The Iowa Board of Regents will conduct a telephonic meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss, among other things, a proposal requesting the presidents of the state’s three Regents’ institutions develop a plan for the financial futures of their athletic departments.

The presidents will be asked to consider the feasibility of and to form a plan to significantly reduce or eliminate the state appropriations they allocated to their schools’ athletics departments — money that is currently used for utilities, administrative and overhead costs.

The regents are also asking the presidents to set a time line for the changes and present their plans at the board’s September meeting.

The Iowa State Daily Editorial Board approves of this message.

As we’re sure you’re well aware, over the past few months, cuts have been announced to schools and programs left and right.

While we do appreciate the ISU athletics department and everything it does — go Cyclones, and whatnot — we also believe that the crowd at the Jacobson Building will be quite alright without the estimated $1.6 million to be cut from its $42 million budget.

The amount of money that is currently being discussed makes up only 3.7 percent of the total budget, and we feel like that money could easily be used elsewhere rather well.

This isn’t the first time the athletics department has faced cuts, but it could likely be the last.

But, when times are hard, how we spend our money has to be scrutinized, and every last dollar has to be accounted for.

If the university must lay off the teachers that are supposed to be teaching the student athletes, it isn’t right that the university be paying to keep the lights on at Jack Trice Stadium.

With all of the money the department brings in through ticket sales and contributions from its donors, it is in a much better spot to take another hit than some other of the university’s entities.

Apparently, ISU Athletic Director Jaime Pollard is OK with the changes, too.

As the Daily reported in Wednesday’s paper, Pollard wrote “The proposal will actually have a minimal impact” on the athletics department in an e-mail he sent out to donors and season ticket holders. He went on to explain that, over the last five years, the program has already “significantly” reduced its reliance on state funding. Even as recently as 2005, the department relied on state funds for nearly 12 percent of it’s budget, then just $28 million.

Almost every other department has been asked to develop a plan for a five or ten-percent cut to their budget, so 3.7 percent doesn’t seem all that unreasonable, even though it is the entirety of the money they receive from the university’s general fund.

If ISU athletics can build its budget by $14 million over a span of five years while still cutting $1.8 million in state-appropriated funds, why is it wrong to think it will struggle without another $1.6 million? After all, it’s not like the regents are asking Mr. Pollard and Co. to cut those funds immediately.

They’ll come up with a plan, just as they have previously, and they’ll likely even find a way to build the overall budget, even with the increased hardship.

As this develops in the future, we hope to delve even deeper into the financial relationship between the university and its athletic department.