HOUSE ATHLETICS

It is perhaps difficult to draw any conclusion as to the future of interhouse sports in the success of Lowell House and the failure of Dunster House in arousing enough athletic interest for competition in swimming and basketball. The current state of affairs, however, suggests that even when all seven houses are in operation next fall and when the inter-house athletic organization is more fully realized, there may arise considerable difficulty in developing the hoped for interest in house sports.

Mr. Bingham has insisted several times that intercollegiate rivalry is the basis of all college sport, and that without its stimulus, interest in athletics would wane. To what extent intramural contests can be developed will be tested in a very serious way in the next few weeks. Both in Cambridge and New Haven the sponsors of the house plan have quite definitely committed themselves to a policy of emphasizing inter-house sports. They hope that in such a way traditions, spirit, and loyalty will be developed to the advantage of the houses and that at the same time some of the pressure on intercollegiate rivalries will be relieved. It seems clear that a careful balancing of the two will have to be achieved. Perhaps the prospect of dual meetings between Harvard houses and Yale "colleges" will offer sufficient stimulus to carry on the sports successfully and at the same time in a more sane and proper relation to the college curriculum.