February 14, 2000
To The Montana Professor:
I am amazed that a faculty member would publicly bring up the cost of athletics for discussion. It is the equivalent of pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. We have had no luck in raising it as an issue during budget discussions over the past years. Everyone seemed to be blind to the impact. To be fair, the total income from admissions should be deducted from the cost to fairly analyze the impact on the budgets of the system.
I enjoy a good football game as much as anyone but it seems a thorough discussion of overall priorities would be helpful.
Dave Lewis
Budget Director
State of Montana