A WAR "H"

A very important matter which will come up before the Athletic Committee for discussion tonight is the award of some form of insignia to the members of the various teams which have represented the University during the past year. Both Princeton and Yale have granted the full letter to their athletes and it is time that the University revoke its former decision and vote some kind of athletic acknowledgement tonight.

It does not seem advisable that the straight "H" be awarded this year. Discounting entirely the records of the teams, it is obvious that in no branch of sport do they compare to pre-war teams. The wearing of the full "H" not only classes a man as one of the best of seven, or eight, or nine, or eleven men in a particular form of athletics at a particular time, but it denotes an athlete. No standard of athletic ability can be set, but in general it would be inopportune to give the letter to the members of this year's teams. Not only would it misrepresent them, but it would not be fair by comparison to the men who have won the "H" regularly in past seasons.

The question thus resolves itself into giving no letter or taking a middle ground and awarding a modified insignia. Ordinarily such a middle course inclines to be a weak one, but in the present instance this does not hold true. The men who have given their time and energy to athletics and who have represented the University to the best of their ability, be it on river or gridiron, diamond or rink, deserve recognition of some sort. This acknowledgement should be of a special kind, to exist only for the duration of the war, and to be superseded by the regular insignia when peace comes and the University resumes its natural course. Whether the change should be to decrease the size of the letter or modify it in some other way is not so important at the moment as the need of some definite action. The award of the full "H" is not without its advocates, but, all circumstances considered, the wiser course is to grant a war letter.