We can understand budget cuts.

The state is not respecting the financial needs of universities. Enrollment is falling. Residence halls are drawing fewer residents. Money is short all around, and every department on campus is feeling the squeeze.

We get that.

But we cannot understand why ISU Dining Services would even consider closing the Maintenance Shop for lunch to relieve its budget deficit.

Pending imminent approval from Vice President for Student Affairs Thomas Hill, however, Director of Campus Dining Jon Lewis will do just that, shuttering the M-Shop as an on-campus pub and meeting place this semester. Hill has suggested a meeting with students to discuss the closure, though Todd Holcomb, associate vice president for student affairs, has said the forum will not have any bearing on the decision.

Lewis’ justification for the proposed closure is the financial plight of ISU Dining, which faces a budget deficit on its retail dining services of more than $600,000 this year. This deficit has come collectively from the 19 on-campus dining halls, cafes and C-Stores run by the department, of which the M-Shop is one.

We’re not disputing that this deficit is unhealthy and needs to be corrected — it certainly does — but we have no idea how the M-Shop will ease the burden. Its role in the department’s budget woes are relatively small, and its value to the university is measured in many more ways than can be seen on the balance sheet.

As reported in the Daily, the M-Shop’s budget deficit so far this year has totaled $8,847, a meager 1.4 percent of the total deficit. How does such a cut benefit the department? A 1.4 percent deficit reduction is not progress — it’s a drop in the bucket.

Though closing the M-Shop would have little impact on ISU Dining’s financial situation, it would be a serious loss for the ISU community. The eatery is different than other on-campus dining establishments like Clyde’s Sports Club or the MU Cafe — and not just because of the beer on tap. It’s an ISU institution, a hidden-away alternative to cafeterias and over-processed food where students have gathered for years. To close it would be to close an important venue of student interaction.

And there are alternatives. A public examination of each dining operation’s contribution to the budget deficit should be made, with an emphasis on trimming the fat from the biggest budget offenders before doing away entirely with the smallest, of which the M-Shop certainly is one. Further, students should be informed and consulted when services they cherish are on the chopping block. Hill’s proposed meeting means little if students’ opinions have no bearing on the final decision.

We know ISU Dining must make cuts somewhere, but in the case of the M-Shop, the cost is too great and the benefit too little.

Keep it open.