Evening star., 1951-03-27
Three Colleges Join
In Assuring Continued
Basketball at Garden
BY the Asseeioied Press

NEW YORK, Mar. 27.-College
basketball will continue to be
played in Madison Square Gar
Iden. e
That was decided yesterday
when the presidents sof Manhat-
tan, New York University and St.
Johns University announced, "It
is our firm conviction that college
basketball can be played in the
Garden without our student-play-
Iers .succumbing to corruption. as
disclosed in the recent scandal"
The college heads. in a joint
statement. declared that the idea
that Madison Square Garden is
totally responsible for the present
status of intercollegiate basketball
in metropolitan New York, and
that the college gymnasium is a
panacea for this evil, is myth.
Declared Up to Individual.
I'm spite of the college GYM
nasium. In spite even of education
lpermeated with ethical, cultural
and religious principles, it is still
possible to have corruption, if the
individual tdoes not exercise cour-
Iageously the powers of his own
personality"
The statement was issued after
la meeting of the Very Rev. John
A. Flynn, c. NJ, president of ST.
Johns; Brother Bonaventure
Thomas, F. S. c., president of
Manhattan, and James L. Madden,
acting chancellor at New York
University. with Brig. Gen. John
Reed Fitzpatrick. president of the
Garden, and Bernard Gimbel, who
represented the Garden Board of
Directors.
Harry Wright, president of City
College of New York, was unable
to attend, but assured the group
that CCNY would play in the
Garden next year eff the Board of
Higher Education approves"
Long Island University was not
represented, having dropped the
sport last month in the wake of
the fixed games disclosures. Four
teen players from CCNY, NYU,
Manhattan and Long Island have
been involved in the widening
betting scandal.
Joint Committee Formed.
The presidents announced they
and the Garden Board of Directors
would constitute a joint committee
whose function shall be to de-
Itermine top-level policy with re-
gard to safeguarding our inte"-
collegiate contests in the Garden
in the future from a repetition of
the unfortunate situation of re-
cent weeks"
An operational subcommittee is
to be set up composed of the
athletic directors, faculty athletic
board chairmen and a repre-
sentative of the Garden.
The function of this operational
group will be to determine ticket
prices. ticket allotments, team
accommodations, radio and tele-
vision rights, schedule arrange
ments and other appropriate
promotional details"
Senate Disclosures Cited.
The college presidents, in their
statement. recognized that the
popularity Of the game has grown
to the point where 1t has attracted
the attention of organized gam
bling, just as other intercollegiate
athletics have.
However, the full return of the
game to our respective campus
gymnasia would not relieve this
condition one bit. The disclosures
on Saturday before the Kefauver
Committee lin Washington by a
Milwaukee gambler indicate that
games played by colleges over the
country that do play in their
campus gymnasia are subject to-
betting as much as are games
played in the Garden.
With regard to safeguarding
our student-players from con-
tamination by gamblers it is
our intention to exercise the
strictest vigilance over the future
participation of our students in
non-collegiate basketball competi-
ton"