When College Presidents Were Eloquent

In his November 9 column, George Will discusses the financial power of college football—how teams are switching conferences, and traveling thousands of miles cross-country for games, in pursuit of ever-larger television and bowl appearance payouts. As a contrast to the current state of affairs, he cites the refusal of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University's first president, to allow Cornell's football team to travel to Cleveland to play Michigan's team in 1873:

"I will not permit 30 men to travel 400 miles merely to agitate a bag of wind."

That's the kind of elocution one expects from a college president!