CUTTING THE H.A.A. BUDGET

Revision of the budget of the Harvard Athletic Association assumes added importance in view of the Corporation meeting yesterday and in consideration of the generally known fact that this year's budget had overestimated the football receipts last autumn by a large sum between $200,000 and $300,000.

In the face of the tremendous deficit which such figures guarantee, the H.A.A. must make drastic cuts if its budget is to be balanced during the present academic year. it is not inconceivable that the Association might be forced to drop, as in Dartmouth's case, Freshman, Jayvee, and minor sports; it is not an exaggeration to state that a number of the coaches might have to go. These extremities raise again the urgent problem of Harvard's relation to its athletic program, and in what manner it should financially support that program.

There are some who feel that it would be a wise step to force the H.A.A. to balance its budget on this year's program, to make the stringent economies which such a policy would necessitate. Such retrenchments, they feel, would tend to reduce the overemphasis on athletics, and moreover the importance of the coach. A man's independence they claim, is not improved by constant supervision. And with this consideration in mind, they argue that the H.A.A. should not be allowed to extend its budget through another year, an action which would render much easier the balancing of the budget, pointing out that no other department of the University has been allowed this privilege.

There is justification for this argument. In face of such a possible deficit, there is need for much drastic economy: some cuts can certainly be made and have already been made, in intercollegiate sports, in the roster of Harvard's sixty-two coaches, in upkeep of buildings, in guarantees, and in trips. But a retrenchment of some $250,000 or more can not be made in a half year along such lines without crippling, perhaps destroying the University's expressed policy of "Athletics for All."

That policy has at its foundation the American demand for team play. Sports for individuals are enjoying a rise in popularity, but the College man's emphasis is still overwhelming upon group athletics. And it is demonstrable that such activity, if it is to attract men and hold their interest, must be under the direction of able, trained coaches. Certainly that policy has been adhered to by Harvard for many years, and its success argues forcibly for continuation. To effect such drastic economies as an immediate balancing of the budget probably necessitates, would, bring about two results fatal to that success. It would destroy the fine body of coaches that the H.A.A. has gathered together during the last few years; it would, in that destruction, remove what is perhaps one of the greatest incentives for participation in group athletics--the desire for the improvement which professional coaches can effect. It would sweep away the foundations upon which American College Athletics rest.

In this danger is imminent, the balancing of the budget should certainly be deferred another year, to allow the burden to be at least slightly lessened. But there is something more fundamental which has evoked the whole problem. In common with nearly all colleges of its own type, Harvard's athletic program is financed almost entirely by football ticket sales. The policy has been accepted for years, yet in times of depression, its essential weaknesses are strongly revealed. It leads to excessive ballyhoo, in the attempt to raise revenue; it has put all the stress on gate receipts, the most uncertain variable in the whole financial procedure; and most important, there are definite indications that that source of revenue will continue to weaken, an interest wanes in he sport. The proposed fixed fee to be paid by all undergraduates on the term bills is a step to a firmer athletic financial policy, but it can hardly be expected to finance even a tenth of the whole program. If the University is to continue its boasted policy of "Athletics for All," there must be created some sort of endowment fund to supplement gate receipts and make budget balancing a somewhat less ephemeral procedure. Certainly the difficulties into which the H.A.A. has fallen this year to a real service in laying bare the tottery financial foundation of Harvard's ambitions athletic program.