For Athletics, a Billion-Dollar Goal Line

By BRAD WOLVERTON

The nation's biggest athletics departments are quietly trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for separate sports endowments, heating up the competition for donors and raising questions about institutional priorities during the economic crunch.

At least eight programs hope to bring in more than $100-million each to defray the rising costs of college sports, a Chronicle survey has found. The athletics department at the University of California at Berkeley is shooting for