Marathon-Sized Slap in the Face

BOSTON'S MARATHON brings a spectacular occassion to town. Throughout its glorious history, the road race has grown from a local event to a nationwide example of the beauty and majesty of athletic competition.

But in the expansionary process, the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which oversees the Marathon, seems to have forgotten where its home is and has trampled on some of its local supporters.

Each year, the BAA must handle hundreds of applications from media groups around the world looking to come to the Hub for Marathon Monday. Understandably, some newspapers, radio and television units must be refused credentials; but one of the BAA's criteria for who will get those precious press passes severely tarnishes the glitter of the Boston event.

In an arbitrary and ill-conceived decision, the BAA has chosen not to honor press requests from any college newspaper. That means the multitude of metropolitan Boston schools, whose students comprise a great bulk of the almost 8000 runners in the Marathon, will have no news of their athletes' accomplishments. The large, commercial dailies will not provide special attention to specific runners from specific schools--there are too many other concerns. Only the college papers have the space to write about their own athletes.

FOR The Crimson, the BAA's decision means the dozens of Harvard athletes who will tackle Heartbreak Hill will probably never get the notice they deserve for their efforts. The Crimson has always had reporters and photographers working the race; but this year, for the first time, we have been shut out.

When BAA President Will Cloney '33 was asked this week how 'The Crimson--without credentials--could expect to cover properly the many Harvard runners in the Marathon, he could only respond, "I didn't know there were that many Harvard students in the race. I thought they were smarter than that."

The BAA decision is a slap in the face to Boston-area students and schools. Not only does it downgrade the importance of college runners, but it relegates college journalists to an undeserved second-class status.

While reporters from Oregon, Arizona, and California sit comfortably in the Prudential Tower press offices, writers from the Marathon's own backyard will be excluded. The students of Boston treat the Marathon with great respect, and we deserve more than the back of the BAA's hand in return.