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[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.]

In my area of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health now funds only 5 percent of proposals received, a low point not likely to improve given our national fiscal mess. The loss of state support of UI is bad financially. But UI's response to it may be equally destructive in the long term.

From my perspective, it is unfortunate that UI and regents have embraced popular business notions of finding "added value" and extracting fees wherever possible. For example, students face several "nonrefundable" mandatory fees that can add thousands to their tuition. From a "returned check fee" of $30 to a new and vague "Energy/Environment Surcharge," today's UI bills resemble the nickel-and-diming tricks used by hotels, banks and auto repair shops. Revenues are generated, but consumers feel hoodwinked.

I would like to focus on two examples of how the "UI-as-profit-center" model threatens the traditional educational and public-outreach model of state schools by morphing UI into just another business. One example is obvious, the other, more subtle.

The first is the needless spending on sports enhancements. The $110 million Kinnick renovation certainly was not needed to bolster attendance, but was done because UI leaders gave it high priority. Defenders typically point out that it was funded from private sources, but that ignores a much larger point. Strong leadership, with unalloyed interest in education and state service, could have labored instead to raise $110 million to reduce deferred maintenance and large tuition increases, while strengthening academic departments. The new stadium is one huge object lesson in UI's shift in priorities. To the passerby, UI evidently has no need for state support when such non-essential structures can pop up from the ground.

The second, more subtle, example concerns the UI student orchestra. For decades, the School of Music presented orchestral concerts each semester at Hancher Auditorium -- always free to the public. Works as large and expensive as Mahler's Eighth Symphony were performed to highly appreciative, capacity audiences. Now, one must pay to get in. In this, UI has shirked its public-service role.

UI spokespersons sometimes stress the need for sensitivity to the diverse needs of the public it "serves." It is ironic that UI leaders are indifferent to the fact that many Iowans simply cannot afford an extra $15 to $20 to take a chance on experiencing timelessly good music. Skeptics who do not appreciate that ticket costs bar would-be "non-traditional" attendees from cultural events should examine the experience of the Civic Orchestra in Chicago. Tickets are free and the audiences are uniquely diverse.

When people see their season football tickets increase by hundreds of dollars, sky boxes rise to cater to the rich and poorer Iowans shut out from positive cultural experiences, they are correct in doubting UI's commitment to the citizens of Iowa and its historic educational mission.

By adhering to business practices that are generally corrosive, UI has deemed the risk of becoming "just another business" to the citizen's eye as acceptable. But in doing so, the notion of the university as a unique public resource may be irreparably harmed.
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Charles Miller is a research scientist at the University of Iowa.