The Washington herald., 1916-01-16
3. EDWARD n. BUSHNELL.


Woe to the college graduate whose
chief passion in life seems to be the
development of championship athletic
teams among the undergraduates of
his alma mater! The Athletic Lobby
ist' is what Prof Robert N. Corwin.
of the Yale faculty, calls him. Ex-
President william H. Taft raps this
type as possessing an unscrupulous
passion - more money than
brains. or at least more money than
discretion, who pervert their college
loyalty and exaggerate their pleasure
in a college victory" Dean Briggs. of
Harvard also assailed this uncontrol-
able desire to win at the recent con-
vention of the National Collegiate Ath-
letic Association.
The triple attack of these three big
men is merely a symptom of what col
/ lege' presidents and representative pro-
fessors, as well as far-seeing alumni,
believe will be the early elimination
OF interested alumni in the fosterins
and control of undergraduate athletics
Ex-President Taft would get rid of
most of the alumni influence by for
bidding the endowment or acceptance
of scholarships for or by athletes.
'1t seems to me-" said Mr.. Taft at
the recent convention of the N. CA. A,
that colleges may well be cautioned
in reference to the granting of schoI-
arships to athletes because they. are
| athletes. One may well understand
that faculties would not grant scholar
ships for such reasons, but scholar
ships are created by alumni, as 1 have
been advised. conditioned on their be-
ing granted to certain athletes Doubt
less they are mere generous express
sions of appreciation of work done.
but they ought to be forbidden be-
cause of their tendency, and because
of the abuses to which such a practice
may lead"
| Prof. Robert n. Corwin, OF the Yale
faculty, who is at the head of the COM
mittee on athletics, approaches the sub
ject from a different angle. He attacks
the alumni athletic lobby" but at the
/
for permitting interested graduates to
usurp the control and guidance of stu
dent athletics from the faculty. He ar
raigns faculty men for their serene in
difference or antagonism to athletic sports
and the athletic field which he pronounces
"a laboratory in the art of living for
which no other feature of the university
can be a substitute. There are few real
conditions Of life where the boy gets
SO close to Mother Earth or SO close
to the sons of men as the rough and
tumble of the athletic field, and there is
no lecture room or laboratory in the
college where for either rich or poor the
actual give and take of later life are
so nearly duplicated"
Prof. Corwinethen takes his brethren
on the faculty to task for their failure
to utilize the college sports to get better
hold on their students. He almost sug
gested that faculty men should be en-
gagged in part for their prowess on the
athletic field, or at least for interest and
attainment in things in which the stu
dents are mostly concerned. He ever
J suggests that members of the faculty
should be Big Brothers" in an athletic
sense to the students. This is the sor
of faculty control of undergraduate
athletics he believes in and is the prin
ciple on which nearly all the big uni
versties of the East are remodellins
their athletic control.
Prof. Corwin, representing the new
: Yale idea, believes that the remedy fol
! the low standard Of athletic ethics lie!
in the engagement of a better type Of
coach. In particular he warns college
men of their dangers when they "em
ploy as coaches men whose position, rep
utation and salary are staked on victory
: At present there are in most Of the large
universities a considerable number o.
men engaged in coaching, having onl.
the most nominal or formal relations
with the faculty, but whose relation.
! with the students are most intimate anc
whose influence is constant and far reach
ing. Yet these men whom the student.
regard as their natural guides, philoso
, pliers and friends, are chosen frequently
! II not generally, by the undergraduate oi
by the graduate lobby, and not for theil
neral quality, but for their ability L
, put 1t over or get it across At pres
} ent men are permitted as coaches ant
advisers who would not be tolerated ii
a similar capacity in any class room
/ lor lecture room. Is there any reason
why coaches should be chosen with les,
care than professors? They certainl.
have, as a rule. greater authority anc
influence with the student"
Taft knocks "Mucker, Baseball.
Former President Taft, ardent baseball