The MIAC was pinned by a swift, surprise move last week.

The University of St. Thomas cut their wrestling program. The impact of this seemingly small cut has tore open a huge gash that could have huge consequences here at home on the Hill.

Apparently, the honchos who call the shots are getting a bit tight in the pants for St. Thomas and the ramifications are the most painful for the real men in tights: the wrestling team.

St. Olaf also has many budget concerns. A few years back, we tried cutting the wrestling and hockey teams. Our alumni didn't really like that, so, sure enough, the teams are still here. "Cutting men's hockey stirred up a large group of alums," said Director of Athletics Cindy Book, who is also the volleyball coach. "And hockey in Minnesota is sacred."

The problem that St. Olaf now faces are the consequences of a baffling decision by St. Thomas. The situation: for wrestlers to qualify for Nationals, there needs to be six schools represented. With the Tommies out, we're down to five, taking the MIAC tournament out of contention to host a Division III qualifying meet. St. Olaf must hope that St. Thomas will change its mind or that the bylaws can be changed. As it stands, the remaining five teams would need to travel to Illinois or Michigan just to qualify for a bid. Considering the expense of traveling, it wouldn't be likely that St. Olaf would be too keen on this option either.

Augsburg College will feel the sting the worst‹they're the defending national champions. In fact, they've won seven of the last eleven titles! But St. Thomas apparently didn't consider the consequences that the rest of the MIAC would suffer from the approximately $25,000 they'd be saving. That's less than the cost of one student's tuition for a year at Olaf.

Granted, St. Thomas made cuts across the board. And to be fair, men's junior varsity hockey and soccer were kicked out too. But why wrestling? It's cheap and promotes leadership-building. Baseball would be much more cost efficient to cut. Just because they're number one in the nation, that extra money could go a long way for the Tommy program.

The wrestling coach, Mike English, was allegedly expecting an end of the year routine evaluation when he was called in to the athletic directors office. Imagine his surprise at finding out that he needed to turn in his parking permit.

"What obligation do they have to the conference?" questioned St. Olaf professor Gary Wicks. "Carleton is hanging by a thread and could use this as an excuse to drop wrestling too." The dominoes may keep falling, but hopefully the remaining schools will have the backbone to keep their programs.

St. Olaf has taken a different approach lately. Instead of cutting programs, Book has offered other alternatives to allow for teams to remain intact. "We've drastically changed our fundraising through camps and clinics," said Book. "Our athletes can have the experience of teaching and it brings young people on campus, which is a great way to raise money."

Another successful program is the Ole Club, the organization that is in charge of raising money from alumni to add to the endowment. "I think we're on the right track," said Book. "It's good for our alums to give back and also the young alums‹even if it's $10."

Book also would like to see admission charged for non-students at football games. "I think we're missing the boat [by not charging]," said Book. "Parents from the other teams are laughing at us for not charging, and they're prepared to pay it when they get here‹we'll survey alums, but I'd like to try it and see where it goes."

"St. Olaf has been examining our budgets and there've been cuts across the board," said Book. "We try to give everybody what they ask and we try to balance the number of contests played and the distance traveled."

St. Olaf doesn't have all of the answers, but the fundraising alternatives appear to make much more sense than dropping entire programs.

If we're lucky, St. Thomas will see this too.