Opposes Athletic Bidding

In a talk before the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference in New York City, December 10, Dr. E. Kenneth Smiley '21, vice president of Lehigh University, put forward two proposals for reducing competitive bidding for athletic talent among colleges and universities.

He suggested that a secondary school athlete who accepted an offer of admission from a college be required to register that fact with the regional conference, and that thereafter the student be ineligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics at any other college in the conference. His second proposal called for the censuring of any college that increased a previously made offer of financial aid in order to meet a competing offer from another institution.

Dr. Smiley expressed the view that "intercollegiate athletics ... is a significant component of higher education, can be, and frequently is, a potent force in the teaching and learning processes on the higher education level, but has no status as an autonomous independent activity if separated from the total program of our colleges and universities." Recruitment of scholastically qualified athletes is not an undesirable aspect of intercollegiate athletics, he stated, nor is the financial aid given to needy men; the greatest hazard is in "the auction which has developed ... in making available financial aid to students of athletic prominence."

DR. E. KENNETH SMILEY '21