New-York tribune., 1905-12-23
COLUMBIA APPRAISED.
President Butler Not Opposed to
Intercollegiate Sports.

President Butler of Columbia University denied
yesterday that the resolutions recently passed by
the university council intended to do away
with intercollegiate athletics for Columbia stu
dents. President Butler. in address which he
made to a mass meeting Of the students, said that
the action intended simply to induce more
students to participate in the sport and to do away
with corruption. and that 1t not aimed at
discouraetng intercollegiate contests.
His speech entirely changed the course of the
meeting, which had been called by the students
TO make a protest against the latest action
of the council Earle Hall packed with
undergraduates long before the meeting called
to order at noon. r. w. Macbeth president OF the
senior class, announced that DR.. Butler had de-
cided to speak, in order to set forth his views on
the situation. When he entered the room he was
greeted by scattered applause and kissing.
President Buffers whole speech a plea for
student cooperation, urging them to accept the
faculty view of the situation and to believe that
tho council acting sincerely for the best in
terests of the university. He said, in part:
In the the 5st Ar ia address which It was my privilege
my election to the presidency, four years ago /
emphasized from conviction and choice the con-
bodies of scholarship scholars who learn and
that time, and / repeat it now that it is the busi-
ness of a university to consider, to conserve ana
fS both advance the interests and principles which
It has been matter of small concern to ! me,
eight years, to notice feeling of bitterness and
toward the other 1 have been sure that this is
the result OF mutual MISUNDERSTANDING ano l
holidays and to remove, If possible that rnisunder
andn For NEARLY six t Years there and das Sn%eT
sites were consciously or unconsci9usly lie Lending
lie opinion and to false set Of standards. The
feeling expressed in the pulpit in I'll the press
the platform and by the mothers and ia fatners r
of students present and prospective has been IN
ing on the universities to % turn TN? his feens has
grown and the appeal to 90 away WITH L4aI se
The events of the last three years have
made it plain that the strongest element IN tne ne
football as it has grown up. Not alone the game anne
qs Se e @ og 96e by the matuds Of evil
features Thus 1t has become particularly strong
the university had been studying this important
matter and said Hasn't the t,ne come n1se 70 sos M
result OF mis- careful study and reflection the apo apo
step was regarded as an act OF general university
policy was not in any sense an act Of discipline
It was Columbia in the nation that the faculty was
uphoding, and dispensed with those thlngs
which we felt we ought to protest against It may
not have been the wisest way of accomplishing
the nan: name Columbia should be removed from the
roll those universities that following false
The students Of coiumbta have been cruelty. mis-
university council by the inferences drawn in the
public press The council has simply made recon-
situation. The resolutions, as You may ina py
d eadng a them % be dd I0 say o1e Of
are opposed to sport but want sport more general neral
should it not be the case that we have three or
four hundred students playing football instead OF
the few who make up our teams? have appointed
two committees, one OF representative graduates
and the other composed Of members of the faculty
who equally representative, to see what steps
should be taken toward the ends Of which have
whether the step has been wise or unwise. We
will take constructive steps without the sup
port of the students It is unfortunate that the
present act was construed as repression when 1t
meant expansion.
DR.. Butler ended his address by expressing the
hope that the faculty and students might part for
the Christmas holidays in kindly and sympa-
thetio spirit, and wishing the students merry
Christmas. At the end he received general ap-
pause and vote of thanks for presenting the fac
ulty side of the case. Little done at
the meeting, the speech changed generally the
feeling of the students.
It is rumored persistently about the university
that there is to be new athletic field In the near
future. member of the university council said
yesterday that he believed that such would be the
case, although yet he knew of nothing definite
kton%6 bad hnor, .Ora