Rags to Riches

About the two worst athletic facilities in the East are Harvard University's--that's right--and Maryland Eastern Shore's." [George Plimpton, Sports Illustrated, Feb.2, 1976]

While George Plimpton's assessment of Harvard's athletic facilities may seem rather harsh (it was presented from a scouting vantage point) it does largely ring true.

Save its skating, squash and crew accommodations, Harvard's playgrounds are pathetically oversubscribed. And what with the pending construction of the new sports complex on Soldiers Field, it's getting to be difficult to even throw a Frisbee around the campus.

However, despite the tremendously increased demand for the existing athletic facilities, brought about in part by the rising participation of women in Harvard's various athletic programs, the Department of Athletics has refused to maximize the use of its present fields, courts and the like.

During the basketball season, the IAB inevitably offers near-banking hours for the non-intercollegiate athlete. Often the gym is only open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hardly prime time for the basketball devotee who somehow along the line misscheduled his courses so that his classes fall into that available court time slot. Seldom is the gym open for basketball more than four hours on weekends, and often it is closed Sundays, again a period when it is most likely to be in demand.

Harvard's court problems do not end there, unfortunately. The 8 a.m. telephone race to reserve an indoor tennis court is often an athletic endeavor in itself. And once again the available hours, for all practical purposes, are directly in conflict with undergraduate class hours.

With the advent of warm weather and the ensuing move to the outdoor courts, the situation does not improve. Nearly a third of the courts--the more closely cared-for clay courts--are usually held in reserve for the Harvard-Radcliffe teams.

For the rest of the University's racquet wielders, a mere 17 windswept, lineless courts are available for what enjoyment one can extract after the near-hour wait.

"They desperately need someone to take care of these courts," a diehard racqueteer lamented during her wait yesterday. "The clay courts are all dug up and the asphalt needs complete resurfacing."

But as if the court proceedings were not bad enough, there have been restrictions in effect this spring limiting the use of fields at Soldiers Field. For a while a directive from Athletic Director Robert Watson's office required a permission slip for undergraduates to use available softball fields.

And while the 60 Boylston St. crowd now explains that that policy is no longer enforced, the confusion over exactly which areas are available to student groups is still very much unclear.

Baron Pittenger, associate director of athletics, conceded on Thursday that there was indeed intra-departmental confusion over facility allocations. "What I think has happened," Pittenger said, "is that because of schedule conflicts there has been a communication breakdown and the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. But we'll straighten this all out at the first of next week."

While it is encouraging to hear that all will be straightened out, it is unlikely that will happen. For consistent policy clearly communicated to the college community has not been a trademark of the department.

What is needed is a careful reexamination of the University's "Athletics for All" policy--a reexamination which faces up to the reality that the "All" now being satisfactorily served is the minority of students active on intercollegiate teams and a similar minority participating in the well-planned but poorly administered intramural program. And perhaps then Harvard will be able to hand over its share of the "worst of the East" crown to Maryland Eastern Shore.