There they sit together, the state of Montana’s two university systems, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, both ranked #201 on the higher ed hit parade at US News.

201! You really have to give it the old college try to do that poorly. There really isn’t much lower you can go.

And, as is always the case, talking to the people in charge – particularly the trustees – grants insight into the grit, determination, and developmental delay that make Montana what it is.

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So this here reporter points out that Montana State and the University of Montana bleed students and taxpayers dry via immense subsidies for sports, and that of course all the money that goes to sports is money that doesn’t go to, you know, educating people. A thunderingly obvious point.

A guy who used to be a UM economics professor and is now a state senator has really “irked” one of the regents by making this point.

[Dick] Barrett … was reacting to news reports that inaccurately characterized the Montana University System’s college athletics as showing a $571,331 “profit.”

The word profit suggests the programs are self-supporting, Barrett said, and they are not.

“People shouldn’t operate under the misperception they support themselves,” Barrett said. When people attend games they should realize, he said, “Taxpayers are giving them a hand.

“My point is simple — that we should understand what it is, particularly at a time when resources are limited.”

At a time when UM faculty are arguing about budget priorities – when some professors assert the university has disproportionately cut the humanities while funding top-heavy administration — “it struck me as odd,” Barrett said, “that funding for athletics has not become part of the discussion.”

Barrett called “bogus” the regents’ argument that millions of dollars in tuition waivers for athletes shouldn’t be counted as subsidies because no cash changes hands.

Tuition waivers for athletics totaled $8 million last year for all campuses, including $2.8 million at MSU, according to Frieda Houser, University System director of accounting and budget.

The university could have decided to “sacrifice revenue” in other ways, Barrett said. “It could decide not to charge other students as high a tuition.

“Students are subsidizing athletics, not just in their (athletics) fee, but they have to pay higher tuition so athletes can pay lower tuition,” he said.

That’s not the only bogus regents’ argument.

The regents … argued that the dollar amount listed on Montana’s NCAA reports as “direct state or other government support” for athletics programs is zero.

It’s zero, one administrator explained later, because under the Montana Constitution, the Legislature doesn’t approve money for specific university programs like athletics, but instead sends a lump sum to the Board of Regents.

Oh. Alright then.

PLUS, the whole other defense of athletics is, hell, you know, it just generates one heck of a great atmosphere …