Lakefront Arena at the University of New Orleans may fall silent if athletic programs are cut. (Mylan Cannon/NYT Institute)

In the wake of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget cuts, the University of New Orleans may have to ax its athletic program.

Under the governor’s fiscal 2009-10 budget plan, UNO is facing $15.3 million in budget cuts, including $1.4 million in athletics funding. All institutions of higher education in Louisiana will lose a total of $218 million in funding.

The proposed budget is yet another blow to the athletic program. On May 1, UNO students voted 53 percent to 47 percent against doubling the fee for athletics, to $200 per credit hour. If the vote had gone the other way, the school’s cash-strapped athletic department could have survived. Now, the department’s fate rests with the Louisiana Legislature.

“I’m still holding out hope to get money into higher education,” said UNO basketball coach Joe Pasternack. “Hopefully, we don’t have to raise a penny.”

UNO received $70.8 million in state funding during the 2008-9 school year. Under the proposed budget cuts, the school will receive$ 59.7 million next year.  By contrast, LSU received $239.6 million in state funding last year. Next year, however, the school will receive $201.9 million.

“I would imagine that UNO has decided to not allocate state funding to athletics because it can be used elsewhere,” said Meg Casper, assistant to Sally Clausen, the commissioner of the Louisiana Board of Regents. “This is a prioritized decision. Each individual school is given a certain operating amount and then the school decides how to divide it.”

Some UNO students had mixed reactions Wednesday to the news of the potential shutdown of the athletic program.

“I wanted the school to keep athletics just so we would have sports, but no one goes to the games anyway,” said Barry Kelly, a graduate business administration student and Baton Rouge native who voted against the tuition increase.  ”The teams aren’t that good, and I didn’t want to pay $100 for them to hang around.”

Kelly said he attended one only athletic event last year, the homecoming basketball game against North Carolina State, which was the first game the UNO basketball team played in  Lakefront Arena since 2005.

“There may have been 500 people there,” Kelly said. “The team isn’t good. If they were better, people might go.”

Nagendrajumar Beeravolu, 23, a graduate student studying electrical engineering at UNO, was in favor of the tuition increase.

“Paying $100 more won’t hurt me because I am on scholarship,” Beeravolu said. “Besides it’s not that much of an increase, and some people come here for athletics. If there is no athletic department, it will definitely hurt the school.”

Before Katrina, UNO had 14 NCAA-sponsored sports. Eight sports, including men’s and women’s track and field, cross country and women’s golf, were cut when the school reopened after Katrina, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving were added last year. The university also suspended men’s and women’s tennis but reinstated them last year, giving the school a total of  nine sports- five short of the standard for Division I schools.

UNO has partnered with New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn in an effort to raise funds for athletics. Pasternack said the school’s first fundraiser with the Hornets will be a season ticket drive. Pasternack said the department’s potential budget cuts haven’t hurt basketball recruiting.

“A lot of big-time people in the city have jumped on board, so we’re excited about it,” he said.