On the Bench

NEW YORK -- Brad Higgins president of Colurabia's class of 1974, is bringing school spirit back to the university that in 1968 gave us the first student strike, the first bloody bust and the worst college football team in the country.

Today Brad and his friends won't be chanting "No Class Today. No Ruling Class Tomorrow" outside Low Library. They'll be cheering for Don Jackson and the Lion eleven at Bakers Field.

Brad, who says he's "leaning towards President Nixon," kicked off the big weekend by sponsoring a Tug-of-War between the class of '74 and the class of '75 on Thursday night.

When the Columbia Spectator asked Brad why he came to Columbia, he explained "I like the city. I wanted to go to an Ivy League School, and I got rejected at Dartmouth."

DARTMOUTH-PRINCETON -- My roommate at boarding school did get into Dartmouth, and he's had everything Brad always wanted. The last time I saw him, he was wearing his green freshman numeral sweater and making out with his girl on my couch.

Tonight Digger and his bros at Psi U are going to get wicked faced because the Big Green Indians are going to beat the Bejesus out of Princeton. The Princeton-Dartmouth game usually decided the Ivy League championship in the sixties, but now it just means a big night for the Green Mountain. The Tiger's defense will avert a massacre, Dartmouth, 17-0.

YALE-BROWN -- When Yale's elite secret society. Skull and Bones, tapped the mythical Eli football hero, Dink Stover, in 1911, he said it was the biggest thrill of his life. When Skull and Bones became liberal in 1948 and tapped Yale's great black halfback. Levi Jackson, he rejoiced. "Thank heavens, my name isn't Jackson Levi." But in 1971 when Skull and Bones tapped Yale's present hot shot half back. Dick Jauron, who broke Jackson's all-time rushing record two weeks ago, Jauron told Skull and Bones to buzz off. "They don't even have a pinball machine, for Chrissake," he explained. Traditions are crumbling all over the Ivy League. Brown won a game last week. Yale and Dartmouth should put the Bruins back in the groove over the next two weeks, however. Yale, 24-10.

PENN-CORNELL -- Penn coach Harry Gamble was feeling a little low after his Quakers had broken. Brown's 12 game losing streak last Saturday, but John Yovicsin, Harvard's winningest, and losingest, football coach who retired in 1970, wrote Gamble a letter of condolence: "Dear Harry, I know how you feel. I too once broke a Brown losing streak back in 1969. But things can only better. I am planning intramural volleyball tournaments now at 60 Boylston St., and last month. I was promoted from the basement to the first floor. So hang in there. Harry Best, Yovvy." Gamble won't find much to cheer him up in Ithaca today. Cornell's Marinaro-less offense has been scoring over thirty points a game. Still, Penn's Doug Clune, "who has been erasing Ivy League pass reception records, may give the Big Red a hard time, Cornell, 26-22.

HARVARD-COLUMBIA -- Last week Harvard's defensive backfield came back from the opening game debacle and squashed B.U.'s air game. True, there was a hurricane whistling through Harvard Stadium and the B.U. quarterback completed less than half his pitch-outs in the first half. But at least the Crimson Defenders picked up some confidence. They'll need it. Unless the Broadway Local derails on its way from Morningside Heights to Baker Field before the game. Don Jackson will give the Harvard defense a wretched afternoon. Nevertheless, the Lions muddled to a zero-zero tie with Princeton, so they may not be overpowering, Harvard 29-26.

CRIMSON-COLUMBIA SPECTATOR -- The main quadrangle of Columbia's campus. South Field has suffered through many recent historical events. It was the setting for the first building take-over by SDS. It is the vista gazed upon-by the status of Columbia's Alma Mater which was dynamited in 1969. It was the escape route for the first unhappy undergraduate to ever cut through University red tape by shooting the Assistant Dean of Students. And it was the scene of the first Sha-Na-Na Concert. Today it will assume another niche in history, when it provides the playing for the Crimson's 300th consecutive touch football victory. The Columbia Spectator will look on in awe as the Crime rolls 23-2.