New-York tribune., 1912-03-24
Cannot DROP FRESHMEN
Columbia Needs Athletic Mate.
rial Too Badly to Bar Them.
IN PECULIAR POSITION
With More than 5000 Student,
on Roster, Only About 700,
in All, Are in Sports.

The recent action Of the athletic govern.
ing board at Syracuse. in drawing IN
strict freshman eligibility rule in all suo,,.
at Syracuse, leaves Columbia as the or,,
one Of the large institutions in the Es,
which has not yet adopted regulate,
restricting freshmen from participation a,
varsity athletics in any branch Of spon
save rowing and hockey The question a,
such a rule has been brought up at Colun.
bia from time TO time and since sy,a.
cuse has taken the stand the matter /,
again being agitated on Morninrytd.
Heights, although IT does not seem prob.
able that any such regulation will h.
adopted at present.
The Columbia athletic authorities FRA
themselves in an exceedingly peculiar s,u.
alton in reference to the freshmen elIg.
blity question. because, placed. as IL is in
a large city and with the greater part O,
its students taking professional and rs.
search work far above the undergradua,.
standards the actual number OF student,
at Columbia who are interested in athletic,
is disprOportionately small as comparsd
with the total registration.
With more than eight thousand student,
actually listed, there are not more tha,
thirteen hundred. II there are even tha,
many. who can be counted as eligible n,
athletic teams. Even In those thirteen hun.
drpd there are more than five hundred VII,
take no active part in athletics, SO tha,
Columbia's total athletic material at pres.
ent is scarcely more than seven hundred.
including the freshmen. Thus Columbia.
with a total registration twice as great a,
that Of Harvard, has less than half as
many students available for athletics. I,
ranks low in the list Of institutions in this
respect, for Yale with fifteen hundred,
Dartmouth. with twelve hundred Prince.
ton. with nine hundred, and Annapolis,
with eight hundred, have all more students
available for athletics than Columbia
Aside from the fact that freshmen ara
needed for the varsity squad for actual
physical reasons, Columbia has anothe,
reason for not being able to restrict lts
freshmen from varsity cOmpetition. Save
I'm the last year or two, the financial az.
fairs OF all sports at Columbia have been
badly muddled. and even now, with cen.
tralized system of management and hnsn.
cial control, Columbia has hard time n
raising the money necessary TO support iti
teams. II follows, therefore, that at pres
ent II will be impossible to equip and main.
tain freshman teams in all branches Of
| sport, as is done at the other colleges
where the freshmen rules are strictly en-,
| forced.
Columbia has a few freshman teams, but
! they are not organized and maintained 10
reach the degree OF efficiency that 10 the
! case with the varsity squads. Not only
does a lack of funds make impossible ths
organizing of high class freshman teams
with regular coaches and all the other nec-
essaries, but also the limited amount O.
room available on South Field for athletic
| purposes Is already overcrowded by var.
sity teams Thus, freshman squads would
have absolutely no ground on which 10
practise. This only emphasizes Columbia 8
| need for the new athletic stadium, which
may be erected at ll6th stree; and ths
Hudson River,
In rowing, Of course freshmen are not
! eligible for the varsity crews, by a ruling
of the intercollegiate Rowing Association.
| and therefore Columbia has always turned
out a representative freshman eight After
this year freshmen are 10 be ineligible N
varsity hockey teams which are members
! of the intercollegiate League. and IN
hockey, too. Columbia will probably organs
! ize a freshman combination. However,
| until better financial arrangements ara
| possible with an assured source OF income
and until there is more room for athIen
purposes on Morningside Heights, Columbia
will probably not bar freshmen from is
varsity teams. excepting in those branches
of sport in which by intercollegiate regua'
| tiOns IL is obliged 10 do so.