Ivy Schools Deny Colgate Bid To Gain Admission to League

The Ivy League university presidents have blocked Colgate University in its attempt to join the league.

In a letter dated April 23, John G. Kemeny, president of Dartmouth and head of the association of Ivy presidents, told Colgate that the league did not find it practical to increase its size soon.

"This makes it a dead issue," Harold W. Lahar, Colgate's athletic director, said yesterday.

Colgate had been seeking admission to the league because it is faced with a shrinking field of athletic competitors. Lahar said that Colgate's opponents have been joining other leagues, leaving Colgate a lone independent.

Kemeny's letter, the result of an April 15 meeting of Ivy presidents, said that the group "feels a great deal of sympathy for Colgate's desire to increase participation with league schools."

However, Colgate, according to the letter, will have to make such arrangements on an individual basis.

Lahar said that Thomas A. Bartlett, president of Colgate, has been trying to arrange informal meetings with Kemeny to determine whether Colgate might have a chance for admission in the future.

"We have not yet decided whether to wait for a chance at Ivy League acceptance or possibly seek other affiliation," Lahar said.

Baaron B. Pittenger, associate director of Athletics, said yesterday that Colgate is on the agenda for a May 21 meeting of Ivy athletic directors, but that the directors will not take action without initiative from the presidents.

"There is no strong feeling that we want to take them [Colgate] into the league," Pittenger said.