University Votes Down Televising Football Contests

The University has voted against the NCAA's compromises plan for televising 1955 college football games because of legal reasons, Thomas D. Bolles, Director of Athletics, announced yesterday.

The action continues a policy formulated in 1953 when the University rejected the NCAA program on the grounds that it restricted Harvard's right to decide independently when and to what extent it will televise sports.

Despite the University's decision, the NCAA plan passed overwhelmingly Thursday by a 193 to 27 vote. It provides for a national game-of-the-week on each of eight dates, with five Saturdays devoted to regional telecasting.

The University stand does not, however, preclude the possibility of televising the Yale game on this sectional basis. Such a telecast was unofficially proposed to the University last fall, but was turned down for legal reasons, Bolles explained.

Could Follow Penn

"If the NCAA officially wants us, we could televise the game," Bolles said. "That was the case with Pennsylvania." Penn rejected the program as a whole but televised a game last fall.

Yale most certainly will follow Harvard's lead in voting against the 1955 program. The absence from town of the Eli athletic director, Delaney Kiphuth, has prevented Yale from voting, but indications from New Haven are that the Eli policy of opposition will remain unchanged.