H. A. A. RESERVES FINAL DECISION ON OKESON PLAN

Following the recent statement of W. J. Bingham '16 that Harvard would again be a party to the Okeson agreement, a meeting of the coaches and officials of 13 of the largest universities in the East was held last week at the New York Yacht Club in New York to hear W. R. Okeson read his report, and to pass upon plans to continue his scheme next year. It is understood that the representatives at the gathering approved the report, but the contents of the report or whether the system would be continued next year by all the institutions represented at the conference, was not disclosed.

At the meeting it was decided to assemble again on February 6, at the Yacht Club, as the guests of Commander Ingraham of the United States Naval Academy. A definite decision will be made at this meeting as to whether the plan will be adopted for another year or entirely discontinued, it was ascertained today. The idea of having a neutral body appoint officials for the college football games was first instituted by the late F. W. Moore '93, former Graduate Treasurer of the H. A. A., and it is expected therefore that Harvard will try to have the plan adopted for another year.

Okeson announced that his plan would be elaborated for the assignment of officials next fall. In the past year the system was to have Okeson himself appoint all football officials for the 12 institutions that agreed to his scheme. This year, in addition to selecting all the officials, he will arrange to have a number of regular quartets of officials working together all fall, and will distribute the assignments for the various games among these groups as units. Furthermore, each official will occupy the same position all season, whether it be that of the referee, umpire, linesman, or field judge. In this way, he cannot be asked to serve in one position for one game and in a different capacity a week later.

Among the teams which will subscribe to the plan next fall are the Army, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the Navy, Pennsylvania, Penn State, Syracuse, Yale, and Princeton. Other universities may accept the plan at the meeting to be held February 6.

Besides the Harvard delegates to last week's meeting, and H. W. Clark '23 there were present Commander Ingraham of the United States Naval Academy Lou Young, and William Hollenback, of Pennsylvania, Jack Cates of Yale, Biff Jones of the United States Military Academy, Neil Flemming of Penn State, Reynolds Benson of Columbia, W. W. Roper of Princeton, Harry Heneage of Dartmouth, D. O. McLaughry of Brown, and G. B. Thurston of Syracuse.

The organization in charge of the system as yet has adopted no formal name, but it is understood that the group will call themselves the Eastern Association for the Appointment of Football Officials. No officials have been announced but it is reported that W. W. Roper, who was chairman at the last gathering, and Harry Heneage of Dartmouth have been leading the activities of the organization at the meetings.