University of Wyoming president Ed Seidel warned campus leaders of steep budget cuts after state lawmakers proposed slicing $40 million from the university’s block grant, freezing employee raises and rejecting a $6 million athletics request. Seidel—which he disclosed in an unusually pointed email—said the cuts could force deep program reductions and even threaten Division I athletics. The proposed reductions come even as Wyoming sits on roughly $250 million in excess revenue; lawmakers behind the move, including members of the Freedom Caucus, framed the cuts as corrective action against a university they view as ideologically out of step with the state. Faculty leaders, including economics professor and Faculty Senate chair Robert Godby, described the showdown as a referendum on the state’s only four‑year institution. The dispute raises questions about trustee autonomy, political oversight of land‑grant missions, and potential downstream impacts on recruitment, research and community partnerships if lawmakers follow through on the cuts.