STADIUM TO HAVE PERMANENT STANDS

At its meeting, Monday, the Harvard Corporation voted to permit the Athletic Association to fill the open end of the Soldiers Field Stadium with permanent steel stands and to replace the wooden stands which cover the track inside the enclosure during the football season with temporary steel structures.

The decision to erect the steel stands ends a problem which has been current for two years since the temporary wooden structures were condemned by the Building Commission. Since then three alternatives have been open to the Athletic authorities, namely: to fill in the open end with concrete stands; to erect temporary steel structures; and to build permanent steel stands.

Concrete Prohibitive

Upon investigation, it was found that the cost of erecting a concrete structure would involve too great a cost since the seats at the open end are undesirable. Bolted temporary steel stands were also found impractical inasmuch as the cost of erecting them and removing them would amount to about $40,000 annually.

It is expected that work in erecting the new stands will not be commenced until after the Oxford-Cambridge-Harvard-Yale track meet which will be held on Soldiers Field in July. Since the steel girders and other materials to be used will be factory-made, it should not take much time to assemble the structure. If an earlier start should be necessary, it is felt that the work can be undertaken without interfering with the track meet.

Although no exact figures are available as to the cost of the stands, it is thought that the sum will be about $170.000. When the work is completed the structure will be left in place permanently or at least until a radical change in the Harvard football seating arrangements is made.