Panel Named to Study New Athletic Facilities

Dean Ford has established a new five-man committee to review Harvard University's existing athletic facilities and report on the need for possible major additions to them.

The formation of the new committee, expected to report to Ford in the spring, could speed the construction of a new indoor athletic complex for Harvard.

That complex, first proposed in a 1964 Athletic Department report, would leave the existing Indoor Athletic Building completely free for intramural sports.

President Pusey was quoted last October as saying the complex was not then a top priority item in University planning.

The new committee will be chaired by Arthur D. Troftenberg, assistant dean of the Faculty for Resources and Planning. Its other members are Adolph W. Samborski '25, director of athletics, William W. McCurdy, the Harvard track coach, Baaron B. Pittenger Jr., director of sports information, and Eugene Kinasewich '64, assistant dean of the college. Kinasewich is a former Harvard hockey star.

Trottenberg said yesterday that Harvard's existing athletic facilities have been subject to increasing use in recent years, and he said there would be greater strain on them when Harvard's planned tenth House, mather House, is completed. Trottenberg mentioned too that faculty members and graduate students have been using Harvard athletic facilities more.

He said the new committee intends to visit other colleges to examine their facilities and plans for expansion. The committee's initial meeting was Thursday, and Trottenberg said he expected it to meet again within the next three weeks, although no specific date has been set yet.

Expansion

The committee expects to draw up a program for long-range expansion of facilities, Samborski said, and he said it was possible the committee may also recommend temporary facilities to ease current strains. The IAB now serves for both intramural and intercollegiate sports, housing facilities for swimming, basketball, wrestling, and fencing.

Most of the other lvy League schools have recently completed or are beginning new expansion programs for their athletic facilities. Princeton recently broke ground for a new gymnasium, after completing a new outdoor complex. Dartmouth has finished its new Levarone field house. Cornell and Penn have also begun new athletic expansion programs in recent years.

A new basketball court, hockey rink, indoor track, indoor swimming pool, and multi-purpose auditorium have all been mentioned as possible features of a new Harvard athletic complex. Cost estimates range from $5 million to $7 million.