FCAS Reaffirms Hockey Decision; Team Will Miss NCAA Tournament

The Faculty Committee on Athletic Sports has once again decided that Harvard's hockey team will not play in the NCAA championships. Thomas D. Bolles, Director of Athletics, said yesterday that the Committee had "reaffirmed the stand it took last year."

A letter from the Undergraduate Athletic Council had asked the FCAS to reconsider its position on the tournament, but Bolles said the Committee felt no new evidence or arguments warranted changing the decision. He hinted, however, that the issue might be reviewed again in the future by the Committee.

Last year the FCAS gave two major reasons for its action--"the length of the season and the nature of the post-season event." Participation in the championships in 1961 would have extended the season two weeks. This year, with the event in Boston, only a week would have been added.

On the Wrong Track

Bolles said the Committee "discussed the time element," but agreed that Harvard's disapproval of practices in the Western Hockey League continued. In 1961 the FCAS said "The circumstances in the Western League seem to us to be on the wrong track, involving generally the heavy recruiting of Canadian players, the use of athletic scholarships, and what appears to be an intensive effort to develop a big-time commercially successful sport."

David L. Johnston '63, president of the UAC, said last night that while he was "quite unhappy" with the ruling, he respected the "consideration and care" taken by the FCAS and the "integrity of its decision."

He said that Harvard should "demonstrate the right balance" between athletics and academic work rather than remain aloof from schools who do not follow the University's approach. The UAC, he noted, still stood by its report of last year, which asked Harvard not to indulge in "intellectual snobbery."

Bolles said that the NCAA selection committee has been advised that even if Harvard wins the Eastern championship, it will not accept an NCAA bid.