A FRONT ROW VIEW: Ivies need to change their old policies

Feeling a little bored lately on Friday and Saturday nights at the Palestra? Does a Yale-Brown weekend not pump your 'nads? How about Harvard-Dartmouth? Not any better? Let's face it -- the Ivy League has its problems, among which is a general lack of basketball talent. But a closer look reveals the problems of being in the Ivy League are broader in scope. For those who must know, the Ivy League was created in 1954 between the eight schools you've come to love. Penned in 1937 by New York Tribune writer Caswell Adams, the "Ivy League" has come to represent success in academics as well as athletics. While these values should be prioritized, and maybe other conferences can learn something from the structure of the Ivy League, the Ancient Eight can also adapt to make it a more respectable athletic conference without ultimately sacrificing the student-athlete. Over the years at Penn, the debate about the merits of staying in the Ivies has been waged, and has focused on improving its talent base with some sort of athletic scholarship. But the Ivy League constrains its teams not only in terms of its talent pool, but also in its quirky decisions that have affected Penn in the last few years. Take this past football season as an example. The league took a positive step towards modernizing Ivy football programs in conjunction with the rest of Division I by allowing freshmen to be eligible for varsity play. This past year was the first in which freshmen were allowed to compete, and such players as Penn's Mark Fabish and Amon Abye, as well as Brown running back Marquis Jesse, proved that freshmen could have an immediate impact. But before the Penn-Dartmouth season-opener in September, a significant Ivy game for both teams, the Ivy League ruled in that game only, freshmen were ineligible since freshman orientation at Dartmouth had not yet begun -- despite the fact that freshmen at Dartmouth had been practicing in August even though classes began in mid-September. While this ruling did not ultimately cost Penn a game, another absurd Ivy ruling did. At the end of its stellar 10-0 season, Penn's hopes of post-season play were dashed due to a rule that forbids Ivy football teams from advancing to the postseason. Why? Write your letters to incoming President Judith Rodin. If one Ivy President brings up the issue of football playoffs, the other Presidents will vote on it. Let's move to basketball, where the Ivy League's talent constraint comes into effect. Besides Penn and Princeton, the basketball programs in the Ivy League are, to be nice, weak. Penn and Princeton have combined for 31 of the 39 (80 percent) possible Ivy titles. From 1968-85, no other Ivy team won the title. After Penn and Princeton, Dartmouth is third with three Ivy titles, and they haven't won since 1959. With such domination, Penn is not benefitting from its Ivy League status. The Ivy League, however, can change to better, not only Penn and Princeton, but all teams. It is time the Ivy League offered some sort of limited scholarship for basketball. Critics will say allowing scholarships undermines the academic integrity of the institution. The Ivies should not allow the full 14 scholarships, but maybe four or five. The fact is that right now, scholarship-caliber players are in the Ivies (Jerome Allen, Matt Maloney, Princeton's Sidney Johnson), and they are not bringing down the academic standards of the Ivy League. Why not test the effectiveness of a limited-scholarship program? It would benefit Ivy cellar dwellers such as Harvard and Yale, which could tap into some of their local talent. With their reputations and facilities, they would be instantly competitive. Scholarships have worked at other academically-esteemed schools such as Duke and Stanford because these schools have enough confidence in their athletic departments to maintain their academic integrity. In fact, these schools are the ones to emulate. If these two can do it, so can the Ivy League schools. As a result of this disparity in talent in the Ivies, how disappointing is our home basketball schedule, with our best game being Princeton? But it's like that every year. There simply are no other rivalries for Penn in the Ivies. The fans deserve better. The athletes deserve better. The institutions deserve better. If the Ivies can't change, then maybe it's time to trim the foliage and leave. How would you like a Duke-North Carolina weekend? Just a little bit better than Yale-Brown. Adam Hertzog is a College junior from Scarsdale, N.Y., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.