The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-22
COLLEGE ATHLETICS AND
HONESTY.


The protesting of Captain Picker
ing of the Minnesota football team on
the eve of the game with Wisconsin
during the las, football season. Gre
ated some Indignation and much dis
may in college sport circles. The
charge made by the University of
Wisconsin authorities was that Pick
ering had before the time OF the
protest engaged in professional
sports. An echo of tina protest was
heard yesterday when. according to
a news ITEM. an effort was launched
to clean UP the college sports at the
Minnesota institution. 4 conference
was called by President Vincent and
the coaches were informed that 1t
would be necessary for them to trans
nit to the faculty representatives full
knowledge of any transgression of
the rules. no matter how slight. even
to the extent Of any rumors of in
fractions of the regulations. 1t ia
said that it was intimated to the
coaches that failure to comply with
the policy. would mean Il severance
with the athletic organization at the
university;
1t is not I'LL purpose to enter upon
any consideration Of the value OF
lack of value of college athletics to
the student body. But there is a
more serious phase of the matter
that does deserve more than passing
notice. The college conference Of
which the University of Minnesota
was a member. had a rule that no
student who had participated in ath-
letics for financial remuneration
should be eligible to participate in
college athletics. Captain Pickering,
1t seems, had done so, and Vet was
able to so conceal III fact that he
became a member and captain of the
football team and had participated
in several games before a protest
was made.
The rule might have been. and in
our opinion was. Il foolish one. but
1t was the athletic law Of the college
honor bound to observe both its let
ter and its spirit. Pickering knew
he had placed himself in such a po-
sition that he could not. without vio-
lating that rule. play on the univer-
SilH eltNSll, ana vet he ulu SO.
The point is that such things-and
they probably occur in dozens of coll
leges and universities other than Min
nesota-teach, unconsciously per-
haps. that violations of law are not
wrong, unless the NiolHtor Is caught.
The work of the higher educational
institutions is TO e out men and
women trained to the moral strength
of giants to become leaders both by
precept and example of their fellow
men. Is not this subterfuge practice
ed to reach the various athletic ac-
tivities n Weakening of the moral
character of the student? Does it not
develop in him a smaller respect if
not a contempt for the rules and laws
made for the regulation of his con-
duct wit h1hc world? Are not such
things the germ of the disease which
later in life causes him 10 trample
upon law II disregard his relation
ship with the general mass of man.
kind:
1t has been said that ninety per
cent of those who are now accused
of violations of the trust laws are
college men. This is probably true,
but the colleges should not be held
responsible for the n done by
their graduates when the reasons for
doing wrong We're not laid or dcvel-
oped in the college. But it seems
that in cases like the one used Illus
tratively above that the college act
ually develops the tendency TO do
wrong.
1t is not our purpose to point out
n mad Gov H. -.1 r ~
the colleges. 1t might be we'll to look
Tor a moment at the cause which
produces the evil. Universities are
coming to be known more by the
results on the athletic field and on the
gridiron than by the graduates they
send out. The merest novice can
name the football team of Harvard
or Yale or Ithaca or Minnesota or
Wisconsin. but not one in a thousand
can name a nan who will graduate
from one of those institutions next
year. Likewise, the old players of
the elevens can be recalled with flu
ency. but ask for the men OF those
institutions who have achieved sue
cess in intellectual fields and the an
swer is blank. Why is this? Merely
because college athletics are given
too much Importance in college life.
Physical training for health and de-
vclopment should be IL part of tn.
work of every student. But the de-
velopment Of a dozen football giants
does no good to the thousand or ff-
teen hundred students in the same in.
stitution who do not participate in
the game.
Whence comes the light regard for
rules which marked the Pickering
case? Evidently in the rivalry he
tween institutions and the ambition
of coaches to win. These influences
bre so strong hat coaches often wink
at, wen if they do not connive at.
n violation of rules by students who
are stars in their particular field.
MINOT AND THE NORMAL,