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Inbox: Letters to the Editor

Spending Less on Football, and Beating Alabama

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Rolling in Cash, Crimson Tide Lifts All Boats,” Nov. 6: The University of Alabama has, in the aggregate, an endowment of about $1.25 billion. By contrast, Harvard, which de-emphasized football in the 1950s, has an endowment of more than $35 billion. Wellesley College, which is a fraction of Alabama’s size and does not play football, has an endowment approaching
$2 billion. The difference in reputations is still greater: Harvard ranked No. 2 and Wellesley was No. 4 in the most recent U.