MINORS AND MAJORS

In an attempt to equalize the income and outgo of the various sports at Purdue University, the officials have arrived at the conclusion that minor sports must be sacrificed if the profits of football are to be kept intact. Problems of a similar nature have confronted various other institutions, but this is perhaps the first instance in which a solution of such a cold and calculating nature has been offered.

At Purdue the opinion expressed through the editorial column of the "Exponent", the University daily, is that such an action represents a complete misunderstanding of the raison d'etre which motivates collegiate athletics. One graduate writes, "Is the greatest university in the world becoming so dependent upon the great god money that it will deprive approximately one half of its athletically inclined students of enjoying the thrills of such (minor) competitions?" In spite of what is perhaps an understandable bias regarding the importance of his Alma Mater, this graduate's views on the importance of minor sports indicate a healthy respect for the policy of athletics for everyone.

These opinions of the graduates and underclassmen obviously coincide with the idealistic motive for athletics. Sports, like any other diversion, are for the good of the majority and not to provide games in the spirit of the Roman spectacles. The perfectly organized athletic system would not be one stressing the aim of quality at the expense of quantity. The aristocracy of ability which football creates should be counterbalanced by the democracy of the minor sports, and it is this aim that the movement at Purdue is defeating.

Whatever may be the official attitude it is encouraging that there should be a strong undergraduate feeling against this spirit of "bigger and better anything". With such an attitude of the greatest good for the greatest number, it is quite probable that the minor sports, instead of becoming crushed by the more spectacular major athletics, will be afforded a well deserved opportunity to expand.