WAR AT CORNELL

A battle royal between undergraduates and alumni has set the Cornell campus agog. When a distinguished group of the latter faction recently met in take measures for the regeneration of football at Cornell, they were surprised to find the general sentiment of the student body opposed to their efforts. The Cornell Sun explained the attitude of the students by saying that "the undergraduates don't have any athletic teams any more. They belong to the alumni and the big-salaried coach."

That the situation of alumni manipulated football teams which the Cornell Sun has described and deplored is generally prevalent at the large American universities is incontestable. That the present state of affairs has tended to remove a line which twenty years ago existed between student spectator and student player is likewise certain. To cite merely one aspect of the change which has come about, the denial of the privilege to watch practice sessions and the consequent necessity of reading the papers to keep posted on the daily progress of the team, have resulted in a considerably diminished interest in team personalities on the part of undergraduates.

Whether the great majority of college football fans actually favor a reversion to old time football conditions remains a question. The Cornell Sun has answered it in the affirmative, but the fact that there has been no notice able decline in the student attendance at games during the past several seasons seems to indicate that the modern undergraduate is satisfied with the status quo. It should be remembered that against the impersonality and what can almost be called pseudo-professional spirit of the modern contest must be balanced the improvement in quality of the football which is witnessed, as well as its superior meriover former days as spectacular entertainment. The obstacle which has asserted itself time and again in this discussion of overemphasis has its root in the unfortunate failure to modify either of the extreme views in favor of a somewhat more balanced scale.