In their April meeting, presidents of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) member schools will not reconsider their recent decision to limit the number of teams that can participate in postseason play to one per sport, despite student objection, said President Tom Gerety.

In a November meeting at Tufts University, representatives from Bowdoin, Connecticut College, Trinity College and Tufts met to protest the ruling.

"Will it ever be reevaluated? Yes. Right now? No," said Gerety. "As far as the presidents are concerned, this is not an agenda item."

Gerety said that there is no point in trying to reform "unless we're willing to have enough steadiness of purpose to test our convictions."

Instead, the presidents will discuss issues raised by "The Game of Life," a book by William Bowen and James Shulman that examines how colleges balance athletics and academics.

"We are discussing more fundamental issues about how NESCAC is doing at this point," Gerety said.

Student Government Organization President Steve Ruckman '01 recently spoke with Gerety about his concerns over how NESCAC's postseason policy would affect athletes. "I'm not an athelete, but to me it seems to force added pressure on teams and take away from academics," he said. "I think it's a bad system, and I think that athletes feel that way about it."

Sports Information Director Kevin Graber said that he supports NESCAC's new policy. "I think they made a good decision. It adds a lot of drama to the postseason tournament."

Field hockey and lacrosse Coach Christine Paradis said that she was not happy with the prospect of her teams being prevented from entering tournaments that they qualified for. "It would be a shame if we weren't able to go," she said. "I think that if teams are eligible [for postseason play], we should be able to go."