PRESIDENT LOWELL IN ANNUAL REPORT QUESTIONS SOUNDNESS OF SPORT POLICY

Contending that public interest in football has "tended to give excessive importance to college athletic contests", and that "like many other questions touching the direction of undergraduate life, this is one that affects all American colleges", President Lowell, in his annual report to the Overseers, urges that "it would be well for faculties, administrators, and governing bodies to consider afresh the proper place of public intercollegiate athletic contests in the scheme of education."

"The present policy in college football," writes President Lowell, "has not been the result of a deliberate plan. It has grown up by a consideration of the questions presented year by year, and is not based upon any principle recognized as imperative by faculties, alumni and spectators. The public interest in the sport, as a spectacle, has become general over the country, and has increased markedly since the war. It has tended to give excessive importance to college athletic contests.

"That intercollegiate matches have a distinct value in stimulating sports, which are the best form of physical exercise in youth, few people would be inclined to deny; but the single, boat race between Oxford and Cambridge on the Thames, and the cricket match between those universities, supplemented in each case by a series of intramural contests, has been enough to stimulate unflagging interests in those sports among the students. Judging from the effects of the race at New London, one may ask whether or not the same plan would be sufficient in football. The necessity of maintaining for this purpose a public spectacle attended by thousands of spectators every Saturday throughout the autumn is certainly not clear; and whether it ought to be maintained for any other object is a matter worth consideration."

President Lowell announces in his report the creation at the University of a School of Public Health, made possible by the agreement of the Roockefeller Foundation to give for this purpose over a million and a half dollars, and eventually half a million more, and the selection of Dr. David L. Edsall, Dean of the Medical School, to serve also as Dean of the School of Public Health.

The new school, says Dr. Lowell, "is the development in systematic form of work that has long been carried on. For years we have been conducting, in concert with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a School of Public Health; and in the Medical School, departments of industrial medicine, of tropical diseases, and others germane to the general field. The Rockefeller Foundation suggested to us last spring that these agencies should be combined in one school, to be organized under a distinct faculty while retaining an intimate relation with the Faculty of Medicine. The Foundation proposed, if this were done, to assist in developing the School. The suggestion was in the direction of expanding what we have been doing, and was accepted gladly.. . . The School will have for its object both instruction and research in the field of public health, and its courses will be open freely to students of the Medical School. . . . The plans for the organization of the School are now under consideration by a committee composed of future members of its staff."

Stresses Need for Dormitories

The report lays stress upon the need for new dormitories at the University on account of the increase in the enrollment, and discusses the possibility of limiting numbers by any other means than the ordinary entrance examinations. "Any further limitation by examination or otherwise must be in large measure arbitrary," concludes President Lowell, "and therefore objectionable if it can be avoided. Whether it can be avoided or not is a question that may in several directions force itself upon our institutions of higher learning, and requires very careful consideration."

Dr. Mez drew an ideal picture of a world with law substituted for brute force, where sanity, reason, and counsel prevail, and where "all nations, big and small, unite into agreements regarding their common welfare on the basis of mutual understanding, conciliation, and cooperation". For the accomplishment of this, the speaker pointed out, the European countries must sink nationalism in internationalism, must demobilize not only their armies but also their jealousies and hatreds, "and tear down all trade restrictions, tariff walls, and passport regulations".

Discussion from the Floor

Following the speeches the Chairman, Robert Wormser '22, invited a general discussion from the floor, on the subject, "Resolved: That a Conference of Powers, including Russia and Germany, which shall deal with the economic consequences of the peace, is the logical sequel of the Washington Arms. Conference; and that such a Conference is fundamental to the Civilization of Europe and to the prosperity of the United States".

R. S. Faning '23 opened the discussion with a strong speech, stating that "the purpose of any such conference can be only for the realization of economic necessities". "We must remove", he said, "any situation which is likely to keep America out of the Genoa conference". Stating that the discussion of the enforcement of the debts owed the United States by the Allied Powers was a serious obstacle, he eloquently declared that these Powers had more than repaid the United States in blood, and therefore urged that the following resolution be added to the original: "Further resolved: That the discussion of cancellation of debts should in no way be an impediment to the United States being represented at the Genoa Conference". This resolution was adopted by the meeting.

Another phase of the question was brought up when J. L. Swayze Jr. '25 proposed that "that portion of the resolution stating that Germany and Russia be admitted to the conference shall be retained". One of the most logical, impressive, and simple speeches of the evening was offered as an answer by Miss Bliven. She stated that the whole matter rested upon a mutual trust, and so long as we hear antagonistic reports from the people and the press of Germany, the country should be excluded, for only with a mutual feeling of confidence could any conference be a success. Mr. Swayze's resolution was passed after some slight discussion.

The meeting closed with the passing of a resolution to the effect that "the United States should postpone the collection of the Austrian debt for a period of 20 years"