THlE MICHIGAN DAILY ine in Campus Athletic Spirit aces Evaluati o .) BORMAN Y. - r t, formerly as Michigan as its Tictors," has fal- recession in re- athletic event hardly thout numerous cries duals both on and off The bemoaners point 's tradition and then the lack of good at- .d vigorous cheering at ity's athletic eyents. ike Old Days' lumnus put it: "They have the enthusiasm Nowadays that we did days when I came ugh this expression is ised and may be trite, heless somewhat true amine the student population at Michigan. In recent years, the numbers, types and ages of stu- dents here have undergone nu- merous changes and these in themselves could have accounted, for a decline in spirit. The large number of war vet- erans, most recently from the Korean War, have come to school with a more serious attitude toward campus life. Their sober attitude has been built on their experience in the Army which afforded them a true Performance Ln student ibled very als, giving for the superb ng a sporting antly analytical) eking the prob- ssion is to ex- No longer is the pledge paddl6l every time he walks into the house or sees a brother on cam- pus. Instead of daily hazing, the fraternities have turned to calis- thenic sweat sessions and a single hell week at the end of the se- mester. Also gone from the campus in the spirit tradition are the "gung ho" ar "rah rah" students who could always be found the night before the game leading a cheer or attempting some. kind of stunt in front of the Union, on the Diag or on the hill. Added to these facts, the figures which show a large number. ,of transfer and graduate students whose percentage is increasing every year provide a substantial basis for-one explanation of the decline of spirit. Big Dampening Force Professor David Varley of the sociology department sees these graduate and transfer students as a "big dampening force on spirit" and has commented: "Since they went to previous schools, they. have no strong ties with Michigan and do not tend to contribute greatly to the building of our spirit." From reading these summaries, one readily. realizes that the en- vironment in the way of spirit on. this campus is far from exciting. It is also evident that the amount of spirit currently being generat- ed here is generally uninspired and uninspiring. When asked to evaluate the spirit and enthusiasm of his play- ers, football coach Bennie Ooster- baan stated: "The players live on the campus and the campus is in part, their environment. There- fore, if there was an excited cam- pus it would help the team, but since education is the main ob- jective at Michigan, as it should be, the mature attitude taken by the students is the best. Take over 22,000 students from varied income. classes, religions, backgrounds, parts of the country, whose values also encompass nu- merous ideas, ideals and thoughts, put them together on one campus and you have the one and only Michigan.; The University's main project is definitely to produce educated graduates and its stress is on scholarship. Out of all this, spirit attemptsI to survive. But it is not alone on campus. It exists in a perilous tri-1 angle with performance and scholarship. Everyone admits that good per-i formance builds spirit and that it3 is much harder to achieve spirit when a team's performance is poor. . On the'other hand, it has hap- pened many times that a medio-1 cre team with terrific support ons I Spirit, the Hawkeyes in ,their practically empty fieldhouse." Face Biggest Problem At this point it seems safe to as- sume that spirit depends on good athletic performance and that good athletic performance may in turn also depend on spirit. But the biggest problem remains unan- swered. Can a highly academic school, noted for its scholastic achieve- ments,- maintain athletic spikt and good performance and still continue its high academic stand- ards? This problem is very acute in today's era of specialization in- athletics. When asked about "The enthusiasm here is toward academics while other Big Ten schools devote their spirit to ath- letics. Michigan stands out in the Big Ten as a school which empha- sizes a high quality of academic standards," he stated. Varley went on to add: "We aren't in an Ivy League where schools have the same interests in, the same order of importance as ours, but in a league where ath- letics are highly emphasized." A well known alumni officer on campus who refused to be quoted said that athletics at the Univer- sity should be second to 'studies and not all-important. He went on to prescribe a solu- tion similar to the one adopted by stay and support a team when it falters. Thereirn lies the problem which is very similar to the current eco- nomic recession in which the United States finds itself. Both are spiralling in nature and both need a spurt to move up, but ironically enough, the spurt in both cases can only be effectively applied by >the parties concerned, in the U.S.'s case, the consumer, in Michigan's case, the student. The most obvious organ for in- creasing spirit seems to be the pep rally. This event which use to highlight the football season on campus has practically disappear- ed in recent years. Pep rallies during recent seasons have gradually dwindled until last year's rock bottom figure of one. Lou Susman, '59, president of the Wolverine Club, whose func- tion consists of scheduling and setting up pep rallies,, Block 'M' and the away trips claims that there are too many disinterested groups on campus. He went' on to say: "The pep rally is to show the team that you have spirit and are backing them, but the team isn't allowed to at- tend the rally." Last year's planned trip to Illi- nois (Michigan lost, 20-19) was cancelled at the last minute due ,to administrative troubles. When asked why he didn't or- ganize any basketball pep rallies, Susman replied: "We can't ar- range them." "Since the freshmen team plays before the varsity game, we have had an opportunity to put one on," usman went on. Also a better scheduling of gym- nastics meets and basketball games has to be arranged to let the cheer leaders attend the bas- ketball games," Susman conclucded. Oosterbaan believes that spirit is built through the, weeks and months and that what happens before, and not entirely what oc- curs at the pep rally builds the true spirit. Oosterbaan answered the ques- tion of the team and its coaches not appearing at pep rallies byl commenting: "The team is keyed up~ enough the night before a game without adding the pressure and tension which occurs at a rally. "The coaches also feel nervous and tense before the game believe that it is very imp for both the players and c to relax." Professor Varley mentioni threats to the students' through newspapers and might arouse their spirit. huckstering," as he referred "if handled right could in the campus' spirit for a sho: but whether it is a permanen is very doubtful." An evaluation of spirit University would thus find a heterogeneous mass, ty human in their "loving a w attitude, seeking a good edu Until recently, the student been successful in remain mass, "loving their winners DIAL NO 8-6416 Continuous Saturday and Sunday from 1 P.M. First Program ! N THE SLY T WHICH MOVIES ; picture of society. Along with the experiences which they gained,l they have also gained in years1 and have come to college at a later and more mature period in their life. Another breakdown of spirit on the campus is found in the fra- ternity house where the act ofl pledging is no longer the terrify- ing and exciting thing as in the past. so ! of #f STUDENT ZIONIST ORGANIZATION TALK ON "ZIONISM -- NEW CONCEPTS AND OLD" wy YEHUDA MESSINGER DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FOR KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT IN ISRAEL Consultant on Education for S.Z.O. Sunday, March 16, 3:30 p.m. HILLEL... 1429 11m1 the part of the student body has become a winning team. Basketball coach Bill Perigo summarized his feeling on the spirit-performance relationship by saying : "If the students don t, care, why should the players" Perigo went on to mention how much more effective teams are on their home courts because of the inspiration of the crowds. He added: "It's the crowd that makes the difference and not necessarilyrthe court. When we played Purdue here between se- mesters and there was little at- tendance, the team's play suf-, fered and we lost. On the other hand, while we were at Iowa during their semes- ter change, we were able to beat Michigan's possible athletic. con- flict in a recent television inter- view, University President Harlan, H. Hatcher said "I would like to see Michigan's sports improve, but I would also like to see them continue to be played by students." Hatcher made this statement during the halftime of Michigan's basketball game with Northwest- ern, one of the many Michigan lost. His statement showed that this problem is at the top of the adminisiration's list of problems. Professor Varley predicts that ,theproblem of balancing the pre- carious triangle will become much harder in future years. He ie menited: "The, biggest. problems is' that we are in the Big Ten Con- ference which is composed of ath- letic powerhouses." nt Hilarious REEN MAN" At It Again the University of Chicago which, would mean the dropping of var-; sity football if the athletic situa- tion here becomes overemphasized and studies are lacking. The alumnus -added, however, that the students at Michigan are academically from the "cream of the crop' and that it is not likely that studies would suffer here. He also compared Michigan's status to that of an Ivy League school and said that if it ever came to a showdown between-ath- letics and studies, that he felt the alumni would continue as they a- ways have, to put Michigan's scholastic reputation first. University Vice-President James A. Lewis described the spirit-per- formance-scholarship triangle on this campus as being normal and felt that athletics were not over- emphasized. He described Michigan's athletic situation accordingly: "The team can look upon the students with pride and the students can look upon their teams with pride." Lewis' explanation of the,reces- sion of spirit on campus is that today's students at the University are more- serious about education and not as interested in spirit or possible antics associated with it. getting an educ seems that thisi soon have to be However, any would preserve I angle, cannot be Administration,1 rived from a d the attitude of I TALKS CONTINUE: WIHL Formally End .By Vote of Directors -l i i' Ir . r r i l 1 I r lrr ir I Ml I ~ rw CAMPUS JNITED NATIONS Ceji TONIGHT at 7:00 and 9:00 Sunday at 8:0 4 "STATE, -FAIR" with WILL ROGERS and JANET GAYNOR (ORIGINAL VERSION) ARCHITECTURE AUDITORIUM 4 50 cents ST. PAUL (P)--The seven-year- old Western Intercollegiate'Hockey League, most powerful in American college hockey, formally voted it- self. out of existence yesterday. Athletic directors and faculty men said, however, they would continue informal talks in an at- tempt to build at least, a loose association of western college hockey powers. No More Haggling Yesterday's action, taken by faculty representatives, brought to an end years of haggling among