Being prudent and thoughtful when making a decision is always important. Making too rash of a decision or too big of a change without weighing all the options first is a recipe for disaster.

That being said, taking too long to make a decision leads to inaction, making it so no progress can be made.

During a recent Faculty Senate meeting, Eastern President David Glassman told Faculty Senate members that open discussions about Eastern’s sports programs, and whether some should be cut or not, are still ongoing.

The Board of Trustees has asked Glassman for a decision on what to do by the end of the semester. However, it does not look like this will happen.

At Faculty Senate, Glassman said there is not a plan of action to be presented during Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

While we understand that this is a complex issue, (as the president brings up at every meeting where sports are talked about) the discussions surrounding sports have been going on for two years now.

It is time to do something.

It could be argued that the university has been, at best, overly prudent and at worst, wringing its hands when it comes to deciding exactly what to do in athletics. It certainly has been more prudent regarding athletics than it was with academics. The discussion surrounding what to do with athletic programs has been happening for a couple of years now, even before the budget impasse, according to an article in The Daily Eastern News. Academic programs were given barely eight months of consideration during the vitalization project.

It is not fair to our athletes, coaches and others to keep them wondering what is going to happen.

Are we going to lose a sport? Lose a scholarship? It seems like it is all up in the air at this point.

Keeping the status quo, i.e. keeping all the teams, not reducing scholarships or making any other changes in athletics, would make the department “end up with a deficit, probably this year and probably next year,” Glassman said at a CUPB meeting.

Some have argued that cutting sports could potentially lead to bad publicity for the university, which is does not need, especially after getting so much attention after the budget impasse. However, we cannot imagine that the university going back and forth on whether or not it wants to cut sports or not, and being essentially powerless to make a decision, looks much better.

At the end of the day, we need to be thinking about what will move the university forward faster. The Daily Eastern News editorial board staff understands that managing people’s “perception” of the university is important for getting students to Eastern and for marketing purposes. However, what others think and making ourselves look good should not be the sole aspect the university thinks about when making a decision. The university’s priorities should lie in what will be best for the students, faculty and staff who make up Eastern. By stringing everyone along, it is not doing that.