The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-16
ALUMNI OF THE
"U" MAD

neSOta came TO the rescue OF the tot.
tering and crumbling athletic dynasty.
bringing to an abrupt end the nonsen-
seical farce that is being enacted at
the state school: forcing by popular
sentiment a drastic revision of some
of the present rules. bringing univer-
sity athletics in this state back to a
basic principle where men of expert
ence and intelligence and some ac-
quaintance with REQ blood may re-
gentlemen. the agitation against the
faculty rule at the university is grow
ing. and IL is u to some of the gradu-
ates in this part of the state to make
their influence felt: to use the privi-
lege that graduation gives; to protect
sternly and persistently against the
regime that Is making athletics at
Minnesota a burlesque with slap stick
accompaniment.
Protest Is rising and shaking a. fin
ger of resentment at the present order
of conducting athletics. The long
suffering papers of the twin cities are
beginning to voice the runlhlings of
discomfort heard from the more prom
inent o fthe st. Paul and Minneapolis
graduates. The time is ripe for a
m~any-voiced protest upon the part of
school.
The Western college conference is
a moribund institution. The vacuity
of its leaders has perlneated the as
ISOLATION. A. A. Stagg. a brainy and
clever man and the real leader Of the
conference. and also the only man
! at all familiar with practical athletics
in it's midst. has played petty politics
for what gain he could receive. He
dupes and the result has been a pro-
test by college students against a con
tinuance Of conditions that have be-
come intolerable to the student mind.
Ultra reform has become a fad and
fancy, blown about on the chill winds
OF caprice. A student is debarred
from athletics for selling tickets for
through college-and we are asked
to consider some of the college in
structors in a serious light. An ex-
ample thus held up to the scholastic
mind is one calculated t O turn the
mind Of the self reliant student to dis.
gust and cause ridicule to chase re-
spect for the responsible mentor into
the weeds beyond the campus.
Graduates of Minnesota, the faculty
rule Of Western college athletics has
got to that stage where patience ceas-
es, not only to be a virtue. but be-
comes a badge of servile humility. H.
linois Is experiencing the revolt Of its
students. The undergraduates of Ur-
bana want baseball with Michigan,
simply because none Of the other con-
ference teams are capable of giving
the crack team of Illinois a game that
is rel interesting.
Fol- over two years the students
remember 1t is the students who make
football prof1ta ble-have asked for a
return of the Michigan game, simply
because Michigan has proved the
greatest and most sportsmanlike foe
of the doughty Gopher. With a mar
rowness amounting to bigotry the
powers hat be have refused. at the
same time permitting Chicago to play
IN team thai the domineering Stage
saw fit to schedule.
This condition has been approved
by the athletic authorities Of Minne-
sofa. The urbane smile Of compile
cent ignorance. the vacuous grin of
self sufficiency. the fatherly tut tut of
the meddling mentors. have greeted
of the school and its graduates. The
faculty. gentlemen. would rule or ruin
so behold the wreck.
Have you noticed the football
schedule of Minnesota for next fall?
1t was published for the special bene-
fit Of the graduates of this section Of
the state. 1t is something inspiring.
II WOIh VI 0Els nave YOU TcUeClG0 1n9
whole attitude of the college powers
to pass over the protests of the alum
nj? Has 1t occurred to you that the
present condition is possible only
through your lack of interest?
The Western college conference is
the biggest joke perpetrated since p.
T. Barnum mirrored the "three-head-
ed" lady on the public. which was a
reflection, of course. It has Percied
its way to deep disgust. Students
throughout the west are deeply dis
gusted. 1t is time the fatuous smile
was erased from the c~ountenance Of
some Of the rulers; it is time. gentle-
men. that the students and the alum.
| nj of the university were given q larg-
er voice in the control Of its athletics.
II the student managers and the
alumni representatives can make a
worse botch, can muddle conditions
in a more tangled and meaningless
manner, then let us all throw up our
hands and admit that college athletics
Is indeed a failure, asking the CHIN
fuzzed freshmen and the safety-razor-
ed seniors to MAY marbles on the
campus and work off superfluous en-
erRy in the pool hail and corner cafe.
Let us get hack to the student and
alumni control, for after all the stu
dent mind IL an eminently fair one and
the. honor OF the students, their jud1.
ment Of the rs-ht and wrOng, has
proven infinitely more broad and
s~portsmanlike than the petty sttitude
that Is today corruping and rendering
a subject for ridicule the athletics of
wo0tArn colleRes. ..e- -.ec -