ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT.

The Faculty has issued another statement with regard to its recent stand on the athletic question. It appears that the idea of largely curtailing the number of intercollegiate contests did not originate at Harvard, but at a meeting of the Association of Colleges in New England, held at Cambridge early in December. The vote was communicated to the colleges represented in the Association and Harvard has conveyed to the Association its official approval of the plan.

We cannot see that the serious position in which our intercollegiate sport has been placed is in any way affected by the announcement. It makes no difference whether the Faculty passed the vote as an expression of its own opinion, or whether the Association of Colleges passed it at the instigation of the Harvard authorities. In either case Harvard is the one most deeply concerned. Or if the Association, moved by some other college or university, took the step Independently and Harvard approved, where is the distinction?

After a little consideration we find that our position is absolutely unaltered. There has been no assurance that the vote of the Association was any more than a bare majority, in which case we should still be at a disadvantage with our dearest rivals. But even granted that we should have good company in the experiment, its effect upon intercollegiate sport would be no less fatal.

Our teams mean so much to us because they belong to us and represent us. We take a keen personal interest in them, and if their field is so restricted that they cease to be properly our athletic representatives, that personal interest will be gone. In its place will come more selfish interests that will drive us apart. The very decline of interest in intercollegiate sport will make our teams deteriorate and as they deteriorate the interest will continue to decline. The result is not nice to contemplate.