Columbia to Feature Female Cheerleaders But Football Team Still Expected to Lose

Columbia was voted the seventh worst major college team in the country by Steve Harvey in a September 18 article in the Boston Globe. While holding a firm grip on the ivy cellar, however, the Lions may field the most appealing group of cheerleaders in the League.

On October 4, seven girls from Barnard and their pom poms will trot out on to Baker Field to encourage the Lions in their Ivy opener against Princeton. They will be accompanied by ten Columbia men and, as usual, by the student dressed in the Lion oufit.

The innovation is the brainchild of Andrea Guterman, a junior from Woodside, Queens. When she asked friends about the idea during her first fall at Barnard, most said that the Ivy League had a rule against girl cheerleaders.

Someone told Miss Guterman that there was an Ivy League cheerleading office at Harvard, so she wrote to Harvard's director of sports information. Baaron B. Pittenger. Pittenger replied that he knew of no such restrictions about the sex of cheerleaders.

The idea won the support of the Columbia alumni association, the director of athletics, and the male cheerleaders. Administrators gave their approval, as did the university's advisory committee on athletics. So it happened.

"After a while it became a real crusade." Miss Guterman said. "and we were determined to succeed."

The female cheerleaders will make their Soldiers Field debut on October 11. They will be hoping to improve on the performance turned in by Bucknell's three girls last season, the most recent female cheerleaders in the Stadium.

Just before halftime in the Bucknell game, with the Crimson well on its way to a 59-0 win. Harvard's cheerleaders persuaded their Bucknell counterparts to come over to the Crimson sideline. The three girls, then led the enthusiastic Freshman Patents Day crowd in a series of cheers.

Another innovation that may distract Columbia fans' attention from the team itself is a new computer ticket system. Tickets for all Columbia home games will be sold at more than 100 locations throughout the East by Ticket Reservation Systems. Inc.

The ticketron program will enable Lion fans to obtain conveniently the best available seats on a first-come, first-served basis. At the electronic box offices, purchasers instantly receive the actual printed tickets, not box office exchanges, for the location and price desired.