No More Free Towels: Wet Students Must Pay To Dry Off in IAB

No tickey, no towel.

If you are planning to take a shower today at the Indoor Athletic Building you'd better bring your own towel. Either that or buy a $3 wallet-size towel card that will entitle you to the use of the Harvard towel after showering during the term.

The Athletic Department has decided to cease its practice of handing out free towels in its athletic facilities this year due to a dramatic increase in thefts combined with the rising cost of replacing the towels. The trial program is another attempt to cut back on the athletic budget.

"It's better to do this," Assistant Director of Athletics Eric Cutler said yesterday, "than having to replace a lot of towels and not being able to send a squad to play at Brown, or something crazy like that."

A good towel, according to Cutler, can't be bought for less than a dollar wholesale these days. Harvard spends between $15,000 and $20,000 for replacements each year. "The cost has tripled in the last six to eight years," Cutler said.

Harvard is not alone, however, in charging its students for towel use. Dartmouth absolutely refuses to give them out at all anymore while Yale, Princeton and Penn have resorted to the sort of terry cloth rental system being tried here.

Students can obtain a towel ticket at the House dining halls or at any of the athletic facilities with showers. A clean towel will be issued in exchange for such a card, and the card will be returned when students hand back a dirty towel.

"We thought of using paper towels," Cutler remarked, "but you need about 15 of them to get you dry."