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LUX ET VERITAS
^'ol. 3. No. 3.
JOHNSON C. SriITH UNIVERSITY, > HARLOTTE, N. C., JANUARY, 1927
Price 10 Cents
'•WHY NOT AN
.'%‘HLETIC “DISAR-
AMENT CONFER
ENCE?”
By Rev. Frank C. Shirley,
Superintendent S. S. Work, Catawba Synod
One of the most memorable events in
the adminis Li'ation of the late President
Harding was his invitation to representa
tives of the leading nations of the world to
come to IVashington for a conference to
discuss Naval Disarmament. Desiring to
. be prepared for any future emergency
ese nations had entered into a frantic race
‘ each other in the building of dread-
.-d.'ghts, super-dreadnaughts and battle
er- ers.
^he conference the statesmen acknowl-
eagt.' that they could not keep up indefi-
m' the present competition in building
and raintaining these enormous fleets, cs-
pec) ily when it meant year after year
' ,avy drain upon the treasuries of the
' npeting nations and ever-increasing
ou.den of taxation on the citizens of the
ommonwealths. As a result an agree
ment was entered into which had as its
aim the limitation or curtailment of the
ship-building program. This agreement
was a measure of self-defense for the sig
natory powers.
It seems to me from the present day
trend of athletics in our colleges that the
time is ripe for an athletic “Disarmament
Conference.” Unless some measure is tak
en in this direction the main purpose for
which our educational institutions were
founded will be placed in the background..
Most certainly do I think there is ur-
^gent need for our Negro Colleges to con
sider this problem seriously. We note
fiom the present tendency that our Ne-
,som>g,j,^ colleges are imitating as fast as they
( not can the drift of the white colleges in ath-
! inte letics. Can we afford to do this ? With the
/CCrore oldest college for colored youth less than,
pads for. 75 years old, have we built up a sufficient
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'■vfc',
MRS. JOHNSON C. SMITH
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cultural background to be able to make the
sacrifice of letting the present trend in
athletics dominate our campuses? Again,
is it desirable that we imitate the white
colleges ? Should we not rather work out
r ' = an athletic program that meets our needs
-f and stick to the deevlopment of that pro-
'■ • gram ?
- ' ■ -,mce What can our colleges do in such a “Dis
have rep armament Conference?”
ment ^ _ I, Such a conference could work out
-h nr rg. plans to eliminate some bad customs that
have crept into our schools during the past
L. years, such as:
1. The centering of athletic activity in
a few students in our colleges instead of
having a program of physical education
.S. .'£>> that will take in the entire student body.
' Frot Note the personnel of the squads in the
' major sports in the colleges. The students
from which the varsity squads are chosen
would hardly represent one-sixth of
) olog . the total student body. Very often we find
to Vi a kind of athletic “ring.” , Where this is
posit the situation all the teams have about the
’c same personnel. Frequently . you hear the
crack athlete boasting of the fact that he
is the proud possessor of four varsity let
ters.
2. The custom of inducing star players
to leave one school and go to another. At
tractive promises are made to students
such as soft jobs to work their way through,
or scholarships; the only requirement ex
acted of such a student is that he do well
on the team. We even have instances
where coaches are sent out to scout for
players for their teams.
3. Check the present-day tendency to
commercialize college sport. The cost of
promoting the athletic program in the ed
ucational institutions mounts higher and
higher each year. Student athletic fees
have increased two or three hundred per
cent m the last 15 years; the entrance fee
to see the games has increased in about the
same proportion over the same period of
time. At the same time the attendance
ot patrons has increased four or five hun
dred per cent. Added to this are appeals
to alumni and friends annually for volun
tary contributions, and yet the athletic
treasuries of most colleges are nearly al
ways empty. When the big games are
staged this commercialization is seen at
its height. At the present rate college
sport will soon be on the low level of the
ordinary sport that is exhibited for gain
and gain alone.
II. Another thing that could be done in
this “Disarmament Conference” would be
to give to athletics its proper place in the
program of the college. I think training
in athletics has a definite place among the
activities of a school. I think its position
is a coordinate one. Athletics or physical
development is only one of the essential
corners in producing the four-square man.
When more money is spent on athletic
stadiums and gymnasiums than is spent
on science halls and administration build
ings; when more time is spent to develop
a crack football team than is spent in
training men to become adept in parliamen
tary usage and the art of debate; when
football coaches are paid salaries three or
four times larger than those of college pro
fessors and only serving one-fourth or one-
fifth of the time—if these conditions ex
ist there is something lopsided in the pro
gram, or, in other words, too much empha
sis is being placed on the athletic corner
of the square. The proposed conference
could render signal service in putting ath
letics in its proper place and keeping it
there.
III. Finally, the athletic “Disarmament
Conference” could work out a constructive
policy to be followed in the future. This
constructive policy would include:
1. A plan that would enlist every stu
dent enrolled in the school in some phase of
athletics. There would be certain athletic
and physical exercises that would be re
quired of all students. Then this confer
ence would list certain phases of athletics
as major sports such as base ball, foot ball,
basket ball, etc. Each enrolled student
”-ould select one of these sports as his ma
jor. The participants in all inter-collegi
ate contests would be selected from that
group who were majoring in that sport.
For instance, the varsity foot ball team
5yould be selected frc m that group who
elected foot ball as their major sport, and
so on with the others. This plan would
tend to eliminate the present athletic
“ring” we find in most colleges and would
further tend to develop a larger number
of students as athletes.
2. This constructive policy would in
clude the employment of a physical or ath
letic director, who would have the same
rating and status as the other professors,
lie would be a member of the faculty, tak
ing his coordinate place in the program of
the school for the development of well
rounded manhoou. When the athletic pro
gram is large enough the director would
have associates to assist. However, the
system of the high-priced coach would be
abandoned for all time.
3. Another phase of this constructive
policy would be reducing the schedules of
all the major sports. This is one thing
that is crippling both those who partici
pate in athletics and also that much larger
group who are the spectators.
In the reduction schedule I would re
commend three intercollegiate games of
foot ball a year. One of these games
would be played early in October, the other
late in October or early in November, and
the third either the Saturday preceding
or the Saturday following Thanksgiving
Day. You will note that I omit Thanks
giving Day from the schedule. I think a
serious indictment should be registered
against our so-called Christian Colleges for
allowing this day to become so commer
cialized and paganized that even in these
institutions themselves that are fostered
by devout persons, no time is given during
the day to give gratitude to God for mani
fold blessings received. This conference
would be taking a high moral and spiritual
GIVE ALL SACES EQUAL
CHANCE, SAY STUDENTS
Great National Gathering Sets New Rec
ord for Liberal Thought and Attitudes.
Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 8:—Gathered here
in a gieat national conference December
28-January 1, twenty five hundred boys and
girls, representing every State in the Un
ion and hundreds of institutions, gave ear
nest consideration to the question of race
relations, an don the final day by almost
unanimous vote adopted the following: “I
am willing to give to the members of every
race the same opportunities that I have.”
The opposite view was then submitted—
“Regarding some races as inherently infe-
rio) to my own, I favor keeping them in
th ir places,"—and received only eleven
votes.
On a previous day. Dr. Mordecai Johnson,
Pres;dent of Howard University, had de
livered an address and conducted an open
forum on race relations, which was fol
lowed by group discussions in which the
whole conference participated. Dr. John
son made a very favorable impression, as
did also Rev. Howard Thurman, of Oberlin,
Ohio, who spoke on another subject.
At no previous conference of like char
acter had the delegates gone so far in their
thinking about race, or reached conclusions
so liberal and so nearly unanimous. Among
the students present were representatives
of thirty-odd racial and national groups, in
cluding many Negro students. The hotels
of the city were open to all delegates alike
and the relationships between the various
groups were uniformly considerate and cor
dial.
Other subjects featured on the program'
were war and industry, but on these the
conclusions reached by the students were
not nearly so unanimous. The propositi ;,
“I will not support any war,” got 327 votes;
“I am ready to support some wars but not
others,” received 740; “I will support anv
war that is declared by the authority of ir r
country,” got 95; while 366 stated tint
they were not ready to commit themsel,-
On the question of industry only thirty-
eight went on record as favoring the ex
isting capitalistic system; 800 expressed
the opinion that the present competitive
economic order, based on production " -
pi'ofit rather than for use, is wron,g; r''
thought the present system should be dis
placed by a cooperative, distributive sys
tem and a method of production in whi h
the workers themselves share the control;
57 went on record as favoring communism;
385 declared that students should support
the efforts of organized labor.
ANSWERS TO THE LAST QUESTIONS
David Rice Atchison, a Senator from
Missouri, was President of the United
States, Sunday, March 4th, 1849. General
Taylor, the President-elect, refused to be
sworn into office on Sunday, which was
the appointed time.
II. The largest bell in the world is the
Tzar Kolokol or Tzar bell which stands in
the middle of a square in Moscow.
III. The Ganges- in India empties more
water into the ocean than any other river
in the world.
IV. The oldest recorded game law for
the protection of birds is in the Bible,
Deut. 22:6.
V. The highest railway in the U-ited
States is the Argentine Central in Colora
do, reaching an altitude of 14,000 ft.
(Continued on page 4)
A notable event of the year is the
Workers’ Conference which will convene
during the week of the 24th, at which time
we are expecting to have present a number
of old graduates and friends.