Local politicians did not cause the price of oil to drop by 50 percent.  But local politicians did cause this mess by allowing UA to be the most government funding reliant university in the US.  And local politicians did cause this problem by never saying no to UA requests for capital projects, like engineering buildings and a massive sports arena with no hockey facility.

In terms of sports cuts, don't understand why skiing would have to be cut if US went from Diision I to II.  Other small div II colleges have XC ski racing teams, but no alpine ski racing.  So cut alpine and go Div II.