By Christopher Acree–

People go to college to gain more knowledge, but recent events indicate no one knows anything at U of L — particularly the students.

The last few months have been rough for U of L. Pick a program or department, and chances are there’s some drama. Between budget cuts, pending litigation, disagreements and conflict in the highest levels of the administration, to never-ending list of goings-on in athletics, it seems like something new and usually bad is befalling U of L every other week.

The biggest elephant on campus has been the men’s basketball scandal, which led to a self-imposed postseason ban. The ban has proven to be about as popular as a Jeb Bush presidency or a Zika virus outbreak.

“I disagree with the decision,” junior CIS major Brooke Lentz said. “I think it’s kind of unfair to the players since they weren’t technically involved. From what I’ve heard everybody thinks about the same. It isn’t fair.”

The latest news has focused around the investigative committee that met directly before the ban was announced, where someone revealed presumably explosive, season-ending evidence. Amidst media scrutiny and the day-to-day uncertainties, there are those who may get lost in the shuffle. I’m speaking of you and me — the garden-variety student, who still have to get up and go to class every day regardless of what headlines U of L is making.

The most affected are the student-athletes like Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, both playing their last college basketball season. Who else is affected?  Regular students who are also fans.

Junior sociology major Jessica Embry thinks students and their representatives need to have more voice in decisions such as the ban. “I don’t know if their (SGA’s) opinion was even considered in this matter,” Embry said. “I don’t know if they were approached. Not that the administration has to agree with SGA, but just listen to what they have to say.”

U of L President James Ramsey and other members of the administration might not be the most popular people on campus right now, and support may be starting to wane.

“I’m still with Ramsey,” said sophomore political science major Alex Barnum. “He’s brought this university out of the gutter. But it seems like the last two years has been bad press, after bad press, after bad press. You have to wonder at what point is it in the best interest to see him out and have it move on to different things.”