DIFFERENT

The recent acceptance by President Lowell of the request of Mayor Curley for the use of the Stadium for the Boston College-Holy Cross game shows a surprising reversal of policy if looked at from one point of view. He first refuses to have Harvard play for charity and then makes it possible for two other colleges to do just that. But when looked into more profoundly this act assumes a different color. In his denial of consent in the case of the Army game he was not thinking of the welfare of football in general but of the game as it was related to Harvard. Accordingly no inconsistency is patent.

But aside from the question of the President's faith to a policy there are two points which render his decision better than simply inoffensive. In the first place, he has lightened a situation that has been somewhat strained since the unsuccessful attempt of Mayor Curley and the athletic authorities of Boston College to force the abandonment of the Dartmouth-Stanford game in the stadium this fall. He shows a commendable broadness in the face of that mercenary attempt to interfere with the affairs of the University.

In the second place, this act proves to any complainants that there may be that the recent rebuff received by the politicians with regard to the Army game was not stirred by a lack of sympathy with the needy but by existing conditions in the University. In this case there can be no precedent established for politicians to call on Harvard teams to help charity, nor does it affect the low treasury of the Harvard Athletic Association. Here the desire to help where there is need is not off-set by circumstances which are present in the University.