Education First, Football Second
There has been a lot of howling about Oregon football this
season. Partisans think the Webfoots are losing too often.
They say Oregon should spend more money to obtain players
or play in a conference more its calibre.
H. K. NEWBURN
Perspective Not De-emphasis
The attitude of President IT.
K. Xewburn and the adminis
tration lias been based on the
premise that the primary pur
pose of an institution of higher
learning is to educate ; athletics
is of secondary importance.
YYe do not call Xewburn's
attitude “de-emphasis” of foot
ball. We believe it is merely
placing football in the proper
perspective.
A university's reputation is
based upon impressions made ]
by persons graduating from
that school. A winning football
team can mean temporary pres
tige but in the long haul it is
the graduate who forms public
opinion.
The administration does not
disapprove of football. It recog
nizes the values of athletic par
ticipation. What it is unwilling
to do is make athletics of para
mount importance at Oregon.
We do not believe that the University should enter a pro
gram of intensive proselyting. Alumni money which might be
used to lure athletes to Oregon can be better used to further
the cademic side of the school.
Coach Len Casanova has done a good job this year. We con
gratulate him.
It’s nice to have a Rose Bowl team. But if it means sacrifice
of high educational goals, we'll pass it by.
Two Platoon System
“An’ now, coming in to replace Fagan, Chambers and David in
th’ cheering section—we have three fresh, spirited—”
Or&aon dailtt
EMERALD
The Oregon Daily Emerald published Tuesday through Friday during the college year
except Sept. 17 and 19; Nov. 27 through Dec. 1; Dec. 4, 9 and 10; Dec. 12 through Jan. 5;
March 5, 10 and 11; Mar. 13 through Mar. 30; and May 30 through Tune 4, with issues on
Nov. 8, Feb. 7 and May 9 by the Student Publications Board of the University of Oregon.
Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: $5
per schotpl year; $2 per term.
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represent the opinions of the ASUO or of the University. Initialed editorials are written by
editorial staff members. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.
Larry Hobart, Editor Sally Thurston, Business Manager
Helen Jones, Bill Gurney, Associate Editors
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Al Karr, Managing Editor
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Asst. Managing Editors: Judy McLoughlin
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OREGON FOOTBALL
What About 'De-emphasis'?
By Al Karr
Emerald Managing Editor
How far should a school go fi
nancially in building athletic
teams ?
At the University of Oregon
the determinant is the belief that
the purpose of the institution is
to provide the best possible edu
cation for its students.
Within this framework, com
petitive athletic participation is
encouraged to the utmost. But
the program must not be allowed
to handicap academic pursuit,
Lyle M. Nelson, director of pub
lic services, said in explaining the
philosophy of the University ad
ministration.
I'inancial Aid Provided
It is the policy of the Univer
sity and its athletic department
to provide tuition grants-in-aid
to athletes needing such aid, and
to provide work projects for com
petitors needing further financial
assistance, both in accordance
with the rules of the Pacific
Coast Conference.
Any aid beyond that allowed
by the conference, besides being
illegal, is out of line with the
main purpose of an educational
institution, Nelson said. “We are
opposed to any such subsidiza
tion," he said, “as not being hun
est."
Not “Bought” Athletes
Athletic Director Leo Harris
put it simply, “I just don't be
lieve in buying athletes.” (Be
sides, he asserted, bought ath
letes don’t play as well as those
who are not “purchased.”;
It is this line of thinking and
policy which has caused discon
tent on the part of some stu
dents, and occasioned lamenting
columns by Register-Guard
Sports Editor Dick Strite and
Emerald Sports Editor Larry La
velle.
Other students, however, have
expressed agreement with the
policy and the philosophy behind
it.
Critics claim that the policy of
“de-emphasis” places Oregon at
a disadvantage with some other
schools in the conference, who are
said to financially go after tal
ented athletes in a big way. These
athletes are lured to the other
schools, it is claimed, and few, if
any, go to Oregon.
No Conclusions
Strite came to no conclusions
in his column, which was printed
after Oregon’s 14-14 tie with un
derdog Montana, but he did say
that University President H. K.
Newburn’s policy was cutting
Oregon’s own throat competitive
ly speaking. He wondered if some
sort of compromise could be
worked out for the present, since,
he said, the bigger schools are
not ready to go along with such
a "purity” program.
The gripes, which have been
uttered off and on for the past
few seasons, were stronger after
the Montana game, when the
Grizzlies tied Oregon. They men
tion the record of the football
Webfoots in the last few years,
when Oregon finished eighth in
the conference last year, in the
cellar in 1950, in a tie for sixth
in 1949, and in a tie for the
championship in 1948, Oregon’s
Cotton Bowl year.
Harris, however, emphasized
that Oregon is faring and has
fared pretty well grid-wise, after
all. He pointed out that this year
the team will finish ahead of Ore
gon State college and Idaho, and
can end up along with California
anil Washington State, “pretty
good company.” The Webfoots
played good games against Cal
and UCLA, one of the strongest
teams, he pointed out.
It must be remembered, Harris
said, that Oregon is one of the
smallest schools in the PCC, and
that it is one of two state insti
tutions in a state whose popula
tion is proportionately small.
Under these circumstances, he
pointed out. we are at an athletic
disadvantage with the bigger
schools in the conference,
“whether you buy athletes or
not."
Better Next Year
And Harris predicted that Ore
gon's football squad would be
better next year than it is this
season. This year's coaches have
done a fine job, Harris said. "We
won't have a championship team
though" he hastened to add. The
athletic director asserted ''that
Oregon would be lucky to have a
championship squad once every
10 years, since this occurs only
when a school is able to get a
collection of consistently-clicking
football players.
But Oregon has had a more re
cent championship team than
US£, for instance, Harris re
minded. i
We are doing tremendously
with the material we have, he ■
said. "We’d just like to have
more material."
Education First
Harris, too, stressed the con
cept that an education comes
first at Oregon.
With that idea first, Nelson
explained, the University recog
nizes the importance and value
of the intercollegiate athletic
program. "We do favor the ath
lete’s getting' an even break," he
said; “the athlete should have a
chance to get some study time
during the football season and
not be tied down too much with
other activity."
Thus, though athletics is out of
line with the main educational
purpose of the institution when
it seriously interferes with edu
cational pursuits, financial aid is
provided within the confines of
conference code.
PCC Rules
The athletic code of the Pacific
Coast Conference allows the pay
ment by the institution of all tui
tion fees required of the athlete
by the University, the payment
to be made by grants-in-aid. Al
so, the athlete may do work un
der the sponsorship of the school,
provided he is paid no more than
$1.50 per hour oml no more than
$75 per month.
Barring such other aids ns tu- r
toring, no greater financial an! *
i.s permissible from the school,
and aid to the athlete from any 2
other source outside his family,
guardian or other normal means
of support is illegal.
(■rants-in-Ald
The grants-in-aid must be from
funds donated for that purpose
(with no specific athlete men
tioned with the donation >, ex
cept that 00 athletes per year
may receive grants from oth< r
funds. The grants are to be mad
on the basis of need, and on th
basis of the individual's partici
pation and may not be withdrawn
after they are awarded.
A large percentage of Orego:
athletes are given the grants-.n
aid, Harris said, covering part or
all of their fees. The fund is sup
plied by alumni donations,
cording to Nelson. Recipients see .
approved by the scholarships a I
financial aid committee of t ■
university.
Work Projects
Work projects are assigned to
those athletes who need addi
tional financial assistance, Nel
son said. They provide work up
to the maximum pay of $75 p< r ,
month or $600 per year, design I
to cover board and room or a por
tion of it. Funds come out of the
operating budget of the athlete
department.
One difficulty with this part of
the program, Nelson explained, is
that many athletes who need the
aid do not have enough time to
work to earn it. About all they
can do, he said, is to put in as
many hours as they can and u
ceivc pay for the hours they
work.
The program is in recognition
of the definite contribution of
athletics to the educational pro
gram, Nelson said. Athletics has’
a contribution, to a reasonable j
point, he said, because of its em
phasis on team play, coordination
and the like, but overemphasis
through such practices as huge 1
subsidization seriously handicaps i
the institution’s purpose educa- j
tional benefit for the student.
The College Crowd
_Campus Headlines
Elsewhere
By Rae Thomas
During a 9 o’clock office man
agement class at Michigan State,
one coed noticeably fell asleep.
The amused professor wrote
“Rock-a-Bye Baby” on the black
board and directed the class in
group singing. Waking up, the
red-faced coed vowed to either
keep awake or cut the class from
now on.
* * *
From the Allegheny “Campus”,
a movie review: “Park Theatre,
Island of Desire, with Linda Dar
nell, Tab Hunter, Donald Gray.
The romance of a Navy nurse and
a young Marine marooned on an
uninhibited Pacific Island.”
When asked by a student poll
ster whether she preferred male
students in ROTC uniforms or in
civilian dress, an Akron univer
sity coed replied, “If they wear j
uniforms they don't have to buy j
so many clothes. That leaves
them more money to spend on j
me.”
* * *
A letter to the editor of the
Daily Northwestern, complained
long and loudly of the low grade
of humor that turned up in the
campus humor magazine: “Pro
file is approaching new depths,
in pornography, vying with the
University of Illinois’s Shaft for;
infamy in the licentious.” Said
the editor: “The issue set an all
time sales record on campus.”