Show jI j I 3 ELIGIBILITY J ii Someone has defined an eligibility committee as a means employed to athletics suppress by disqualifying men who can cal L. L make good records in and thus sports preventing them from entering entering en- en JT contests Nothing could be farther from the truth The Thereal I real objects of an eligibility rule rule and and faculty committee to enforce enit en- en it force it are it-are are to foster true a sportsmanship and to encourage real realI I r students in their endeavors to develop the physical side of their natures The methods used are effective for the ends in view I for by preventing ringers and 4 poor students from making a team room is left for the bona fide students in good standing and 2 the latter are re consequently enah enabled e l to acquire athletic honors atthe at ati atthe i the same time that they are obtaining an education t f But why have all these disputes within and without a collee college college col col- lege lee concerning eligibility Why not simply get the best athletes on a team irrespective of scholastic standing or lack of standing An answer is not hard to find for it is in its essence essence the old distinction distinction dis dis- F- F between professional and amateur sport No one cares r 1 j rt r- r f. f a straw as to whether the players upon the Chicago or N New ew York Yorki i b baseball teams are residents of these cities respectively Everyone Every Every- one kno knows s th that t the professional player simply sells his services to the highest bidder A man would not want to be hailed as the winner of a mile run and holder of a record however when in reality the race in question was won by another man who ran under under under un un- der an assumed name No more does a person want his college to be represented in an athletic contest by anyone who is not a areal areal areal real student Opponents to eligibility rules urge that such measures measures are essentially class legislation and ought therefore to be tabooed Yet in everyday life we find find- the real estate owner compelled to pay taxes that are not assessed against the landless man merchants merchants merchants mer mer- chants compelled to pay licenses physicians to pass a State examining examining examining ex ex- board and druggists embalmers and even barbers compelled compelled compelled com com- to register and pay certain fees Each of these cases is an illustration of class legislation And in a college medical arts engineering and normal students are under different restrictions so far as laboratories libraries and many other things are concern concerned concerned con con- cern ed but no one objects to these forms of class legislation Why then should one object to an eligibility rule If it is found that any any student is trying to carry carty too much work the committee with which he registered compels compels' him to withdraw from froin some subject ct and thus lighten his c course Urse Just so a student who cannot carry athletics and studies successfully is compelled to drop the athletics Were he permitted to drop his studies and remain in athletics the whole purpose of the college college college col col- lege would be destroyed Even as it is the athlete is not de dealt lt with stringently The average student is registered for for about seventeen hours of work per week while the athlete is compelled to carry successfully only ten hours Should he be carrying more than ten hours he lie is permitted to compete provided he be conditioned conditioned conditioned condi condi- in not more than one subject The framers of the eligibility ity code recognized the fact that a man who lives the strenuous I life of an intercollegiate athlete uses rises up tip much of his energy in ri physical exertion and has less left for mental effort consequently consequent consequent- made the moderate ly they requirements i. i ti If an athlete be unable to keep up with the work for which he heM heis M is is registered under the provisions of the eligibility rule and is J therefore compelled to drop athletics does the eligibility committee commit commit- t tee e and the faculty it represents thereby deprive him of the means for getting an education Quite the reverse for by preventing preventing pre pre- 0 venting him from taking part in athletics the students student's time and e energy ergy are saved for study purposes and he is ther thereby by assisted in his laudable purpose se of getting the best possible results from t. t his time money and effort spent at college r That athletics are a great means of advertising cannot be dei de de- i nied hied Low grade or impure athletics contribute most valuable for advertising for the use of the opponents of a school High grade or pure athletics are most excellent advertising for advertising for the use of the friends of a school Surely then everything within Y reason should be he done to fos foster er the latter kind ratHer rattler than the Y till former d rrt There are two popular r fallacies concer concerning ing athletics The first states that a good athlete is necessarily a abad bad student and a good student is necessarily a bad athlete In other words brains and brawn cannot be found in the same man Utah students students students stu stu- dents need think only of Wade Carlson and the majority of their athletic idols to have reasons e enough ough to disprove such a statement The second fallacy says that a a- school or college can k grow only when it is successful in athletics Yet Johns Hopkins Col Columbia and other schools of the the first rank professionally continue continue con con- to grow although no great measure of success has ever g Y crowned their efforts in athletics It is a cheap kind of popularity w os that thrives only upon constant success in athletics l In a college like the University of Utah there is plenty of y room loom for good student athletics but the presence of the non- non student athlete is not desired any more than is that of the nonA non- non A stud student nt mental drone of any kind The effect of the non student ll upon the student is demoralizing no matter how brilliant he may f be in other other respects i o With the operation co-operation of students athletic authorities and ki kiI I j faculty it will not not take a long to develop such uch an esprit de corps on f the subject of eligibility that a man will be made to feel just as much ashamed to be dropped from a a team for deficiencies in study as he would be to be ruled off for breaking the training rules This has occurred elsewhere it it can occur here Of course some persons will not see the matter in in this light and simply maintain that all eligibility rules are onerous and sl should 5 be abolished In this connection an repeated oft-repeated remark of Governor Governor Governor Gov Gov- Folks Folk's is quite apropos Any law is a blue law to the mant man t who wants to break it Lest it be thought that the faculty of this institution is opposed opposed opposed op op- posed to athletics the following statements are made not boast- boast but as a matter of right At the Boulder game in spite of the weather thirty-one thirty instructors were present Of the remaining remaining remaining remain remain- ing ten three were vere out of the city and the absence of several of of the seven others was unavoidable By reference to the 07 Junior Year Bo Book k it will be found that in response to the call for contributions contributions contributions con con- for the new gymnasium three members of the board oard of i regents contributed a total of of- two hundred and fifty dollars the r twenty-one twenty largest contributors from the general public some public some of them very wealthy men men gave gave a total of ab about ut six hundred and thirty-five thirty dollars and twenty one members of the teaching t force whose income is far less than that of the men above mentioned mentioned mentioned men men- gave about seven hundred dollars The faculty's attitude towards athletics should be evi self evi dent from these statements r In his own behalf the writer must acknowledge that he recalls recalls recalls re re- T calls with pride the fact that from the time he was a senior in inthe inthe the High School until the last year of his post graduate work never ever a year elapsed that did not see him on either a class or University University Uni Uni- i- i J team His class numerals and varsity letter won won by hard work on various teams are among his most cherished And be because of his athletes and possessions ause experiences among r r t students in general he is a an ardent supporter of the eligi eligibility code |