Pay As You Row

The Harvard Athletic Association is cutting corners. Faced with the problem of mounting deficits, that organization ceased to support a training table as of last November. Recently the HAA went one step further; it permitted some 105 men to remain in Cambridge for crew practice over spring vacation and then required them to pay for their own food.

This is a little bit like hitting a man when he is down. It is highly dubious that many of the 105 would have remained in Cambridge if there had been no crew practice; and at home they would have been eating three delicious free meals a day. Instead we have the picture of 105 souls rowing upward of fifteen miles a day on the Charles River and then trekking up to the Union to buy dinner, and not a very tasty dinner at that. But evidently the HAA feels that rowing on the Charles in the rain and cold is a privilege which should be worth a minimum of $12.25 to the average devotee of the sport.

Harvard University has come up with a dynamic new answer to the growing problem of athletic subsidization; it has become the first university which receives pay from its athletes in return for letting them wear the school colors in intercollegiate competition.

We think it would be far better if the HAA returned to the old system and let men try out for varsity and freshman crews free of charge. It might even be nice if the HAA invited the afflicted 105 up to its basement headquarters and then handed out 105 checks for $12.25. At any rate, the HAA should at least foot the food bill for the crew aspirants during next year's spring vacation. A man's crew aspirations should not be subject to charge.