Another Fan Speaks

To the Editor:

The Boston Globe recently featured a story to the effect that Dean Watson, our new Director of Athletics, was opposed to inviting the Boston Patriots football team to play in Harvard Stadium next Fall.

I have talked with several students throughout the University and I have been unable to find a single student who agrees with Dean Watson on this matter.

For many years our university has derived benefits from the Boston-Cambridge community, As a result of the acres of tax-free property which Harvard owns, the people of this area pay a higher property tax than citizens of any comparable geographic area in America. The people of Boston have asked Harvard for the use of the Stadium for seven games in the Fall. The request is reasonable. Penn's Franklin Field is used regularly by the Philadelphia Eagles. Princeton and Yale annually make their stadia available to the New York Giants and Jets.

If Harvard does not invite the Patriots to play in the Stadium, the citizens of Massachusetts will have to foot the bill for a 20 to 30 million dollar stadium. It is ridiculous in a Commonwealth so badly pressed with critical needs for education, mental health, and programs for the poor to spend money on a sports stadium. It is even more absurd when you consider that our university has taken so much from that same Commonwealth.

It is my earnest hope that Dean Watson will reconsider his position in the public interest.