MALIGNED MANAGERS

Among the subjects that came up for discussion at the educational conference, mentioned in this column yesterday, was the much maligned managers' competitions. One member of the faculty present was thoroughly convinced that these competitions were among the most harmful and inefficient of our institutions. It is encouraging to some of us to note that he was refuted, not by an undergraduate, but by another faculty representative, who defended the system on the ground that it developed qualities in the undergraduate, which could not be effectively brought out in the class room.

Since the famous report of the faculty committee last year, which revealed the fact that it was not the athlete but his managers whose scholastic records were unnaturally low; the latter have had to bear the brunt of the faculty disapproval, formerly directed against the players. There is, after all, something in our system of organized athletics, which is not in harmony with the conception of an institution of learning. As a result, there are those in the faculty, and there always will be, who will be sniffing suspiciously at this lusty growth, which seems to them at times to be threatening the parent tree. At times the suspicion that something is wrong becomes a conviction and then there is much ado for a time, as the most alarmed of the faculty vent their wrath against manager or player.

Such attacks, infrequent as they are, are to be regretted principally because they provoke equally extravagant defenses. If, as recently, it is the managers who are under fire, we hear that the competitions provide excellent training for work in the business world; that they breed assurance, discipline, obedience, and other such valuable qualities.

In any event both criticism and defense are apt to be unreasonable. Those who argue base their accusations or explanations largely on prejudice, for it has been clearly shown that all that the men in charge of these competitions needed, was a word of warning. Since the publication of the report last spring, matters have improved tremendously. Under capable supervision, much of the least profitable labor of the candidate has been eliminated, and matters have been arranged so that less time is taken from studies for managerial work.

This is as it should be. Competitions have a unique place among the University's educational opportunities, but they should not be allowed to assume too large a position in the undergraduate life. At present it appears that the situation is well-nigh satisfactory.