Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-23

not be allowed to play foot bail or take
part in track and field athletics.
while this action is = plain viola
ton of the usual intercollegiate amateur
annette code, II iS a recognition on thG
part of the Oklahoma association that il
cannot control or eliminate the evil OF
summer base ball, and that honesty de-
mands n recognition of the fact.
Viewed from some points the action oe
the Oklahoma association should be ap-
proved because there will no longer 90
any deception connected with their college
base ball. The Oklahoma men realize
that base ball men in this country are
subject to temptations not offered To men
participating in other forms of college
sports. To prevent any possible contami-
nation of the amateurism of other forms
of college sports they have ruled that
professional base ball men shall not repre-
sent their colleges in any other branch Of
sport
There are two colleges i'm the east which
long ago adopted something of the same
stand on the subject OF college base ball.
though they have not taken the precau-
ton to protect the amateurism OF thei-
other sports. Brown University and
Pennsylvania State College openly sane
ton members of their base ball teams
playing professional base ball during the
summer providing they do not play with
teams which are under the uatioral
agreement. However. they have per
mitted members of their base bail teams
to play foot ball, and as such member
OF the Brown College nine has openly
boasted that he likewise participated i'm
track and field athletics Ii is unfortu-
nate that in spite OF the lesson 10 be
learned from the Thorpe incident colIeg.,
men nave not shown any desire To take
any definite stand on this question
Three-Year Eligibility for Columbia.
Columbia University will be distinctrv
the gamer if that institution adopts the
a alitstl, 10
all the leading universities and colleges
Of the country. Columbia is the last big
institution to hold on to the four-year
rule. The excuse of the New Workers for
not adopting the reform of excluding,
freshman athletes from intercollegiate
competition was that the number of avail
able athletes at Columbia was so much
smaller than at their rival universities
that they could not hope TO compete on
even terms with them otherwise. Dart
mouth. Syracuse and Princeton with
student bodies smaller than that of CO.
lumbia, have all adopted the three-year
rule, so that Columbia by holding On 10
the right to use freshmen Classics her
self as a minor college athletically
Several years ago the intercollegiate 4.
A. A. A. attempted to pass Il rule barring
all freshmen from competition i'm the i'll
tercoilegiate track and field champion
ships. No institution fought the PROPOSE
ton more vigorously than Columbia,
and il was due principally TO Columbias
attitude that the association adopted ~
compromise by which the executive COM
mittee had the right to prevent the CONF
petition of any freshman if ii were con-
sidered that his competition would be
detrimental to the good of intercollegiate
sports The executive committee has
never yet exercised this right.
Most college men think that Columbias
reasoning is faulty when the New York;
ers advanced the plea that they mus
use freshmen in order to compete on any
thing like even terms with the other coll
leges 1t is the testimony of all the big
universities that by preventing their
freshmen from being members of tho
varsity teams the institution gains
lthletically in the long run. This is be-
cause the freshmen being denied inter-
collegiate competition are bile to concen-
rate their attention on their studies 80
hat their college standing for the re-
naming three years will moi be eudin-
sered. They reason that when n fresh
nan makes his varsity foot ball team inn
upon matriculaton he is not
80 likely 10 maintain satisfactory
scholastic standing as he would by devot-
ng himself more 10 his studies The
argument is based upon the theory that
hree years of a player in good standing
ire worth more TO a college than four
,ears If he is continually conditioned.