Presidents Formally Accept New 'Ivy Group' Agreement

Re-emphasizing the fundamentals of amateur athletics, the Ivy League formally agreed yesterday that its eight member colleges would play a round-robin football schedule, and asserted that the principles of round-robin scheduling would be extended to as many sports as "practicable." The football league will probably start in 1956.

President Grayson Kirk of Columbia, spokesman for the Ivy Group, officially announced the formal ratification of the new policies following approval by the governing boards of the eight institutions. Kirk in chairman of the President's Policy Committee, one of three official committees established to administer the agreement.

In addition to expanding the principles of round-robin competition, the new league affirmed its ban on spring football practice and athletic scholarship, thereby substantially keeping intact an informal president's pact drawn up in 1945 to prevent commercialization in Ivy college athletics.

Bowl games and undergraduate appearances in post-season all-star contests were also banned for the "Ivy Group," as the league is officially called.

Preserve the Amateur

The new agreement set forth the preservation of the amateur in college sports as its primary objective. The pact bases this aim on the belief that players and coaches should be "permitted to enjoy the game as participants in a form of recreational competition rather than as professional performers in public spectacles."

Commenting on the new league, Dean Watson said last night that although the new agreement means Ivy teams will play simultaneously under E.C.A.C. and Ivy Group rules, there will be no conflict between the two.

The round-robin football season will probably not begin until 1956, since plans for 1954 and, for the most part, for 1955 have already been drawn up. A new section of the agreement specifies that schedules in sports other than football shall not be made prior to December of the proceeding academic year.

The Administrative Committee, with Director of Athletics Thomas D. Bolles as Harvard representative, will set a starting date for football practice, not earlier than Sept. 1, and establish a formula for the start of practice in other sports. Watson, who was largely responsible for early drafts of the agreement, will serve on the Committee on Eligibility