Citing a budget shortfall, the University of Northern Iowa announced it is dropping four sports in the athletic department — men’s and women’s tennis and swimming. There are now 56 athletes in the four programs. Cutting the teams will save U-N-I 320-thousand dollars. U-N-I students face a tuition increase in the fall of 18-and-a-half percent. U-N-I athletic director Rick Hartzell does not anticipate any further cuts, as he says this cut will give them a two-year window of a balanced budget. He says they hope the improvement in the football and basketball programs will improve the budget in the future. The cut leaves UNI with 16 programs.Hartzell says it was a painful decision but one that had to be made. He says it has been kind of a funeral, and hopefully now that they’ve been through it, they can move on.
