Tuesday Morning Quarterback, a popular column about the National Football League on ESPN.com, this week criticizes the Denver Broncos play calling, college teams that run up the score, and the arm strength of Chad Pennington, the New York Jets quarterback.

But the column’s author, Gregg Easterbrook, doesn’t stop there.

Mr. Easterbrook, an author and a visiting professor at the Brookings Institution in Washington, also blitzes Harvard University for the size of its endowment.

Mr. Easterbrook calculates that Harvard’s $34.9-billion endowment, if it generates an annual investment return of 5 percent, would generate $1.7-billion annually if donors never chipped in another dime.

That figure would be enough to give $104,000 to each of Harvard’s 126,715 undergraduates — who pay nearly $38,000 annually to live on campus after their financial aid is factored in.

With those numbers as a backdrop, Mr. Easterbrook suggests Harvard should come up with a new use for its endowment proceeds.

“Shifting Harvard’s endowment spending from empire-building to reducing tuition — either lower prices for everyone, or, say, eliminating all costs for students from families that make $200,000 or less — would be a tremendous progressive step without jeopardizing Harvard’s legitimate desire to hold a rich endowment into the indefinite future,” he writes.

Mr. Easterbrook then returned to questioning what happened to the Baltimore Ravens defense.

But not before raising a question that we’d like to throw to you. Should major universities like Harvard dedicate the investment proceeds of their endowments to reducing costs for their students? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.