In the wake of the recent NCAA violations at Brown, involving the football, men's basketball, men's soccer and women's volleyball teams, the recruiting policies of other Ivy League universities has come under close scrutiny. Despite strict regulations, some Ivy League schools bypass the system and maintain an edge over rival schools.

Although the Harvard athletic department declined to comment on the Brown incident specifically, it released the following statement concerning Harvard's recruiting policy:

"We carefully instruct our coaches on the recruiting rules of the NCAA, Ivy League, and Harvard, and they are required to pass an NCAA certification test each year before going out to recruit," the press release said.

"Within this framework, our coaches aim to identify the highest-level

student athletes. After identifying these prospective candidates, coaches share the information with the admissions office, which selects all students for admission."

Ivy League athletics are rarely touted as the pinnacle of collegiate sports. Though Princeton and Pennsylvania occasionally pose a serious threat to opponents in the world of men's basketball, the rest of the Ivies seem to accept their status in and understand the ever-elusive nature of the NCAA Tournament. At Harvard, March Madness more aptly describes the flood of papers and exams before spring break.

Recently, the Ivy League has been seriously underrepresented in the four major sports: football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. The lack of competitive ability remains somewhat concealed by the small conference of private schools, where even perennially mediocre teams have a chance to compete with the Ivy's elite.

This is not meant to undermine Harvard's success in smaller venues like squash, women's hockey, soccer and basketball, but these sports do not generate the revenue that the men's major sports do.