SUBSIDIES AND CONCESSIONS

The problem of amateurism regarding both college and non-college athletics has been so hotly discussed of recent years that no situation even remotely connected with it can escape the searchlights of publicity. The extraordinary organization of college athletics, the amounts of money involved, and the quasi-public character of modern college games have given rise to a complicated machinery of control which would have never been necessary had athletics enjoyed a less prominent position in education. The exhaustive report of the Carnegie Foundation is but another monument to the complexity of the amateur problem.

As the report shows, Harvard has been in general, very successful in eliminating the evils usually attendant upon college sport. Certainly the H. A. A. has made a continuous and sincere effort to keep Harvard athletics in line with the written and unwritten principles of the amateur spirit. The fact that it was the officials of the H. A. A. who were responsible for bringing to the attention of the investigators the one feature of their policy which failed to pass musier is ample proof of the eagerness of these men to put Harvard athletics in the cleanest possible condition.

The matter of subsidizing athletes by assigning exclusively to them the working of various valuable concessions controlled by the Athletic Association was the one point in which the Harvard athletic policy was found wanting. Fortunately all taint of using these concessions as a recruiting inducement has long since been removed at Harvard by the fact that no Freshman has been allowed to enjoy them. In fact, it is quite obvious that under the administration of Mr. Bingham, the concessions have been operated with a view to reducing all the evils in the past associated with the practice. Undoubtedly the fact that they were all held by athletes does throw a cloud over the situation, but it is easy to see how the practice may well have grown up inadvertently and as a matter of convenience. The men most likely to be known to the H. A. A. are of course athletes, and there is no great difficulty in assuming that the jobs in its control have been assigned to them quite innocently.

In these days of highly organized sport it is necessary to avoid even the suspicion of evil, and the H. A. A. has wisely concluded to get out of what has come to be looked upon as shady business. Whether it has been altogether wise to place the management of the concessions in the hands of the College Employment Office is another matter. Already there has been friction between the two organizations of a sort which augurs ill for the success of the project. After all, employment is one thing and business management quite another and it is unreasonable to suppose that the two activities may be happily combined. The obvious method of securing an equitable distribution of jobs between athletes and non-athletes is to have this phase of the situation handled by the Employment Office. The actual direction of the men given positions, however, might well be taken over by some individual or organization familiar with the operation of such enterprises and more or less in touch with the policies of the H. A. A. in the conduct of affairs on Soldiers Field.

The fact that the concessions in question are more valuable than the ordinary jobs available around the College make the problem a particularly difficult one. Several considerations make it unwise to sell them to outside interests as is done by professional promoters. And the fact remains that there will be several positions at the disposal of the Employment Office which will in effect confer a subsidy upon the incumbent, athlete or no. As there seems to be no good reason why this should be done, some provision must be made for disposing of the income over and above that necessary for the fair compensation of the men employed on the concessions. At Yale twenty-five per cent of the profits incident to the operation of athletic concessions are set aside in a loan fund for needy undergraduates. This seems to be both a convenient and appropriate solution of the problem and one which might be well applied at Harvard.

If matters are allowed to go on as they are and the operation of concessions be allowed to return certain individuals an income disproportionate to their efforts, there may well be a tendency for an overzealous Employment Manager to discriminate against athletes. While being faintly humorous such a situation would hardly be fundamentally sound and it is up to both organizations now responsible for the successful operation of the concessions to work out some carefully considered plan for the operation of the concessions which will obviate the abuses possible under the present arrangement.