Economic times are rough across the board.

With a 6.6 percent unemployment rate in July here in Iowa, according to Iowa Workforce Development, and an ever-ticking national debt clock currently reading over 11.8 trillion dollars, money is uncomfortably sitting at the forefront of people’s minds. From the White House to your house, belts are being tightened and decisions are being made.

These same woes have hit the Iowa Board of Regents. Balancing this year’s $4 billion dollar budget appears to have been more like a high wire act in a financial circus, both situations having tremendous gravity to them. At the cost of a 14.6 percent decrease in general funding and an 8 percent loss of scholarship money, we here at the University of Northern Iowa are directly feeling the pressure. Federal stimulus money is going to cover most of the shortfall. However, this funding won’t be there for 2011. The future of our universities is up in the air, if you will.

It is certain that our universities, UNI specifically, will have to make some messy choices to maintain its livelihood. The university will have to concentrate on what services it provides to its students (customers).

Should our athletics program be the gold- star selling point? What about the intellectual traditions of UNI and quality of education?
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines a university as being “an institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and authorized to grant academic degrees.” Quite simply, we need to get back to basics at this institution.

This university began as a place for education and learning. With the hype of extra-curricular activities, the fundamentals and focus get lost in the static. Growing class sizes, dwindling academic scholarships, salary freezes for professors, layoffs and early retirement offers aren’t exactly proactive to academia. It’s a lobotomy to the brain of UNI.

While other organs might be useful, they aren’t necessarily needed. Take athletics for example. The athletic department is expected to generate about $2.5 million in revenue for the school, but surely not all NCAA competitive sports are cost-effective. Universities can live without sports like a person can live without a liver. The baseball program has already been scalpelled from the budget, and nobody died.

UNI’s overall revenue is projected to decrease by 2.4 percent and is the only public university to foresee an increase in sports revenue. However, with a growing number of people trimming their own spending, one must still have routine check ups and look for other cancerous organs like the “golf bladder.” Sure, there may be some mild side effects of discomfort and tenderness to the subject, but doctor, he’s going to live.

This, of course, is only one diagnosis. I’m by no means a trained professional, but in my experience, we all should be open-minded to new forms of treatment. Ironically enough, the cure might come from Cedar Falls itself. There is an honors’ seminar currently being held this semester that is looking into this very issue: what defines a university. Maybe a solution will be found under the microscope, but until this recession has been repressed, I’d prescribe a dose of “university” to be put back into “UNI.”