Brown Instructor to Debate Coach Over Proposal to Abolish Football

The English instructor who set off a controversy at Brown Tuesday by demanding that intercollegiate football be banned at the university will have a chance to debate the matter with the athletic director and the head gridiron coach.

Wade C. Thompson, through an advertisement in the Brown Daily Herald, asked for signers for a petition that called for the abolishment of football at Brown, labeling the game "anti-intellectual and bourgeois." The Herald quoted the instructor as saying, "the reaction (to the proposal) exceeded my wildest expectations."

He will not reveal how many names he has assured thus far, "so as to strike fear in those who would oppose us."

John J. McLaughry, former Amherst head football coach who was signed by the Bruins last month, and athletic director Paul F. Mackesey will argue the negative before students and the public Tuesday night.

Athletic officials, meanwhile, criticized Thompson's lack of knowledge on the subject. Mackesey said that the teacher is only seeking headlines, while McLaughry cited the character and academic records of his players.

In Wednesday's college newspaper a mysterious "J.G." advertised a petition calling for the banishment of Thompson from the Brown campus.

Unfeazed by this, Thompson maintained that "because students want it" is a poor criterion for tolerating football. He added, "That criterion would justify anything from 'free love' onward."