Faculty May Let Sextet Accept NCAA Invitation

The Faculty Committee on Athletics will probably allow the varsity hockey team, if asked, to accept a bid to the NCAA Championship in March, reports indicated yesterday.

The Committee last year withdrew the team from consideration in a move regarded then as a protest against the recruiting and eligibility practices of some Western NCAA schools. Two teams from the East are chosen to play in the championships against two Western sextets.

"The situation has improved," Thomas D. Bolles, Director of Athletics, said in reference to admissions procedure for athletes to Canadian-dominated teams in the West. "However, this should not imply that the decision of the Faculty Committee will change from last year's," Bolles added.

Unofficial, but reliable reports indicated otherwise. Dean Watson said at a press conference Monday that some of Harvard's doubts have been cleared. Watson said that the College is "looking over the whole situation." This means that Bolles has, in the words of the Athletic Director, "remained cognizant of what is going on in the West-team personnel, entrance requirements, and financial aid." The "whole situation" includes consideration not only of changes in Western colleges but also of the calibre of the 1961 Harvard team.

Paul F. Mackessey, Director of Athletics at Brown and chairman of the NCAA Eastern Hockey Selection Committee, will ask each member school in the East to say by Friday, Mar. 24, whether it will accept a bid, if asked. The Faculty Committee on Athletics has no regular meeting planned before that deadline but often meets for special or unexpected matters.

Improved Attitude to West

The Administration's attitude, in any case, appears to be more amenable towards the West; the fears about a Crimson team skating on the same ice as a Western squad have lesened since last year.

This season the NCAA has dropped post-season play-offs as a means of selecting teams. The procedure was criticized by many New England athletic administrators and was given last March by an H.A.A. official as the reason for Harvard's withdrawal.

Mackessey, along with the other committee members-B.U. coach Harry Cleverly and Providence College's Thomas Eccleston-will choose the two representatives to complete in the championships at the University of Denver March 16-18.

A high NCAA official declared yesterday that there are "more and more players of college age and calibre and more control over recruiting in Western colleges," as a result of NCAA legislation several years ago.

Harvard officials agree that "the situation has improved" and also that it has improved in one year.