Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-25
ATHLETICS IN COLLEGES.
Resolutions Designed to Suppress Pro-
fessiOpaIism.

U
fessiOnalism.
The resolutions submitted to the differ
ent college faculties this week, says the
Philadelphia Record, are in general adj
verse to professionalism in athletics. Har-
ward has accepted them. Yale, Prince
ton and Brown have not yet been heard
from, but it is believed that Princeton will
! follow Harvard's lead, and that Yale and
Brown will not accept the proposition.
The committee recognizes the advantage
of physical training, and submits that the
trainer should be a man of character and
ability. and should be made dignifed by
the support of the college faculty. The
/ first resolution is that "everY director or
instructor in physical exercises or athlet-
ic sports must be appointed by the college
authorities, and announced as such IN the
catalogue"
But as athletic sports among students
should never become business, and since
| the tendency of a desire to win always
results in an increasing employment of
trainers whose influence is likely to be
pernicious, the second resolution provides
that ''nO professional athlete, Oarsman or
ball player shall be employed either for
instruction or for practice in preparation
LOT any llllGICUlIcHldJC contest. ANA III
is desirable on the whole to continue in
tercOuegiate sports; but in order to have
them more generally played in the col.
/ leges themselves, and to avoid the loss Of
time caused by too many contests at a
distance from home, it is resolved, thirdly,
that mo college organization shall row,
or play base ball, foot ball, lacrosse or
cricket, except with similar organizations
from their own or similar institutions of
| learning"
Moreover, in order to help obviate the
frequent unpleasantness and disagree
ments in intercollegiate conventions OF
undergraduates, a faculty advisory COM
mittee is provided for in the resolution
that "there shall be a standing committee
of one member from the faculty of each
of the colleges adopting these regulations,
whose duty it shall be to supervise all
contests in which students Of their re-
spectiye colleges may engage, and approve
all rules and regulations under which
such contests may be held"
Again, college men not only frequently
give too much time to athletics, and so
raise the standard of successful candida
ture for the teams too high, but they some
times come back to one Of the schools to
help keep the championship for their uni
versity; so it is provided, fifth, that ''nO
student shall be allowed to take part in
any intercollegiate contest as member
of any club, team or crew for more than
four years"
And, owing to the excitement cOnse-
quent upon games with professionals and
the resulting evils, it is resolved that ''all
intercollegiate games of base ball, foot
ball, lacrosse and cricket shall take place
upon the home grounds of one or the other
of the competing colleges"
The seventh resolution provides that
''no intercollegiate boat race should be tor
a longer distance than three miles," and
was put IN to do away with the strain
upon the system common in fOur-mile
race; it was inserted the more readily be-
cause races are almost always decided be-
fore the end of the third mile.
Lastly, in order that the different col
leges may be on an equal footing, it is pro-
Vided that ''the students of colleges in
which these resolutions are in force shall
not be allowed to engage in games or con-
tests with the students of colleges in
which they are not in force"