For the past three seasons, the UI men’s basketball team has lost 73 of 89 games. Its current NCAA standing is 316th out of 341 colleges and universities.

If any UI academic program had such a poor performance record, it would certainly be eliminated or reduced in its mission.

But since 1999, state funding for UI athletics went from $1.78 million to $3.04 million, a 71 percent increase. By comparison, general education budgets for Idaho higher education have increased 46 percent during the same period.

In 2003, athletics was given a $500,000 “gift” from the president’s office, presumably to cover the costs of joining the Western Athletics Conference.

Also in 2003, the basketball coach received a $15,000 pay raise, the second highest in the university. UI athletic director Robert Spear tried to fudge the raise as one based on future performance, but the increment was added to his base salary before the season began.

During the financial crisis of 2004-05, the UI liberal arts college was forced to cut $326,000, but $322,600 was added to the athletics department budget. A faculty committee recommended that then-President Tim White reduce the athletic budget by $300,000, but he decided to fire 27 staff employees instead.

In 1987, the state Board of Education reinstituted the policy of using general education monies for athletics. Since then the annual subsidy has grown from $665,500 to $3,041,679, a 357 percent increase. Athletics on all Idaho campuses experienced a similar increase. Without that subsidy, the Idaho Vandals won five Big Sky championships from 1983-87.

While all other UI faculty and staff received little or no raises this year, the athletic director enjoyed an 8 percent raise, and the salary line for football coaches with record losses has also increased 8 percent.

Since 1997, all UI departments have paid an administrative fee on all external funds to the central administration. The fee has now risen to 8 percent, but athletics only pays 3 percent.

From 2001-2004, athletics paid no administrative fee at all, claiming it had to reach gender equity goals. What is odd about this excuse is this department has received gender equity money from the Legislature, starting with $115,000 in 1997 and growing to $621,560 this year.

Many other departments could have presented equally persuasive reasons why they too should be exempt. For example, auxiliary services and facilities management generate lots of external funds, and they could very well argue that their salaries, 19 percent of which are below the poverty level, should rise before they are required to pay the administrative fee.

The athletic department has defended its low fee by boasting it returns $2.5 million back to the university in tuition, fees, room and board for scholarship students. About half that amount comes from state funds.

Private scholarship funds for all UI colleges total $4.1 million, so they have a much better reason to ask for a lower administrative fee.

If the implication of this claim is that athletics makes money for UI, then this is clearly false. This year, the athletics department estimated that it would take in $2.1 million dollars in student fees and $726,500 in “institutional support,” plus the $3 million direct subsidy from the Legislature. Simple arithmetic shows at least a $3.3 million deficit not “profit.”

A national study concluded only nine athletic programs are able to actually return money to their respective academic programs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, winning athletic programs do not increase alumni funding.

As a vice president at the University of Notre Dame said: “There is no empirical evidence demonstrating a correlation between athletic department achievement and alumni fundraising success.”