It seems all we at Missouri Southern have thought about for the past year is cost.

The administration has targeted the cost of international travel, the cost of scholarships, the cost of keeping the school heated and the cost of University sports.

You name it, we have used the cost to equate its value.

This time the tennis team has fallen under the heavy hand of Southern’s budget police.

The six ladies of our tennis team get to finish their season knowing it will be their last as Lions.

In interview with The Chart this past fall, University President Bruce Speck asked “what use is the hand if the heart’s no longer beating?”

We suppose that means the tennis team is the hand. That makes men’s soccer the other hand. Perhaps as scholarships, or international travel or practicum experience becomes too big a burden we can start cutting from the ankles up.

The cutting of the tennis team throws $20,000 back into the University budget, and rolls back into athletics scholarships for the players who choose to leave. It’ll make a difference somewhere, we’re sure. The savings will mean a few extra hours of heat, or just making up the deficit of a flat budget with elevated costs for the next few years.

Tennis Coach Larry McGregor mentioned that cutting tennis affected the smallest number of students.

We have heard so much about sacrificing the few for the good of the whole, cutting off hands to save hearts. But what good is the heart if you’ve cut away everything else?

The students and the people making decisions to cut are feeling the pain. Athletics Director Sallie Beard, a few weeks from retirement, had to make the choice to ax one of the teams she helped establish.

Administration keeps talking about the amount of money spent, but are they really considering the “cost?”

One thing is certain, we’ve shown no “love” for tennis.