"Tested and Approved By..."

Undoubtedly the most drastic and courageous step so far taken by any college in the United States to correct objectionable features connected with intercollegiate athletics is that just announced by the University of Pennsylvania. After a searching investigation of conditions, it has abolished such things as spring and pre-season football practice, the training table, the use of the training house as a dormitory for athletes, and the giving of scholarship aid for anything but scholastic standing.

Going even farther, it insists that athletic control shall henceforth be incorporated into the administrative structure of the university and not in the council of athletics, which has been made up of alumni, students and faculty members; that all coaches shall be members of the faculty, and that their salaries shall not be any larger than those of other faculty members; that there shall be a wide expansion of intramural athletics, and that intercollegiate competition, shall be of a year-round character with natural rivals in all sports through a range of teams of varying ability. Another very important reform is that placing the determination of the eligibility of students for intercollegiate competition in the hands of a committee made up of five members of the faculty.

This is a system of athletic handling far removed from that in vogue at most American colleges. It offers much in the way of putting intercollegiate athletics on a far saner basis than they have been during the last fifteen or twenty years. One can only commend the Pennsylvania authorities for the courageous experiment they have undertaken. How it will work out will depend largely on the sincerity with which it is administered. If followed to the letter, it probably will result in Pennsylvania having to be satisfied with less efficient teams than some of those which have represented the Red and Blue in past years; but, after all, that is a very small matter if it results in the college furnishing athletics for all who want them, and teaches students that the sport and not the victory is the thing which counts.