Pusey Lauds Role of Intramurals; Hails Decline of "Professionalism"

President Pusey praised the--decline of "professionalism" in college athletics in an address at the dedication of the Physical Education Center at Northeastern University Saturday night.

Illustrating this decline, he cited the fact that most colleges are now content to play teams of their own class, while before there was often too much competition for national prestige.

"Education is concerned with more than the cultivation of the mind," Pusey said, "it is concerned with the development of the whole student." Extra-curricular activities, especially athletics, play an important part in this development, he stated. The decline of "professionalism," he said, has led to an expansion of intramural athletic programs, which give students more opportunity for participation and development.

Pusey remarked, however, that the place of athletics has not always been so commendable. As an example, he cited a former Harvard baseball team which was on the read for 47 days, played in 23 different cities, and lost only to a professional baseball team.

He said that faculties were responsible for such situations, and that earlier administrations often failed to recognize the true place of athletics in the educational system. Students had always participated in sports, but many faculties did not bother to assume official control of athletic programs.

Pusey continued by saying that when the important developments in athletics occurred before World War I, the undergraduates and alumni were left to manage things as they saw fit, often with disastrous results. Lately, however, Pusey said, there has been a movement to bring athletics under the direct control of the faculty.