Compulsory Sports Program Planned For All Students

A system of compulsory athletics for all students, previously a mere speculation, became the next thing to a reality yesterday with the announcement that such a plan is now being seriously considered for the College.

The details of the program, which will be released shortly, are now being considered by the Committee on the Regulation of Athletic Sports, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Under the new plan, upperclassmen as well as Freshmen will be required to take some form of exercise a certain number of times a week. It will probably necessitate a large expansion of the present intramural system in order to absorb the increased number of students taking part in athletics.

Emphasis on Physical Fitness

According to the announcement, the reason for the new program is to meet the military requirements of physical fitness and toughness, which have already brought similar systems at other colleges like Cornell.

Although intramural sports will necessarily be enlarged to meet the new requirements, the new program will emphasize physical toughness rather than recreation.

The new program was first brought up on the first of January when the Association of American Colleges voted for a general policy of emphasizing physical training in college for the duration of the war. Since then the University has been studying the matter.

Regular intercollegiate athletics will go on as close to schedule as possible under the new plan, but there will necessarily be some changes. Such events as the annual Yale baseball game and the annual crew races have already been moved up to coincide with the early Commencement being planned at New Haven. Other sports will also probably have to alter their schedules.