Council Votes to Support Cheerleaders' Complaints

The ousted cheerleaders received unanimous support from the Student Council last night in their complaints against the Undergraduate Athletic Council's action in replacing present members of the cheerleading squad with varsity athletes.

Robert M. Landauer '59, head cheerleaders, called the move "a horrible injustice" and "a slap in the face in midseason" to members of his squad. Rather than replace any of the present cheerleaders with students selected by the UAC, he said, all eight members of the squad have decided to resign.

Noble Defends UAC

Speaking as a representative of the Athletic Council, John Noble '59 said his group had "no intention of giving anyone a dirty deal." The action was taken, he explained, in order "to make cheerleading more attractive, and to increase the spectator response at the games."

He said the UAC felt that, if athletes led the cheers, they would add "prestige" to the role of cheerleading. At present, cheerleading is "not an honor at Harvard," Noble stated, and added that though the Athletic Council "did not like the idea of cutting four cheerleaders, it felt its decision was one which would be beneficial to Harvard."

Landauer violently denied that "the lettermen will have the prestige to command any significant additional response" from the crowd. He said the members of his squad are willing to train the athletes for next year, but that they refused as a body to have any member replaced before the end of the season.

Faculty Group Said to Favor UAC

The Faculty Committee on Athletics held a banquet with the UAC last night, but Noble said no formal action was taken on the matter. However, he added that the Faculty Committee is "pretty definitely in favor" of the UAC's action.

In a unanimous vote the Student Council passed two motions, both supporting the retention of present members of the cheerleading squad. The second motion included a proposal that a number of UAC representatives equal to the number of present cheerleaders be combined into one squad for the rest of the season.