Athletic and Social vs. Academic.

[We invite all men in the University to submit communications on subjects of timely interest.]

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

An undergraduate's interests here at Harvard may be classed under three heads,--athletic, social,--both harmless and vicious,--and academic. The Faculty, realizing that, in the race to win the interest of the average undergraduate, it is far behind the promoters of athletic and social enterprises, proposes to exclude, in a measure, the other competitors. Before it does so it would be well for it to examine the workings of all the departments to see if the utmost possible is done to attract the interest of undergraduates. We wonder if the average instructor is as heartily interested in the welfare of his scholars as the athletic coach is in the welfare of his charges, or the officers of a social club in its promotion. Results do not seem to justify this belief. We listen to dreary, ill-prepared talks--not lectures--and at the end of an hour fly with a sigh of relief to the athletic field or to the clubs. It is conceivable, that, if all our instructors delivered their lectures with the earnestness and eloquence of our borrowed professors, and took the personal interest in those under them that an athletic coach does, the academic interests would not be so far behind in the race. Experience seems to teach that if the undergraduate interest is turned away from athletic pursuits, it will turn toward social pursuits, at least emasculating, if not vicious. If, with the abolishment of winter sports, the interest does turn toward social things, the Faculty will find itself no better off. We may then look for rules limiting the number of times a month a man may go in town, the number of social clubs he may belong to, or the number of "Brattle Halls" a Freshman may attend during the winter.

Why should not the Faculty make a determined endeavor to arouse academic interest, too, rather than try to stunt the growth of a strong and healthy athletic interest? 1908.