Spasms of Conscience

Last week, in the wake of 1951's scandal-plagued football season, a few belated spasms of conscience were rippling over the nation. Among the more notable convulsions: P: The American Council on Education's special committee on athletic policy (ten college presidents) proposed a ban on all postseason bowl games, a rule barring freshmen from varsity teams, elimination of athletic scholarships. P:The Pacific Coast Conference formally adopted an "honor system" for policing its own backyard against the evils of subsidization. The men put on their honor: the college presidents. P: The Eastern College Athletic Conference (representing 89 colleges) met to consider a seven-point reform movement. Salient point: elimination of outright athletic scholarships. P: The Big Seven Conference not only banned bowl games but even agreed not to play in postseason tournaments (e.g., the Madison Square Garden basketball championships) sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. P:Southern Conference officials voted to suspend the University of Maryland and Clemson for accepting bids to the Sugar and 'Gator Bowls in direct violation of a conference ruling. The suspension lops six conference games off Maryland's 1952 schedule, four off Clemson's.

But not everyone had yet jumped on the bandwagon. Southeast Conference athletic officials, their feet dragging noticeably, voted almost unanimously to tell the ten college presidents to stick to their educational knitting. Bowl officials were outraged at being singled out for criticism. The righteous indignation was summed up by Lathrop Leishman, chairman of the Rose Bowl's football committee: "The problems of proselyting and subsidizing of athletes exists in conferences that never play postseason games . . . You can't cure the mange by killing the dog."

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