Watson is critical of the policies followed at these schools. He says the heavily-recruited athletes who go to these schools are just being "used for sports." He feels that reliance on these athletes is contrary to the ideals of the Ivy League because the athletes "are not representative of their student body."

Another Ivy League school may drop several sports entirely, mainly due to lack of student interest, Watson said. He said that football is the only sport that commands a lot of student interest at this school. As far as other sports are concerned. Watson said, a student is regarded by his classmates as somewhat unusual if he goes out for a varsity team.

The road that Harvard has been travelling during this crunch has been determined by the widespread interest in "athletics for all," both within the Athletic Department and within the student body. Many students at Harvard want to participate in sports and Watson wants to give them every opportunity to do so.

Watson says that many students come to Harvard for a good education, but "they also want to see how good they can be in sports."

There are a few students who are top-notch athletes before they come to Harvard, he said, but they are the exceptions.

Watson said a large part of Harvard's teams is made up of people who were decent athletes in high school and who have developed into good athletes at Harvard "through hard work and good coaching."

This is the first of two parts of a feature on the Harvard athletic program. Part II will appear on Tuesday.