Evening star., 1932-05-11
SCHOLASTIC BODY
STEP SEEMS SURE
Catholic Colleges Battle to
Bar All or None From
Receiving Help.
BY H. c. BYRD.

M athletic scholarship, as
4 Y such, seems doomed, at
least as far as the COL
leges in the Middle Atlantic States
are concerned. Not much doubt
exists that the Association of Sec
ondary Schools and Colleges of
the Middle Atlantic States and
Maryland will pass a resolution
barring from its membership any
institution which awards scholar
ships of this kind.
At meeting here yesterday, at which
were represented the great majority of
colleges in the section, there was a coed
deal Of debate as to the desirability of
such rule, but proponents OF it ap-
parently feel they have plenty of votes
In the association to back up their de-
sireS. The proposition is drastic in that
the association is a rating organization
and If one, of its members we're cast out
Tor any reason whatsoever that member
would not be able to effect a transfer
of its credits for one of its students to
another college or university in the as
sociation and probably not to any other
college, unless in unusual circumstances.
THE Catholic colleges in the section,
i including Georgetown, Catholic
University, Fordham, Mount st.
Mary's, Canisius, st. Joseph's, LaSalle,
and Manhattan, presented their views
fearleSsly and honestly against the pro-
posal to outlaw athletic scholarships
Representatives of these colleges were
for doing nothing or else going the
whole way to bar students receiving
alumni help, or help of any kind, from
participation in intercollegiate games.
The representative of one Catholic
college criticised in no uncertain lang
uage the Carnegie report on athletics
and stated that he had charged the
people back of that report with having
made untrue statements about his in
stitution. He said that the Carnegie
people admitted these statements were
wrong but refused to write him to that
effect. He also said that he could easily
give instances of secret subsidies given
athletes by one of the big universities
to which the Carnegie report gave a
clean bill of health. He even went
further and stated that the Carnegie
people admitted to him that they knew
these subsidies were given, but because
the subsidies were not on the books of
the institutions involved they took no
cognizance OF them.
all the opposition to
L the resolution, which undoubtedly
will do away with officially recog-
nized athletic scholarships such as now
are given in good many of the small
er colleges. and apparently in the Cath
Ole colleges, came from these colleges
and the Catholic colleges. The Catholic
colleges placed their objection on moral
grounds, stating that. while they were
willing to go the whole way and make
the resolution cover all kinds of SUBJ
sides, particularly alumni, they were
not in favor of establishing regulation |
which goes no further than to place the |
college or university in the position of |
saying We have no athletic scholar
ships" when actually many athletes in |
that college might be subsidized
Many of the small colleges represent
ed seemed to feel, according to their
expressions, that the proposal struck
hard at the small college, but did not
hurt the large universities As a rep
resentative of a small college in Penn
sylvania put it. The big university
alumni groups are coming into our i'm
mediate neighborhoods and taking from
us through subsidies the athletes who
naturally should come to our school,
and our only hope of competing for
what naturally should be our own
has been to establish athletic
scholarships especially as we do not
have groups Of wealthy alumni"
TT was the feeling of schools like Co.
i lumbia and Princeton that the one
thing the colleges should do is to 60
on record against athletic scholarships,
and thus lend that much moral strength
to the fight against subsidies for ath-
leticS. They admitted that the proposed
regulation would not be a cure-all, but
held that it would be a step in the
right direction in creating better con-
dition.
President Marvin of George Washing
Ton in brief talk deplored the tendency
to throw the rating of universities into
the hands Of organizations that have
tendency to raise extraneous issues as
standards. 1t was DIR. Marvin's feeling
that the universities should be places
Of learning with freedom to develop
individually along their own lines, set
their own standards, and not be organ
izations with standards subsidiary to
outside agencies.
The meeting here was the outgrowth
of a decision of the commission Gre
ated by the Association of Secondary
Schools and Colleges of the Middle At
lantic States and Maryland to estab-
lsh criteria by which to rate members
and prospective members to include in
this criteria a proposal that no mem
Der should give athletic scholarships.
II the association finally supports the
commission and the rue beccmes ef-
fective, beginning September, 1888, sny
of the group. which includes
all the colleges in New York, Penn
sylvania. New Jersey and Maryland,
that gives athletic scholarships will
forfeit its standing in the association
and lose its accredited position.
The commission is confident that it
has enough votes to put through what
it desires. As one member of the
commission expressed himself privately
to the writer. We've got the votes to
put it through" and as a representa-
tive Of one of the colleges opposed to
the measure said. 1T looks as If this
r. cut and dried" it would seem only
natural to expect the p-oviso for
barring of athletic sch" larships to be
included among educational REQUIRE
ments, such as the numb~r r. volumes
in the library, number Of full profess
scrr, nrr7be- cf cre|'t hours for de-
gree, 9rd so On, to determine tie rat
.Hc Of college rs STANDARD institu-
tn