This letter is in response to the theory that the UK should eliminate the athletics department as a way to solve the current budget problems, an opinion that is one of the least informed I have heard on any subject.

David Cooper’s letter to the editor in Friday’s Kernel said UK funds the athletics department and that tuition increases are in part fueled by that commitment.

After I read this letter, I searched “University of Kentucky Athletic Department funds” on google.com. One of the first entries is a copy of the minutes to last year’s budget presentation for UK Athletics. It states, “The Athletics Department is 100 percent self-supporting, meaning that it receives no state or university funds. He (Rob Mullens, Deputy Director of Athletics) reported that 25 percent of its funds are actually spent on the University of Kentucky’s campus.”

A later entry on the search engine points to an article on CFO.com that covers the topic of collegiate athletic department spending. In it, I found the following, “‘The University of Kentucky’s athletic department contributes $1 million a year to the president’s office for nonathletic need-based scholarships,’ says Rob Mullens, deputy director of athletics.”

I find it incredible that someone could promote such a bold suggestion without the least amount of research into the facts. The searches I describe above took less than a minute.

David Wade

History senior