New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-04
COLUMBIA SOON
TO KNOW FATE
OF FOOTBALL
University Council Is to
Announce Decision on
April 80.
COMMITTEE WILL
MEET SAME NlGHl
Coincidence viii Be Helpful IN
Schedule Arrangement II
Sport Is Restored.

April 30 promises to be rcd letter
day at Columbia so far as athletics are
concerned. On that date the University
Council will meet TO decide the fate OF
the recommendations for the restora.
ton OF football. and in the evening OF
the same day the university commltlce
on athletics is slated TO hold meeting
II was by accident and not by design
that the two bodies planned to convene
on the same day. but IT the fateS nad
been arranging things they couidn
have done better. II football ~ re-
stored by the council the committee
will be able TO begin its plan OF cam
paign within three. hours after the de-
cisior has been reached
Every one on Morningside Heights
realizes the need Of quick action IN the
arranging Of a schedule. The selection
of a coach and the hundred and one
things that must he done before capdl-
dates are called out and the fact mat
there will be an opportunity TO PICK
I'D the thread without loss OF more
than an hour or two arc welcomed.
All this, however. Is contingent on
favorable action by the Council. when
some of the students seem to DOUBT
II is surmised that Dean Harlan r.
Stone, Of the Law School, who sits
with the council, will oppose the re-
establishment of the game because ne
went on record some months ago as
saying that he feared the colleges oil
to-day in some instances were hardly
more than social or athletic cluoS.
Even should he cast ballot against
the game, however, his vote is not likely
to be controlling as none OF the stu
dents in the Law School will be per-
mitted to play in any event.
In addition to arranging Tor pros
receive football team, several other
matters quite as important Will come
before the athletic committee Tor ac-
ton. Whether or not Columbia VIII
retain its membership in the lntercol-
legiate Basketball League will be dis
cussed, in view of the recent action
of the league in adopting an ellgibll-
ity code which eliminates next year
every veteran on the Blue and White
squad.
By withdrawing from the league Co
lumbia would stand to gain nothing, 1t
is believed. and it would probably be
unable to schedule games with Cornell,
Pennsylvania. Princeton, Yale and
Dartmouth, the other members OF the
league. Some of the more hot-headed
undergraduates believe that Columbia
should withdraw, but it is not believed
that scuh action will be taken.
Another matter which will probably
be brought before the committee is the
revision of the eligibility code of the
university. Columbia alone of the Big
Six" has no rule barring freshmen from
varsity teams. and it permits all stu
dents maintaining a required scholastic
standing to compete four years instead
of three, as at other places.
This divergence in rules is RESPONSE
BILE, more than any other one thing, for
the tangle with the basketball league,
and il was the cause of Columbia's
withdrawing from the intercollegiate
Hockey League two years ago, step
which has practically killed hockey on
Morningside Heights. For the same
reason Columbia has been unable to
maintain its relations in track and field
athletics with Princeton.
This evidence of the harm which its
obsolete eligibility code is working on
its own athletic system has at last in
duced the committee to revise the code.
so it is believed, and the new code, If
one is adopted for 1876, will be
passed at the April meeting. To hold
over until May would make it impos-
sible TO get it into printed form before
the university closes for the summer
vacation.