Why a Varsity Club?

The fight over the construction of a new Varsity Club has broken down to a pair of questions: (1) Did Allston Burr '89 earmark $250,000 for the construction of the club? (2) If not, is there justification for spending a quarter of a million dollars on such a club?

Mr. Burr's grant was unrestricted, although he certainly showed interest in a Varsity Club and in local athletics in general. Just how much of a "moral obligation" was tied to that grant is far less certain: a powerful group of Varsity Club alumni claim that Burr had the building of a club in mind, while Mr. Burr's relatives and some of his friends say he was primarily interested in what the College needed. The "moral obligation" argument for putting up a new club is open to question.

So the problem really turns out to be does the College need a new Varsity Club! It does not. When Mr. Burr gave the money for the present Varsity Club in 1912 students were mostly sprinkled through a heterogeneous collection of dormitories and rented rooms running from the river to the Yard. There had to be some meeting place to bring together students cut off in the isolation of rooming houses; Mr. Burr's club started that job. Twenty years later the House plan took over, not just for a few athletic teams, but for the whole undergraduate body. It was a plan designed to continue the Burr idea of bringing students together. The new Varsity Club will go against the spirit of the House plan.

There would be some use for a new Club. It would re-instituted the training table (which is likely to be re-instituted anyway), and it would lop three blocks off the long walk back from Soldiers Field. According to Varsity Club alumni, it would bring the College's athletic facilities up to "normal."

But these advantages, taken separately or together, do not warrant the construction of the club. The University has a long list of projects which so far lack funds to complete them. They include more scholarships, expanded General Education, and a hockey rink. All of these needs are more pressing than a varsity club--a new freshman scholarship is more valuable than a snack bar. Allots Burr was interested in Varsity Athletics, but he was interested in the College as an educational institution, as well. Faced with the College's present financial troubles in improving that education, he probably would have felt that the need for a Varsity Club was a small one after all.