University of Virginia Library

To Your Health

Club sports, long the lost foundlings
among the numerous offspring of the Athletic
Department, have finally gained the support
they deserve from the department. The
agreement released yesterday (see
Commentary on p.3) should be hailed as a
noteworthy achievement in the long quest of
strengthen college athletics as a participatory,
rather than spectator sport.

Essentially, the proposal passed by the
Student Council last night will have the
Athletic Department paying one-third of the
total club sports' costs, with the Student
Council allocating the other two-thirds
through the Student Activities Fund. By tying
the allocation to the total enrollment, the
funding will increase commensurately with
expansion of the University, thereby
mitigating the potential limitations to
participation when the University grows.

Some of the sports affected under the
agreement really deserve the revitalization the
new system will spark. These activities were
set back by drastic cutbacks in funding last
year because of a dearth of Student Activities
monies, and may have floundered had not the
Athletic Department agreed to share in their
support. Largely through the efforts of the
Athletic Director Gene Corrigan, the
concentration on varsity sports generally
exhibited by athletic departments has not
been allowed to overshadow the needs of
students interested in less publicized, but
often equally worthwhile athletic endeavors.

Mr. Corrigan's demonstrated concern for
the recreational needs of the students at the
University reflects the sort of thinking which
the University needs to arrest the national
movement toward professionalism in
collegiate sports. We applaud his undertaking
to come up with the Athletic Department's
share of this funding. Equally praiseworthy is
Student Council President Jim Rinaca, who
makes up in persistence what he may lack in
publicity. In keeping the pressure on for
Athletic Department participation in the club
sports program, he has helped not only the
clubs and their participants, but has helped
take pressure off the beleaguered Student
Activities Fund.

According to the old sports savants of our
previous staffs, club sports at the University
should be in the best financial condition they
have ever enjoyed after this agreement is
executed. With the additional facilities
provided last spring through the Perry
Foundation, the present status of athletic
opportunities for non-varsity athletes is
respectable. More can be done, and probably
will be; because, one thing is certain, the
demand for playgrounds always exceeds the
supply...or as Mr. Jefferson more eloquently
said it, "exercise and recreation are as
necessary as reading–I will say rather more
necessary because health is worth more than
learning."

On that sentiment, let us add a valedictory
encomium for a longtime friend of club
sports, Edward R. "Butch" Slaughter. In
recognizing his contributions to the
University's athletic program, especially club
sports and intramurals, the Seven Society has
donated $777.77 for the club sports most
needy of financial help. With the large
coeducated University of today, there must
be ample opportunity for both men and
women to enjoy exercise and recreation.

Mr. Slaughter's retirement leaves us with a
large and diverse program of club sports and
intramurals, a foundation on which to build
even broader opportunities for the future.