A Stern Demand

It is difficult to know exactly what to say about a subject as overwhelmingly savage as the brutality exhibited by certain members of the Princeton football team on Thursday.

The broken bones and painful cuts administered by three well trained athletes cry out much more effectively than we could ever hope to do. We can only demand swift and severe punitive action. We can only ask why these men did what they did.

Perhaps the tension that arises in every athlete before an important contest proved too much for the three players; but this surely can not excuse their barbaric atrocity. Men live together in societies which depend in a large measure on the stability of each individual member. If a man cannot control his emotions and allows every violent whim to hold reign over his life, then society must take action against him. So Princeton must do today.

Perhaps the isolated life which students at Princeton must perforce lead, compounded by the austerity of football training programs, built up frustration to such a point that a sadistic release outlet had to be found. But again this excuse is hardly a valid one. Yale football players must lead the same Spartan existence for weeks on end, and yet Yale football history has known no such deed.

Perhaps the three men planned this action as a joke--a horribly macabre one. We, at least, were not amused.

We are not psychologists, however. We do not pretend to understand the reasons behind this most unfortunate incident. We know only the fact: a sixteen-year-old boy was cruelly beaten, beaten by three men whose combined weight was over four times his own. The assailents were, supposedly, mature young men.

There is, obviously, but one solution: the three must be expelled. This is clearly the answer, and yet there is talk that these men may remain at Princeton. They may appear on the field of play this afternoon. Princeton officials talk of "Proper channels," but these words only mean that concessions are being made to these alumni who would see their old college victorious today.

We do not make this accusation out of any hidden desire to see our own team carry the day. It is a plain case of justice: three men have violated the civil law and must be punished.

But perhaps more important than even this is the concept of honor which has long been the firm foundation of the Ivy League, and, to an even greater extent, of the Big Three.

By their actions last Thursday, these men showed beyond all doubt that they are not worthy to be part of the Big Three and Ivy communities, and it is clear that by these ultimate standards, expulsion is mandatory.

We believe that, should the Princeton officials fail in their duty, the Yale team should refuse to appear on the field. Unless the College is given certain assurances by Princeton authorities that action will be promptly taken, President Griswold should instruct coach Olivar to keep his players in the locker room.

Perhaps the timing of such committee meetings as will be necessary to bring about punitive action will mean that a decision cannot be handed down until after game-time. Very well. Then let the guilty players be taken at that time from the playing field as an example to all.

Finally, we reiterate: the guilty players must be expelled. There can be no alternative.