they’re also thinking about what’s best for their institution,” Scalise said. “A smaller school like Columbia would be more concerned about the numbers than some of the larger schools. Thirty-five people take up a higher percentage of the class at Columbia than they do at Cornell.”

Lewis agrees with this assessment of the impact of the proposal on other schools.

“Columbia’s the place at which I have the most sympathy,” Lewis says, citing the New York City school’s small class size—only slightly above 4,000—and non-contiguous athletic facilities.

Decision Time

Athletic directors will retire to the mountain resort tomorrow through Sunday to discuss all end-of-year business, including the mundane. But all ears will eagerly be awaiting their proposals on the football cuts as a sign of where the League is heading in the future.

In June, the Ivy presidents will meet to decide on the directors’ proposal.

According to Orleans, athletic directors will not consider raising the league-wide academic standards for athletic recruits.

The presidents, he says, did not ask the athletic directors to look into that possibility—all they put on the agenda was a consideration of whether or not to reduce the number of recruits.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Rahul Rohatgi can be reached at rohatgi@fas.harvard.edu.