MIT, which sponsors more varsity sports than any other Division III member institution, will cut eight of those 41 sports at the end of this academic year.

The institute will discontinue sponsorship of the mixed men’s and women’s teams in alpine skiing and pistol; separate teams for men and women in ice hockey and gymnastics; and men’s programs in golf and wrestling.

The cuts are a result of MIT’s efforts to cut the institute’s spending by 10 to 15 percent ($100 million to $150 million) during the next two to three years.

Julie Soriero, MIT director of athletics, physical education and recreation (DAPER), said all program areas in her department were examined and that many of DAPER’s reductions do not affect varsity sports.

“The decision announced (Thursday) is made with personal regret and sadness,” she said. “However, the economic issues confronting MIT and the requisite budget reductions have forced us to look deeply into how we operate.

“Financially sustaining 41 varsity programs has been a longstanding question surrounding the broad-based mission and operation of our department. With varsity program expenditures approaching one-half of our costs, the necessity of significant reductions in this area was, and is, a reasonable expectation. This decision is especially difficult for our alumni and current student-athletes who have competed with pride in representing MIT.”

With 33 sports, MIT still will sponsor more varsity programs than any other Division III member, institute officials said.

They said the department developed a tool in 2003 for monitoring the health and vitality of each varsity sport, with participation from coaches, student-athletes, faculty and administrative staff. The tool has been used to examine such areas as student interest in sports, coaching turnover, availability of appropriate competition, quality and proximity of practice facilities, and program costs.

“Eliminating sports that do not meet the criteria established by the sport health and vitality process, rather than reducing spending in all sports, not only helps the department meet its budget mandate, but supports the core value of excellence in all programming,” said Constantino Colombo, dean for student life.

DAPER will reduce its budget for fiscal year 2010 by $485,000 – a 5 percent cut from this year’s budget of $9.7 million. Based on the knowledge that cuts would be imposed, the department recently had signaled the likelihood that sports would be cut, including during a recent meeting with the institute’s student-athlete advisory committee.

In a letter to the MIT community, Soriero and Colombo pledged to “work hard to help our student-athletes and alumni most affected by this decision” and to help student-athletes in the affected sports “assess the viability of creating a club team” in sports where such programs do not already exist. They also encouraged current varsity student-athletes to considering participating in existing club programs.