The Chicken Little approach may not be the best strategy for attracting additional funding for Kansas University.

After receiving a request last week to prepare a budget based on a 5 percent cut, KU Provost Richard Lariviere sent out a letter that apparently caused at least a little panic among KU faculty and staff. It would be impossible, Lariviere told the Journal-World, to cut 5 percent next year, on top of the 2 percent cut this year, without having a noticeable impact on students.

An additional 5 percent cut would result in layoffs and cuts in programs and services. A few faculty members reportedly even were talking about leaving KU in the face of such cuts.

But wait. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that there was no expectation that KU’s budget would be cut by another 5 percent. The request for a budget based on such cuts was simply aimed at having state universities follow the same budget routine followed by all state agencies, which is to present proposals for a flat budget, a reduced budget and an enhanced budget.

“I hope they will calm down,” Sebelius said late last week.

Perhaps KU administrators simply misunderstood what was being asked of them in the budget directive, but it would have been far better to make sure they had it right before stirring up a panic about budget cuts that may not be needed. It’s also not constructive for KU officials to act as if they should be held harmless from the economic impact that is likely to affect almost every facet of state government.

There is, of course, no guarantee that state universities won’t face reduced funding next year. State revenues are down and, barring an economic upturn, it will be an extremely difficult year to balance the state budget.

Higher education is vital to the state’s future, but difficult times mean that lawmakers will be facing difficult decisions. There’s always the hope that state universities’ willingness to present restrained budget requests this year could buy them some favor with legislators when economic conditions improve.

State funding for its universities has fallen to a deplorable level, but it’s not useful for university officials to declare that the sky is falling just because they are asked to take a hard look at their budgets and consider a hypothetical worst-case scenario.